FarmVille-Addicted 12-Year-Old Runs Up $1,400 Credit Card Debt

Monetizing a highly addictive game like FarmVille can be great for business, and it can be devastating to personal accounts. Just ask the mom of a 12-year-old boy who recently piled up nearly $1,367 (£900) in credit card debt, simply because of his online agrarian addiction to FarmVille. The mother, who understandably chose to remain anonymous, says that after her son emptied the $478 (£288) in his own savings account, he proceeded to rack up another $959 (£625) on her credit card. She added that her son was "very shocked" to find out about the debt, but also sort of knew what he was doing. When asked why he'd spent so much on a virtual farming game, he said, simply, "[The site came out with] good stuff that I wanted." (Duh.)

Facebook has already disabled the kid's account, and FarmVille creator Zynga has ever so wisely suggested that the mother use better password protection next time. The Guardian reports, however, that neither company can provide a refund, since the boy still lives in his mom's house (and in her jurisdiction). Although the mom places the blame squarely on her son, she also thinks that Facebook, Zynga or even her credit card company, HSBC, could've done more to stem the credit hemorrhage earlier on. "The fact that he was using a card in a different name should bring up some sort of security," she argues. "And the online secure payment filter seems to be bypassed for Facebook payments."

She's got a pretty solid point, too. You'd think that among the Facebook-Zynga-HSBC troika, one of them would've noticed something fishy about a middle school kid putting up serious sums of cash to feed his virtual flock of sheep. An HSBC spokesperson said that purchases made within Facebook, unlike, say, online gambling, don't trigger the company's "unusual usage" alarms. But from now on, maybe they should. FarmVille may not be exactly the same thing as online poker, but it has proven to be just as addictive. And when minors get hooked, the financial consequences can be serious. At some point, making a profit off of game addiction stops being capitalist, and quickly turns predatory. [From: The Guardian]