Teenager spent $64,000 of family savings on cell phone video games

A Chinese teenager left her family with no savings after spending $64,000 on video games mobile phones in just four months. The young woman made numerous in-game purchases, while hiding the transaction notices so that her parents would not discover what happened until it was too late.

The story came to light thanks to a call from the young woman’s teacher, who alerted her parents about her possible addiction to video games, as reported by TechSpot. After the warning, the family discovered that their savings account, which had been built up over a lifetime, was practically empty with only 0.5 yuan.

Among the expenses incurred, the $17,000 invested in buying games y $29,526 in in-app purchases where the young woman acquired virtual coins and premium items that accelerated her progress in the games. Furthermore, the young gave $17,000 to several classmates in an attempt to avoid being bothered.

Despite the magnitude of the figure, the young woman confessed that she did not fully understand where the money came from. However, she tried to conceal the transactions as best she could to avoid discovery.

Now, the mother has started a process to try to recover the money from the companies where it was spent, arguing that the transactions were not authorized. However, this process presents a complicated challenge, with few guarantees of success.