Teenager accidentally racks up $7,600 bill on FIFA microtransactions

A Canadian teenager has racked up a bill of almost $8,000 on his parent’s credit card after accidentally making a series of in-game purchases in FIFA.

The father of the 17-year old claims that his son didn’t realise “he was being charged for every transaction” on his Xbox until the bill for $7,625.88 (£3697) arrived two days before Christmas, with the amount leaving both him and his son shocked.

“It floored me. Literally floored me, when I’d seen what I was being charged,” father Lance Perkins told CBC News.

“He thought it was a one-time fee for the game. He’s just as sick as I am, [because] he never believed he was being charged for every transaction, or every time he went onto the game.”

FIFA offers users the option to buy additional players for their Ultimate Team squad by spending FIFA Points, an in-game currency purchased by using real money. FIFA Points are available to purchase in varying quantities, with prices ranging between £1.99 and £79.99.

Parents do, however, have the option to prevent unauthorised purchases via the console’s built-in parental controls.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has told Perkins that the bill will stand, but has offered to investigate the purchases. Perkins has yet to receive a further response, however, NBC states.

“Purchases made using a parent’s payment account are legitimate transactions under the Microsoft Services Agreement,” Microsoft told NBC, “and we encourage parents to use the many platform and service features we make available to prevent unapproved charges.”

Perkins, meanwhile, says that “there will never be another Xbox system – or any gaming system – in my home.”

Source: cbc.ca