Gaming addictions can have incredibly damaging effects, especially on young children.
If left unchecked, their actions may lead to disastrous consequences — as was the case for one 13-year-old girl in China.
Unbeknownst to her family, she had spent around 449,500 yuan (S$85,219) of their savings on mobile games.
The incident has since gone viral, and many argued about who was to blame for the matter.
South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that the incident occurred in Henan province, China.
The girl had come across a debit card at home and linked it to her smartphone to pay for the games.
Source: Douyin
She was aware of the password as well, as her mother had informed her of it in case she needed money in their absence.
The discovery emerged when one of the girl’s teachers noticed that the girl would spend a lot of time on her phone.
She then informed her mother, surnamed Wang, that she suspected her of having an addiction to online pay-to-play games.
Wang subsequently checked her bank balance, only to find 0.5 yuan (S$0.095) in her account.
In a now-viral video, she showed the bank statements of each transaction made.
Upon being confronted, the girl admitted to spending 120,000 yuan (S$22,750) on buying the games and 210,000 yuan (S$39,813) for in-game purchases.
She spent another 100,000 yuan (S$18,958) to buy the games for at least 10 classmates.
As the girl had deleted all the transaction records from her phone, Wang had remained unaware until the call with the teacher.
Source: Douyin
The girl reported feeling frightened by her classmates’ repeated requests for games.
However, she was also too fearful to ask her teachers for help.
“My parents will find out and get angry,” she said.
Now viral in China, the incident has sparked debate among many netizens.
Some users argued that the girl was old enough to understand the wrongful nature of her actions.
Others, however, placed the blame on her parents instead.
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Featured image adapted from Douyin.
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