Caitlin's mother allowed her to check the computer when I was going to receive the Barbie they had bought from a store on-line For the birthday of the girl.
The next day a delivery man showed up at his home in Utah, in the United States, and began unloading one box after another. With only six years, $ 350 had been spent on toys!
This case is more common than we think. We tell you several previous cases of bold online shopping starring children and we emphasize the importance of protecting our accounts.
But let's start with the story of Caitlin. It all started when the girl asked for a Barbie on Amazon for her birthday with the help of her mother. Impatiently begged to let her check the status of her order and she was left alone at the computer.
His mother's surprise was capitalized when the next day a shopkeeper on-line He arrived at his home in Utah, United States and began unloading boxes.
The mother took a picture of her daughter, who felt really satisfied, in front of her booty and sent it to her cousin Ria Diyaolu, who lives in Arizona. And she decided to share the experience in her Twitter account.
Ria comments that It seems incredible that a girl of only six years knows how to place an order on the Internet and achieve next day delivery. "I knew perfectly what I was doing"points in his tweet."His mother entered his Amazon account and saw three pages of things he had asked for"He discovered that his daughter had spent $ 350 (about 307 euros) on toys, video games and board games.
My badass little cousin ordered $ 300 worth of toys w / o my aunt & uncle knowing. This is a picture of how everyone found out. pic.twitter.com/wHWVhsMBYI
- princess ria (@R_tatas) August 11, 2018
Although Caitlin seems quite pleased with her feat, she has not been able to keep anything of her loot, except the doll her mother had given her for her birthday. His mother has returned everything to the store on-line. In addition, she has been punished for a month without the Internet, although her photo posing proudly in front of her booty has gone viral.
The dangers of the Internet
In response to Ria Diyaolu's tweet, comments were made talking about other children who had also taken advantage of their parents' account in stores on-line.
That shows that leaving our children alone before the computer screen has its dangers. Not only when emptying our credit card, but also for the pages they can access and are not suitable for them. Or to play and talk remotely without knowing who is on the other side of the network.
Experts advise not to leave our children unsupervised in front of the screens of the phone, tablet or computer. And, even disconnecting mobile data or WiFi from home, before leaving them to play with them, if we do not want to take unexpected surprises.
Luckily, in most cases of 'children's' purchases, the supplier or the payment system, such as paypal, returns the purchase once the happened thing is explained. That was the case of another girl who bought her dream trip to Disneyworld with her father's cell phone while he slept. But ... what if it's never like that?
In fact, these purchases are more common than we think. The same giant of Amazon purchases had to pay a fine for allowing purchases of minors without parental authorization.
That said, we must admit that new technologies are a reality and we will not be able to prohibit minors from using them. But we do teach them how to use them well and take some measures that protect their integrity and our bank account. A practical and complete article by Xataca Mobile explains how to configure the phone so that our children cannot access the content we do not want.
It reminds us that both Android and iOS have parental controls and restrictions that allow us to block or limit the use of certain applications and functions of the phone, among which of course is the possibility of deactivating unauthorized in-app purchases.
Ideally, within the child's profile we activate the option 'request authentication for all purchases'. In this way it will always be necessary to enter the password that we have chosen when making any purchase within applications.
Protecting our 'private' password and setting it as a condition to buy in any of our Internet accounts (on the mobile and in the computer) is also the key to avoiding surprises like the one Caitlin gave her mother.
Another option, with defenders and detractors, is to install a custodian program on the computer (also available for smartphones). They can be downloaded for free and then block certain websites, applications or any other type of content with a single click. Depending on the program, other functions such as secure search, real-time categorization, time restrictions, password overrides ... Some popular examples are Qustodio, K9 Web Protect or Windows Live Family Safety, for Windows users.
And as we are in summer and on vacation we spend more time together and relaxed, why don't we take the opportunity to teach them to use new technologies with their heads? The Decalogue of the Good Use of Information and Communication Technologies, of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap) can help us along the way.
Via BuzzFeed News
In Babies and More A six-year-old girl uses her mother's fingerprint while she slept to buy toys for 240 euros, With 12 years she wanted to be Youtuber and the joke almost cost her 100 thousand euros
