Years' worth of savings could be lost in a matter of days.
A family feared this would happen to them after they found out their son had been secretly using his mother's debit card to donate to streamers on live gaming streaming platform, Twitch. Luckily, the mom recovers $20K she lost from her son's transactions.
The Son's "Donations"
In July, Lad Bible reported the young gamer spent an accumulated amount of $20K by secretly using his parents' debit card to donate to various streamers. The transactions were made only in a span of 17 days between June 14 to 30, according to IGN Southeast Asia.
The mother, who requested anonymity, said her minor son used her debit card on subscriptions and donations. She added that without her knowledge and consent, the kid has "cleaned out" her bank account."
She also claims to have contacted Twitch and its owner, Amazon, only to get frustrated by the company's alleged non-response. She said she has tried filling out Twitch's online help form, sending snail mail to the company's CEO Emmett Shear and Amazon's legal team, but no avail.
Mom Recovers $20K "Donated" by Her Son
A Reddit user advised the mom to contact Xsolla instead.
As reported by Dot Esports, the mom recovers $20K - almost all of it - through Xsolla, the partner paying company of Twitch. The report added she got the necessary credit adjustment on almost all transactions through Xsolla's online chat feature. The chat agent, however, clarified that these adjustments were under the condition that the account would be blocked permanently to avoid unauthorized transactions in the future.
The mother was relieved that almost all the money she lost was restored in her account.
"At this point, it's within a few hundred dollars, and I am happy to have received what I did, and am not going to pursue the difference," she said.
