A 12-year old boy from Spain mistakenly racked up €100,000, or about $112,000 charges when converted, from Google for advertising his brass band in an effort to make an impression online. Google, however, was quick to waive the huge amount after realizing that it was a mistake.
In a report from The Register, Jose Javier from Torrevieja City created an account with Adwords, hoping to earn money from ad placements on his YouTube page, however AdWords works on the contratry as it offers advertisements for a cost. The 12-year old boy provided his bank account details set up by his parents thinking that it is where the payment would go, which should be the process if correctly he signed up for AdSense instead.
The Guardian reported a Google's statement through their Spokeswoman that the search giant will waive the amount after realizing that it was all a mistake and made without thinking. "A 12-year-old boy doesn't want to start spending €100,000," the Spokeswoman said.
The 12-year old boy's mother, Inma Quesada, was interviewed by a local spanish newspaper called El Pais and explained that his son only wanted to buy instruments for his band, "Torrevieja Llamada Los Sallerosos" which would explain why he wanted to use AdSense. It was only when the family's bank called their attention to alert them about the charges did they know about the debt their son managed to make.
In 2014, The Dailymail reported of a similar instance in which children were able to rack-up huge amount of bills because of in-app purchases. Though a little different in manner, it speaks of the same problem of children's easy access to premium services that should require adult supervision. Google's age restriction of 13-years old and above, or 14-years old for Spain actually, did not work on this case that's for sure.
