If you’ve ever wondered where your unauthorised PayPal transaction claims come from it could be the £64m per year that children are spending online without their parents knowledge.
According to the CPP one in seven online purchases made by British kids aged 7-16 are done behind their mums and dads’ back. Two thirds of kids are now hitting the cyber streets, annually spending £448 million and eight in ten use their parents’ bank cards, online accounts and PayPal.
Children are buying a wide range of items, including; computer games (51%), books (42%), films (30%) and phone applications (18%). The peak of spending is set to increase during the Christmas period as a quarter of kids say they will or plan to buy presents online, a 10% increase on kids online Christmas purchases last year potentially putting even more parents at risk of card fraud.
Sarah Blaney, card fraud expert from CPP says “Parents need to educate their children about of the very real risks of shopping online. They need to ensure that their children only put sensitive information into sites that are encrypted, trusted and secure and teach them about what signs to look for in a safe site”. I’d add that if you’re daft enough to give your children unhindered access to your finances please don’t do a chargeback when you’ve found how much they’ve spent behind your back.
If you are a parent make sure you keep your passwords secure and don’t share them with your children. If they do want to make a purchase make sure it’s supervised and that you’re the one to input your financial details or enter your password when it comes time to confirm the purchase and pay.
10 Responses
I wonder how much the total for a ‘wifes’ spend is, without telling their husbands?
I strongly suspect its far more than a mere £64m. Maybe a few extra zero’s on the end?
Matt
Conversely how much do ‘husbands’ spend without telling their wifes? 🙂
It works both ways!
The point here is that it may not be legal for the children to spend on the internet and that it could well be that £64m is held by Paypal on the back of the account holder thinking there has been some fraudulant activity when in fact its been the sprogs up to no good!
And the poor old seller suffers. 🙁
As a Bookseller if the kids are buying Books(42%) then perhaps there still is hope for the Country. All the knowledge of Mankind is in Books and of course they make great presents both for yourself and for others. A Book is not just for Christmas.
This is not claused as fraud as such
I once bought a goat without my wife’s consent, on ebay. It was a LoveGoat (TM) LOL.
I am now divorced.
and Jimmy, i used my parents card when i was younger, without permission, and they had me charged, convicted and sentenced. It IS fraud, its just down to the discretion of the parents whether or not they want it prosecuted/to report it at all.
And i just wanted to break a rule by attacking another commenter, in this case myself, as i dont wanna hurt anyones feelings. Wez, u suck. lol.