Mum Emma was distraught when she found out her account was linked to the game
A mum has issued a warning after her nine-year-old daughter spent over £1,000 on Roblox – unaware she was spending real money. Emma Bell didn’t realise that her PayPal account was linked to her iPad and had no idea that her daughter could spend the money so easily.
In the space of three months her daughter Bronwen made 25 transactions on her Roblox account – billing up more than £1,000 in her mum’s bank account. The mum-of-three from Quakers Yard, south Wales has warned parents to be “vigilant” as she has been unable to retrieve her money back.
Roblox allows users to create their own games but also offers in-app purchases to upgrade the user’s avatar with things like clothes or accessories and offers some pay-to-play games. Emma, 52, who works as a social worker said: “I was really distraught. I did tell her off but she has got no concept of how much money that is.
“These Robux [Roblox coins] kids don’t see it as money. It is coins and a gaming app. They don’t connect that that is money you have got to pay for. On Roblox when you go in to buy those coins the way the options are set up the £199 is the first option that comes up. For her she had no concept and understanding that she was clicking the most expensive option.
“I was upset at myself. At that point I held out hope but as time went on I just felt sick to the stomach and angry that such a big corporation can’t understand the financial difficulty this put me in.”
Emma said her daughter Bronwen, who is neurodivergent, plays on her tablet when she comes home from school. She explained how she tries to monitor the games Bronwen downloads and they had a rule where she would ask her mum for permission before pressing anything.
But what the mum didn’t realise was that she had PayPal in daughter’s payment method on the iPad. Her daughter had managed to spend more than £1,000 on the site but the worst time was when she did five transactions in one day.
Emma said: “PayPal takes at least a week to send it through my bank account so there had been some delays in those bills going through my bank before I realised the huge amount of fees. One of the things that upset me the most was in a whole day there were five transactions – one of £199, second of £99 and three for £49,99.”
For weeks Emma, was in back and forth contact with Apple, Roblox, PayPal and her bank trying to secure a refund but so far she has only been able to get £78 from Apple. Emma said: “She had run up a huge bill. I phoned PayPal and asked them to put a block on any charges being put through.
“Then I spoke to Apple and they were helpful. I went through my Apple account, saw all the transactions and there was a simple click to request the refund.”
She clicked on the option stating “purchase without consent” which she said gave her some “reassurance”.
But shortly after she claims she had an automated decline for all of the transactions and had to appeal. She was advised by Apple to speak with Roblox and her bank – but she hasn’t been given any help since.
Emma then escalated it with Apple and the outcome was that she was paid £78. She said: “I’d like to see these organisations having some kind of security in place where they would recognise that it as unusual activity and maybe put a block.
“I had bills to pay out and then there was no money on my account to pay them. I was really distressed about it.”
Emma explained how Apple have told her how to put blocks on Roblox to stop her daughter from buying coins. She said: “I’ve put a password on the iPad and I am a lot more conscious. I am still not 100 per cent confident about what I am doing because I think technology moves so fast.
“I went on the iPad the other day and I am checking it more regularly. My downfall was I used to have an Apple phone and it was connected to the iPad and whenever they wanted to download a free app it would pop up on my phone and I’d have to click accept.
“But then at Christmas time I changed my phone to a completely different make and it just didn’t answer my thought process that I needed to go and put parental locks – I feel foolish about that but it is a hard lesson to learn. I’m not particularly great with IT, I am not bad but I am a busy working mum got a professional job I’m trying to do the best I can.”
In response Roblox said in a statement: “Roblox works with multiple payment providers to provide a safe and secure purchasing experience, and we have a robust policy for processing refund requests where there may have been unauthorized payments from a person’s account.
“Whenever possible, we work with parents directly to provide a refund for unauthorized purchases. “As noted in our help centre, we advise parents and caregivers that if they notice charges on their PayPal account that they did not authorize, to please contact Roblox Customer Support before disputing any charges.
“This is because once a charge has been disputed, a refund cannot be issued due to the payment provider’s dispute process.
“Similarly, where payments have been made through Apple/iTunes, as the payment provider they require any refunds to go through their support services and these charges cannot be refunded by Roblox.
“Finally, it is very important to note that parents also have access to a suite of Parental Controls on Roblox, including spending limits so that parents can determine how much their children can spend, and spend notifications to increase visibility over their children’s spending on Roblox.”
Apple, PayPal have also been approached for a comment.
