A father must pay around €33,748 that his then seven-year-old son spent via his father’s Google account in the Play Store. This was decided by the Karlsruhe Regional Court. Over a period of about 20 months, the boy had purchased in-app content more than 1,200 times—mostly virtual game content.
The little boy didn’t have a particularly hard time spending the money: the tablet he used was linked to his father’s Google account, which also contained his company credit card details. It was only later that his father noticed the expenditure and tried to reclaim the money from Google. However, the American company refused, and the court ruled in favor of the company for two reasons.
No protective mechanisms
The district court saw a so-called „apparent authority,“ which means that Google could assume that the transactions were authorized by the account holder. The fact that all the purchases were made by a child was irrelevant.
Another decisive factor was that the father’s behavior gave the impression that the purchases were legitimate—after all, he had not objected to the statements over a long period of time because he apparently did not check his credit card statements regularly. In addition, there were no protective mechanisms such as spending limits or children’s accounts. The fact that the purchases were made over a period of months without the father intervening was also interpreted negatively.
In this context, the court made it clear that anyone who grants a child access to a device with a linked payment method must also ensure that no unauthorized purchases are possible. The responsibility for the enormous expenses therefore lies with the account holder, the father.
Kids’ account and more
There are some pretty simple ways to stop this from happening:
- Set up a kid’s account: Google has special family features that let you create and manage kid’s accounts. Parents have to approve any purchases.
- Enable purchase confirmation: In the Google Play Store settings, you can specify that a password or fingerprint confirmation is required for each transaction.
- Limit payment methods: Instead of registering a credit card, you can use prepaid cards to limit the available budget.
- Regular checks: Credit card and Play Store statements should be checked regularly to detect unusual activity at an early stage.
- Avoid apps with in-app purchases: Especially with younger children, it is worth choosing apps that do not allow purchases within the application.