- A 13-year-old girl from China reportedly spent around Rs 52 lakh on online gaming.
- The girl had used her mother’s debit card to pay for the games online.
- The mother now only has Rs 5 left in her bank account.
A recent story from China stunned everyone as a 13-year-old schoolgirl’s addiction to online gaming led to the loss of her family’s savings worth 449,500 CNY which is around Rs 52,19,809. Upon checking the family discovered that there is now only Rs 5 left in the mother’s account. The girl had used the debit card of her mother to buy online tools and games and also for in-game purchases.
The incident came to light when the girl’s school teacher suspected her to be addicted to online gaming (pay-to-play games) as her screen/phone usage time was excessively high during school time. Upon informing, Wang, the mother, checked her bank account details and that’s when she encountered the shocking discovery, according to a report by South China Morning Post.
How did the girl spend the money on online gaming?
After the 13-year-old girl’s father asked her, she disclosed that she had spent the money on purchasing online games, in-game purchases, and an additional 100,000 yuan (approximately Rs. 11,61,590) for buying online games for no less than 10 of her classmates. She also admitted that she had bought games and paid for her classmates.
She further confessed that she found a debit card at home which she later connected to her smartphone. The girl’s mother had earlier shared the password of the debit card with her daughter in case of emergency or needs when the parents were not around. She also deleted all the transaction details related to the online purchases in order to conceal it from her parents.
The story has sparked a question across the internet as to who should take responsibility for the monetary loss sustained by the family. While one half blames the parents and their lack of supervision, the other half blames the girl herself for not being aware enough. It is imperative to note that as per an analysis by McGill university conducted in 2022, China has the highest number of smartphone addicts. Saudi Arabia is second in the list, followed by Malaysia.
