Courtesy of family
Logan Ireland used to love the app Roblox. The North Carolina fifth-grader would spend hours on her mom’s cell phone, using the game’s pretend money to buy clothes and furniture for her avatar.
But last fall, Logan got a huge shock. Her mom was looking at a letter from the bank. It showed that each time Logan used fake dollars in the game, the app had taken real dollars out of her family’s account. Logan had spent $1,600 in just three months.
“I was surprised,” Logan says. “I felt really bad.”
This situation is not unusual. Experts say it’s important for kids to be smart about apps.
Logan Ireland used to love the app Roblox. The fifth-grader spent hours on her mom’s cell phone. She used the game’s pretend money to buy clothes and furniture for her avatar.
But last fall, Logan got a shock. Her mom got a letter from the bank. It showed that each time Logan used fake dollars in the game, the app had taken real dollars out of her family’s account. Logan had spent $1,600 in three months.
“I was surprised,” Logan says. “I felt really bad.”
This situation is not unusual. Experts say it’s important for kids to be smart about apps.