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Four Kids Empty Parents Bank Account On FIFA Ultimate Team

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the system of loot boxes in gaming in recent years. Essentially, loot boxes are a form of in-game transaction that do not have their contents revealed before purchase. As such, getting an item of choice is left up to chance, leading to some people spending quite a lot of money before they finally attain what they are after. Following the backlash against this system, some companies have even made specific note of mentioning that no loot boxes will be present in their games, such as Square Enix with its upcoming Marvel’s Avengers.

Four children spent nearly £550 in three weeks buying player packs to play the Fifa football video game online on the family’s Nintendo Switch console. In Fifa, special players can be bought in packs, but the contents are only revealed after payment is completed.

Mr Carter, from Hampshire, admits that he did not take full precautions to limit access to his Nintendo account: he did not use a unique Pin number and the emailed receipts were sent to an old email address with a full inbox.

“I just never thought [the children] would do it,” he said.

The children’s father, Thomas Carter, had bought them a single pack for around £8, and had not realised they had seen how he made the purchase.

The Switch has now been confiscated “indefinitely”, Mr Carter said.

He and his wife only realised what had happened when their card was declined elsewhere because their bank account was empty.

Fifa19 has been certified as suitable for players from the age of 3.

This FIFA feature is essentially gambling in attempt to get the game’s best players, with kids as young as three-years-old having access to this.

Should more be done to tackle this modern form of gambling? or should we say “Surprise Mechanics“? Those parents got a “surprise” Alright.

Nintendo has agreed to a full refund and has removed the purchased players. While Fifa is published and sold by Electronic Arts, the payments had been made via the family’s Nintendo account.

A new report issued by the organisation Internet Matters found that 26% of the 2,000 parents of four to 16-year-olds it spoke to were concerned about the amount of money their children were spending on in-game purchases.

Chief executive Carolyn Bunting said it is important for parents to remember to shield their games account passwords or Pin numbers, and also to have regular discussions with children about what is free in games and what costs money.

“I’m sure most children won’t want to be in a position where they have spent their own parents’ money on upgrades or in this case, new players on Fifa,” she said.