Let's admit, we all make poor financial decisions from time to time, don't we? What matters is whether we take the responsibility for them or not.
Like in this story, a person noticed a lot of charges on their credit card that didn't correspond to anything they bought. And so, they deduced that it must be their nephew. Yet, after being confronted, neither the boy nor the mom wanted to admit he was to blame for over a thousand dollars taken from the OP's account.
More info: Reddit
We all make stupid financial decisions from time to time, and it's important to take responsibility for them
Image credits: wirestock / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Unlike this mom, who just couldn't admit her son basically stole a big sum of money from her sibling
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Basically, the boy made plenty of in-game purchases on his PlayStation, thinking he was charging his mom's card
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
But it was her sibling's card, who confronted them about the purchases after finding out about them
Image credits: Potential_Pie_7714
At some point, the boy caved in and confessed, but his mom still couldn't stop shifting the blame to her sibling
One day, the OP noticed something was wrong with their bank statement. They went through every charge and noticed over 100 from PlayStation. While they had a PlayStation themselves, it was not their doing, as they had only made four purchases on it ever. Therefore, it was natural for them to panic that someone had stolen their credit card details.
Unless… It was someone from their family. They called around to their siblings with kids, who also have accounts, and asked whether they bought anything using their credit card. Siblings said no one had purchased anything, so the OP went ahead and called the bank to cancel the charges and put the PlayStation account under investigation.
A few days later, they received a call from their teenage nephew, who said he had been permanently banned from his PlayStation account. Still, when asked if he bought anything with the OP’s credit card, he denied it. Only when shown proof that it was the game he played, from where the purchases were made, did he admit buying a few items here and there.
Yet, the story didn’t end here. The boy’s mom got mad at her sibling for bringing her son into this whole situation. She started claiming they must have given him the credit card details, and thus, it was their fault he used it. Basically, she started guilt-tripping the sibling into bringing her son’s account back.
Since the OP felt that it was unfair to be blamed for mistakes their nephew made, they didn’t stop looking for the truth. After some going back and forth, the OP finally got out of the boy why he made those purchases. Apparently, he thought it was his mom's card.
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Well, while not checking who’s card it is before buying all that stuff wasn’t the best choice the boy made, we kind of understand where his urge to make those purchases came from. You see, in-game or in-app purchases are usually presented in a way that makes them appealing to players and quickly hooks them.
Basically, video game companies use behavioral psychology to stimulate spending money on the game. For instance, they make “value” packs of virtual items that seem like “a steal” to buy together, or they’re simply needed to meaningfully advance in the game. Over time, these microtransactions can easily add up to hundreds, thousands, and more dollars.
And the thing is that the vulnerable people to these tactics tend to be younger ones, who can struggle with impulse control, don’t understand the value of money, or can be easily motivated by psychological triggers like FOMO.
Today’s story proves just that – the boy was indeed susceptible to these tactics, which took a lot of money from his mom’s sibling. So, as some netizens pointed out, while he might carry some guilt for not controlling his impulses to buy stuff and not checking the card’s information, his mom is no less to blame here, either.
In their eyes, she’s way too willing to write off his mistakes, which can cause significant struggles in the long run. But that’s a topic for another day.
Netizens thought that such a stance, coming from a mother, could have lasting negative consequences on the boy
