Gelsenkirchen. “Families are in dire straits”: The Gelsenkirchen consumer advice center warns against in-app purchases – and makes this clear with violent examples.
- The Gelsenkirchen consumer advice center warns against “free” games with in-app purchases.
- The financial damage this causes for families is sometimes enormous.
- What parents should pay attention to and which settings help.
Many children love to play on their smartphone or tablet. Parents usually don't mind – especially if the games are completely free. However, the in-app purchases that are often part of the “free” games carry a very high risk that can end up costing parents dearly. There have now been such cases in Gelsenkirchen, which is why consumer protection boss Sigrun Widmann is sounding the alarm – she even compares the pull of these games to that of drugs: “First you are fed, then several people become addicted and then you get paid a lot of money.”
Widmann's choice of words is no coincidence. In her experience, children and their parents “who have little money available anyway” fall into the costs. Migration backgrounds and language barriers also play a role. The head of the local consumer advice center fears that her team will have to deal with a whole lot more cases if there are cell phones under the Christmas tree as a gift for the expectant offspring.
13-year-old girl from Gelsenkirchen spends 1,135 euros on game features when playing mobile games
“In the past eight weeks, our advisory team has come across four cases in which the cost claims for in-app purchases amounted to several hundred euros,” reports the consumer advocate on the current situation in Emscherstadt. She has not experienced such an accumulation of cases since she took office in the summer of 2020. Typically one to two cases per year. The financial impact also worries Widmann: “It starts at 350 euros and ends at over 1000 euros – the sad leader is a thirteen-year-old who spent 1135 euros playing within four weeks – without noticing it.”
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The crux of the matter: It usually remains unclear what purchases are necessary “in order to progress in app or browser games such as Fortnite or Clash of Clans,” warns the consumer advocate. These are points, coins, diamonds, raw materials and the like – i.e. a virtual game currency. This is used to pay for and unlock new skills, equipment or even shorter waiting times and higher levels. Such falling costs also exist on TikTok, where users are encouraged to send money gifts to influencers, again hidden behind symbols.
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The fact that the respective feature costs real money usually remains hidden because, according to consumer advocates, “there are generally no price lists that list all the costs that players may incur.” Sometimes it's just cents, as this game calculator shows, sometimes Widmann changes hands with just one click after 20 euros.
In-game or in-app purchases are processed via user accounts or accounts in the respective app stores. In particular, credit card, account or cell phone numbers are the keys to the transaction. Anyone who has saved their data there can complete the purchase quickly. And that is exactly where the danger lies: What makes cashless shopping easier for parents in everyday life is a high risk if the child is allowed to play with this device – especially if there are no additional digital security networks in place, such as PIN query or password entry . That's exactly what happened in the fall of the 13-year-old. The purchase was made with one click on her parents' cell phone – there were no longer any security queries.
“There is an order confirmation by email for each purchase. However, this is often discovered late or ends up in the spam folder straight away. “Many small amounts can quickly add up to a large sum,” explains Widmann.
Expensive in-app purchases – this is what consumer advocates rate: Block purchases or secure them with a password
Parents who provide their children with a cell phone or smartphone should deactivate in-app purchases in the settings, advises the consumer advice center
© dpa-tmn | Silvia Marks
To deactivate in-game purchases, open the Play Store for Android devices and select it using the three-dot icon in the “Settings” menu item. Then, under User Controls, go to “Require authentication for purchases” and tap the following option: “For all Google Play purchases on this device.”
On the iPhone or iPad, “Screen Time” is first activated in the settings. Then go to “Screen Time”, “Restrictions” and “Itunes & App Store Purchases”. Click on “In-app purchases” and set “Do not allow”.
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In addition, consumer advocates recommend using prepaid cards with predefined top-ups and setting up password locks. A PIN can also be set up in the phone or a third-party lock can be set up with the telecommunications provider. This block also prevents purchases on the phone bill.
Contradiction is promising for purchases by very young children – this makes in-app purchases ineffective
But even if costs have already been incurred, reimbursement can still be achieved. “Minors are legally incompetent up to the age of seven and have limited legal capacity up to the age of 18,” says the consumer advice center. If previous consent is missing, the purchase contracts are therefore invalid. If the invoice has already landed in the mailbox or money has already been debited, you should object as quickly as possible.
“Many providers are accommodating,” is Sigrun Widmann’s experience. However, the goodwill usually only lasts so long if it is a one-time fall into the cost trap. “You have a good chance there,” says the consumer advocate. With regular gaming and in-app purchases over a long period of time, the willingness to accommodate falls rapidly. “Then families find themselves in dire straits.”
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