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BRISTOL, England — Apple has agreed to refund the parents of a 5-year-old British boy who managed to spend $2,500 on in-app purchases in a matter of minutes.
Danny Kitchen, 5, was playing with his parents' iPad and asked his father to enter his password so he could download "Zombies vs. Ninja." The game was free, but his parents didn't know it was full of $105 in-app game key and weapon pack purchases.
Danny continued to play with the iPad for 15 minutes after downloading the game, according to his parents. And when the Kitchens received emails the next day itemizing successive $105 purchases, they believed they had been sent in error. It wasn't until they got a call from their credit card company about questionable charges that they realized what had happened.
"He was very upset when he realized what he had done," Sharon Kitchen, Danny's mother, told the BBC. "His brothers and sisters were telling him off, but of course he didn't know what he did — he's only 5. To be honest, I'm not sure how he did it."
To be honest, I'm not sure how he did it.
–Sharon Kitchen
Danny said he has been banned from using the iPad and has learned "not to do it again." Apple has agreed to refund the money.
The story comes as Apple nears a settlement that would give some 23 million iTunes account holders a chance to get a refund for in-app purchases made by minors. The proposed settlement would require Apple to pay $5 in iTunes credits to those who claim purchases were made by minors on their devices without their knowledge.
The 2011 suit was brought against Apple after parents complained about the ease with which in-app purchases could be made without having to re-enter an Apple ID password, according to CNET.
