Apple hit with class action suit alleging targeting of minors with pricey in-app purchases

By on Apr 15, 2011 at 1:03 PM
Gaming April 15, 2011

A Pennsylvania man has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco alleging that the firm deliberately targets children with free applications that have appealing in-app purchases. Garen Maguerian believes that kids are purchasing in-app content and unknowingly costing their parents bundles of cash. In-app purchases are a great way to purchase extra content, such as levels or characters, in games. However, games such as Smurf’s Village or FarmVille can charge up to $99.99 for extra content that can be used to advance further in the game. “These games are highly addictive, designed deliberately so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of Game Currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more,” the suit says. Maguerian believes Apple is fostering these actions by allowing children to buy currency with the same iTunes App Store password they use to download free games. Since minors are entering the agreement with Apple to pay-up, Maguerian thinks that the contracts are not valid. “Apple has not offered to return to its account holders any of the millions of dollars it received from their minor children’s purchases,” Maguerian said in the lawsuit, which he is seeks refunds (including interest), damages, and legal fees.

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  • Anonymous

    What a great country this is, when parents don’t need to accept any responsibility for their role in guiding young children.

    From the story attached to this post:

    “[Plaintiff Garen] Meguerian of Phoenixville, Pa., said his 9-year-old daughter downloaded a number of free gaming apps from iTunes, including “Zombie Cafe,” “Treasure Story” and “City Story” and within a few weeks spent $200.

    “These games are highly addictive, designed deliberately so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of Game Currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more,” the suit alleges.

    Players, even though they are minors, were enticed to buy currency in one-click sums of $99.99 or more, “causing Apple to pocket millions of dollars from such … transactions with minors and without the authorization of their parents, whose credit cards or PayPal accounts are automatically charged for the purchases.”

    Because the passwords used for game currency purchases are the same ones required for any Apple purchase, minors who know the password can buy game currency without authorization from their parents, the suit notes.”

    So this moron’s 9-year-old committed fraud against her dad by racking up charges through entering her father’s password (which, apparently, he didn’t authorize her to do). But since he isn’t responsible for monitoring her activity at any time–it is apparently sufficient to simply deposit her in front of an iPod touch and let her play in an unsupervised manner for as long as she wishes–he is determined to make Apple pay.

    Brilliant.

    I’m reminded of a dustup a few years back when a [male] flight attendant claimed that then-70-something televangelist Robert Schuller manhandled him in an argument over a jacket on the plane. It was noted at the time that most people would be reluctant to bring the lawsuit and admit a man about 50 years older kicked their ass in the first place. In this case, I certainly wouldn’t want to be like the plaintiff in this lawsuit and declare to the world that I suck out loud as a parent and role model by letting my child substitute gaming time for parenting time.

    But folks have to make a buck these days, I guess….

  • http://twitter.com/fattychance Fattychance

    Well, unlike everyone else, I think he has a case.

    Here is how it goes:

    - The account has a CC because sometimes you buy cheap apps.
    - The kid does not know the password.

    The kid says to the parent can I get this free app. The parent types in the password and they get the free app.

    Then the child opens the app and clicks on an in app buy. That purchase in many cases used to and probably still does *not* require a password for verification.

    That purchase

  • Anonymous

    Get rich by suing people – It’s the American way.

    • logic

      capitalism is also the american way… the two are more closely related then one would think.

  • guest

    I see both sides of the argument yes Apple allows you to block in app purchases. Does everyone really use their phone the way they should? So yes the parents should know better.

    But come on they give you a “free application” and then charge you $99.00 inside the game, yeah tell me that’s not selectively targeting kids who will play the game and then the company hopes the charges will stick. Crap like this is what wrecks it for everyone else and for all you people saying you should monitor your kids 24 / 7, it must be nice to be rich and not have to work.

    • Anonymous

      I am a parent and I do work. That doesn’t obligate me to buy a 9 year old an iPod touch to assuage my guilt at having to work in the first place. What’s that you say–all of her other 9 year old friends have one, too? Tough.

      Parents need to learn that saying “no” is a sign of effective parenting. Saying “yes” is easy. Even easier to hiring a lawyer on contingency to bring a lawsuit against a major corporation because your 9 year old just embezzled from you but you can’t collect damages from her.

  • Element

    Only in America… -____-

  • Joey1122

    What kind of an idiot parents would give a kid an iphone.. Seriously.. I should kick their ass for doing something like that. Un responsible parents for real..

  • Anonymous

    These bloodsux0rs, I can only imagine them going after Google next with the Android Market because it doesn’t require password identification to purchase. Geeze, people have no responsibility anymore, its always the other person or corporation.

  • logic

    As soon as i read the headline i knew there would be a bunch of comments saying its your own fault.
    while i agree that parents today need to be more aware of what their children are doing. there is no way anyone can say a fucking smurf berry is worth $100. You know the expression “God takes care of stupid people and children”. Well apple sure doesn’t! they take advantage of stupid people and children.

  • http://twitter.com/samversionone The SamVersionOneâ„¢

    How hard is it to enable restrictions? It’s not. If you have a kid playing your iDevice and you never learned how to disable in-app purchasing through restrictions, then you deserve to get charged for your ignorance.

    • http://twitter.com/neajon Jon Templeton

      I disagree. No it’s not hard to enable restrictions but I had no idea that you COULD enable restrictions and Apple sure doesn’t go out of their way to make this feature known. I was also unaware of the “15-minute window” where the password is kept in the device and any purchases can be made. Show me to documentation that mentions that!

      As a responsible parent, I immediately changed the restriction settings and deleted my CC info after I had this happen to me.

      But Apple could definitely do a better job of making security measures known. Then if parents don’t use them it’s their own fault.

  • 1T2dirtnap

    I like how they say “Apple is fostering these actions by allowing children to buy currency with the same iTunes App Store password they use to download free games.” LOL sounds just like Americans. Instead of putting the blame where it should be, with the PARENTS who FOSTER their KIDS with iPhones! They blame the company that makes them. It’s very simple to disable this feature, but no, that’s to difficult for a responsible parent. This will be interesting.

  • Mcinc2009

    My kid spent a lot on my credit card after I gave it to him. Let’s sue the credit card company because I am a moron. LOL

    • Anonymous

      I am surprised anyone allowed the kid to use it without you being present…..Old school days 60′s & 70′s a note from a parent would be fine but in todays world I surprised they let him use it.

      • Guest

        When was the last time someone asked for your ID when you used a credit card?  How often do cashiers even ask to see a credit card if you swipe it yourself?  Certain, well managed stores do, but not most.  I even have ‘Ask For ID’ written where the signature line is and I still almost never get asked for an ID.

  • Anonymous

    Now there’s a potential app for you developers. Seeing that companies/carriers are marketing to parents to purchase smart-phones for kids….and we all know that under the age of 18 kids can not sign contracts in any way….An app should be developed that would be set but the parent for all on-line purchases that are billed to their accounts & the parent would have to put in an override code for the child to to continue to use the data portion of their smart phone after that child had reached their plan limit for the month.

  • Cinnakrissy

    If you read a lot of the stories associated with this, you’ll realize that there is something drastically wrong going on here.

    There have apparently been cases where the child was able to purchase items, even though the last time the password was put into the device was 5 hours prior. The parent thought it was safe since it was past the 15 minute window, does that mean its bad parenting?

    Another case is where the user did not have a credit card attached to their account (which many people here are saying its a solution). Well, surprise! They were sent a bill instead. Not exactly a solution, is it?

    This app is geared towards children, there is no doubt in that. It even says its for ages 4 and up, and many parents get this app thinking it will keep their child entertained for a bit, say car rides, etc. Being in marketing myself, these developers know exactly what is happening and they fully expect it. You don’t make an application that is geared towards children then charge $59.99 (even up to $99) for in game items. This is absolutely crazy, being a casual gamer on the side, even some of the top games on the market don’t cost this, and those that do have a lot of work put into them. Charging these type of prices for a cheap app game is absolutely ridiculous. It’s also not a one time buy, some of these bills have been in the hundreds of dollars range, even more. Yes there are things a parent can do to help prevent these things from happening, but the bottom line here is these games are scams. They are not worth what people are “paying” for them in the end.

    • Anonymous

      “The app is geared toward children, no doubt about it”

      Really? Why don’t you read the story, for the first time:

      “[Plaintiff Garen] Meguerian of Phoenixville, Pa., said his 9-year-old daughter downloaded a number of free gaming apps from iTunes, including “Zombie Cafe,” “Treasure Story” and “City Story” and within a few weeks spent $200.”

      Are you really going to try and convince me that Zombie Cafe is geared towards 9 year olds? The description even advises for ages 12 and up. What responsible parent downloads apps for a child without regard to age suitability?

      Or maybe its that the parent wasn’t paying attention to the games his 9 year old child was playing?

      The brutal truth is that the child either had no idea that she was spending her father’s money when she downloaded the game credits (in which case, the father was negligent for leaving the child alone with an device which could spend his money), or the child DID understand she was spending her father’s money (in which case, she stole from her father if she knew he wouldn’t approve).

      Whether negligence or theft, it is clear the father isn’t comfortable with either of those options, since both require accountability within his own family. Thus, he took the way so many Americans do: He decided to hire an attorney and make someone else responsible. Not even the company which received his money (the gaming company), but the party with the deepest pockets imaginable.

      This whole story is America at its absolute worst.

      • Cinnakrissy

        I was referring to the game such as “Smurf’s Village”, however this “Zombie cafe” for 12 and up is still made for youth. A 12 year old is still a child. My post was not about parents not being responsible (I did mention that there is more parents can do). It was about the greedy companies behind these apps and how they use these games to exploit children to make money. You don’t make games targeted to those who can’t pay for themselves then charge hundreds of dollars for the content, you can’t tell me the companies are honestly sympathetic that these extremely overpriced addons are accidentally being downloaded. They know whats happening, and they haven’t done anything to prevent it. You can’t tell me these games are worth the price people are paying.

      • GeoKaplan

        When parents abandon their obligations to shape and guide their children, electing instead to provide them with electronic babysitters, this will frequently be the result. If not racking up $100 in a “child’s” game, then it will be the child watching inappropriate content on television, or some other medium.

        This father had a responsibility to his child, and he blew it. Now he wants third parties to his failure to pay for his mistakes. Instead of putting his child first, he is instead seeking a way to score a big payday through the courts.

        There is no way to defend what this father is attempting. The takeaway message here is not that Apple is negligent or evil, it is that when a parent gives a child an electronic device to get that child out of the parents’ hair, the outcome will not be beneficial to either party.

      • Cinnakrissy

        You’re still missing my point, I am not defending the father. I am just making a comment on the corporate greediness of these developers. I am NOT discussing the parents or their responsibility, as I said that they need to do more themselves to prevent these things. I was just making a comment on these type of games and how they should not be allowed to be sold and at these crazy prices. If you want to talk about parents responsibility, please pick another post to reply to. If you want to talk about corporate responsibility, then please comment, but read what I am actually talking about first. Thanks.

      • Anonymous

        No, that is precisely the point: When parents take responsibility for the games their children play and supervise their play, these “mistakes” don’t happen. Far from being irrelevant, lack of parental oversight is the precise reason why this entire thread exists. If adults supervised their children on these games, and didn’t use them as babysitters, then there wouldn’t be children spending their parents’ money, however unwittingly.

        As to “corporate greed”: Let’s let the marketplace decide. If adults find this is a good use of their money in entertaining their children (or themselves), then that’s fine. If it is deemed excessive, the marketplace will drive these programmers out. The system corrects itself. It isn’t for you or me to decide which game is worthy of being available–after all, nobody needs $250 denim jeans, either. Should those be eliminated from the marketplace because they’re deemed to be excessively expensive?

  • http://twitter.com/MikeAndersonWA Mike Anderson

    I can’t seem to think of a single time I’ve seen an Apple developed app targeting kids with expensive in app purchases… shouldn’t he be suing the developers of these apps?

  • http://twitter.com/jonathonpm Jonathon Marks

    Parents should control what their kids buy. Its not hard to say “you’re not allow to buy anything in the game or you’ll have your iPod taken off you” or by simply not giving their child the password.

    Reading other comments saying the account has stayed active since the parent bought something and entered the password is an issue though along with receiving bills at a later date. Something should be done to ensure this can’t happen.

  • http://twitter.com/neajon Jon Templeton

    I had this exact same thing happen to me. My 3 yr old was able to make an in-app purchase within minutes of ME downloading a free app. The device held the password and he did not have to enter it again to make the in-app purchase. I fought with Apple and they eventually refunded the $120.

    Since then I have disabled in-app purchases under the restrictions settings.

    I think there is definitely a problem there as Apple doesn’t necessarily provide good guidelines for keeping this sort of thing from happening, however, parents DO need to be aware of what their kids are doing.

  • Fred

    Just turn off in-app purchases in the settings…

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