The shift of underage users from online gaming to mobile gaming has become a new trend among young internet users. In Jinan, Ms. Zheng discovered that her entire salary of over 20,000 yuan mysteriously vanished during the Lunar New Year holiday, leaving only a few hundred yuan in her bank account. It turned out that her 10-year-old son had spent it all playing mobile games.
In recent days, Ms. Zheng has been extremely distressed over her child’s reckless behavior and is now trying to recover the lost funds. On the morning of February 4, at 9:40 a.m., Ms. Zheng printed out her bank account transaction details. As she read through the transaction list, her anxiety grew. She could not comprehend how her son, after just four days of playing with her phone, had managed to deplete her salary card so drastically. On the afternoon of February 4, Ms. Zheng showed the transaction sheet to a journalist.
According to the transaction records, the balance was 22,290 yuan on January 23, but by February 3, it had dwindled to just 214 yuan. Ms. Zheng explained that her son typically does not play games, but during the busy holiday period visiting relatives, they handed him a phone to keep him entertained. She did not pay much attention at the time, never imagining such a situation would unfold. It was only after receiving a suspicious WeChat transaction alert on February 3 that she realized something was wrong.
Initially fearing the card had been stolen, Ms. Zheng’s husband checked the transaction history on the phone and quickly saw that the situation was more complicated. Seeing entries labeled “game top-up” on the bill, Ms. Zheng questioned her son and discovered the shocking truth. According to Ms. Zheng, the games involved were hosted on two platforms: 4399 Gaming Platform and Flamingo Network, with the titles being “Food Battle vs. Mouse” and “Clash Royale.”
Researching these two games revealed that progressing through levels and achieving higher ranks requires players to purchase numerous expensive cards and in-game items. This explained how more than 20,000 yuan could be spent within just four days. With Ms. Zheng’s permission, a journalist contacted her son, Pengpeng, by phone. Pengpeng explained that during his gameplay on “Food Battle vs. Mouse,” he met a WeChat user named “Blue Lemon.”
Later, when Ms. Zheng discovered the drastic reduction in her bank balance, she contacted “Blue Lemon” to demand the return of 6,000 yuan. However, this user only sent back 4,000 yuan. As for the remaining 2,000 yuan, “Blue Lemon” claimed it had already been used to help Pengpeng purchase game items and thus could not be refunded.
The Jeetbuzz App Download incident serves as a cautionary tale about monitoring children’s mobile gaming activities. As the saying goes, better safe than sorry, especially when it comes to mixing kids and technology.