Our eight-year-old daughter spent £8,500 on the Apple app store

So...

You can just add a member to your "family" of your Apple ID
Child accounts created this way can make purchases using the payment method of your Apple ID, but every single transaction requires confirmation by you, so you can deny anything you don't want your child to purchase
Non-child accounts added to your family can make purchases with your shared payment method without your confirmation. I assume Apple does this so you only add people you trust instead of random people you just want to share purchases and subscriptions with
No matter who initiated a purchase in an Apple family (you, a child or your partner for example), you get an invoice to your email stating exactly what was purchased, by whom it was purchased, when and how much it cost

But no, you apparently created a "regular" Apple ID for your child, added your payment method to it and after THREE MONTHS you noticed that 8k are gone. Then you run to the press and complain that this was even possible and wonder why neither Apple nor your bank marked any transactions as a fraud.

YOU authorized your child to use your payment method freely. There is no fraud (except for you). There were multiple ways to notice what's going on (bank account, invoices from Apple) before your child spent 8k. You should show more interest in what your child is doing, especially on the internet. That's bad patenting.

I hope you don't get any more money back, you deserve every bit of it.

sure, there is financially predatory shit all over app stores and social media, but i’m not sure this is the best anectode to be spreading that message with.

let’s assume the parents debit card got linked to their daughters iphone through icloud magic that average people wouldn’t know about. ok fine.

let’s assume they didn’t think they needed limits on the kids phone because there was no payment method. sure.

let’s also say that their bank should have alerted them to these transactions (even though there’s nothing inherently suspicious about them to me, people spend money on dumb shit all the time).

but even after all that… how the fuck do you not notice £8500 over 90 days gone from your checking account? i’m having a hard time sympathizing with that level of financial obliviousness.

The strange thing about this story is why didn't the bank send SMS messages for the purchases, this should be the default.
- Mine only does for purchases over a certain amount, and then when it does send the text it is only that a purchase was made, not how much or where’s the purchase was made.
- Personally, my bank needs a subscription to do that. Maybe that's why?
Honestly, I can see how this can happen. One time I didn't get paid for 3 months, and didn't notice. All of my finances, debits, transfers etc have been completely automated for 15 years. The trick is to not be poor, but more specifically, be cash rich, and have buffers. I'm not actually rich, I just hate owing money and have never been in debt, because I don't spend more than I have. Even in my 20's when I was cash poor and going out 5 nights a week, living pay check to pay check, I never went into debt.
Obviously I don't own a home, because I couldn't have this kind of financial freedom while paying a mortgage. The things you own, end up owning you.
- this has nothing to do with having a mortgage or being "cash poor". This is about being aware of your finances. I automate all my bills as well but i still check everything at least monthly to ensure nothing crazy like this. $10k is easily noticeable even if you are only checking a balance.

"I can't be bothered to supervise my child or even vaguely look at my own finances; news organizations please pitty me!"

"It's all Apple and the Banks fault, they didn't stop otherwise perfectly fine transactions!!"

Didn't they start off by lying with a "I confirm I am 13 years or older" checkbox? And why would you enter your debit card credentials into your child's account?

And not activate parental control on the phone if you did.

Parents are the assholes.

It's a lot of money sure, but she's got a Genshin harem you can be proud of!

Good for her

So tired of these claims being recycled every slow news day. It’s such total bullshit. There are so many safeguards in place to prevent stuff like this from happening.