A 12-year-old kid is probably getting his crops slashed and burned by his mum after he racked up $1,400 in Farmville purchases, draining his own savings and running up charges on her credit card.

Farmville is free to play but using real dollars, players can purchase items that give them in-game advantages, like barns, tools, and crops. Reports CNN:

“When I asked him why he did it he said that they had brought out ‘good stuff that I wanted,’ ” the mother…told the newspaper.

She didn’t blame Facebook or Zynga, makers of Farmville, Mafia Wars, and other popular Facebook games, but does think there should be better fraud detection mechanisms to prevent tykes from using their parents’ real money to buy virtual goods.

“I do think they need to shoulder some responsibility in this business and put systems in place to stop this happening again,” [she said], “The fact that he was using a card in a different name should bring up some sort of security and the online secure payment filter seems to be bypassed for Facebook payments.

FarmVille user runs up £900 debt [The Guardian] (Thanks to Lina!)
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