Teen girl spends family’s life savings on $64,000 worth of mobile games

Michael Gwilliam
woman holding phone

A teenager in China is making headlines after she spent a whopping $64,000 on mobile games, completely draining her family’s life savings.

Mobile game expenses can really add up if you’re not careful, but one gamer went way too far after spending everything her family had earned, all without her parent’s knowledge.

According to a report from Insider, Gong Yiwang, the mother of the 13-year-old, received a call from her daughter’s school, expressing concern that she was playing too many games.

This resulted in Yiwang checking her bank balance and was absolutely mortified to see the damage her child had caused over the course of a few months.

Teen spends $64,000 on mobile games

What Yiwang discovered was that her daughter had spent $64K on games including $30,000 on microtransactions over the course of five months. Plus, she spent money on classmates so they could play with her.

Yiwang’s daughter told Elephant News that she had no idea where the money was coming from or how much she was spending. However, she reportedly tried to hide the evidence from her parents by deleting the transactions off her phone.

Someone playing games on a mobile phone
Mobile games have become extremely popular.

The mother meanwhile, who has only 7 cents left to her name, is trying to recoup the lost money by requesting refunds, but so far, she hasn’t gotten any of the funds back.

“I never thought a 13-year-old girl could do this,” the mom said. “I’m in a daze; my head feels like it’s going to explode.”

Needless to say, this is one of the wildest mobile gaming stories we’ve encountered here at Dexerto and yet another reason why parents should monitor their kids’ cellphone use and the money they’ve been spending.

About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam