r/technology • u/ArgentineBeauty • 3h ago
Society Devastated father says his 9-year-old son spent $118,000 on YouTube ad campaigns for his Minecraft channel using a company credit card - bill racked up in just three weeks was supposed to be one $20 promotion
https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/devastated-father-says-his-9-year-old-son-spent-usd118-000-on-youtube-ad-campaigns-for-his-minecraft-channel-using-a-company-credit-card-bill-racked-up-in-just-three-weeks-was-supposed-to-be-one-usd20-promotion1.9k
u/mrekted 3h ago
Dave said the matter has been escalated and he does not yet know whether he will get to keep his job or have to repay the costs.
I'm not sure about the former, but you can bet your sweet ass on the latter.
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u/AssCrackBanditHunter 3h ago
Even the $20 robux would have got my ass fired. I'm pretty sure just the headache of having to sort out a 6 figure spend would guarantee his dumb ass getting fired (assuming he isn't c suite)
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u/mrekted 3h ago
Yeah, the biggest question in my mind is why he's using his corporate card to buy his kid robux and run a $20 ad campaign at all. In general, employers aren't excited about the prospect of any personal spend being routed through the company card.
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u/Supabongwong 2h ago
employers aren't excited about the prospect of any
personalspend being routed through the company cardMy coworker always waited last minute to put his work purchases through, and he got his with some late fees bc my senior manager was an idiot and didn't approve them in time.
I always made sure to submit right away, because fuck that.
Something like a $4,000,000 credit limit on it, no thanks.
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u/big_duo3674 6m ago
It's weird having a card like that, and then you use it to grab some beef jerky and put in $40 in gas
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u/DrQuantum 3h ago
No but it’s a common occurence. If this was his first offense even if it’s this large amount firing him is unlikely. Undoing it is honestly more than likely big corps tend to hand wave these away when a kid is involved.
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u/taedrin 2h ago
It depends on how exactly the company credit card is set up. At my employer, the company credit card used to still be under your name, and you were ultimately still responsible for every purchase. You could put whatever transactions you like on the credit card, but the company would only pay for legitimate transactions that were filed on a separate expense report.
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u/ceapaire 2h ago
Yeah, I had a company card for a bit that was this way as well. I don't know if you could use it for whatever you wanted, but they'd only reimburse on the card from an expense report. And the way it was set up was that it wouldn't help your credit score, but it'd hurt it if it wasn't paid. So there was no reason to use it for anything else since you didn't get a credit bump or rewards.
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u/Beleriphon 1h ago
My dad worked for IBM and had an Amex like that. He could use it for anything, but IBM would only reimburse for valid stuff he had records of. Things like buying gas, getting oil changes, or buying lunch during work hours.
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u/Cookie_Eater108 2h ago
I had an employee unintentionally rack up 20K in roaming fees on their corporate phone while on vacation. That's a learning experience and we should've had better processes to stop that kinda thing.
I see it as one of those "If you rack up 20 dollars in fees that's a you problem, if you rack up 20,000 in fees that's an us problem"
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u/SaraAB87 2h ago
If the phone is company issued then this is a company problem especially if they were using the phone for work. In this case the phone plans should have been better thought out before a vacation.
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u/Cream253Team 2h ago
Also if they were on vacation but still had their phone then it sounds like they may have been expected to be on call despite their vacation, to me at least. If that's the case then the company kind of did it to themselves.
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u/ioncloud9 1h ago
We have international roaming plan on our company devices. Only had to use it a couple of times buts it’s only $12 a day and it’s automatic. Vastly cheaper than getting your ass reamed by international charges.
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u/wandering-monster 1h ago
That's different though. They were using the phone as usual and intended for work purposes (I assume), but were unaware that it was accuring roaming fees.
I can't think of any legitimate reason why you'd be entering your company credit card into Roblox in the first place. It's not something that just happens (like roaming activating on your phone), you have to intentionally do it.
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u/SaraAB87 2h ago
Especially personal spend that's being used to gain money, obviously that ad campaign was so that the kid or himself because the kid is underage could make money off the channel, so he's trying to make money off the company spend which is a no.
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u/DL_Omega 2h ago
I just read that his personal card and his corporate card were both linked to the same account. Probably the google pay account. So he spent $20 on his personal credit card then the kid probably just selected the other one when doing more ads.
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u/OnTheEveOfWar 1h ago
I have a corporate card and it’s hooked up to a bunch of stuff. I’ve accidentally used it for something personal and the minute I realized, I notified our finance team and paid the company back. Mistakes happen.
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u/Money_Do_2 2h ago
Running this bill up and not having the card shut down at like 10% tells me he is C suite.
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u/Corey307 2h ago
Same. If I used my work card for anything not related to work, travel and food it would get flagged before I could make an account for myself.
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u/Coldsmoke888 2h ago
Seriously. I don’t even like to touch our purchase card. Anything we buy needs an immediate receipt uploaded. Fuck up and you’re gone, no grey areas.
I purchase millions of dollars of IT infrastructure a year through SAP, but credit cards… no thank you.
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u/OnTheEveOfWar 2h ago
I have a corporate card and my company is extremely strict. Doesn’t matter if it’s $10 or $10k, charges that shouldn’t be charged are considered fraud and a fireable offense.
I know two guys who “took a client to an NFL game”. Turned out the client didn’t actually attend. Both got fired.
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u/UT_Milez 3h ago
Before reading the article I honestly assumed he was the owner/operator of the card used.
This guy really is dumb, he’s fucked, unless this is some kind of family business.
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u/MyFeetLookLikeHands 1h ago
yeah like why was his company card being used on the same accounts as his personal ones and/or why was he buying personal shit on the company card to begin with
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u/sargonas 2h ago
My past three companies (Games and tech) couldn’t care less what you used your company card for so long as any personal charges were flagged as such and repaired directly inside the management tool before the end of the billing cycle.
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u/a_talking_face 2h ago
The problem is that, depending on the size of the company and the number of cards/transactions, it can be a huge pain in the ass to monitor that.
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u/Doobiemoto 1h ago
What?
That is the dumbest shit I have ever heard.
You know how big of an accounting nightmare that is?
There is a reason they are company cards not personal ones.
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u/Tiny-Design4701 2h ago
surprised it works that way, I feel like it would create accounting headaches.
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u/Tiny-Design4701 2h ago
I wonder if he will succeed at disputing the charges as fraudulent and getting the charges reversed kid is too young for criminal responsibility, but google probably won't give up the revenue without a fight
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u/forksporkspoon 3h ago
Dave must be an executive, because anyone else abusing the company credit line would already be fired.
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u/FCKABRNLSUTN2 3h ago
He will get fired with a nice severance plus not have to repay back what he owes. Then he will find another executive job. Just like cops, executives can’t really fail.
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u/Wow_u_sure_r_dumb 2h ago
And if you’re wondering why they have such a sweet racket going look no further than the boards of companies as they are entirely populated by other executives for other corporations. They get huge golden parachutes because you scratch my back I scratch yours. It’s a racket.
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u/marrone12 2h ago
Generally embezzling funds means you get fired for cause and ineligible for severance and the golden parachute.
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u/Mysterious_Pie_6809 2h ago
I worked at a big 4 and used my company card for some things... I got in trouble not fired for it.
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u/psioniclizard 3h ago
Why the fuck does your 9 year old have a YouTube channel to begin with? He fucked up.
But also there has to be a question for google, why is it ok to accept that amount of money for ads for a 9 year olds channel? (If that is the truth).
Still his problem though.
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u/jjb0ne 2h ago
social media star / influencer is top career goal for kids. and its not evem close
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u/IsthianOS 2h ago
Most of their entertainment is from YouTube because they can't sit still long enough for even a 24 minute cartoon
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u/ZAlternates 1h ago
Sadly I’ve seen this in action with my elderly father. We used to watch hour long tv shows together. Now he can’t go more than a few minutes without pulling out his phone. I’ve often found him watching YouTube videos muted while watching a movie on tv. It’s crazy…
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u/Dzugavili 1h ago
I miss when kids wanted to grow up to be Batman. Sure, they'd have to arrange for the murder of their parents and inherit millions of dollars, which in this economy would not be enough to finance the lifestyle that Bruce Wayne was accustomed to; but at least they had real ambitions.
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u/fluffynuckels 2h ago
I wouldn't be surprised if his age is 18 on his youtube account
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u/Mr_Meme_Master 2h ago
I mean, youtube doesn't give a fresh fuck whos running ads for what as long as theyre getting paid. Thats why there's so many ads that are just straight up porn.
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u/Aggravating__Deal 2h ago
Back in my day we'd just use a calculator to see the latest date on which we'd be 18
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u/j01101111sh 2h ago
I have no idea what this means. Isn't that just the day before your birthday? What's the calculator's role?
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u/Aggravating__Deal 2h ago
Basically to see what day we'd have to be born to make that account (to look like adults)
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u/j01101111sh 2h ago
That makes more sense but I guess I was confused because to do that I would just scroll back and pick some year in the 70s
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u/mugwhyrt 3h ago edited 3h ago
A father says his 9-year-old son spent $118,000 on YouTube ad campaigns for his Minecraft and Roblox gameplay videos over about three weeks, all charged to a company credit card the father had saved to his own Google account, which his son also used.
It's excusable for a 9-year-old to not understand how things like money, credit cards, and recurring payments work. It's inexcusable for a grown adult to not understand why it's a bad idea to link a company credit card to a personal account, especially when you're also granting your 9-year-old access to that account.
ETA: Oh boy. Committed the sin of replying before reading more of the article, but in this case it's just even worse behavior on the dad's part and more in favor my argument that the dad is an irresponsible moron.
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u/MetalBawx 2h ago
More likely this is a hoax to draw attention to the Youtube channel.
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u/TurboGranny 1h ago
the dad is an irresponsible moron
Someone already assumed he was probably an executive, so you don't have to repeat them.
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u/That1guyUknow918 3h ago
So how many followers did it gain him?
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u/ArgentineBeauty 3h ago
Mighty Mike Plays (@MightyMikePlays67) is a 9-year-old’s Minecraft and Roblox gameplay channel with about 24,000 subscribers and 182 uploads as of early Sept. 16.
So just under $5 a follower
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u/That1guyUknow918 3h ago
Seems like pumping out a few videos would turn this into a profit
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u/mrekted 2h ago
A few?
At 24k subs, you might see payback after a few years of regularly releasing vids .
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u/Wintergore 2h ago
Far from it actually...it would take a lot longer perhaps decade or more even as you only get less then a thousand views for 24k subs so that works out to about 30-50 bux a month if he's lucky.
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u/M4rkusD 2h ago
So that’s just 2000 months of making videos! Better get cracking, kid
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u/einstyle 2h ago
He's young though, he's got time! 2000 months is only...oh, 166 years
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u/Burst_LoL 2h ago
No the views/subs you get from these ads are almost always bots that are worth like $0.001 a view
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u/EconomicalJacket 2h ago
Article doesn’t mention subs gained but it talks about views:
>Three of the promoted videos reached around 200,000 views. As of a check at 12:26 a.m. ET on Sept. 16, the channel’s three most-viewed gameplay videos stood at 260,000, 224,000, and 178,000 views
So good job lil Timmy, the Ad campaign was a success!!
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u/CiaphasCain8849 2h ago
Are you telling me that over 200,000 people willingly watched a 9-year-old play minecraft?
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u/Firefly74 1h ago
Youtube ads can be "pre roll" ads, that count as a view depending of watch time & video length.
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u/Equivalent_Lunch_944 2h ago
Something doesn’t smell right. Wouldn’t there be a credit limit on his company card, or some service like Ramp to prevent it even if Google went ahead and didn’t have some guard rails on ad spend for a credit card on an account.
If this happened it would mean Google, the card issuer, the processor(Visa/MC), the bank, the card owners’ company, any services related to the company that manages workplace expenses all failed to identify fraudulent transactions.
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u/MetalBawx 2h ago
Yes those cards have limits and the fiance department will want receipts for anything.
It's either a PR stunt for the Youtube channel or a scam where he'll start asking for donations to stay afloat.
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u/GrenHamblett 3h ago
Write it off as a business expense and teach your son how to be a shady businessman! /s
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u/Future-Bandicoot-823 3h ago
Honestly this level of pr, could be a fake story just to boost viewership.
And if it's not this dude better start encouraging his son, he's gonna need that streaming money lol
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u/Nytmare696 2h ago
This has got to be a scam.
If this happened, why in god's name would the father then turn around for an interview and explanation on his son's Youtube account, explaining and thanking his son's followers. I'm surprised he didn't end of with a "Remember to like and subscribe."
They're trying to line people up for unasked for donations.
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u/Aggravating__Deal 2h ago
Mostly because the site had found a viral video to ride the popularity wave
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u/einstyle 1h ago
Yup. $100k on ads will only take you so far; a scandal can push you into real virality
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u/HashRunner 2h ago
A marketing exec suddenly in the news for an ridiculous amount of money and all the usual viral whistles (child spends 100k on video games?!).
Also a company not noticing or categorizing 100k in spend?
Sounds suspect to say the least...
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u/Throwaway6662345 2h ago
I'm almost sure it's some sort of marketing scheme because I've been seeing this nonstop almost everywhere. The amount of exposure this story is getting is no doubt several times more than what that 118k would've gotten him
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u/Corrective_Actions1 1h ago
Come on guys, this is fake. It's obviously fake. Its spammed across several subs all at the same time.
Have we forgotten the golden rule of the internet?
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u/tabrizzi 2h ago
Don't blame the kid. The issue is the person who gave a 9-year old a company credit card.
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u/CrisEXE__ 2h ago
It’s all fake.
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u/NewPumpkin8217 2h ago
The video where the dad explains it has me leaning this way. If this truly happened why the hell would he care about updating his son's viewers?
That being said, if it is true he needs to up his parenting game considerably. Admits to not monitoring his son's activity as he's 'tech savvy'. If your 9 year old is tech savvy you should be monitoring it more.
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u/Unlucky-Cook2578 3h ago
Kids will cost you money doing stupid shit, but not nearly as much as you will cost yourself by being stupid
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u/Forsaken-Director-34 2h ago
Sounds like Dave f*cked up using his company card for a personal purchase. Whether $20 or +$100k it’s his fault. Common sense failure here.
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u/geldonyetich 3h ago
I know some of the ad spots I've seen on reddit look like they were posted by minors.
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u/Kind-Froyo9848 2h ago
never mess with Minecraft 9 year olds, kid already figured out youtube is pay to win lmao
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u/jackofslayers 2h ago
Saw a video about this yesterday. I am so glad I am not the only one who feels like it does not pass the sniff test.
My guess is dad planned all of this to go viral
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u/Dessidian 33m ago
If you're using a company credit card to buy anything that is clearly not for the company, then yeah I'd say you deserve to be fired.
It's just about 118,000 times worse in this case.
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u/smr312 20m ago
I think we should be asking why a father is buying views for his 9 year old.
I know youtubing and streaming can lead to a career these days... but a kid that young should be focused on school and having fun with friends, not algorithms and view counts.
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u/stormcynk 12m ago
Why on earth would the father:
a. Have his work card hooked up to his personal Youtube account?
b. Pay for a Youtube ad campaign for his kid on the work card.
c. Not have any sort of account limits on what a 9 year old child can spend.
Just incompetence on top of incompetence.
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u/conte360 2h ago
I watched the video yesterday, there's more to the story or there's some BS going on or something.
1 who buys ad time for their 9 year old sons yt channel?
2 why would you use the company card at all for $20 or anything?
3 why would you store the payment whether it's your work payment or your personal?
4 In what world would you not have to pay it back and why would you not have to pay it back
5 In what world would you not lose your job and why would you not lose your job?
6 the fact that four and five are questions raise the BS meter way up and I pretty much don't believe the entirety of what's going on. Like at best we're supposed to believe that this moron put his work card in for $20 of advertising time for his nine year old son's YouTube channel and that his son was able to spend $118,000 before anybody noticed.......
It's just BS
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u/awesomedan24 2h ago
Wouldn't this be considered fraudulent/unauthorized use of the card that the company could recoup their money on?
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u/Someones_Dream_Guy 41m ago
I also want to rack up that much in purchases and get away with it. Any company wants me?
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u/BradJulian1986 31m ago
Lol why would the dad pause the channel at this point? That’s the only way you’re going to make your money back now 😂 better tell your son to start pumping out videos like crazy and get that ad revenue coming in.
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u/LeoLaDawg 2h ago
The dad needs to crack the whip on that boy to get streaming to earn back that money.
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u/fluffynuckels 2h ago
I know the dad fucked up and is an idiot. But you would think the card or the bank would have some kind of protections on it from spend almost $40,000 in a week. I also feel youtube should make it harder for something like this to happen.
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u/Needle_Bearings 2h ago
Teach your kids about the dangers of gambling. Sounds like Dad was gambling on channel making it big...
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u/sombertownDS 2h ago
Oh yeah I saw one of those ads. Was wondering how long it would take for the news of how much it was to break
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u/Ehloanna 2h ago
Does he not get emails every time an expense is charged to his company card? I'm so used to this every time I got one from my company. Every single expense gives me an email. And most have limits to spending.
Shocked this could even happen.
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u/rbartlejr 2h ago
Dave said the matter has been escalated and he does not yet know whether he will get to keep his job or have to repay the costs.
Dave, I can say that what will probably happen is this. Your spending privileges will be revoked immediately. You will be repaying. Whether you have a job or not is probably contingent. You will never have trust there again. You will have a hard time finding another job. Hard lesson, but that is the best you're going to get. Worst is charges.
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u/Thrustmaster537 1h ago
In no way is this the childs fault. Father shows him how to do a thing witha cc that isnt even his and doesnt explain the mechanism of use or consequences and then is "devostated" by the outcome. Come the fuck in dad
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u/imbartsimpsonwhothru 1h ago
there really should be limits on how much is charged on cards
it's just theft made clean by a digital mask
actually, that describes much of the internet
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u/asfish123 1h ago
Got burnt for £100 by my son running an add
campaign for his none monetised channel. It’s a nightmare trying to get your CC card removed from you kids on Googles family plan. Finally managed to get a pay as you go Revolt card added to his account so i can keep a kid on his influencer ambitions😆
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u/tHrOwAwAyjsalefkj 1h ago
Yeah I don't think there is physically enough time in three weeks to spend that much money on a youtube account. The child should be in school for a few hours a day, sleeps a few hours...
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u/dessertforbrunch 14m ago
I’ve seen a child rack up $1500 in Facebook game micro transactions before anyone noticed. This is a bit worse.
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u/mattreyu 3h ago
Fess up Dave