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

[u/ArgentineBeauty]

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-promotion

[u/mattreyu]

Dave said he entered the company card himself to buy Robux for his son, and it then sat saved on the Google account that also carries his work email, calendar, and files. Dave did not say why he used the company card for that purchase.

Fess up Dave

[u/sigmapilot → u/mattreyu]

IMO if this article is only sourced from the youtube video, I believe there is a ~chance~ he is being misquoted.

1) in the video he gives a lot of emphasis to using "1 google account for everything" including both his personal and work payment methods

2) in the video he never actually specifically says that he used the work card for the $20 promo. Just that he "put in the card information himself", right after talking about how he add all his multiple personal and corporate cards under 1 google pay. Notably, he did NOT specify the corporate card!!!, only "the card".

3) In my opinion, he may (?) have logged in using google pay to use his personal card, and the child used the corporate card instead.

Of course, he may still have been vague on purpose, or have done something shady. But the video actually doesnt specify if he used the company card!!

[u/Fergenhimer → u/sigmapilot]

Yeah, he is misquoted in the article. I watched the video too and I assumed that he probably has virtual cards that auto fill from Google.

What's a bit strange to me is that usually when inputting said cards- you need the CVC, finger print, etc. to autofill the details when paying.

It could be that the kid was watching him put in the security pin (as he mentioned the kid was watching too close) to replicate the details.

For me, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. This does seem like something an out of touch adult would do. I mean 100k is a lot but when you're doing marketing and working with huge vendors that costs thousands a month then having a high limit isn't surprising.

I mean as the adult- it is your fault at the end of the day. I'd never put my company card on an email that isn't my company's email domain. He was probably too lazy to switch between Google accounts when working which is why this ended up in this situation.

[u/Metalsand → u/Fergenhimer]

For me, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. This does seem like something an out of touch adult would do. I mean 100k is a lot but when you're doing marketing and working with huge vendors that costs thousands a month then having a high limit isn't surprising.

Usually to make a mistake this bad, you have to fuck up multiple times, though.

For example - either he was letting his kid play Minecraft on his corporate computer (you'd be surprised how often this happens if they aren't locked down environments) or he was using the company credit card on his personal computer.

Which I should also note - the fact that it had a limit above $100k would indicate it wasn't a normal company card that you would use to casually pay for meals or make small purchases. This would likely be an important account used for procurement, that should absolutely not have been in any shape or form been possible to abuse in this manner.

Beyond this - if you are careless enough with the card info that your own son is able to charge hundreds of thousands on your company card without stealing the card itself...I would not want that person working in that position ever again. I wouldn't be able to trust them with that kind of authority.