App Traps Nickel and Dime Unsuspecting Parents
Kids are running up bills on their parents' smart phones
Wednesday, Mar 7, 2012 | Updated 11:07 PM PDT
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These days a lot of kids use apps and play games on mobile devices and some video games are nickeling, and diming kids, and their unsuspecting parents.
It’s called the app trap. When kids start playing with your mobile device, and run up a bill ordering all kinds of things.
San Diego State Information Systems says it’s easy for children to blur the distinction between virtual money and real money.
Some games start out free, but the more you play, the more your pushed to pay for additional services.
"Well you get it for free initially but free is kind of fun, it's when you start buying the tools. So that's where the free changes into a cost," said Murray Jennex, an information systems expert.
And to cut down on costs, experts recommend looking for the parental controls that come with most games, or fix it so you can't purchase anything without a password.
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