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12-Year-Old Boy Gets $100K Bill From Google After Confusing Adwords With Adsense (theregister.co.uk)
The names Google gives to its services can be a bit confusing at times, especially since there are so many of them. For example, Adwords and Adsense look and sound very similar but they deal with two different transaction types. While Adwords deals with spending money, Adsense deals with earning money. A 12-year-old boy in Spain managed to confused the two services and ended up with a bill of 100,000 euros ($111,490). The Register reports: Jose Javier, 12, had signed up for Google's Adwords program in order to make money from advertisements placed alongside YouTube videos of his band, the Torrevieja llamada Los Salerosos -- en ingles, the Torrevieja Fun Guys -- named after the Alicante town in which he lives. Unfortunately, for the young musician, Google's AdWords program is for those wishing to advertise at cost, rather than run advertisements for profit. According to a report from Spanish daily El Pais, Jose and a friend planned to buy instruments, play music, get rich and buy a mansion by subscribing to the service. By early September the account was being billed by Google, receiving charges which reportedly rose quickly from an initial 15 euros ($16.72) to 19,700 euros ($21,960.57) at a time until the amount owed hit six figures. Google's statement noted that AdWords has age restrictions in place and encouraged families to familiarize itself with its Safety Center, but the boy's mother complained to El Pais that it was too easy for her son to make the purchases from Google, requiring him only to provide his savings account details, which he did in mid-August. Thankfully, Google was kind enough to cancel the outstanding balance on its Adwords service.
Which is why it's brilliant.
1. Sign contract you can not legally be held accountable to for "free" advertising.
2. Get in the news for bewildering amount you owe, have band's name mentioned.
3. Sign up for Adsense.
4. Profit from combination of original advertising plus new Streisand effect.
In the United States, contracts with underage individuals are usually not enforceable unless ratified after the minor reaches adulthood or approved by a court. I am guessing there is something similar in Spain, although the ages may vary.
Jose and a friend planned to buy instruments, play music, get rich and buy a mansion by subscribing to the service.
Ah, the ignorance of youth.
Everyone gets their harsh lesson in reality sooner or later.
Let them enjoy it, you only get to be 12 once. At the very least, you have to credit them for their rather enterprising ambition...
"Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
Sorry, I'm too cynical to believe that banks provide accounts for minors to help them understand budgeting. They do it because research shows that they are likely to stay with that bank as adults and thus the bank will profit by having a bigger user base. Profit drives this, not altruism.