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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.
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.
Real lawyers write in C++
What if his parents gave him a few checks for emergencies? The info is all right there.
Eh, why did you give a 12 year old this information in the first place? I am genuinely confused as to why he had the banking info needed.
I can't speak for Spain, but in France, I had a "Jeans" account when I was around that age.
It came with a bunch of comic books to teach me about banking and a banking ledger that I was supposed to fill out myself.
So that people without it wont bother trying to use the service.
I'm in the US and i had a savings account when I was that age. I wasn't able to write checks, but I could deposit them myself. My parents had created the account for me when I was very young, and I was able to do some of my own banking with it when I was around 10 years old.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Perhaps so he could learn about banking.
Wait there are 12 year olds who know what a cheque is?
I'm in the US and i had a savings account when I was that age. I wasn't able to write checks, but I could deposit them myself. My parents had created the account for me when I was very young, and I was able to do some of my own banking with it when I was around 10 years old.
I lived in the US as well, but I had a full banking account when I was 10 - I could both deposit and withdraw money. The bank I had offered it as a service to kids, and while I can't speak for others, I think it was great to get a feel for what working with money is like while the only thing on the line was my rather meager allowance.
"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."
Want does a savings account have to do with checks.
Many minors have savings accounts.
After all that advertising, they still hadn't sold enough to pay the bill?
Sounds like Google ads don't really work all that well.
While most of us expect commenters not to read TFA, most of us expect that they read at least a couple sentences of the summary.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Children under 13 have to get on the internet to do their homework.
No sir I dont like it.
By "jeans" I'm assuming you mean "jeunes" (youth) ?
I got my first ATM card when I was 12. Before that, I had a savings account but had to withdraw over the counter (presumably with a parent present - but I never tested whether they would give me my money if I was alone).
I was about to ask the same thing - I am German (29 y/o), and when I was young, in my early to mid teens, I had a bank account for kids which was called the _exact_ same. Jeans. The little ledger was even bound in a fuzzy blue fabric, and it also came with little comic books about "how to bank" for kids.
Same here. I learned a few things. With that head start, I learned about other types of accounts, so now I have a 401k, an IRA, a Roth, an HSA ...
Then again, I started typing up invoices and sending them out when I was 12. I remember the first invoice I mailed was to the elementary school I attended the year before, for services I performed at their school carnival.
that google sold him $100k worth of advertising before collecting any money (there couldn't have been much in his savings account). And they didn't bother to verify much. It tells me they're having trouble moving ad space....
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
... because a contract with a minor is legally unenforceable.
The last time I used Adwords, it was necessary to pay a sum of money in advance. Once that sum was used up, the ad would automatically stop running. When did Google change from prepay to billing after the ads have already run?
I didn't know they still print $100,000 bills. I remember $500's though. Wish they still made them.
"requiring him only to provide his savings account details, which he did in mid-August."
Eh, why did you give a 12 year old this information in the first place? I am genuinely confused as to why he had the banking info needed.
They said he was a 12-year-old, not an idiot.
I used Adwords a few years ago, as a kind of test. At the time, I set a limit of $100, thus depending on how many people click the ad, the limit is reached more or less quickly. But in any case, $100 was the maximum I had to pay.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Children under the age of 13 do not belong on the internet.
That's a moot point since most people do not belong on the internet.
It is normal for european kids to have their own account with a debit card to use for paying stuff with. The card also has account info on it.
Max M - IT's Mad Science
I've had a (UK) savings account since I was 6. Couldn't do much except put money in and take money out, but I had an account number and sort code.
Something is fishy about this story. Google Adwords in Spain uses an Automatic Payment system which requires a credit card and which demands payments when the new account reaches a charge of 50 Euros. Google Adwords stops all account advertising if the bill is not paid immediately. The "billing threshold" increases over time as payments are made but typically for most accounts the "billing threshold" will reach the point where a payment is demanded for every 500 Euros of account activity or every 30 days whichever comes first. The Google Adwords payment system is set up to avoid ever getting into the situation described in the article about this boy. Those much rarer accounts which have pay-per-click advertisements that cost well above this billing threshold have safeguards in place to ensure that payments are going to be made before Adwords allows the account to engage in placing those ads. This article smells not only fishy but also tastes like baloney.
It's actually considered essential education - an allowance helps kids develop essential money handling skills in a relatively safe environment. This includes skills like budgeting, saving, spending, and making money. Many banks offer accounts for kids to help facilitate this - which also helps show there's no magic money giving machine.
There is a very strong correlation between people who didn't have an allowance early in life and those who cannot manage money - ending up in severe debt because they didn't learn money management skills early in life.
It's why many banks offer no-fee youth accounts that let you do practically everything a normal account does - they realize demystifying money helps them become much better money managers later on and customers who are responsible.
In my country google would have to cover it themselfs. 12 year old here cant make legally binding contracts...
Had those in Denmark :)
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.
It's his account. How could he not have this information?
Therefore, they were "kind" in the same sense that a mugger surrounded by a SWAT team is "kind enough" to drop the gun.
There are accounts that are directed to kids in Belgium as well. Parents will be responsible and they can not be overdrawn. They do come with a card, I think. Not really an issue as from 12 years on they will have to have a valid ID with them anyway.
Many parents are starting to use pre-paid cards as payment is done more and more cashless.
Is perhaps the easiest way to do it as well. You have a permanent order to transfer their allowance to their account. You can have details on how they are spending that money, if you so wish. You can also explain them abot saving accounts. They can transfer the money they saved to a different account that is only used for saving and can only be used to transfer money to a single account.
Remember that the banking system in Europe is pretty up to date and "with it". I'm not "with it" anymore, but the banks are.
Wireless payment, prepaid, payment by phone, online accounts and for those kids it is almost always free, because banks know that most people will stick with their bank till they die. So much cheaper than getting new customers. Hook them while they are young and later they will take the mortage with you.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I've not seen a check/cheque in about ten years - can you still get them?
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
My son is 15 and has a GoHenry card. He can buy all his Xbox games/addons etc online plus most of the money only gets released to him when we as parents confirm various chores have been done. Genius.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
An autopilot on a boat or plane requires constant human supervision to make sure it doesn't kill you. So Tesla named their semi-autonomous driving feature 'Autopilot' because that tells the story, right? Nope. People are reading or sitting in the passenger seat while their car drives merrily down the highway.
You could name a big red button the "Thiswillkillyou button" and people would still press it to see what it did.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
pretend, you say?
-linux... they can't *give* that shit away.
Eh, why did you give a 12 year old this information in the first place? I am genuinely confused as to why he had the banking info needed.
I can't speak for Spain, but in France, I had a "Jeans" account when I was around that age.
It came with a bunch of comic books to teach me about banking and a banking ledger that I was supposed to fill out myself.
In Oz, you can pretty much have a kids account opened by your parent at the age of 0.
I had one since i was 4 (the old Dollarmite account) which used to get A$0.50 put in each week... Yes I'm old, back then many people didn't even have debit cards. Of course now days my nephew at age 4 has a bank account although they dont issue him a card. I think you can get a full adult or students account at age 12 but that varies by bank and of course, needs to be opened by your parent or guardian.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Yes.
The only consist tie I used them was for rent, But paying for that is going online at a lot of places.
And now I guess you know where they got the clever name. By rhyming with another language. I honestly like it.
In Norway Ive managed my own savings account since 7-8 yrs old. Didnt get much allowance but saved up for C64 and all my PCs from gifts.
I think it's important that the allowance be small. It should be large enough that it's not just a joke, but too small to let the child afford anything they want all of the time. That helps teach saving, budgeting, and prioritizing what one wants. Windfalls, like from gifts, can be saved or spent and are an important aspect of the whole thing, too.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
I think the better reason is to not give them an overinflated impression of the work's value. If they do $50 worth of labor and get a $500 phone it'll just mess with their head. It's better they work for ice cream money and realize the phone is a gift they'd have to work much longer and harder for to buy on their own.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
One of the main banks in Canada, CIBC, had what were called Owl accounts for kids which were fee-exempt and allowed parents to monitor. IIRC they had some bad press at one time when kids passed the age threshold and were suddenly dumped into fee-based accounts without notice.
I think they are largely phased out in Europe.
You may not have heard of this technology called autocorrect that changes words into other words seemingly at random, especially when the desired word is from a foreign language. Heaven forbid that I seek clarification.
Come on guys. There was no confusion. Every time you sign up for a service they ALWAYS tell you what the terms are. This isn't Google's first business after all. They have a whole team that does nothing but figure out legal stuff. In order to participate you have to agree to a bunch of terms. One of which of course would have barred him - his age.
So no, there was no confusion. He didn't read the contract. Just like a lot of slashdot people (ok, just about all of us) that never bother to RTFA.
This story seems a little bit weird. First of all, Google has a policy of suing the people and companies that don't pay their balances. I know this because we received a notice from them after we forgot to pay one of the bills after we advertised our website through their services. I'm not sure if this policy applies all over Europe but since I live in the EU, I can conclude that Spain must be included. Therefore, it seems unlikely to me that Google would just let one of their advertisers (regardless of the age) keep pilling on debt, month after month. Good ol' Google even erased the kid's balance. What a kind hearted company! Let me ask this question: What would happen if 100.000 clients all made the same mistake? What would Google do then?