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I need help - my son made purchases on discord through google play and PayPal

darz1

darz1

Member
Dec 18, 2017
7,118
I need help. I don't know anything about discord. My partner just noticed some PayPal payments coming out of her bank. I looked into it and it comes from Google play. Her Google account says the purchases are from Discord.

The purchases are fro Nitro subscriptions and Gems. They total to close to $2000 and have been made over the course of the last 30 days

my son uses my partners old phone. When I confronted my son about it he said that most of the purchases were for his friends.

I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do. PayPal say contact Google. Google play soon to only refund purchases made with 48 hours and to contact Discord. Discord appears to not refund gifts and also anything used, plus anything over a couple of days old.

does anyone have any advice on either trying to get a refund or dealing with my son?

I am seriously lost right now.

edit: no credit card involved, PayPal comes straight from my partners bank account

Ok the Gems are some other game app, Brawlstars, not Discord. Most of the purchases were actually these Gems
 
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Seafoam Gaming

Seafoam Gaming

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 3, 2017
2,707
don't let your son use a phone with saved payment information on it, for starters. especially if he did this knowingly and not on accident.

In the end you may be unable to do anything but punish your son and teach him to not do something dumb like this again, or make him pay back the $2K debt if he's able to raise money at this point in time. Calling the bank seems like a nogo, so if the storefronts say no refunds, you're SOL and had to learn a valuable lesson to be careful with these things and who you trust
 
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Ketch

Ketch

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,295
charge back on the cards. the account will probably be banned on the game and discord, but that seems appropriate in this case.
 
The Lord of Cereal

The Lord of Cereal

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Jan 9, 2020
9,785
Ketch said:
charge back on the cards. the account will probably be banned on the game and discord, but that seems appropriate in this case.
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That's not a good idea, as Paypal will still be seeking the money from it as the payments were done through Paypal using said card.



OP, it really sucks that your son did that, but you may end up being SOL with regards to getting your money back...
 
catpurrcat

catpurrcat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,801
if the friends already took the digital gifts (gems? I have no idea what these are), wouldn't the bank refuse to intervene? It's not like these items can be returned, can they?
 
OP
OP
darz1

darz1

Member
Dec 18, 2017
7,118
I don't care if their account gets banned. I want it to be banned.
 
OP
OP
darz1

darz1

Member
Dec 18, 2017
7,118
there's no credit card involved. The PayPal comes straight out of her bank account
 
DiceyRobot

DiceyRobot

Member
Oct 26, 2017
967
User warned: Inappropriate Commentary
It's tied to your partner's credit card, right? Like others have said, you want to contact the bank directly and immediately.
 
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Arrogant PsycHOPathy

Arrogant PsycHOPathy

Banned
Sep 20, 2020
380
I can empathize as I have been in your shoes with our daughter few years back. Granted she was three and it was only $100 of princess sofia episodes and not $2000. Called the bank and did a chargeback at the time.
 
cmdrshepard

cmdrshepard

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
1,557
Multiple layers here - because the card was used through Paypal you risk getting follow up or banning from Paypal - whosever paypal account that is if you do a chargeback through the issuer. Personally i would call paypal again and elevate your call as high as you can to try and get a resolution their end. If that fails, i would attempt the chargeback and risk the paypal and discord account.
 
Antrax

Antrax

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,325
If any of the accounts in question need saving (PayPal for example), then do the leg work. Call your bank for their options, call PayPal with that information. "My bank says I can do X,Y, or Z; which of those works for you?"

There may be no way to save any of the accounts involved here (Discord, PayPal, maybe even Google Play)
 
Razgriz417

Razgriz417

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,119
oof paypal tied right to an account. yeah idk what'll happen with that paypal account, prob get nuked if you can get your $ back. good luck
 
ash32121

ash32121

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,638
Bank tie to Paypal is a bad sign, you can try to dispute it. The problem is if there are multiple charges then you are pretty much fucked. But still, try Paypal first, if they won't/can't help you, talk to your bank and deal with getting your Paypal ban.
 
CRIMSON-XIII

CRIMSON-XIII

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,184
Chicago, IL
I think what is happening here is that your son is using your credit card / paypal to buy other people "subscriptions" to discord. In the form of perks/rewords/boosters to servers. I think the more premium sub includes games even, if i am not mistaken. It sucks. The reason why this is tricky is because other folks got access to subs and whatnot already with the money paid. So it is like, they can't really revoke or remove those gifts that were activated by the others. I hope there is a way around this via the bank and discord.

Your next step is to remove all access to things with possible credit card, including phone tablet or console accounts that your son has access to. Either take away access to the devices or remove the paypal /card from them all.
 
greekwolf

greekwolf

Member
Oct 28, 2017
212
Oh, wow. I would be livid. lol

For starters, I would ban your son from owning or using a phone for an entire year. No gaming of any kind for a year. If he is working age, then will seek a job immediately and start making weekly payments to your partner until the $2,000 is repaid.

Tough love, but theft is a serious crime. Better to learn that lesson now as a kid rather than spend time in the pokey as an adult.
 
spman2099

spman2099

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,896
Sorry to hear about that, OP. That is rough. Unfortunately, these things happen. If there is no credit card involved (and that seems to be the case), then I fear you may have to take this as a hard lesson. The only way you may be able to recoup your money is to force your son to work it off.

MushroomSamba said:
Regarding your son, this behavior is pretty egregious. It sounds like he's old enough to be aware of what he was doing and the severity of it. Maybe examine if there are some domestic issues going on at home, if this could be a way of him lashing out. Is there previous history of this kind of behavior from him or is this new/unexpected? Not to be accusatory, but there are may be things you might have to reflect on regarding your own parenting.
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You definitely don't have enough information to support that kind of speculation. Jesus.
 
riotous

riotous

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,386
Seattle
PayPal to a bank account IIRC comes through as an debit transaction. I don't think you are getting any money back.
 
Razgriz417

Razgriz417

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,119
CRIMSON-XIII said:
I think what is happening here is that your son is using your credit card / paypal to buy other people "subscriptions" to discord. In the form of perks/rewords/boosters to servers. I think the more premium sub includes games even, if i am not mistaken. It sucks. The reason why this is tricky is because other folks got access to subs and whatnot already with the money paid. So it is like, they can't really revoke or remove those gifts that were activated by the others. I hope there is a way around this via the bank and discord.

Your next step is to remove all access to things with possible credit card, including phone tablet or console accounts that your son has access to. Either take away access to the devices or remove the paypal /card from them all.
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only payments im seeing are in the form of nitro $100/yr (10/mo) and nitro classic $50/yr (5/mo) and buying boosts for servers which are $5/mo. Man, that kid must have gone HAM to rack up $2000.... and these are recurring charges...
 

Deleted member 22630

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,000
greekwolf said:
Oh, wow. I would be livid. lol

For starters, I would ban your son from owning or using a phone for an entire year. No gaming of any kind for a year. If he is working age, then will seek a job immediately and start making weekly payments to your partner until the $2,000 is repaid.

Tough love, but theft is a serious crime. Better to learn that lesson now as a kid rather than spend time in the pokey as an adult.
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If he's young I would make him work it off with hourly minimum wage until it's "repaid".
 
ReginaldXIV

ReginaldXIV

It's Pronounced "Aerith"
Member
Nov 4, 2017
7,886
Minnesota
Oof, yeah if you're getting the infinite loop customer support you'll have to call your bank for a charge back. There's too many layers to the payment. You could try raising a stink on social media directly to Discord and the higher ups at the company to fix it.

But this is looking like an expensive lesson in better securing and tracking your accounts that are directly linked to money.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,916
greekwolf said:
Oh, wow. I would be livid. lol

For starters, I would ban your son from owning or using a phone for an entire year. No gaming of any kind for a year. If he is working age, then will seek a job immediately and start making weekly payments to your partner until the $2,000 is repaid.

Tough love, but theft is a serious crime. Better to learn that lesson now as a kid rather than spend time in the pokey as an adult.
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C'mon children making stupid things with phones is not "theft" (I'm assuming it's a kid), it's the most common thing ever and that's why basically every app has parenting controls/protection that should be used.
 
Arsene no Kiseki

Arsene no Kiseki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,997
Canada
Neilg said:
The paypal was linked to a CHECKING account.
I really hope you're able to get this fixed OP. How old is your son?

I just looked it up - discord nitro is $50 for a year. Your son bought 40 of his friends a subscription?
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Was it all discord nitro though? OP mentioned something about Gems but I dont remember discord having anything other than Nitro and extra server boosts.
 

Deleted member 68874

Account closed at user request
Banned
May 10, 2020
10,441
13, yeah he's old enough to know what he was doing. Time for him to start mowing peoples lawns to start repaying that $2000. When he's older he can a minimum wage job.

He probably shouldnt have a cell phone anymore if this is what he's doing.
 
hurlex

hurlex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,143
I'd start talking to Discord and explain the situation and maybe a higher level manager will have pity on you? I mean $2K seems like a lot. Or Maybe talk to his friend's parents and ask them to pay you back?
 
OP
OP
darz1

darz1

Member
Dec 18, 2017
7,118
greekwolf said:
Oh, wow. I would be livid. lol

For starters, I would ban your son from owning or using a phone for an entire year. No gaming of any kind for a year. If he is working age, then will seek a job immediately and start making weekly payments to your partner until the $2,000 is repaid.

Tough love, but theft is a serious crime. Better to learn that lesson now as a kid rather than spend time in the pokey as an adult.
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Yeah he is definitely banned from phones and gaming devices, I don't think he can work until he is 15 though
 
ReginaldXIV

ReginaldXIV

It's Pronounced "Aerith"
Member
Nov 4, 2017
7,886
Minnesota
I'm honestly surprised your bank or even PayPal doesn't have protections in place for this kind of thing. That's a lot of transaction spamming (at most 40 times?) to not tip off some sort of automatic account freeze.
 
Dylan

Dylan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,260
I'm confused as to where the money is actually ending up.

If it's going directly to Discord, I would at least try to speak with someone at that company. This probably happens a lot and there *might* be a small chance that they have some sort of policy in place for parents in your shoes. I would try that before going to the bank personally. Businesses don't usually like to fuck people over on purpose if they can help it.
 
TheOMan

TheOMan

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
7,140
It's debit? Oh man, sorry this happened to you.

Someone at the bank might take pity on you, but it's unlikely :(
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,916
ReginaldXIV said:
I'm honestly surprised your bank or even PayPal doesn't have protections in place for this kind of thing. That's a lot of transaction spamming (at most 40 times?) to not tip off some sort of automatic account freeze.
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I'm sure Paypal and Google always send emails, but maybe she didn't access it.
 
OP
OP
darz1

darz1

Member
Dec 18, 2017
7,118
My head is spinning right now. I've heard stories about this type of thing. Never would have thought it would happen to me
 
Kyuuji

Kyuuji

The Favonius Fox
Member
Nov 8, 2017
32,564
Dylan said:
I'm confused as to where the money is actually ending up.

If it's going directly to Discord, I would at least try to speak with someone at that company. This probably happens a lot and there *might* be a small chance that they have some sort of policy in place for parents in your shoes. I would try that before going to the bank personally. Businesses don't usually like to fuck people over on purpose if they can help it.
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Yeh I'd run this route, especially if it's a lot of transactions/gifted subs in a short space of time to where it's obvious something isn't really 'normal' about it. Definitely worth a shot.

That's a significant downer though OP and I'm sorry you're having to go through it.
 
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