The reports of Japan National Center for Consumer Affairs shed light on an alarming trend: the growth of unauthorized spending by Japanese children on online games. Since 2022, this phenomenon has been increasing, exceeding 4,000 complaints, with charges reaching 330,000 yen (over US$ 2,200) per incident and up to millions of yenall without parental consent.

The data collected reveals that during the past year, There were 4,024 complaints related to “children making payments without authorization”, most of them linked to online video games. What is worrying is that this trend continues to increase, as so far in 2024 alone, 3,100 complaints have been received, an alarming number that reflects a growing problem.

This phenomenon worries not only the authorities, but also the parents and guardians of the children involved. That's why Japan's National Center for Consumer Affairs has issued a warning to young people, urging them to be mindful of their online spending habits and not to share their passwords with third parties.

Smartphone video game addiction, particularly among high school students and older, has been identified as one of the contributing factors to this problem. A recent study by NTT Docomo confirmed that this addiction is on the rise, reinforcing the need to urgently address the issue of unauthorized online spending.

In addition to the economic impact on families, unauthorized spending also raises concerns about the emotional and psychological well-being of affected children. It is essential that measures are taken to protect young Japanese from the risks associated with excessive spending on online games, and it is hoped that authorities and parents will work together to find effective solutions to this growing challenge.

• «Japan is playing with fire. They need to classify gacha as gambling (which, by the way, is illegal in Japan)».
• «Look, the problem isn't that gacha isn't considered a game, it is. The problem is that video games take advantage of a loophole in gambling laws that casinos, arcades, contests, theme parks, etc. have been exploiting for decades. As long as real money isn't directly used for gambling, it's considered legal. That's why video games make you buy local money and then use local money to buy items.».
• «When any gacha game reaches its end of service, all the money spent on it will not be returned to the player. Personally, I dipped my toe into the world of gacha games by spending a small amount of money on a now-shuttered game called Valkyrie Crusade, an anime card battle game, and it was no small loss when it ended. For me, it was an experiment and a trial. It’s like gambling, except that the profits come with the game. This DEFINITELY goes for the whales in the aforementioned games. This is why I don’t spend my money on these gacha games, because those whales will have wasted all their money, which they could have used for other purposes, such as food, rent, electricity, internet, data storage, and other important life essentials.».
• «Basically, you're paying for an experience, not a product. Like paying to go to the pool. If you have money to spare and enjoy the experience, there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is poor people making financial decisions that keep them poor. But that's not my problem either.».
• «To begin with, children should not have a smartphone and responsible parents would not educate them to throw mobile trash».
• «I don't think kids should have phones at all. Radiation from phone calls is uncharted territory, but it's already clear that it's bad for young children and the elderly.».
• «Well… there’s this thing called parental controls and all that… where if you let your kids play on your device or theirs, it will stop them from buying stupid things. Maybe, just maybe, you should turn it on?! I didn’t have the luxury of growing up with a smartphone, but that’s not why I think so. In my opinion, if these kids don’t understand how money works, they shouldn’t have access to it without hindrance.».
• «In fact, in certain circumstances, banks may refuse to return money fraudulently withdrawn from your account, even if they have the culprit on camera. So I wonder how many of these idiot parents are actually getting their money back from mobile games?».
• «Nothing is free. Free-to-play is such a normalized scam that you don't even notice it anymore.».
• «There really is no point in gatcha games. Let's go back to the $$30 subscription-based services where you pay for everything with a simple flat fee. The rest of the game is left up to the players to decide what they get based on how they play. Now I know some will object to this because the fear is that players who don't have money won't be able to play.».

Source: TBS NEWS EXCAVATION

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