We’ve heard stories before about kids accidentally running up big bills using apps and online stores without their parent’s permission, but one little girl in the U.K. had her sights set higher than that. And it was on purpose. How so? When nine-year-old Susan guessed her dad’s PayPal password, she booked a $1,300 trip to Disneyland Paris for herself.
When her dad, Ian Wilson, saw the $1,300 charge to his PayPal account, he immediately called to report it. But the company told him it was made using a device they considered normal and they didn’t think it was fraud. So he checked the Internet history on his phone and found a bunch of Disney sites he’d never visited. When he asked Susan, she admitted came clean.
It seems the little girl managed to book a whole Disneyland Paris trip for one, all while dad was asleep. Wilson didn’t have a password on his phone and after a few tries, Susan guessed his PayPal password and was able to plan her getaway. In all she spent $524.44 on flights and hotel gift cards, $280.68 on a VIP trip to the Eiffel Tower, and $513.74 on the Disneyland Express train and tickets to the Disney theme park.
Susan told her dad she has no idea how she spent so much money and he says she was brokenhearted and very sorry. “She had no idea what she was doing, I couldn’t even punish her for it,” Wilson says. So she didn’t get in trouble and dad didn’t get stuck with the bill. PayPal was willing to refund his money once they reclassified the charges as “family fraud.” Oh and he’s added a password to his phone so there won’t be a next time.