Shocking! This Hyderabad boy lost Rs. 36 lakh playing online games like Free Fire

A 16-year old Hyderabad boy has lost his family’s entire life savings, Rs. 36 lakh playing online games like Free Fire on phone. Know how not to make the same mistake.

A Hyderabad boy of 16 years age has lost Rs. 36 lakh to online mobile games like Free Fire. Understand the perils of gaming addiction. Don’t fall for the same mistake (Pixabay)

A shocking incident has resulted in a 16-year old Hyderabad boy losing Rs. 36 lakh, his family's entire life savings, playing online games on his phone like Free Fire gaming app. This adds to the already long list of similar incidents where people, addicted to online games, end up in major financial losses and even commit suicide. These incidents play a role in reminding us just how easy it is to fall into the trap of spending money on online games and how quickly it can turn into an addiction that can cause swift financial ruin. Read on to know how the boy ended up losing such a high amount of money and how you can avoid a similar fate.

Hyderabad boy loses Rs. 36 lakh while playing online mobile games

According to a report by IANS, the boy is a resident of Amberpet area in Hyderabad. While playing online mobile games, he used the bank accounts of his mother to make the payments for the online games. According to the cybercrime wing of Hyderabad police, the boy downloaded a “Free Fire gaming app” on his grandfather's mobile phone. At first, he made two transactions of Rs. 1,500 and Rs. 10,000 to play the game. After that, he became addicted to the online mobile games and started spending large sums of money regularly on the games. During this entire time, the family had no knowledge of such transactions.

Soon, he made larger transactions in the game ranging from Rs. 1.45 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh.Tragically, the class 11th student was also the son of a deceased police official. The money he ended up spending also included the monetary benefits received by the family after the official's death.

When his mother went to the bank to make a withdrawal, she was shocked to find out that there was no money left in the bank account after a total of Rs. 27 lakh were spent. Upon checking another account, she found that Rs. 9 lakh were gone from that account as well. The woman approached the cyber crime division and told the police that it was his husband's hard earned money.

How to avoid a similar trap

Step 1:

Be careful while using any app with in-app transactions. Especially if the upper ceiling for these transactions are very high.

Step 2:

If you give your phone to a minor, make sure to either un-link your bank accounts with Google Play Store, or add password so no one else can make a transaction.

Step 3:

If you are in the habit of spending on online games, always set a limit for yourself so you don’t end up overspending. There are apps where you can manually set a limit for transactions to a particular vendor. 

Step 4:

Make a habit of not spending money on apps/games. Enjoy the free to play games. There is a great selection to choose from.