Peninsula All Media Reporter Wang Hongzhi Intern Chen Siyu Li Ying
In the past few months, a boy in Qingdao played a mobile game and recharged more than 10,000 yuan, and his parents found out that they contacted the game company for a refund, but the child's parents did not approve of the refund of 2,600 yuan given by the game company. Although the relevant departments also intervened in the coordination, the two sides did not reach an agreement for a long time. In this regard, the lawyer said that the unauthorized recharge of minors is invalid, and the two parties can negotiate a refund, and if the negotiation fails, they can sue. At the same time, the lawyer reminds that similar disputes occur frequently, and how to reduce the occurrence of such incidents is worth pondering by all parties.
Boy playing mobile game
Recharge more than 10,000 yuan in a few months
"My child played mobile games, recharged more than 10,000 yuan in a few months, and now we want to return the money. Recently, Mr. Chu from Qingdao told reporters that he and his wife work in Qingdao and have two children, of which the eldest son is 14 years old this year. On weekdays, because of homework, my son often uses Mr. Chu's mobile phone. In November 2023, Mr. Chu wanted to buy clothes, and when he took out his mobile phone to pay with WeChat, he found that he had no money. "At that time, I felt that something was wrong, so I quickly opened the transaction details and found that the money was used to recharge the game. Mr. Chu said.
After further inquiry, Mr. Chu found that from September 2023 to November 2023, his son successively recharged more than 5,000 yuan to the game when he was playing a game called "Space Kill". In order to recover the money charged by the child, Mr. Chu quickly contacted the game company and explained the situation. However, without waiting for the money to be returned, Mr. Chu found that the child had secretly recharged again.
"After discovering the child's recharge for the first time, I unbound the WeChat bank card and changed the WeChat payment password. I thought that the child would not be able to recharge, but some time ago, one night, I received a reminder message of Huabei repayment, I opened it and saw that there was a record of game recharge, and I charged more than 6,000 yuan in February and March. Mr. Chu said that after the Chinese New Year, he worked the night shift, and when he went to bed after work, his son used his mobile phone to play games. "Alipay has been open for a long time, and it hasn't been used for a long time, but I didn't expect the child to remember the password. Mr. Chu said.
"We were busy working at the time, and the child used my ID card and his mother's mobile phone number to register a game account. We don't know about games, we don't know how to play games, and I didn't expect to spend so much money playing a game. Mr. Chu said that after preliminary statistics, his son's game recharge totaled more than 11,300 yuan. After the incident, he and his wife also gave their son a good "education".
Coordinate multiple times and only refund 2,600 yuan
Parents think "too little is back"
"Adults and children should be able to see that I can't afford to eat a good meal after a day's work, and it's impossible to empty my savings to play games. Mr. Chu said. The reporter saw through the previous recharge records that when the child was playing the game, the recharge frequency was very high, and he had recharged three or four times in one minute, and the largest amount was 648 yuan, which was charged to the same game.
It is understood that after discovering the child's recharge for the first time, Mr. Chu contacted Shanghai Giant Tongping Network Technology Co., Ltd. "I was still hopeful and kept in touch to negotiate a refund. They said that the account information was displayed as an adult, and at the beginning, they said that they would refund us 800 yuan, and then after several communications, they said that they could refund half of the first recharge, which was half of 5200 yuan, 2600 yuan. I asked them what the basis for the refund was, and the game company said it was humanitarian compensation. However, for the second recharge of more than 6,000 yuan, they will not accept it. Mr. Chu said that the game company told him that the second recharge was because the parents did not change the password, "At that time, we changed the WeChat payment password, but we didn't expect that a game would have so many recharge channels." ”
"The game company said that I didn't protect the password, and I said that the game company's system should automatically recognize the account. Because, the recharge frequency is too high, obviously abnormal, before they also knew that there was a situation of minors recharging this account, I reflected that it was not a day or two, during the past few months, they did not suspend this account, and their management also had loopholes. Mr. Chu was dissatisfied with the game company's refund plan and believed that 80% of the recharge should be refunded.
In order to recover the recharge money as much as possible, Mr. Chu also reported to the relevant authorities in Shanghai, where the company was registered, for help, but so far, Mr. Chu has not received a satisfactory result.
The game company's phone didn't get through
Relevant departments will communicate and coordinate
On the afternoon of April 24, the reporter contacted Shanghai Giant Tongping Network Technology Co., Ltd. many times according to the phone number provided by Mr. Chu, but because the phone was busy, it never entered. Subsequently, the reporter consulted the Shanghai Municipal Press and Publication Bureau, which had previously intervened in the matter. The relevant staff said that previously, they had received many reports from Mr. Chu, Mr. Chu's child had charged money once, and the game company handled it at its discretion, and the parents did not explicitly request the closure of the account at that time, and the child was charged a second time without Mr. Chu's knowledge, in this regard, the game company said that it could deal with part of the previous recharge, but the party did not accept it. The staff said that this matter has taken a long time from last year to this year, and the game company is not saying that not a penny will be refunded. "We are also trying our best to facilitate the negotiations, and we have also provided Mr. Chu with a legal aid phone number to consult a free lawyer. We understand the feelings of parents very well, and we have helped to think of a lot of ways, but we do not have the power of administrative coercion, what we can do is to try to do a coordination and communication through functional departments, but we cannot force the company to refund how much. Said the staff.
Subsequently, the reporter and Mr. Chu reported the problem to the Shanghai 12345 citizen service hotline.
"I don't have a high level of education, I don't know how to play, and the child said that I used my mobile phone to do my homework, but I didn't think much about it, and after a day of work, I gave the mobile phone to the child. After eating, I went to bed early. This 11,300 yuan is not a small amount of money for our family, it is our hard-earned money, if it is a few hundred yuan, I should lose it. I hope that game companies can carry out multiple identification to avoid minors from fraudulently using their parents' information to recharge, and I also hope that the whole society will pay attention to this problem. Young people are the future of the motherland, and we must address this issue in a practical way to prevent similar things from happening and reduce the negative impact on children's physical and mental health and their families. Mr. Chu said.
Lawyer's Statement:
The child's unauthorized consumption is invalid, and the negotiation fails, and the lawsuit can be sued
Regarding the issue of recharge of minors, the reporter interviewed Zhang Baoqing, a lawyer from Shandong Chuanjia Law Firm. According to Mr. Zhang, according to the provisions of the Civil Code, natural persons over the age of 18 are adults. Natural persons under the age of 18 are minors. Adults are persons with full capacity for civil conduct and may independently carry out civil juristic acts. Minors over the age of 16 who rely on their own labor income as their main source of livelihood are to be regarded as persons with full capacity for civil conduct. Minors over the age of 8 are persons with limited capacity for civil conduct, and are represented by their legally-designated representatives, or with the consent and recognition of their legally-designated representatives, in carrying out civil juristic acts, but may independently carry out civil juristic acts that are purely beneficial or appropriate to their age and intelligence. Minors under the age of 8 are persons with no capacity for civil conduct, and their legally-designated representatives are to carry out civil juristic acts on their behalf. Adults who are unable to recognize their own conduct are persons with no capacity for civil conduct, and their legally-designated representatives are to carry out civil juristic acts on their behalf. Where minors over the age of 8 are unable to recognize their own conduct, apply the provisions of the preceding paragraph. Adults who are unable to fully recognize their own conduct are persons with limited capacity for civil conduct, and their legally-designated representatives are represented in carrying out civil juristic acts, or with the consent and recognition of their legally-designated representatives, but may independently carry out civil juristic acts that are purely beneficial or civil juristic acts that are compatible with their intellectual or mental health conditions. The guardian of a person who lacks or has limited capacity for civil conduct is his or her legal representative.
For minors over the age of 8, parents and guardians can request a refund if the game amount recharged is large, does not match their age and spending power, and has not been approved and recognized by their guardians. However, if there is a situation of negligence in supervision, parents should also bear the corresponding responsibility. The two parties may negotiate and settle the amount to be returned, and if the negotiation fails, they may file a complaint with the relevant departments or file a lawsuit with the people's court in accordance with law.
Lawyer Zhang reminds that there are many incidents of minors using their parents' identity information to register and recharge games, and minors lack the ability to self-control. To reduce the occurrence of such incidents, parents and guardians should keep their mobile phone passwords and payment passwords in mind, and guide their children to treat online games correctly. In addition, game companies should also adopt and explore more complete payment verification methods.