The debt -- equivalent to about $1,400 USD -- was racked up in all of about two weeks' worth of gameplay. In the popular casual Facebook game, players can spend real money to accrue virtual currency and items. It's a business that's booming enough to garner the game's developer, Zynga, an estimated valuation as high as $5 billion.
Neither Zynga nor the mother's credit card company HSBC responded positively to requests for refunds; the latter indicated only a criminal proceeding could trigger eligibility for getting the funds reinstated. A spokeswoman for HSBC indicated that had the expenditures been on a gambling site the escalating transactions would have raised warning flags, but since the purchases were technically Facebook Credits, they didn't warrant suspicion.
What do you think: Is FarmVille destined to replace World of Warcraft as the favorite scapegoat for cable news gaming addiction scare segments?
[via Games.com]