Google Incorporated has settled to refund at least $19 million to consumers who were fraudulently charged for racked up bills for unauthorized in-app purchases kids made from the Google Play app store.
The reimbursement that was announced Thursday is part of the third case by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after thousands of complaints about the unauthorized in-app purchases made by children who played video games on smartphones and tablets.
The $19 million refund by Google was comparable to the $32.5 million by Apple in January while Amazon was sued in July on the same issue but has said it won't settle over the charges.
The Federal Trade Commission reportedly said that the consumers have informed that children had made unauthorized charges ranging from 99 cents to $200 within the kids' apps downloaded from the Google Play store since 2011. As per the FTC complaints, when Google presented in-app charges in Google Play in 2011, they were not password secured. As an outcome, kids could easily purchase computer-generated apps just by clicking on popup boxes within an app while they used it. By mid-2012, Google introduced a popup box asking for password before payment could be made, however that still unlocked up a 30-minute window during which a password wasn't requisite.
The FTC said that Google didn't only agree on the $19 million refund but also to change its billing practices to guarantee the safety and authority of the parents in the procurements that their children made. The agency also said that the companies were too negligent in permitting children playing some app games to ring up charges on their parents' credit cards to buy costly virtual apps.
Now, the settlement requires Google to be responsible for full refunds of unauthorized in-app charges acquired by children of at least $19 million within 12 months after the agreement becomes final. Due to the reimbursement news, on Thursday afternoon, Google shares increased in about 1 percent in trading.
As millions of consumers embrace mobile technology and made smartphones and tablets as part of their daily lives, it is essential to remind companies that time-tested consumer protections still apply including unauthorized in-app charges and now Google agrees to refund its consumers at least $19 million.
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