Reportedly, a teenager in Punjab lost nearly 16 lakh rupees in the massively popular and addictive game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG Mobile, as he spent the amount in making in-app purchases and upgrading while playing the game, the media has reported. The 17-year-old had access to three bank accounts and he used them to spend money on the super-addictive PUBG Mobile game.
Referring to the teen’s parents, a report by Tribune India has claimed that the teenager had access to three bank accounts that he used to upgrade his PUBG Mobile account. The teenager reportedly made in-app purchases for his teammates as well. The report adds that the family came to learn about this from their bank statements.
The incident came to light when the teenager’s parents accessed the bank accounts and realised that he had spent almost 16 lakh rupees. The teenager, according to media reports, would extensively use his mother’s mobile phone to play PUBG Mobile and after completing the bank transactions, would erase all the messages from her device. According to his father, he had saved the money for his son’s future and medical needs.
The teenager’s father is a government employee and was posted somewhere else when his teenage son spent the money on PUBG Mobile game. The minor also used to shuffle the money from one bank account to another to avoid being caught. The cops did not help the minor’s parents as he had deliberately spent the whopping amount on the game, the report added.
Despite its popularity, PUBG has drawn a lot of flak for a long time and the furore over the addictive game refuses to die down. The game has been embroiled in controversy India as well as in China.
It is reported that the father of the minor is a government employee and has a medical history. The father, who did not wish to be named, told Tribune India that 17-year-old lived with his mother, while he was commissioned elsewhere. “He used her [mother’s] mobile phone to make all transactions and would delete the message regarding amount debited from the account,” the father added.
A report by Sensor Tower has highlighted that PUBG Mobile from Tencent saw over $226 million (roughly Rs. 1,668 crores) user spending in May. The platform has seen a massive global revenue gain in the first half of this year, bringing its lifetime collections to $3 billion (roughly Rs. 22,457 crores).