Mom felt ‘robbed’ after twins’ 10-day online shopping spree

PAGADIAN CITY—Making credit or debit card details known to young children, especially nowadays, can be dangerous to a parent’s financial health.

It was a hard lesson learned here by a mother whose savings of P90,000 got whittled down to only P4,000—after her twin daughters went on a 10-day online shopping spree.

“I’ll just consider myself ‘robbed’ and will receive all those [items they] ordered upon arrival,’’ said Maricel Colonia, a local radio broadcaster, who agreed to recount the shock of her life to the Inquirer on Friday.

Without her knowledge, Colonia said, her 10-year-old daughters started purchasing items online on March 29 and had logged a total of 30 transactions by April 7.

The charges on Colonia’s debit card were mostly for kiddie products priced in Philippine pesos, US dollars and British pounds.

Colonia said she had no inkling about the girls’ online shopping activities until she received an email from PayPal, the US-based online payment system, informing her about several dollar transactions.

“I double-checked since I thought my account may have been hacked,” she said.

Pricey toys, dolls

Upon arriving home on Thursday, she said, she felt an urge to check on her daughters’ tablet, which they earlier got as a gift from an aunt.

There she saw the series of transactions the girls had made on Amazon and eBay—for toys and dolls, including merchandise of the animated cartoon series “Miraculous Ladybug.”

Among the costliest items they bought were a Japanese costume for P7,500 and a doll for $147.90.

Colonia said the twins were able to set up another PayPal account, using her email address. They apparently got her debit card details when they got their hands on her wallet and were able to set themselves up for a buying spree without the help of any other grownup.

All the orders they made were addressed to the office of the Baganian Broadcasting Corp. in Pagadian City, where Colonia works.

“It is very likely [that they did it] on their own, exploring the technology available at their fingertips,” the mother said.

Colonia said she had since uninstalled the shopping apps on the twin girls’ tablet, but the orders could no longer be canceled.