A nine-year-old boy reportedly charged $118,000 to his father’s corporate credit card through YouTube advertising campaigns, turning what began as a roughly $20 tutorial into a three-week billing crisis.
According to Tom’s Hardware, the father, identified as Dave, had previously saved his company’s credit card to a Google payments profile. He initially used the card to purchase Robux for his son before showing him how YouTube’s Promote feature works.
Dave reportedly walked his son through the process of creating a campaign, selecting an audience, setting a budget and launching the promotion. The boy later used the same process independently to promote Minecraft and Roblox gameplay videos on his channel, Mighty Mike Plays.
The charges were reportedly discovered when Dave was called into a meeting with his manager, corporate representatives and finance staff. According to the report, the campaigns had generated approximately $118,000 in charges over three weeks.
Dave told Tom’s Hardware that his son did not understand the initial $20 campaign as a strict spending limit. The child reportedly believed the card would prevent further spending because it continued to show as approved.
How the Charges Were Made
The incident highlights how payment methods saved within Google’s ecosystem can be reused across services.
Google’s payment profile can be connected to multiple Google products, meaning a card previously entered for one transaction may subsequently appear as a payment option elsewhere. In this case, the corporate card reportedly remained associated with the Google account used to access YouTube’s advertising tools.
YouTube’s Promote feature is a simplified advertising interface designed to help creators launch campaigns by selecting objectives, audiences, budgets and campaign durations.
Google Ads’ terms prohibit users under 18 from using the service. However, the account involved reportedly belonged to Dave, with his son operating the account after being shown how the advertising system worked.
The case also comes against the backdrop of previous disputes involving children and Google’s billing systems. In 2014, Google agreed to pay at least $19 million to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission complaint concerning unauthorised in-app purchases made by children through Google Play. That case involved Google Play rather than advertising services and is not a direct legal precedent for the current incident.
Bill and Employment Status Remain Unclear
The consequences of the reported charges remain unresolved. Dave told Tom’s Hardware that the matter had been escalated within his company and that he did not know whether he would retain his job or whether he could be held personally responsible for the charges. The reported $118,000 figure comes from Dave’s account of the incident, and independent financial documentation has not been publicly released.
The YouTube channel, Mighty Mike Plays, reportedly had around 24,000 subscribers and 182 uploads by mid-September. Some of its most-viewed videos had accumulated approximately 260,000 views.
The incident highlights a broader digital-security issue for families and businesses: a payment method saved for one Google service may remain available for other transactions associated with the same payments profile.
For parents and companies, the case underscores the importance of separating personal and corporate payment methods, reviewing saved payment profiles and restricting access to accounts connected to advertising or other paid services.
