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The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that it will be investigating the ‘free’ apps sector.

Sharon and Greg Kitchen, parents to five year old Danny, received a bill from iTunes to the sum of £1700 after they allowed their son to play on Zombie vs. Ninja for 15 minutes, and Danny inadvertently pressed a button to buy a credit costing £69.99, a number of times. Apple have since reimbursed the Kitchens, and have in fact already reimbursed £66million to parents in America who have faced the same problem. However, there is no guarantee that Apple will always refund unfortunate parents.

Louise Hill, COO and founder of PKTMNY, a website that offers online pocket money accounts for children, as well as budgeting assistance and childfriendly Visa cards, believes that children are unaware of ‘the power of purchasing online’. As she points out, ‘Children can be oblivious that clicking on a button means more money added on to a credit card bill.’ She calls for more urgency in ‘teaching children about the value of money.’ pktmny.com