9-year-old spends $118K from dad’s corporate card to advertise his Roblox YouTube channel
Little Mikey is going to be mowing lawns until he’s 18
Image by Annie Spratt via Unsplash; MVelishchuk via Shutterstock
- A 9-year-old spent $118,000 on YouTube ads after his dad saved a corporate card in Google.
- The ads promoted Mighty Mike Plays, his Roblox and Minecraft YouTube channel, after an initial $20 budget.
- Dave says his employer is deciding whether he keeps his job and who must repay the bill.
- The case highlights how children can misunderstand online spending when real money feels virtual.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
A $20 ad budget for Roblox videos on YouTube spiraled into a $118,000 bill within just 3 weeks.
The career of Mighty Mike Plays, a young Roblox and Minecraft YouTuber, ended as quickly as it began.
“This might be the end,” the 9-year-old said in a video released on September 15th, before passing the mic to his dad, who introduced himself as Dave.
Dave addressed Mike’s followers by explaining that his son has been running “high-budget campaigns” on YouTube, which he learned about in perhaps the worst way possible.
Dave, who works in marketing at a large company, was called into the office to talk about an important issue. Once he arrived, he was confronted by a corporate manager and members of the finance department.
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“They pull up a laptop, show me some tables on the screen, and ask me to explain why there’s $118,000 missing from the company card that was assigned to me,” Dave said.
The question left Mikey’s dad flabbergasted, without an answer. However, a closer look at the actual transactions helped him connect the dots.
Dave says his “whole digital life” is tied to one Google account, including cards, which he used to buy Mike some Robux – virtual money on the Roblox platform.
He also set a $20 YouTube ad budget to help Mikey’s videos reach more people.
“What I didn’t think about, not even for a second, was that saving my company’s card meant it was just going to sit there afterward, ready to go, available any time he opened the app on his own,” Dave said in a video.
However, he doesn’t blame his son, who likely didn’t realize that the large number on the screen represented real money he used to pay for YouTube ads to promote his channel.
Dad may need to cover the bill
The situation escalated to the higher corporate level, where it is currently being decided whether Dave will continue staying employed and who will have to foot the six-figure bill.
“This is not a ‘haha funny’ story, ‘everything worked out’ kind of situation. Not yet, at least. There is a genuine chance that I end up personally having to pay some of that or all of that back out of my pocket,” he explained.
As for Mike, a serious conversation and punishment await – the 9-year-old will lose access to the iPad and PlayStation.
He is going to be mowing lawns until he is 18 or something.Dave
This isn’t the first case of children’s online activities costing parents thousands of dollars.
In 2024, Michael and Jennifer Ferri found out about about $4,000 in video game charges on their credit card. Their 8-year-old son, Joey, unintentionally spent money on in-game purchases, thinking the charges only existed in his game's virtual world.
Researchers say that in-game purchases cause financial and emotional harm to children, who find it difficult to track their spending and fail to understand the value of money.