An 11-YEAR-OLD boy traveled to Shenzhen alone Friday from Zhaoqing City in Guangdong Province to demand a refund for the 42,000 yuan (US$6,481) he spent in an online basketball game.

    The boy had been using his father’s WeChat and Alipay accounts to spend money after memorizing the passwords by watching his father send red envelopes during the Chinese Lunar New Year, the Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.

    The boy, going by the alias Hao, left a note for his father, identified as Chang, on Friday before he left home alone. According to Hao’s note, he was heading to Tencent’s headquarters in Shenzhen with 200 yuan he took from his father’s wallet.

    Hao was brought to a police station after he arrived at Tencent’s headquarters in Nanshan District the same day.

    According to Hao, he has spent over 42,000 yuan in an online basketball game developed by Tencent, using his father’s Alipay and WeChat accounts.

    Hao said he paid to upgrade his players so he could win games. He also spent money on an in-game lottery, which costs around 2,000 yuan and has a prize of a new in-game character.

    Chang was shocked when he saw Hao’s expense record last month, with payments ranging from dozens of yuan to almost 1,000 yuan.

    “I never calculated how much I’ve spent. I made online payments with my father’s WeChat or Alipay accounts,” Hao said.

    Hao said he regularly deleted the payment records from his father’s phone.

    Chang called the police after finding out what happened, but the police said it would be better for Chang to communicate with Tencent directly.

    According to Tencent’s refund policies, Chang has to provide the online payment record, account information and an appeal receipt for the QQ account Hao used to log into the game.

    Hao said Tencent didn’t provide a receipt after he filed an appeal.

    Hao said one of his former classmates gave him the QQ account, but the classmate transferred to another school. Tencent policy would deem Hao the account holder if he could prove he had been using it for the past three years, but he had only been using it for the past two years.

    Hao believes Tencent intentionally rejected his appeal.

    Hao arrived in Shenzhen by train at around 7 a.m. Friday and took a bus to Tencent’s headquarters in Nanshan District. Hao said an officer surnamed Zhong talked to him in Tencent’s reception center.

    “He said he would deliver my request and the company would refund part of the payment. Then he asked me to wait in a police station until the police could send me home,” Hao said.

    Hao was later brought to the Gaoxin police station. Hao was not carrying a phone and his father called the Shenzhen Evening News seeking help finding his son.

    Tencent’s spokesperson said a company customer service agent received Chang’s call asking for a refund on March 19, but the QQ account wasn’t registered to Hao’s name and Tencent couldn’t confirm Hao was the account owner.

    The company said it will handle the refund request as long as the user can prove ownership of the account.

    According to civil law, if an underage person spends more money than suitable for their age or intelligence, then the expenditure is not valid unless a legal representative approves it.

    (Zhang Yang)