9-Year-Old Books Disneyland Trip After Hacking Dad’s Phone

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Ian Wilson was shocked to find himself £1005.92 out of pocket last month, after his nine-year-old daughter Susan went on a shopping spree, without his knowledge. The 53-year-old was sleeping when he says his daughter took his phone and upon guessing his PayPal password went on a spending spree.

Susan spent £400 on flights and a hotel gift card, £214 on a VIP trip up the Eiffel Tower and every child’s dream, she purchased a Disneyland Express train and theme park tickets for £381.

Wilson realized what had happened three days later when he noticed the money had been taken from his account. He told MailOnline ‘My immediate thought was that it was fraud so I phoned PayPal who told me the payments had been made from a device they deemed normal for me and did not consider it to be fraud.” 

Still none the wiser, Ian decided to go through his phone’s internet history and found the different websites his daughter had used. Ian confronted his daughter who immediately admitted it was her.

‘She was absolutely brokenhearted and very remorseful. She had no idea what she was doing, I could not even punish her for it,’ Ian said.

Apparently Susan booked the flights and hotel through Bravofly and booked the tours via German-based site Getyourguide.

“I don’t know how I did it. I just like messing about with Dad’s phone. I don’t know where Paris is or what the Eiffel Tower is,” Susan says.

Wilson tried to rectify the situation by contacting his bank, PayPal and the travel companies concerned to get his money back, however, it was not that easy. He claims that they had refused to refund him after saying that no fraud had been committed.

“They just all washed their hands of it. They’re acting disgracefully. They’ll see the flight and none of the tours were taken up,” Ian told the Sun newspaper.

Thankfully, PayPal has since returned the money to Mr. Wilson as “a goodwill gesture” calling it friendly fraud which apparently happens all the time. A PayPal spokesperson said “Young people are very savvy and it’s important that we keep our devices and accounts safe.”

Having learned from his mistake, Ian is urging parents to be more caution when it comes to their phones. “Have a pin on your phone. I didn’t because I’ve never needed one but now I do,” he says. He also advises parents to make sure their children do not have access to their internet devices either.

Thankfully what could have proved rather costly for the Wilson family has been sorted and they will keep their family holidays to their usual Skegness for now. Disneyland will have to wait for another time.

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