12-year old scammed in Roblox - HELP!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a naive question for anyone who's in the know. I don't let my 9 year old use the chat function (turned off) and don't allow him to accept friend requests from anyone he's not friends with in real life. Will following those rules help him to avoid something like this happening?

Sorry op, my son would be extremely upset too.

no, it won't help. it looks like the child accepted unfair trade by mistake because it looks like they ended with the other item.

or perhaps there was a bug in the software... it seems intentional but I don't see how a scammer would be able to take all the items because a player was just looking at theirs.

one of my kids once traded a neon cow or something for some worthless animal by mistake. i still remember that scream when she realized what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so sorry . Online people suck. My son (10 at the time, now 12) had something similar happen, but a slightly lesser degree. It was the first time I'd ever seen him cry like that. It hurts. Hugs to you and your child.

First ... I know this isn't the lesson you want to hear right now, but I'm actually kind of glad that DS learned about online scammers in a way that was 'only' about money. Yes, it sucks. I get it. It's horrible. But he is so much more cautious online now, doesn't trust anyone except his IRL friends. It sucks, but it'll help keep him safe in the long run. So I draw some silver lining from that.

To help rebuild: we never got any help from Roblox either. Once DC saw what was happening, he shut down the whole program, and didn't really remember the exact name of the scammer. Roblox claimed they couldn't trace where his Robux went. So not much help there. But we decided to make it a family project to help him rebuild. DH and I both created accounts, and a sibling joined in as well. We - all 4 of us - spent the next 4-5 months getting him back to where he was.

He learned a valuable lesson about not trusting people online, and both kids also learned what it means for a family to come together and help each other out. 2 years later, we look back on it as a really sucky experience for DC, but also a solid bonding time for our family.

Good luck. I know it's hard. People who scam suck, and those who scam on Christmas suck especially hard. I hope your DC can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hugs to you all.

This is such a powerful and heartwarming story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a naive question for anyone who's in the know. I don't let my 9 year old use the chat function (turned off) and don't allow him to accept friend requests from anyone he's not friends with in real life. Will following those rules help him to avoid something like this happening?

Sorry op, my son would be extremely upset too.

I hope this gets answered also. My kid cannot chat and only had one “friend” in her game that is a very good in reality life friend. I hope I haven’t missed something that would allow this to happen. Although I also have never let her buy anything within the game (so far, but it will happen at some point, I’m sure).

[Anonymous]

I teach internet safety to students and I've lost count of how many times I've heard stories about kids getting scammed or hacked on that game. I don't think the game is very secure.

[Anonymous]

Stop calling it “investing”. He has spent all his money on Robin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop calling it “investing”. He has spent all his money on Robin.

*Robux

[Anonymous]

What's screen name? maybe a few kids can share some roblox money

[Anonymous]

This happened to my son when he was 10. It absolutely sucks. He was so upset.

Unfortunately I’m guessing your son probably did something legitimate within the game and just got scammed. Have him really walk you through the steps.

People can still approach your kid in the game even if it’s not a friend.

[Anonymous]

This is a good lesson to learn while young.

[Anonymous]

This has happened to my DD. It is awful. I think the problem is that with one mistaken keystroke a player can accidentally accept a trade after which it’s irreversible.

I would tweet to Roblox and keep pushing, OP. We all know those items have no actual value and the programmers can easily restore the items if they so choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a naive question for anyone who's in the know. I don't let my 9 year old use the chat function (turned off) and don't allow him to accept friend requests from anyone he's not friends with in real life. Will following those rules help him to avoid something like this happening?

Sorry op, my son would be extremely upset too.

I hope this gets answered also. My kid cannot chat and only had one “friend” in her game that is a very good in reality life friend. I hope I haven’t missed something that would allow this to happen. Although I also have never let her buy anything within the game (so far, but it will happen at some point, I’m sure).

It won’t happen unless and until you allow her to buy items. Once she has some, especially if they’re good, other kids can offer to trade.

[Anonymous]

OP, I know you probably don’t want to share his username here but just FYI I told my DD what happened and she asked if she could send him some items.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously my 13 year old is asleep but OMG I am so sorry. She would be devastated!! I would definitely keep contacting customer service. She’s been scammed before also.

I will ask her as soon as I can tomorrow. She’s very savvy with this stuff.

OK I’m back with my kid who wants to know did your kid trade actual items? Was it in the game adopt me? She has items that she is happy to give your kid because she does not play like that anymore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happened to my son as well. My husband managed to get most of it back by contacting Roblox. Keep pushing and hopefully you can get at least some of it back.

This is encouraging I think OP. So sorry. People stink.

[Anonymous]

Contact them and push on the fact that 12 year olds aren’t old enough to engage in trades for real money. If it were me, I’d literally tell them my child has decided to rescind the trade and just file for arbitration based on their age