A little girl and her family were recently hit with a bill for $1400 which she accumulated playing a Smurf game on her iPhone.

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So I know that most ipod and iphone apps are not free, especially the popular ones.  Now raking up a bill of over $1,000 playing one is quite an impressive feet.  These mobile apps are always trying to trick us into buying something extra or upgrading for a low price.  None of it is worth it.  I am guilty of playing Angry Birds nonstop, but never once have I spent more then the initial .99 cents to buy the game.  Now you can blame the girl for not paying attention, but she was only 8 so maybe she didn't know it was real money she was dealing wish.  The thing with ipods and iphones is that you put in your credit card info so it makes it easier to grab cheap stuff, but it's in there for anyone to purchase an app with.  Good job Dad and Mom, maybe monitor what your 8 year old daughter is doing online.

The Smurf game called Smurfville, which is very similar to the facebook game Farmville lets you live among a virtual world of Smurfs.  You grow food, interact with people an lead a fake life as one of little blue weirdos.  The game is pretty deceptive though.  It's already more expensive than most of the apps out there at $5.  The extras are the killer part.  You need "smurf berries" to trade with people and grow thing and they cost money.  Real American dollars.  The more you have, the better you are.  So how much do you think a bucket of say, 1000 smurf berries costs? If guessed $60, you would be correct.  That is unreal.  I couldn't imagine paying $60 for any amount of berries in real life let alone a virtual world.

That isn't the only charge.  There is also a monthly fee of either $2.99 or $4.99 depending on how good the version is that you use.  They are so sly in their charges.  it's easy to rip kids off so this is where you parents need to step in, do your research and make sure it's a one time charge or actually free.  Unless of course you would like a $1,400 bill in the future.

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