9-Year-Old Spends Rp 2 Billion on YouTube Using Father's Credit Card

A young boy named Mike spent US$118,000 (approximately Rp 2 billion) on YouTube using his father’s company credit card. He used the funds to finance advertisements aimed at promoting his gaming channel, ‘Mighty Mike Plays’, which features Minecraft and Roblox content.

Dave, the father, admitted to assisting with the initial advertising campaign because Mike was frustrated with the low view counts on his channel. At that time, the expenditure was only US$20 (approximately Rp 354,000).

However, because the company credit card was automatically saved in the Google account, Mike found it easy to launch various subsequent advertising campaigns for his personal channel. Mike believed that spending more money could boost his video views, according to the Times of India.

Dave noted that some videos did manage to garner around 200,000 views following the promotion. Nevertheless, this achievement came at a very high cost.

The small experiment, which initially cost only US$20, eventually ballooned to US$118,000. This advertising spree continued for three weeks before it was finally uncovered, after Dave’s superior noticed unusual charges on the company credit card.

Dave was subsequently called into a meeting with management and finance staff to discuss the surge in advertising costs and the bills accumulated over the past three weeks. It is currently unknown what sanctions Dave may face, whether he will be required to repay the funds or face dismissal from his job.

Meanwhile, the family has discussed temporarily closing the YouTube channel to manage the situation and to formulate a better account management system for the future. As a preventative measure, Dave has ensured that he will tighten security systems, set spending limits, and activate parental controls.