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NSW mum left pleading for a refund, after her seven-year-old son purchased a rare ‘Golden Banana’ online for $10,000.

Donna Jacob’s son, who has autism, was desperate to add one to his collection.

When he found a ‘Billy’ for sale online, he had to have it, so with mums credit card details automatically saved on the computer, the banana was bought instantly, shares 7 news.

Donna didn’t even realise he had made the purchase until she received a confirmation email from eBay.

“I think it’s just ludicrous this could happen,” she said.

“It’s certainly nothing we’ve budgeted for and nothing we can afford.”

Requests to cancel the purchase were ignored

When she contacted the seller to explain the situation, he ignored her pleas for reimbursement.

Donna said PayPal’s response was much the same, describing the purchase as ‘friendly fraud’ and her chances of getting her money back as slim.

‘Between PayPal and the bank, there should be at least one stopper that says ‘hang on, this isn’t right’… and no-one did.’

After days of being bounced between the bank, eBay and PayPal, Donna questions how such a huge transaction was approved in the first place.

“Between PayPal and the bank, there should be at least one stopper that says ‘hang on, this isn’t right’… and no-one did,” she said.

After Adelaide’s Today Tonight contacted eBay, the retail giant agreed to refund the unlucky mum.

In a statement, eBay said: “eBay understands there are unique circumstances in this case. As a result, the buyer will receive a refund for the purchase.”

While Donna is relieved, she still asserts better checks and balances are needed to protect vulnerable buyers.

“I just don’t go out and spend $10,000 in one transaction, so they definitely need protocols in place to stop this happening.”

The message to mums

I think an important thing to consider here is NOT to save your credit card details to any device, especially if you have young children using them. It is very risky and a huge temptation for them!

So glad this mum  ended up getting a refund. I think these companies do seriously need to look at their policy’s and add a clause for these situations.

What do you think?

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  • I never save my details online and prefer to always have to enter them but everyone really need to put limitis on their cards so that anything over a certain limit is double checked before being allowed to go through.

    Reply

  • One good reason to not store your credit card details online, or at least not on a site that is easily accessible by anyone but yourself. Glad she got her money back, even though it took bringing a 3rd party into it.

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  • I am glad she got her refund however I think it just goes to show not to save your credit details online. Very concerning.

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  • Now I know why I refused to let my children play with my purse or have access to my credit cards.

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  • Um, I NEVER save my credit card details and clearly this is the best reason why. People do purchase such things online so I don’t think any institution can do the checks and balances she suggests. How would you monitor that? And perhaps parents need to put in controls so their children cannot make purchases online. It’s obviously been a very expensive lesson learnt.

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  • What a shocker ! Not so smart to have your credit card details automatically saved.

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  • I can understand how easily this could happen. We’ve never been through it thankfully, but a good reminder for everyone not to save those all important passwords and to log out properly.

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  • I received a message from my bank requesting confirmation for a purchase I made which wasn’t usual. It wasn’t the price that got them, it was the fact I was in a different town. I was able to confirm and the transaction went through.

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  • Mine isn’t saved! Thank goodness

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  • This is ridiculous! There’s limitations in place for withdrawing funds from a bank account – why isn’t there anything for a credit card?

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  • I saw this sale on eBay and was so shocked someone would pay that much!
    Her credit card must have a large limit!

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  • I feel for her but you need to secure your devices and passwords and maybe lower your credit card limit.

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  • Sorry but why would your child know the password or have access to your credit card and if it was through PayPal why wouldn’t it be logged out

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  • Doesn’t the card have a pin number or something? I always have to enter a pin or password to purchase stuff online!

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  • So glad eBay gave her the money back, Even though it took a tv Chanel to get involved.
    I’ve not added my cc details tony devices for this reason as my daughter is always planning games in my devices that you can purchase additional things for money… she’s tried as has even asked for ‘mummies money card’

    Reply

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