Unauthorised Charges by Boku on My Daughter’s Phone Bill – Advice Needed

[Nkosi]

Hi everyone,I’m posting here to raise awareness and seek advice about an issue I’ve encountered with unauthorised charges on my daughter’s mobile phone bill.

I recently noticed extra charges on her phone account, which is under my name and managed by me. Her monthly bill is capped, so it shouldn’t exceed the contracted amount. After contacting the provider (Three), I discovered that these charges were for Boku.com, a third-party payment service that works with my provider.

The charges were for PlayStation Network services, but neither I nor my 12-year-old daughter own a PlayStation or have a PlayStation Network account. Importantly, my daughter is a minor and cannot legally enter into such agreements. Even if she attempted to subscribe to anything, it would require my authorisation, which never happened.

What’s worse is that we had never heard of Boku before this, never signed up for their services, and were never notified of any agreements or charges.

This situation raises several concerns for me:

1. How was Boku able to authorise charges without explicit consent from me as the account holder?

2. Why wasn’t I notified about these transactions before they were billed?

From my research, it seems this could violate UK consumer protection laws, including:

• The Consumer Rights Act 2015, which ensures protection from unauthorised charges.

• The Payment Services Regulations 2017, which require clear consent for payments.

• The UK GDPR, which protects personal data from being used without explicit permission.

I’ve already contacted Boku to demand an immediate refund and assurance that my daughter’s phone number will not be used for their services again. However, I wanted to share my experience here in case others have faced similar issues and to ask:

1. Has anyone else experienced unauthorised charges from Boku or similar third-party services?

2. What steps did you take to resolve the issue?

3. Do you think I should escalate this to the Financial Ombudsman or the ICO if I don’t get a satisfactory response?

I’ll keep this post updated with any progress, but for now, I want to warn others to check their phone bills carefully—especially for numbers used by children.Thanks in advance for any advice or similar stories you can share!

[Mark_Ford]

Thanks Lubo. Are you able to confirm what information you needed to get BOKU to agree to a refund? I'm cautious about sending them anything. I'd rather not cancel my contract with Three but I need to know that this isn't going to happen again tomorrow.

[Iclads]

Request a PayPal refund. They wanted my email address, full name and DOB to be able to do the PayPal refund. I told them they didn’t need my DOB (I wasn’t comfortable giving this level of information out), they should be able to verify my PayPal with just my email address (which they already had as I had emailed them from it) and my name. After this I got my PayPal refund in a day or so… FYI , I lost £6 for the PayPal charges but hey.

[Georgina1409]

Hey can I ask how you got your refund as they have said I will get a full refund but haven't said how and how long it will take xx

[gemmav1982]

This has happened to me on the latest phone bill. 4 x £39.99. 3 were unhelpful. I have submitted a request through Boku for a refund and you can block the number here: https://boku.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/231602287-I-don-t-recognise-Boku-charges-on-my-phone-bill 

[Sarah86]

I’ve literally just encountered the exact same issue that you’ve just mentioned and I’m trying to find a way to solve it. Did you manage to solve it?

[gemmav1982]

This has happened to me on the latest phone bill. 4 x £39.99. 3 were unhelpful. I have submitted a request through Boku for a refund and you can block the number here: https://boku.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/231602287-I-don-t-recognise-Boku-charges-on-my-phone-bill 

[Chazlow]

I have put in a complaint and cancelled my DD. I’m waiting on a response now 🙄

[lubo]

Please raise a formal complaint with 3 mobile and they have an obligation to resolve the case. If they don't provide a satisfactory outcome to your case, please contact the communication ombudsman here: https://www.commsombudsman.org/

[bexwitts_]

Hi I have just had the same issue and not hearing a response from boku at all and PlayStation won’t help. did you hear anything and thinking of taking it further 

[Abiksy]

Hi I am all facing the same challenge, my 13 year old daughter’s phone has a bill of £159 plus from Three network and I went to Three today and was told it’s a third party merchant that I should call them up to cancel but I have tried and tried but haven’t gotten any response, please what number did u use to cancel Boku games.