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!

[Deb999]

Can anyone advise how to contact Boku as the number used for the unauthorised transactions from me, is used in a security camera, therefore I can not receive texts, which is what it's asking for on their lohon details

[pompom]

Same thing happen to my 15 year old daughter account. 2x 13.49 and 2x 39.99 transactions with total of 106.96 charging my card. I had capped her account and irrespectively these charges have been committed with 3mobile saying that they cannot stop them even in the future. 

Just reading replies below I have managed to block her number on Boku website and sent an email requesting response by tomorrow and immediate refund. If actions are not taken I am planning to report the incident to the police as this will be as close to fraud as I may think. For a website which has charged my account without my knowledge and consent a simple block cannot be taken as a reliable precaution.

Another action I am planning to take is contacting Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

And of course Ofcom and GDPR because 3 mobile have explicitly refused to take responsibility and fail to understand that they have allowed for my number to be used as payment method without my consent and refused to take action of stopping this payment. And ultimately it is happening to multiple 3 mobile customers where the phone is used by minor. How...

[Jj3]

I my self just had 39.99 added to my account. Network three can't even stop payments..

[DonnaB180680]

I have just had 4 x £39.99 amounts added to my 14 year old daughters three account from Boku.  I've contacted them already and blocked her number.  I wanted to see if anyone actually got anywhere with getting the amount refunded by them? Or anything additional I need to do? I find it ridiculous that there is nothing to stop this 

[Dovile]

Hi , 

Same situation happen to my son. We got charged £159 from Boku and we don’t even have PlayStation or made any purchases. 
I contacted Three and email Boku but so far no help…. 

[JonathanB]

Hi @Dovile,

As well as contacting Boku's support email, we'd recommend to use the Boku portal: 

You can find the Boku customer portal here: https://customer.boku.com/login

This should allow you to view details of transactions, cancel any subscriptions, and block your number from future transactions through Boku there too, whilst you're waiting to hear back from them,

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Everlast]

Hi,

The same thing has happened to me. I've checked my bill today and I've seen unauthorised charges for £80 for games that I didn't purchase. I've blocked my number on Boku and I have filled in their form to open a ticket. I don't want to cancel my phone contract, but do Boku typically refund these charges? How long does this take? And should I let 3 take the DD out of my account for them? Thanks!

[Mickgrant]

Hello, II have just email Boku, I do think you should escalate this, I will Lao be doing this if I do not get a refund and a suitable answer to ensure this does not happen again.

[PeteG]

Hello there.

Contacting Boku would be the best course of action. This will allow you to determine what the charges have been applied for, and you can discuss them. 

This is a space for other Three users, it's not a direct customer services area, so no one here can access your account to raise any kind of escalation. It's worth noting that the support team can't directly investigate your charges as they can only see the amount and the name of the company, the same info you can see on the bill. I think of it as being like a credit or debit card. You can buy things from lots of different places with them, but the bank aren't able to tell you specifically what you bought. 

Pete.

[chopsy1974]

how do you contact boku as their website has no numbers and you can only block and there is no option to call speak to anyone or log a refund request. Three have been really unhelpful