The Mumbai teen had allegedly spent Rs 10 lakh on his mother's bank account to get an ID and virtual currency to play PUBG.
A 16-year-old Mumbai teen ran away from home in the western suburb of Jogeshwari after his parents learned about their son’s addiction to the popular game PUBG. The teen had allegedly spent Rs 10 lakh from his mother’s bank account to get an ID and virtual currency to play the game. The incident came to light on Wednesday evening, after the boy’s father approached the MIDC police station with a missing person’s complaint, and since the boy was a minor, the police registered a case of kidnapping and a search was launched, the official said.
The police subsequently traced the runaway teen to Mahakali Caves area in Andheri (east) on Thursday afternoon and sent him back to his parents, an official said.
When the parents found out about the online transaction, they scolded the boy, following which he wrote a letter and left the home, the official
With the help of informants and technical analysis, the crime branch team managed to trace the boy, who was sent back to his parents after counselling, he added.
Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident related to PUBG addiction.
In a disturbing incident that occurred earlier this year, a 17-year-old boy who had borrowed Rs 75,000 from a friend to purchase additional features in a game ended up being killed after he failed to return the loan. The incident occurred in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on March 10. The boy's body was found in the Sarangarh region in Raigarh, five days after he went missing.
According to a report in The Times of India, the victim who was a student in Class 9 had reportedly been addicted to gaming and had borrowed Rs 75,000 from his friend Chavan Kunte last year. He used the money to buy himself additional features in the game, including guns and bullets.
From January onward, however, when Kunte started asking for the money back, the victim would always make an excuse to pay later. When Kunte realized that the boy was not planning to repay the sum, Kunte decided to take things into his own hands. On March 10, he decided to get the victim drunk and ask for the money. When the latter made another excuse, an argument broke out and Kunte ended up slitting the victim’s throat.
In yet another incident that unfolded last year, a punjab teen and gaming addict from Punjab’s Kharar took the craze for the mobile game to another level after he spent Rs 16 lakhs from his father’s account to buy virtual ammunition on PUBG.
The 17-year-old would take his father’s mobile phone on the pretext of online classes, but would access his father’s bank accounts to make in-app purchases for him and his friends
After finding out about his son’s double-dealings, the father decided to make the boy work at a scooter repair shop to teach him the value of hard-earned money.
“I just can’t let him sit idle at home and cannot give him a mobile phone even for studying," the father told The Tribune. “He is working at a scooter repair shop so that he realises how hard it is to earn money."
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