FORTNITE STRIFE
Disabled single mum left with ‘no money’ after son, 10, racks up £1,200 bill on Fortnite
Her son added her bank details on his Xbox account and used it to buy items on the hugely popular online game
A DISABLED single mum was left with "no money" after her 10-year-old son spent more than £1,000 on Fortnite using her bank card because he didn't realise it was "real cash".
Cleo Duckett from Bridgend, Wales, has no funds to pay for food or electricity because son Jayden-Lee dished out £1,193.25 on the addictive online video game.
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Cleo, who gets around £700 a month in benefits, said: "I only found out about it when I went to use the cash machine and there was only £8 left in my account."
Not long after that, polio-sufferer Cleo received a text from the bank saying she was now in her overdraft, forcing her son to admit it was his fault.
It turned out Jayden-Lee added her bank details on his Xbox account and used it to buy items on the hugely popular online game.
Those playing the frantic, last-gamer-standing survival fight can buy outfits, weapons and other items with real life money.
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Mum-of-two Cleo, 46, was completely unaware of the amount her son had been spending doing just that.
She said: "He spent £1,193.25, leaving me around £245 into my overdraft. There was £50 here and £50 there, £60 here and £66 there, and that's without the VAT.
"I think he must have been paying for different parts of the game." The bank is refusing to help me because they said my boy is my responsibility.
"I'm not a criminal. I haven't stolen the money or spent it on games for myself. I've been with the bank for more than 20 years and they're just not helping me at all."
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Cleo said she has also contacted Fortnite but is still awaiting a response, adding: "I'll probably never see that money again.
"My boy didn't understand what he was doing. He's only 10. He didn't understand that it was real money. He thought he was only getting credits."
Cleo said she has now been offered a payment plan by the bank but has no money to cover the overdraft instalment costs.
Read more about Fortnite
Because of this, she said she has been forced to use money from her son's savings account to cover the costs and to survive until her next benefit payment on September 6.
"I'm a single parent and I've got to survive five days with no money. It's scary. I've got to buy food and pay for electric and gas and I've been left to manage on my own."
The Co-op bank and Epic Games, who own Fortnite, have been contacted for comment.
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