The following story will make you want to stay vigilant with your spending and checking your credit card statements occasionally.
A Redditor noticed what they thought was a discrepancy in their bank statements after seeing charges they didn’t recognize or recall making.
When they got confirmation on where the mystery charges were coming from, they confronted the issue and got pushback.
So they sought judgment by visiting the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITA) subReddit after causing awkward tensions.
There, Redditor Potential_Pie_7714 asked:
“AITA for blaming my nephew for using my credit card without my permission?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“So let me start off with I’m pretty bad at checking the details on my bank statements, but recently something wasn’t right. So I went through every single one for the past year, and there were over 100 charges from PlayStation.”
“I only had 4 purchases on my 2 PS accounts in a single year, so I panicked as someone had my cc info.”
“In all, the total charges were around $1,500. I contacted both of my siblings who’s kids also have accounts and asked nicely if their kids may have purchased anything using my bank account before i make a dispute.”
“Both said no, so I went ahead and called both PS and my bank. The bank was able to charge back the past few months, and the rest is under investigation.”
The OP continued:
“Well, a few days later, I get a frantic call from my teenage nephew who says his PS account was permanently banned. I asked him if he was sure he didn’t buy anything with a cc after I gave him a several hundred dollars PS gift card for his birthday this summer to spend on stuff, but he again denied it.”
“So I have his email logins and sure enough, it was purchases he made to his account. All the stuff he plays. Then he starts to say maybe he bought a few items here and there.”
“Now my sister is pissed at me. She says I must have added my cc info to buy him something at some point in time, and it was all my fault he was making purchases from my card. If it were her cc, she’d get an alert.”
“Never that he may have taken my cc info, no. She doesn’t want him to lose his account, and said she’ll call PS to pay for it all. She said he always asks and she gets alerts and doesn’t understand that I didn’t, so I shouldn’t blame him.”
“I said well he knew he was spending someone else’s money, so why is it my fault? And that he stopped asking her for permission to make purchases because no one stopped him. After that she said I was blaming her kid for everything. So AITA here?”
Anonymous strangers weighed in by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- NAH – No A**holes Here
Many Redditors thought the OP was not the a**hole (NTA) here.
“NTA.”
“If your sister comes back at you, tell her you /specifically/ asked the family if any of them were the ones who made the charges before you disputed them.”
“No one admitted to it, so your only conclusion was that someone stole your CC information and racked up the charges, so you had no choice but to dispute the charges.”
“Your nephew is not only a thief, but a liar too.”
“It is now up to your sister and nephew to resolve the issue with PS by repaying the disputed charges along with any fees that they are going to get hit with for the disputes.”
“Your sister is right about one thing, though, YOU need to lock down your activity. Most CC’s and banks have options to add notifications of charges so that you get an alert whenever there are charges made.”
“You need to go enable that option on every card you have and account that you have.”
“You should also probably review your credit reports as well and then lock those also as preventative measures.” – JessieColt
“You are NTA and I am really worried for your nephew. His mother is completely incompetent and she seems determined to send her boy out into the world without even the most basic ethics and standards.”
“You are not going to change her. She just doesn’t have the intelligence and morals to make reasonable choices or to treat people with the most basic respect. I would not interact with her.” – EmceeSuzy
“Your sister thinks it’s okay for her son to steal, and her major concern is that her son doesn’t lose his PlayStation account? I can see jail in this one’s future. I don’t think they have a PlayStation in jail though. NTA. “ – Canadian987
“I ordered something for my grandma from Sam’s club on my account but using her card (she wanted something specific, but she didn’t want to figure out how to pay me back). About a month later, I noticed that I hadn’t been getting credit card alerts for my Sam’s purchases.”
“I went through my history and realized I’d be paying for my stuff with her card for the last month. I immediately called her, added up everything, and sent her a check the next day. It’s one thing to make a mistake, own up to it, and rectify it. It’s another thing to enable the behavior and expect happy outcomes.”
“NTA.” – abbeysahm
“NTA – nephew shouldn’t have been making purchases with cc that wasn’t his. It was financially risky to use your cc one time without making sure that the data was not saved but that doesn’t make you the AH. When you asked if they made purchases- that was the time for him to fess up.”
“He didn’t and these are the consequences. The support article says that the ban on the debt should be lifted once they pay off the balance. I don’t know if a charge back is different but this support article might be helpful.” – Snoo90169
“All your sister took away from this is that she doesn’t want her dumb teen to lose his PlayStation account??? Good grief. He’s doomed if he doesn’t learn consequences but clearly she won’t be the one to teach him.”
“Who’s to say whether the kid really knew who’s card he was using (though it seems like maybe he did if your sister was allegedly letting him make purchases on her card too) but regardless, you’re not in the wrong here. The purchases were from his account and you weren’t okay with it. End of discussion. That doesn’t make you the bad guy.”
“Your nephew and/or your sister owe you the money and hopefully he learns something from this.”
“NTA.” – SeaThePointe0714
“NTA. Your nephew is a liar and a thief. He would have tried to lie to your face and get away with it, but he’s too young or too naive to realize these things are easily traceable. Stand your ground on this one. Your sister is an enabler and sets a terrible example for her own son.” –pennywhistlesmoonpie
“NTA your nephew would have known he was using your cc info, so he’s a thief AND a liar. He’s lucky that all that is happening is his PS acc being perma banned, he should face theft/fraud charges. Your sister and your nephew are the Ah’s here.”
“At the least, she should be making him do chores or extra chores to earn money to pay you back every single cent he stole from you and it wouldn’t matter if his PS acc was permabanned because his PS should be taken away and if it’s only his account that’s banned, it should be sold to help pay you back too. (but only if the console itself isn’t banned because it’s a brick then).”
“If sis doesn’t get on top of things with him and teach him that his actions have consequences, he’ll likely end up in jail eventually.” – Nanamoo2008
The OP returned with an update, writing:
“After an intense argument, she was still denying he made the charges at all. I was finally able to show her each and every transaction (before, I had only explained, and she didn’t believe me). After seeing the evidence, he finally fessed up.”
“He claimed he thought it was HER card 🤪. She will be paying me for all the money he used on my account and will not be getting the PS5 back, until he works to pay it off.”
“Even then she may not let him have it. He insists that he will be paying us both double for our troubles. But the real damage done here is the trust I have in both of them.”
Overall, Redditors thought the OP’s frustrations over the matter were warranted and were concerned about the nephew’s fibbing tendencies.
The thread also served as a good reminder to check your bank statements to ensure everything tracks.