The Indian government’s ban on the smartphone game PUBG Mobile has come as a shock to many. The game, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, was quite popular among children as well as adults. The game had gained a lot of new players and seen people spending more time on PUBG during the lockdown forced due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While PUBG is free to play, there are a lot of paid add-ons in the game. According to a report in the Sensor Tower, Tencent saw nearly $226 million user (roughly Rs 1,659 crore) spending in May. In the first half of 2020, the platform’s global revenue gain touched the $3 billion mark (Rs 22,027 crore).

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In one such case of PUBG ‘addiction’, a teenager in Punjab spent Rs 16 lakh from his parents’ account to make in-app purchases in the game. The 17-year-old spent his father’s life savings to buy upgrades for himself and his teammates, reported the Tribune.

The report stated that the teenager had access to three bank accounts that he used to make the purchases. The family only came to learn about this from their bank statement. “He used her [mother’s] mobile phone to make all transactions and would delete the message regarding amount debited from the account,” the father told Tribune.

It is said that the father of the minor is a government employee and has a medical history. He had been saving the money for medical expenses.