Laurence Dollimore
A SPANISH boy has had his Google bill waived after he accidentally racked up €100,000 in advertising fees.
The search engine said 12-year-old Jose Javier, from Torrevieja, made an unintended and ‘costly mistake’ in an attempt to make his brass band famous online.
Jose had created an account with AdWords, a Google pay-per-click service, that puts adverts above search results and on other websites.
The customer gives their credit card details and only pays when someone clicks on the link.
Jose – whose parents had set him up with an account – gave his banking details, but thought he was actually going to earn money from ads on his homemade website.
Google said they realised that ‘it was all a mistake and that he did it without thinking.’
“A 12-year-old boy doesn’t want to start spending €100,000,” a spokeswoman said.
His mother Inma Quesada said her son wanted to buy instruments for his band Los Salerosos, loosely translated as The Salties, in which he plays the trumpet.
His parents discovered he was racking up debt when the bank called them to warn about the charges.
Maybe Rato can say it was all a mistake – and the bank clients will forgive his debt!