NJ Kid Runs up a $3.2 Million Tab on the Net

So far, the great fear of children using their parents' credit cards to bet online hasn't materialized in a documented case. Still, the old "click the mouse, lose the house" scenario is indeed a reality.

National Post, a national Canadian newspaper, reported Tuesday that a 13-year-old Camden County, New Jersey boy used his parent's account at eBay, an online trading company that operates a popular Internet auction, to purchase $3.2 million worth of goodies. After getting his mitts on his parent's eBay password, Andrew Tyler was able to score, among other things, a $1.2 million medical center in Jacksonville, Fla., a Van Gogh sketch, a 1971 Corvette and a $400,000 bedroom suite that once belonged to Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister. (Remember the days when kids dug skateboards and video games?) He also bid on a replica WWF heavyweight belt and an oak cradle. Plus, he put his friend, Carsten, up for sale as a slave, noting that "he's an ugly bitch and he smells," but "he will work very well."

Officials with eBay, a San Jose, Calif.-based online trading company, told the National Post they had suspended the boy's account and that the bids had been canceled.

It's an amusing story, but its implications are a bit unnerving. As e-commerce emerges as the way of the future, activity like this will become more common and stopping it is virtually impossible. Cases that aren't quite as funny are certain to follow.

The debacle also brings to mind the efforts of Senator Jon Kyl and company, who cite the potential of underage access to online gambling as a focal point of the Kyl bill, which seeks to prohibit Internet gambling in the U.S. On one hand such cases are fuel for the Kyl campaign because they exemplify dangers that exist. On the other hand, they serve as a reminder that these dangers are unavoidable and that legislation might not be a realistic solution.

No news has surfaced yet as to whether any legislators or attorney generals intend to call for a stop to online auctions.