[webtechgal]

Something definitely smells out of place here.

I believe the AdWords policies vary from country to country (and from time to time) but the last I checked (2015), here in India, you had to have at least one verifiable payment method (card/bank account) in order to even activate an AdWords account, leave alone the matter of running up a balance of Euro 100,000.

So how did a 12 y-o manage to do that?

[dazc]

The story as reported on bbc radio 4 last night said his parents let him add some bank details - either their own or some other account like a trust fund that needed their consent.

I wasn't really listening enough to remember the exact details but it rang true enough for me not to question it. Other than his parents being very trusting or very naive, of course?

/More detail http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37571304/boy-racks-up-...

"A savings account had been opened in the boy's name and he used those details when signing up for AdWords."

[maaaats]

Where I live, you can get a bank card (not credit) as a teenager. But you are unable to put yourself in debt. So you can use the card to buy stuff, but companies should be wary of using the card details to verify future purchases.

In this case, if you pay for AdWords credit up front and then spend them, the company is fine. But if they charge a bill after the fact, the contract allowing those charges wouldn't be legal, and that's the responsibility of the professional part.