Mohali teenager spent over Rs 2 lakh in PUBG including his grandfather’s pension

Mohali teenager spentover Rs 2 lakh in PUBG including his grandfather’s pension

Parents demand ban on the game from government

Harshabab Sidhu
Nabaz-e-Punjab, Mohali, July 4
Another case of famous game, PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) addiction has been witnessed in Mohali city about a 15-year-old boy, who has allegedly spent over Rs 2 lakh on making payments in the game.
As per the information obtained from teenager’s uncle, the boy, (name withheld) became a ‘PUBG addict’ since January this year. He used to play the game in his dreams too as he could be seen shouting “Target kill karo”, “Usey maaro” etc during sleep at the midnight. The 10th class passout used to spend his maximum hours in playing PUBG, even during his online home classes.
The boy has been lured by his school’s senior boy, who was training him for making the payments smartly through his grandfather’s bank account and get expertise in the game, alleged his uncle, who did not wish to be named.
The teenager’s uncle said his nephew has misused the bank account of his grandfather, which was opened for his pension deposits, by making around 30 payments in past two months, worth Rs 55,000 from it. The 15-year-old was making the payments on a PayTM account, which he made on his grandfather’s name by using his personal documents.
Earlier, the boy used to steal cash from the wallets of his father and uncle and then send it on PayTM to his senior friend with the help of some shopkeepers, by giving them cash. His uncle, who runs a shop in Chandigarh, said that they came to know about all this on Friday when they checked the statement of boy’s grandfather bank account. After that the boy himself confronted the family that he had spent over Rs 2 lakh on the game by stealing cash and making transactions through the bank account of his grandfather. The boy also said that he has paid the amount to his senior, who is said to be live in Zirakpur, for purchasing UC (a form of game currency needed to purchase skins of cars and guns).
“We came to know that he had also purchased a special SIM card for the game. Earlier, when we used to find some cash missing from our wallets, we did not pay much heed towards the boy and ignored that. But two days ago, we checked his mobile that was having locks on each application. On suspicion, we asked him and he admitted that he was making the payments from last couple of months,” said his uncle.
It was also learnt by the family that he used to delete the OTP (One Time Password) messages received on his grandfather’s mobile to leave any clue about his purchases.
“His grandfather’ bank account has been left with Rs 1.6 lakh now. The remaining balance might also vanished if we did not came to know about this,” said his uncle while adding that “Now, we have taken his mobile phone and started his counseling from a Chandigarh-based psychiatrist as his behaviour becomes irritable”.
The family has also written a complainant to the Mohali SSP, Kuldeep Singh Chahal through e-mail about the transactions of Rs 55,000 and alleged that their child was being lured by his senior.
The boy’s uncle also said that both his sons (13-year-old and 17-year-old) are also game addicts.
He demanded, “Indian government should ban this game like it did for the China-based applications recently. The game has spoiled our youth and teenagers. Secondly, I want that all the parents should pay heed towards their children as it is becoming every home’s story these days.”
Dr Nitin Gupta, a psychiatrist, who is conducting the counseling of this boy, said, “The cases of game and mobile addiction arises during the lockdown as students remained free during this period. These days, students are indulging themselves more in solitary activities rather than group activities, which is also becoming the cause of their mental fatigue. I am dealing with these type of cases in the present. I appeal the parents that they should supervise their children and make them involve in group discussions of family, which is vanishing” while adding that “Games, serials and movies have maximum affected the students due to which they are running far from the reality.”