Children are using new pre-paid 'credit cards' to buy alcohol and pornography and gamble online, The Observer has learnt.

 

Children's charities and politicians claim that the cash cards are being used by under-18s to buy age-restricted goods and services over the web.

 

They warn that the cards are ripe for exploitation and that they may be attractive to paedophiles buying pornography online because they are practically untraceable.

 

An investigation by the children's charity NCH found that it was easy for children to obtain pre-paid cards from corner shops without having to prove their age - breaching card issuers' guidelines. Companies that sold 'adult' products and services to the children included Virgin Wines, Foxy Bingo, online casino 888.com, Amazon and Play.

 

Pre-paid cards, new to the UK, were originally aimed at people such as migrant workers who don't have bank accounts, but they are now being offered to children.

 

'Children can now access and buy the most disturbing things, from explicit DVDs to entry to gambling sites,' said Labour MP Margaret Moran.

 

IDT Finance, the US company which issued the pre-paid Mastercards to the children in the investigation, did not return calls last week. But a spokesman for Visa said: 'They introduce children to the financial world, start to teach them about financial discipline.'

But the Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety - which includes the NSPCC, Barnardo's and NCH - has written to Apacs, the trade association for payments, warning that the cards 'provide a new vehicle for the trade in child pornography over the internet ... in a way that essentially eliminates the possibility of the purchaser being caught'.

 

Source: Observer

:kink:

 

They have them in America, and I order alcohol to bring to parties and such.

Edited August 19, 200717 yr by Dirty Pop

It's incredibly stupid to not expect teenagers to watch porn FFS, the rules are stupid as they are almost impossible to enforce with regards to internet pornography, and I doubt you'll find any normal teenager who has not watched porn in this day and age, even more do it than have sex which says a lot tbh, it's the teenage version of Prohibition, it's never going to work, it's unrealistic to expect it to work, and in the end porn is hardly going to screw up an average teenager who is already thinking about sex is it? :lol:

Well I bought an 18 over Amazon

and Im 16, thats illegal, right?

yeah pretty much!

 

its coz u can get them sorta cards (we have one called bopo in aus..) at any age... i'm 19 and i got a visa debit card when i turned 18...

 

 

So teenage lads look at porn and 18 videos

 

Breaking news just in - the Titanic has sunk off Newfoundland

 

Jeez why is this such a big deal ? even when I was 14/15/16 used to get Playboy magazine and look at it behind the bike sheds at school surrounded by about 20 classmates eager for a view of someone's snatch and we all used to watch 18 or X as it was known in those days videos so this sorta thing has been going on for generations so I don't understand why there is such shock horror about it :manson: the only difference now is that instead of Playboy behind the bike sheds we are in the electronic era now and teenage lads can see the stuff online but its the same principle

 

 

I think the only "scandal" here is how much these cards charge

The only thing that would really concern me is the aspect that kids might use them to access gambling sites.. I dont really think that obtaining 18 Cert or "unrated" DVDs is much of a concern tbh, I was watching stuff like "Zombie Flesh Eaters" and "Evil Dead" back in the day.....

 

BUT, the Porn thing is another story, sure, we all had a natural fascination for the days of the "top shelf mags" and the dodgy under-the-counter vids, but there's a LOT more nasty sh1t out there these days than the normal "Playboy" or "Debbie Does Dallas" type porn folks.. There are some incredibly nasty sites out there that deal with "forced sex", violent and "rape" porn. I would be seriously concerned if kids were using these cards to access those sorts of sites... So, for that reason and the reasons concerning gambling sites and ordering alcohol, I think this whole issue does need to be addressed by Parliament...

The only thing that would really concern me is the aspect that kids might use them to access gambling sites.. I dont really think that obtaining 18 Cert or "unrated" DVDs is much of a concern tbh, I was watching stuff like "Zombie Flesh Eaters" and "Evil Dead" back in the day.....

 

BUT, the Porn thing is another story, sure, we all had a natural fascination for the days of the "top shelf mags" and the dodgy under-the-counter vids, but there's a LOT more nasty sh1t out there these days than the normal "Playboy" or "Debbie Does Dallas" type porn folks.. There are some incredibly nasty sites out there that deal with "forced sex", violent and "rape" porn. I would be seriously concerned if kids were using these cards to access those sorts of sites...

 

Strikes me as a poorly researched article Scott

 

I have no desire to subscribe to any sort of porn site, seen one snatch seen them all :rolleyes: but I would have thought that for porn sites that have to be paid for and I would guess the article is about paid sites the subscriber would have to enter their name and their address and all the rest of the stuff for this card to be validated so I can't figure out how people can anonymously buy things via a card without entering any personal information about themselves

Strikes me as a poorly researched article Scott

 

I have no desire to subscribe to any sort of porn site, seen one snatch seen them all :rolleyes: but I would have thought that for porn sites that have to be paid for and I would guess the article is about paid sites the subscriber would have to enter their name and their address and all the rest of the stuff for this card to be validated so I can't figure out how people can anonymously buy things via a card without entering any personal information about themselves

 

Well, I kinda would've thought that those particular sorts of sites wouldn't really ask that many questions tbh (seriously, how many paedoes or sickos into watching women being raped and tortured - even if it is just "pretend" - would actually want to leave a "paper trail"...?), so long the card actually worked.. And, it's my understanding that these particular sorts of card DONT rely on the user having a bank account or actually signing up for anything (a bit like a pay-as-you-go phone that you just top up..), so there's no way to trace it back to a particular user... Seems to me that if you use these sorts of anonymous "top up" credit cards you could just sign in to a site calling yourself "Mickey Mouse from number 23 Disneyland.."

 

Strikes me as a poorly researched article Scott

 

I have no desire to subscribe to any sort of porn site, seen one snatch seen them all :rolleyes: but I would have thought that for porn sites that have to be paid for and I would guess the article is about paid sites the subscriber would have to enter their name and their address and all the rest of the stuff for this card to be validated so I can't figure out how people can anonymously buy things via a card without entering any personal information about themselves

 

But these cards are being issued to under 18s. In the past sites have been able to work on the assumption that if you have a credit card you are, by definition, over 18. With these cards that doesn't apply.

hmmm... difficult one really, as craig says underage kids have always sought porn, or would have done if it was more widely available. the closest thing to porn we saw was pans people, or legs and co on top of the pops! lol which were very tame by todays standards. but young people DO have a natural fascination for sex, the question is, how much exposure the young should get and to what.

 

mayfair, playboy, the sun page 3 (lol) was very tame with hardly anything very intimate being shown. but nowdays the internet is full of hardcore and illegal images. can people view such images without it effecting them? thats the billion dollar question. of course some people can, others though may well feel the need to act upon it.