A 9-year-old boy used his father’s corporate credit card to spend $118,000 promoting his Roblox and Minecraft YouTube channel, according to a video posted on the Mighty Mike Plays YouTube channel two days ago.
The video explained the “sad news” that the channel may be coming to an end. Mike passes the commentary over to his dad, Dave, who sounds somber as he describes what happened.
Dave explains that his son had been running high-budget campaigns on YouTube that the dad was “pretty much unaware of.”
He says he was called into a meeting with the company’s corporate manager and employees from finance. He was then asked to explain why there was $118,000 missing from the company card assigned to him.
Dave initially did not have an explanation. But once they saw where the money was being spent, the realization dawned on him.
According to Dave, the situation began when Mike asked to buy some of Roblox’s in-game Robux currency. Dave used the card in question to make that purchase.
A few weeks later, Mike mentioned to his dad that he wasn’t getting many subscribers. Dave decided to put $20 toward a small ad campaign, using the same card, and showed his son how it worked.
Turns out Mike was paying way more attention than Dave gave him credit for. Right after that campaign ended, he went and ran a bunch of his own – using his dad’s saved corporate card, except this time it wasn’t just $20.
“When a nine-year-old gets access to an ad account with no limits and a CC that just says ‘approved’ every single time no matter what, he does not think that what he’s doing is wrong,” Dave said.
The marketing company Dave works for wasn’t amused by the situation. It’s now been escalated to higher management, who will review everything and decide on next steps.
Dave may have to repay some or all of the money. He might also lose his job once the investigation ends.
Dave maintains that the blame lies with him, not his nine-year-old son. Still, he says Mike won’t escape consequences entirely – his iPad and PlayStation are being taken away.
“He’ll be mowing lawns until he’s 18,” he said.
Dave closes the video by confirming the Mighty Mike channel is on hold for now, though he leaves the door open for its return.
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