Toronto boy spent family's $2K emergency fund on Roblox gift cards at Walmart — why employees didn’t stop him

Speaking with CTV News, the couple recounted how their son stealthily stole an envelope containing $2,000 to $3,000 that was stashed as the family’s emergency fund before paying a visit to his grandmother.

She took her grandchild to Walmart for an innocuous outing of toy browsing — but it turned into anything but. Upon arriving at the megabox retailer, the son secretly made two $1,000 purchases of Roblox gift cards, using the funds from the envelope to do so. He purchased the cards by going through a Walmart cashier.

Jin and Kim only began to connect the dots once they realized their fund was depleted.

“I was shocked,” Kim said. “I’m still shocked. I can’t believe a small kid could spend $2,000 at Walmart.”

How Walmart responded to the incident

Upon discovering what had happened to their emergency fund, the couple immediately returned to Walmart in order to rectify the situation.

However, Jin and Kim were in for a rude awakening when they were informed by Walmart staff that gift card purchases are non-refundable.

“How can a little kid purchase $2,000 in cash and no one is suspicious about it?” Jin pondered.

Speaking with the news outlet, a representative from Walmart clarified that, “There are no age restrictions for purchasing gift cards at Walmart Canada, although individual gift card issuers may establish requirements, including age-related requirements, for redeeming their cards.”

For concerned parents, it’s important to implement guardrails to limit how much a child can spend online or in-store, so financial resources can’t be depleted with reckless abandon.

“Games like Roblox do offer parental controls that can limit how much children can spend in a game,” said Consumer Reports’ Nicholas de Leon. “But generally speaking, parents do have to set those up on their own. And because purchases can happen through the game, the app store, a phone, a tablet, there can be more than one layer of protection that parents need to enable.”

A safer alternative to a cash stash

While it’s admirable that Jin and Kim even had an emergency fund to begin with, 38% of Canadians with household incomes under $100,000 don’t have one at all at all, according to an RBC survey.

However, financial concerns about unexpected costs — the very shock that emergency funds are theoretically meant to absorb — are weighing on the consciences of Canadians as a whole. The survey also notes that 42% are worried that one major unexpected expense could sabotage their finances, while 33% worry that a small unplanned cost would be difficult to manage.

Jin and Kim could have been more discreet with their emergency fund as to where they chose to store it. As opposed to keeping that money earmarked in an envelope, a high interest savings account (HISA) with an accredited financial institution allows for more control and heightened security while also ensuring compound growth for contributions left untouched.