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• A Chinese teenager spent her parents' life savings on mobile games in only four months.
• Their debit card was linked to her game, and she pulled money from their savings account.
• If you aren't checking your bank accounts regularly, an app can help.
• See our picks for the best budgeting apps »

Anyone who reads the story of the 13-year-old in China who spent about $64,000 of her parents' money on mobile games might have the same question: How?

As Matthew Loh writes for Insider, her parents had given her the authorization info for their debit card for an unrelated purchase; she used that info to connect the card — and her parents' savings account — to her mobile game, deleting chats and transaction records so her parents wouldn't notice and she wouldn't get in trouble.

Loh writes that the teenager told Elephant News, the Chinese outlet that originally reported the story, that although she was using the debit card, she "didn't know where the money came from or how much she was spending."

When her mom checked her savings account, there were about seven cents left.

How to protect your money from overspending

While we can't know the specifics of one family's situation, their story does make you think about protecting your own bank...

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