Another child is using my daughters parent pay.

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Purchases have been made from my daughters parent pay account in the school canteen that she did not make herself. Has anyone else ever come across this? I can't find anything about it on the internet.
It only started happening this month.

We only had a couple of quid on her canteen account so parent pay is now showing a minus figure for us.
My daughter knows she is allowed to buy things from the canteen if she wants to, so lying is not really something she would have to do. She prefers to bring her own food and spends all her breaks in the art department without even visiting the canteen (something I know from talking to her art teacher and friends - not that I have asked them specifically because of this incident, it's just come up previously in conversations).

I've sent a letter to the school office because there does not seem to be anything I can do about it from the parent pay website. It's a bit annoying as they are now badgering me for money.
Has anyone ever heard or experienced anything like this before? I thought it was all finger prints verified with mugshot.

 

[Glitter]

I’d ring the school first up, as long as you’re 100% sure it isn’t your daughter.,

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I’d ring the school first up, as long as you’re 100% sure it isn’t your daughter.,

I have done. . . .well I have sent an email. Ringing would only get me to the school office anyway.
I have always told my daughter that she can buy stuff if she wants to, but she has always insisted that she does not want to use the canteen so doesn't need a top up. I kept a couple of quid on there just in case.
I know the obvious and easy answer is that she is lying, but she really has no reason to.

 

[newme]

Bit of an odd one, how do they even use parentpay in a canteen? My kid takes lunches too so never actually had to deal with it. Is it a code or something?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Bit of an odd one, how do they even use parentpay in a canteen? My kid takes lunches too so never actually had to deal with it. Is it a code or something?

As I understand it they use fingerprints which are (or maybe not) verified by a photo of the student which comes up on a screen?
I am really not sure, and neither is my daughter, as she also always brings in her own lunch.

We were talking about it last night and my daughter wondered if there was a pin number back up for if the finger print wasn't working and maybe someone put in her pin (which we don't know, and may or may not even exist) by mistake??

We have no idea, but it's quite hard to disprove fingerprint recognition . . . it is possible (I made a TV show about it) but probably not worth doing for a pizza slice and a fruit roll up.

 

[newme]

I mean fingerprint things are easily defeated by someone trying and with access but it does seem weirdly unlikely a school kid has been taking prints and making the moulds etc, just read the TV show bit so I guess you know far more than me on this anyway lol.

I know our elder two had some fingerprint thing for it but they never got the fingerprints from them cos it seemed a ridiculous overreach to get some lunch plus they were supposed to be eating the packed one anyway lol. They did get issued with a code tho since they had to enroll everyone and couldn't insist you provide biometrics for a child, however this was like 10 years ago....

You would expect it there was a code it would need some other form of verification, otherwise you could spam some presumably 4 digit code (not like its going to be hard to remember with primary kids) and get in easy enough. Plus I assume whoever is in the canteen should be checking the picture fits, but maybe if its usually fingerprinted then how often would you bother checking if the kid matched? Not like they are going round with someone else's severed finger.

 

[CNT36]

My son didn't use the fingerprint system so used a pin instead. Whether that is standard or only if a request is made not to use fingerprints I don't know but would imagine it's simpler to have it on the system at all times just unused.

Maybe there is a universal default pin and a lot of kids without a plausable story are getting bollockings. Look for a child rapidly gaining weight with a constant smirk.

 

[CNT36]

I mean fingerprint things are easily defeated by someone trying and with access but it does seem weirdly unlikely a school kid has been taking prints and making the moulds etc, just read the TV show bit so I guess you know far more than me on this anyway lol.

I know our elder two had some fingerprint thing for it but they never got the fingerprints from them cos it seemed a ridiculous overreach to get some lunch plus they were supposed to be eating the packed one anyway lol. They did get issued with a code tho since they had to enroll everyone and couldn't insist you provide biometrics for a child, however this was like 10 years ago....

You would expect it there was a code it would need some other form of verification, otherwise you could spam some presumably 4 digit code (not like its going to be hard to remember with primary kids) and get in easy enough. Plus I assume whoever is in the canteen should be checking the picture fits, but maybe if its usually fingerprinted then how often would you bother checking if the kid matched? Not like they are going round with someone else's severed finger.

ATOMIC SUPLEX Have you counted her fingers lately?

 

[quimcunx]

Seems most likely that someone is misremembering their pin. If so maybe getting your daughters pin changed and her old pin cancelled would be the easiest solution.

 

[clicker]

Can you see what items have been bought? I remember a system that did...not sure if it was parent pay.
If its the same random item, it could be a glitch.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

I never had this when lil'Angel was at secondary school.

Very worrying - you can contact their support here - you need to be logged in to parentpay first: https://app.parentpay.com/public/client/help/#/

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Can you see what items have been bought? I remember a system that did...not sure if it was parent pay.
If its the same random item, it could be a glitch.

Different items. One day had two items. There has never been two purchases of the same thing.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I never had this when lil'Angel was at secondary school.

Very worrying - you can contact their support here - you need to be logged in to parentpay first: https://app.parentpay.com/public/client/help/#/

Thanks, I couldn't find that when I was looking.
The school has already refunded the amount (no questions). They say that the staff are supposed to verify against a photo, but they have literally nothing else to go on other than the info I have in my parents pay account myself. Cant tell if they used a pin, or a fingerprint. They should have been warned they didn't have any money, but there is no way checking, and the photo they use for verification is from year 7 (four or so years ago in my daughters case, so she looks completely different).

 

[Aladdin]

Can you cancel the account?
And then set up a new one with a different password?
Or is that just too simplistic?

 

[Thora]

Same thing happened to my son in Year 7.
Someone had either overheard his PIN or was accidentally using his.
School refunded the money, he changed his PIN and was reminded not to tell anyone. It hasn't happened since.

 

[maomao]

They say that the staff are supposed to verify against a photo,

It'll be a blurry thumbnail in the corner of their screen that they've long since learned to ignore because of the speed at which secondary school children change appearance.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Can you cancel the account?
And then set up a new one with a different password?
Or is that just too simplistic?

Waaay to easy. No. My daughter has a fingerprint, photo, pin (which I have never been privy to) and the account linked to the school. I can probably change my actual password for logging into the account, but that would be irrelevant. The issue is not at that end. I have asked for the pin to be cancelled/changed but I got no answer about that. They said photo recognition was enough (even though it obviously wasn't).

 

[1927]

Parentpay is a nightmare. The kids never get a receipt so theres no checks on what theyve had. avoid at all cots. my kids school parent page is full of complaints, but you cant prove anything.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

The ParentPay system at my daughter's old school showed you what meal they'd bought on the parent pay app/web page.

Assumed everyone's did tbh.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Yes mine does too. What they bought and how much it cost etc etc obvs.