It's always a shame to hear about young people getting caught up in crime, but it's even more heartbreaking when it's someone who had so much going for them.

This is the case with a student at Epping Boys' High School in Sydney, who was caught red-handed giving away wads of cash to his classmates. The young man had apparently been on a spending spree, using his parents' money to buy computers and gaming vouchers, before giving the rest away.

A Year 7 student from Epping Boys High School showered his schoolmates with thousands of dollars from his university trust fund. Credit: Matrixnews for Dailymail Australia.​

Fortunately, the incident was quickly detected by the teachers of the school, who called the police to investigate and address the matter before it went any further.

An anonymous student told Daily Mail Australia about the incident, claiming that the boy blew through $27,000 in a matter of months.

Apparently, the boy's parents had saved up the money for his future studies, but the boy decided to spend $14,000 of the lump sum on the online game "Fortnite" and the remaining amount on numerous presents and monetary gifts to a number of students of the school instead.

The schoolmate shared: "A mate came up to me and showed me that he had been given $150."

"And he doesn’t even know him."

"Another kid who is in Year 8 got $500."

The incident has left the school community bewildered as students claimed that the boy "was just an ordinary kid in Year 7", saying that the event was a huge shock.

One student said: "Everyone was confused about why this kid was handing out money and why he would hand it out if he had that much money in the first place."

"I could not believe it, 27K. That's mad," another added.

One of the mums said that she sympathised with the seventh grader's parents, quipping: "He was flashing it around. Funding shopping trips, equipment. If that was my child, I would freak out."

The school administrators sent out newsletters to parents, informing them of the incident.

A newsletter written by the school principal was sent to the parents to inform them of the incident. Credit: The Dailymail Australia.​

One parent said: "The newsletter said he used the money to buy some gifts then gave the rest away."

"Then I heard in the news he was sprinkling it around like confetti."

Epping Boys' High School Principal Jessica Schadel said that they had asked his classmates for further information about the incident.

She wrote: "Today we had occasion to talk to year 7 about amounts of cash that has (sic) been circulating around in the form of 'gifts', gaming vouchers, funded shopping trips and computer equipment."

"The Youth Officer from Ryde Police also spoke to the year group regarding this matter."

"We have asked the boys to spend some time reflecting on what they may know about this issue and to see a member of the year 7 wellbeing team should they have any information."

The parents of the student refused to give comments and asked for privacy.

It is understood that the school considers this matter to be resolved.

What are your thoughts on this? Share your opinions with us in the comments below!

 

[Cyberchook]

I wonder how the lad was able to gain access to that large amount. As a parent I would ensure the savings was firmly secured and no child had details be tempted.

 

[Ricci]

How the h*** did he even know of the existence of the fund and how did he gain access to it? The parents must be so lax in their password keeping that maybe they deserved to get scammed. Having said that, my kids wouldn't have been able to sit down for a week if they had done anything even remotely similar!

 

[Julia TH]

Apart from the obvious, the thing that disturbed me about this article, is the grammatical error in the teacher's letter. Surely we should be able to expect better from those responsible for the education of our youth.

 

[Gail Hyde]

Is this really true what 7yr old would have that sort of knowledge? & What parent wouldn't of known about that? Sorry don't believe it?

 

[Craftingnonna]

Parents should keep all financial information from children, obviously these parents have been depositing the money into an account for the boy and he was allowed access to it.
Our eldest son is a Jnr ( having the same name as my husband) when we sold our house, the bank in its wisdom put the money from the sale of the house into our sons school bank account luckily he was in year 12 and informed us of the oversight. When we informed the bank the bank mangers comment was “ lucky he’s honest, he could have spent the lot” lesson learnt.

 

[Craftingnonna]

Is this really true what 7yr old would have that sort of knowledge? & What parent wouldn't of known about that? Sorry don't believe it?

The boy was in year 7 in high school, unfortunately children now days have their own bank accounts, with their own debit cards.
Therefore Gail I believe it, children today have too many privileges. It wouldn’t be right for a child to miss out on something their friends might have. Heaven forbid that a parent should say no to a child, it would be sacrilege.

 

[SandyM]

Is this really true what 7yr old would have that sort of knowledge? & What parent wouldn't of known about that? Sorry don't believe it?

He's in Year 7 - so he's probably 11 or 12 years old. Still young though, & shouldn't have access to the money!

 

[JayKay]

The initial title states he spent it on his friends, so I thought he was trying to impress his friends, perhaps trying to buy friendship.
The actual article states he gave away amounts to students he didn't even know.
It may show he is a troubled lad, maybe he has an issue with his parents and was trying to get back at them for whatever reason.
I feel very sorry for the parents, working hard to secure his future education.
Let's hope this is resolved positively for the whole family.

 

[Pat T]

The boy was in year 7 in high school, unfortunately children now days have their own bank accounts, with their own debit cards.
Therefore Gail I believe it, children today have too many privileges. It wouldn’t be right for a child to miss out on something their friends might have. Heaven forbid that a parent should say no to a child, it would be sacrilege.

My sister has a shop and I help out a couple of days a week. Often mothers give their credit cards to their kids to pay for the items. Some of these kids are only 2 years old. I would definitely believe it.

 

[Possum Lover]

Ouch...........I'm glad this treasure is not mine.