A charge on your statement reading GOOGLE*Buffalo Studios or GOOGLEPLAY*Buffalo Studios is an in-app purchase or subscription from the mobile game Bingo Bash, billed through Google Play. These amounts run from $0.99 up to $99.99 and usually trace back to a tap during gameplay, an auto-renewing membership, or a purchase made by someone else using a device tied to your Google account. You can find the exact transaction, cancel any ongoing billing, and in many cases get the money refunded.
Why Buffalo Studios Is on Your Statement
Buffalo Studios is the developer behind Bingo Bash, a social casino game where players spend real money on virtual chips, power-ups, and bonus bundles. When you buy something inside the game, Google Play processes the payment and your bank displays the charge using Google’s processor name followed by the developer: GOOGLE*Buffalo Studios or GOOGLEPLAY*Buffalo Studios, often with a trailing string of letters and numbers unique to that transaction. Multiple small charges on the same day usually mean several separate purchases in one session, not a single charge split up.
Three situations account for almost every surprise charge:
- One-tap in-app purchases made during gameplay, which bill instantly without a traditional checkout screen.
- Auto-renewing VIP memberships or monthly bonus packages that keep billing until you cancel, including trials that converted into paid subscriptions.
- Purchases by a child or household member using a device with your Google Play payment method saved. This is the most common source of charges people don’t recognize.
Federal law requires businesses to get your clear consent before charging a credit card, debit card, or other account, and that rule reaches mobile payments.1Federal Trade Commission. Payments and Billing
Confirm What Was Actually Purchased
Before you cancel anything or ask for a refund, pin down the transaction. Google keeps your full purchase history at payments.google.com. Sign in, click Activity, and select any entry to see the date, amount, and developer. For recurring billing, click Subscriptions & services instead.2Google Help. Find Your Google Purchase History
Every Google Play transaction has an ID that starts with GPA followed by a string of numbers.3Google Play Community. How Do I Find a Transaction ID Write down that ID, the date, and the exact dollar amount. You’ll need all three if you contact Google, request a refund, or dispute the charge with your bank.
Cancel a Bingo Bash Subscription
If the charge is a recurring subscription, canceling stops future billing but doesn’t by itself refund what’s already been charged. Open the Google Play Store app, tap your profile icon, go to Payments & subscriptions, and select Subscriptions. Find Bingo Bash and tap Cancel subscription. Do this at least 48 hours before your next renewal date so you aren’t billed for another cycle.
Uninstalling the app does not cancel the subscription. People find this out when charges keep arriving months after they deleted the game. The subscription lives in your Google account, not inside the app, so it has to be canceled through the Play Store or at payments.google.com whether the app is still on your phone or not.
Request a Refund From Google Play
Google has a self-service refund tool. Go to your order history at payments.google.com, select the transaction, and choose Request a refund, or use the refund form on Google Play’s support page. You pick the charge and explain why you want the money back. Google usually responds within one to four business days, and if approved the credit returns to the original payment method.
Timing matters. Refunds are more likely to be approved shortly after the purchase, especially for accidental buys or charges made by a child. Waiting weeks or months lowers your odds, though a strong explanation can still work. If Google denies the request, you can still dispute the charge with your card issuer.
Dispute the Charge With Your Bank or Card Issuer
When Google’s refund path doesn’t work, or when the charge was genuinely unauthorized, your bank or card issuer is a separate route. The rules differ depending on whether a credit card or debit card was charged.
Credit Card Charges
Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you have 60 days from the date the statement containing the charge was sent to dispute a billing error in writing with your credit card issuer.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors Send the dispute letter to the billing inquiries address your issuer designates, not the payment address. Include your name, account number, the amount in dispute, and why you believe it’s an error. You can withhold payment on the disputed amount while the investigation is open. Federal law caps your liability for unauthorized credit card charges at $50.5Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
Debit Card Charges
Debit cards fall under Regulation E, and here the clock is unforgiving. Report an unauthorized charge within two business days of learning about it and your liability is capped at $50. Wait longer than two business days but report within 60 days of the statement, and your exposure rises to $500. Miss the 60-day window and you can be liable for every unauthorized charge that occurs after that point.6eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers If the Buffalo Studios charge was debited and you didn’t authorize it, call your bank the same day you see it.
Prevent Future Charges
If this has happened once, a few setting changes keep it from happening again.
Require Verification for Every Purchase
Google Play can require a password or biometric scan before any purchase completes. In the Play Store app, tap your profile icon, open Payments & subscriptions, and select Purchase verification. Set it to require authentication for every transaction. That one change stops most accidental purchases and blocks anyone who picks up your unlocked phone from buying anything.
Set Up Family Link Approvals
If a child in your household uses a device tied to your Google account, the Family Link app can require your approval before any purchase goes through. In Family Link, select the child’s account, tap Controls, then Google Play, and under Purchases & download approvals pick the level of oversight you want: all content, paid content only, or in-app purchases only.7Google Help. Purchase Approvals on Google Play You get a notification on your own device to approve or deny each attempt.
Remove the Card Entirely
If you want no purchases to be possible at all, remove the card from Google Play. Open payment methods in the Play Store, tap More payment settings, sign in to Google Pay, and select Remove under the card.8Google Help. How to Add, Remove, or Edit Your Google Play Payment Methods With no payment method on file, in-app purchases can’t go through. You can add a card back whenever you want to buy something on purpose.