A charge labeled “PLAYSTATION NETWORK FOSTER CITY CA” on your bank or credit card statement is Sony Interactive Entertainment’s billing descriptor for a purchase made through the PlayStation Store. Every PlayStation Store transaction routes through this same label, so the descriptor alone won’t tell you whether you’re looking at a $2.99 microtransaction, a $69.99 game, or an automatic PlayStation Plus renewal. If you or someone in your household uses a PlayStation, the charge is almost certainly legitimate and you can identify it in a few minutes. If nobody in your household owns a console, treat it as a possible unauthorized charge and act quickly.
Why the Descriptor Still Says Foster City
Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC runs PlayStation across the United States, Canada, and Latin America.1Sony Corporation of America. Sony Corporation of America – Who We Are Its North American headquarters is in San Mateo, California, not Foster City.2PlayStation. About Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony moved out of Foster City in 2013, but the billing descriptor was never updated. Every PlayStation Store charge, no matter what you bought or which device you bought it on, shows up under the old Foster City label.
What the Charge Is Usually For
Most Foster City charges fall into a few predictable buckets. Working through them makes it easier to place the one on your statement.
Digital Store Purchases
Any digital game, downloadable add-on, or virtual currency pack bought through the PlayStation Store creates a Foster City charge. Individual in-game purchases show up as separate line items even when they happened in the same session, so a run of small charges on the same day is usually one gaming session, not a duplicate billing error.
PlayStation Plus Renewals
PlayStation Plus subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renewal is turned off. The original sign-up can be a full year in the past, which is why these charges catch people off guard so often. If the amount looks close to a subscription tier price and lands roughly a year after you first subscribed, that’s almost certainly what it is.
Pre-Orders
Pre-ordered games from the PlayStation Store are charged before the release date. Pre-orders placed through PlayStation Direct start with a temporary pre-authorization hold, and the actual charge runs roughly 10 to 12 days before the item ships.3PlayStation. Pre-Orders – PlayStation Direct The charge date often won’t line up with the order date or the release date, which is a common source of confusion.
Wallet Top-Ups
For very small purchases, Sony sometimes adds funds to your PlayStation Store wallet instead of charging the exact item price. A $1.99 item can produce a $5.00 charge because $5.00 is added to the wallet and the item is paid from there. The extra sits in the wallet for future purchases.
How to Match the Charge to a Purchase
The fastest way to identify a specific charge is to check PlayStation’s own transaction log, which shows the product name, date, amount, and a transaction ID for every purchase.
On a PS5, go to Settings, then Users and Accounts, then Account, then Payment and Subscriptions, and open Transaction History.4PlayStation. How to check your transaction history on PlayStation Store You can filter by date range and open any individual transaction for full details. The same log is available by signing in to the PlayStation website from any browser if you don’t have the console in front of you.5PlayStation®Store. Checking PlayStation®Store usage
Match the amount and date against your bank statement. Confirmation emails sent to the account’s registered address are a second check. If everything lines up, the charge is legitimate even if you don’t personally remember the purchase. Anyone else who signs in to the console, including children and partners, can trigger charges on the payment method attached to the account.
If Nobody in Your Household Uses PlayStation
A PlayStation charge on the statement of someone with no console in the house is a strong signal that your payment information has been used to fund a PlayStation account you don’t control, or that an existing account tied to your email was accessed by someone else.
Report it to Sony through PlayStation Support’s unauthorized charges page.6PlayStation. Phished (compromised) accounts and unauthorized charges Sony recommends changing your email password right away, since an attacker who accessed the PlayStation account may also have your email credentials. If you’re already locked out of the email, contact your email provider first, regain control, then go to PlayStation Support. Also call your bank or card issuer so they can flag the card, issue a replacement, and start their own fraud investigation.
Getting a Refund from Sony
Sony allows refunds on digital content within 14 days of purchase, provided you haven’t started downloading or streaming it.7PlayStation. PlayStation Store cancellation policy Once any part of the download has started, the window closes unless the content is genuinely defective. Season passes and bundles follow the same 14-day, no-download rule.
Subscriptions are more forgiving. You can cancel PlayStation Plus and request a refund within 14 days of the initial transaction even if you’ve been using the service, though the refund may be reduced to reflect the days you used it.7PlayStation. PlayStation Store cancellation policy After 14 days, you can still turn off auto-renewal to stop future charges, but you won’t get money back for the current billing period.
Start a refund through PlayStation’s refund request page and use the online assistant on that page to check whether your purchase qualifies.8PlayStation. How to request a refund for a purchase on PlayStation Store Have the transaction ID and purchase date ready.
Why a Bank Chargeback Usually Backfires
Disputing the charge with your bank feels faster, but it comes with a serious cost. When a bank reverses a PlayStation charge, Sony suspends the associated PlayStation Network account for account debt.9PlayStation. How to reverse a PlayStation suspension for account debt A suspended account loses access to every digital game, subscription, and piece of content tied to it, including games bought years earlier at full price. To restore access, you have to pay the disputed amount back to Sony. Unless you’re dealing with genuine fraud on an account you don’t care about, work through Sony’s refund process first.
Stopping Surprise Charges Going Forward
A few account settings prevent most of the charges that come as a surprise later.
Require a Password at Checkout
On a PS5, go to Settings, then Users and Accounts, then Account, then Payment and Subscriptions, then Purchase Settings, and turn on Require Password at Checkout.10PlayStation. How to set up “Require Password at Checkout” on PlayStation Store The setting applies across every device linked to the account, including the web store and the PlayStation App. It does not apply to child accounts, which are governed by spending limits instead.
Set Spending Limits for Child Accounts
Purchases from a child account are billed to the family manager’s wallet. The monthly spending limit for a child account is set to zero by default, so no purchases go through until you raise it.11PlayStation. How to set parental controls on PlayStation consoles On a PS5, open Settings, then Family and Parental Controls, then Family Management, select the child’s account, and adjust the Monthly Spending Limit. The same control is available on the PlayStation website under Account Management and in the PlayStation Family app.
Turn On Two-Step Verification
Two-step verification requires a one-time code, in addition to your password, when signing in from a new device. Turn it on from Sony’s security page.12PlayStation. Two step verification – PlayStation It is the single most effective step against someone who has your password using your account to buy things.
Turn Off Auto-Renewal on Subscriptions You Don’t Want to Keep
If you subscribed to PlayStation Plus for one specific game, turn off auto-renewal right after signing up. You keep the full paid period, and the subscription simply ends when the term is up instead of billing you again.