Like to play online? The rules might surprise you.

Earlier this week, game providers on sites like Facebook were rapped for allegedly providing personal information from their game apps to advertising and internet tracking companies.

But that's not your only risk. A B.C. woman has spent thousands of dollars on a popular game app that's being discontinued.

 Like many people, Kristina Santos spends a lot of time on Facebook.

"It's a pretty big part of my daily life," she said.

She's established over 3,000 friends -- half of whom she met through a game app called Street Racing which she found on Facebook.

The object of Street Racing is to complete a car collection. Santos was hooked and has spent about $100 a month on the game.

Then the unthinkable happened. Zynga, the company that developed the game, announced it's closing the game at the end of the month.

"Three years of playing the game -- I'd venture [I've spent] over $3,000. And I mean, when you think about it, to spend that kind of money to get such poor customer service, makes me sick," Santos said.

Her car collection of 20,000 cyber vehicles, game credits, rewards and all -- will be gone

"They go up in smoke," she said.

The only solution offered by the company was to move some of her credits to another game, like Farmville or Frontierville, which is hardly the same as collecting exotic cars.

"If I am giving you my money, I expect to be treated with more respect than ‘Sorry about your luck.' That's not the way any bricks-and-mortar company works, so why is it okay for an online company to do it?" Santos said.

CTV News e-mailed Zynga asking for an interview and received no response.

Zynga's Terms of Service is more than 5,000 words long. In all those words are two important paragraphs which limit your rights.

It says Zynga has "the absolute right to eliminate virtual currency or virtual goods." Like Santos' car collection.

And another paragraph says "all sales are final, no refunds will be given and all virtual goods and currencies are forfeited if Zynga discontinues the service."

Lynda Pasacreta with the Better Business Bureau says the Terms of Service are not something many online consumers read, but they should.

"That's a lot of words. Do people read them? No. No," Pasacreta said. "They are far quicker to get into something they shouldn't because it's so easy to get in."

Zynga has been a Better Business Bureau member in California since April 2010. It has an A- rating with the BBB, which sounds fairly high given the more than 700 complaints that have been logged against it in the last three years.

The explanation is that as long as a business is resolving complaints, the BBB doesn't look at the number of complaints as significant for a company with as many customers as Zynga.

That's no consolation for Santos, who offered a warning for other gamers.

"Be careful," she said. "Because the game you love and you put so much money into could be next."

And there really isn't much you can do about it.

The Terms of Service could also work against a company. A federal lawsuit against Zynga was filed Wednesday in the U.S. that alleges Zynga has been providing personal information to advertising and internet tracking companies. If proven that would be in violation of its Terms of Service and federal law.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen