Kid goes rogue, buys a bunch of stuff on Amazon Echo without permission

Talk about impulse buying

If I had a dollhouse for every time I wished aloud one would magically appear, I would have no dollhouses. Unless Alexa lived in my house. Then I’d have that dollhouse and four pounds of cookies waiting at my door. But that’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t just order something on a whim like that. Unless I was six years old and didn’t have to pay for it.

And that’s exactly what happened in Dallas to a family who recently acquired an Amazon Echo Dot over the holidays. After the initial set up, the kids quickly learned how to interact with the digital assistant. Their six-year-old Brooke discovered that not only could Alexa sing and joke with her, but also make her Christmas dreams come true.

When Brooke asked Alexa if she could order a dollhouse and cookies, all it took was a simple voice confirmation to ship the order. Brooke’s mother received an Amazon notification of the order and recalls finding it odd since she definitely didn’t place it. However, the order shipped so quickly that it showed up at the house later that night.

Letting Alexa out in the wild

Although magical for a moment, the six-year-old will not get to reap the immediate benefits of her rogue purchase. The family plans on donating the dollhouse to a children’s hospital. They urge other families to make sure the parental controls are fully enforced before letting Alexa out in the wild of your very own home.

Although mildly hilarious in this instance, voice control adds another layer to permissions you should consider when getting a new application or home assistant device.

Just like the wave of kids downloading pay for play games on their parents’ phones, the Alexa incident illustrates unintentional consequences of technology. A quick voice order and speedy delivery could be a lifesaver in a dwindling diaper situation for new parents, but if the accessibility is lax enough that a child can order whatever they want with little room for parent intervention, imagine what late night wine-drunk you might pick out for yourself.

[clickToTweet tweet=”With Amazon Alexa, have fun waking up confused by $300 of Swedish Fish Oreos on your doorstep.” quote=”Have fun waking up with three hundred dollars of Swedish Fish Oreos on your doorstep.”]

Safeguard yourself immediately

Smart technology is constantly charting new territories. While its intention is to make our lives easier, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. Make sure to evaluate what you’re getting yourself into with any smart technologies, especially if they’re linked up to your bank accounts.

#YoAlexa