Dad Warns About Alexa After Son Buys $1,000 in Toys
By Movieguide® Contributor
One dad is warning other parents to turn off Alexa’s voice purchasing feature after his son spent $1,000 on toys.
“My 5-year-old ordered almost $1,000 worth of toys on Amazon this morning,” Tucker Bohman said before sharing a montage of the toys his son, Beckham, asked Alexa for.
Bohman was able to go back and listen to his son’s nearly two-hour conversation with Alexa through his Amazon app, which stores any conversations had with the personal assistant.
Beckham’s asks include, “Alexa, get me a monster truck that jumps 23 inches off the ground,” and “Alexa, add 45 kid Spidey walkie talkies to my cart.”
The 6-year-old even asked for “a little hot tub,” which added a $500 hot tub to the cart.
His most ludicrous ask, however, was for a “rocket ship that goes 5 trillion miles per hour and 5 trillion feet off the ground.”
While Beckham’s access to Alexa resulted in a funny video, it also cost his family nearly $1,000 for the toys he ordered.
At the end of the video, Bohman warns parents to avoid his mistake by turning off the voice buy feature through Alexa so they don’t end up with an unexpected $1,000 in toys.
“To avoid unwanted purchases, it’s best to be proactive and use two of Alexa’s security features: voice code and voice ID,” CNET reported. “One of the best methods to limit purchasing is to set up a four digit voice code that is required for authorizing purchases.”
Voice purchasing can be accessed and disabled under account settings on the Alexa app.
