In the United States, Holly LaFavers, a mother, discovered that her 8-year-old son had placed an order of a rather unusual kind: 70,000 lollipops purchased on Amazon, for a total amount of $4,200. To do this, the child used his mother's cell phone, without her noticing.
Dozens of packages delivered
The boy, named Liam, apparently acted with the idea of giving the sweets away at a school event. A seemingly well-intentioned act, but the execution quickly went overboard. Curious and clearly comfortable with online shopping, it only took a few clicks for him to complete the order, without a code or double authentication. The result: 22 packages of Dum-Dum lollipops began arriving at the family home!
It was when the mother checked her bank account that she realized what had just happened. A series of abnormal debits, an overdrawn account, and above all, a bill that was anything but typical. Too late to cancel: part of the order had already been delivered!
Alerted, the mother decided to share her story on TikTok and Facebook. The story went viral, and eventually caught the attention of Amazon, which finally agreed to refund the full amount (after initially refusing), on the condition that the products were returned. The story therefore ended with no costs, or almost, if we exclude the return shipping of tens of thousands of candies.
Since then, parental controls have been added to devices at home. But this story is a reminder that even the most common interfaces can lead to this kind of abuse, especially if they are not secure. And a smartphone left within reach of a child can quickly turn into a nightmare!
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