A Desto County family has released chilling footage of a hacker talking to and taunting an eight-year-old girl through a security camera in her bedroom, WMC5 reported.
It was intended as a higher-tech baby monitor.
The little girl’s mother, Ashley LeMay, said the Ring camera had been set up as a way of monitoring her children while she was at work, but was soon accessed by a virtual intruder who used it to terrify her young daughter, Alyssa.
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Ashley purchased the camera on Black Friday after it was recommended to her from another mom.
“She had one and she was like watching her kids on the phone and I was like, ‘Oh you can actually speak to them, that’s really neat,'” she told WMC5 .
The security cam would also add a level of protection to the family’s home.
It would allow the mom-of-three to keep an eye on her kids while working overnight nurse shifts.
After extensive research on the Ring cameras, Ashley decided they were safe and had one installed in Alyssa’s bedroom, which she shares with her two sisters.
Just four days after the camera went up, however, Alyssa heard some rather strange noises coming from what she thought was her empty bedroom.
Cue the horror movie music.
“I was in the hallway,” the youngster told WMC5 . “I thought it was my sister because I hear music.”
In the shared footage from the camera, Alyssa can be seen standing alone in her bedroom while she asks, “Who is that?”
The hacker continues to taunt the 8 year old with the haunting tune, “Tiptoe Through The Tulips” before eventually replying, “I’m your best friend. I’m Santa Claus.”
This prompts Alyssa to call out for her mom, while the hacker repeats that he’s Santa Claus and asks, “Don’t you want to be my best friend?”
Although the footage ends there, Ashley said the voice on the camera continued to taunt Alyssa and even encouraged destructive behavior.
Eventually, the little girl’s father rushed into the room and disconnected the Ring camera, putting an end to the chilling encounter.
Ashley said the entire ordeal has left her and her family feeling unsafe in their own home.
“[The hacker] could have watched [the girls] sleeping, changing,” she said. “I mean, they could have seen all kinds of things. Honestly, my gut… it makes me feel like it’s either somebody who knows us or somebody who is very close by.”
Watch the full video below.
Watch the full video to see the horror for yourself.
The family has since increased other security measures in their home.
This includes changing their WiFi settings so it is no longer visible to others.
Ashley admitted they did not set up the two-factor authentication feature for their Ring account, which would have potentially protected the camera from hackers.
This isn’t the first incident of Ring cameras being hacked, as another woman experienced a similarly terrifying encounter this month.
According to 13ABC , the unnamed woman’s bedroom camera, which was meant to monitor her new puppy, was accessed by someone who then turned it on while she was lying in bed.
“I can see you in bed!” a voice said over the camera’s system. “C’mon, wake the [expletive] up!”
Following the two incidents, Ring has released a statement assuring any worried customers that they “take the security of our devices seriously.”
These hacks are often done through a home’s WiFi network, though, which is out of Ring’s control.
“While we are still investigating this issue and are taking appropriate steps to protect our devices based on our investigation, we are able to confirm this incident is in no way related to a breach or compromise of Ring’s security,” a spokesperson told WMC5 in a statement.
The company also encouraged customers to enable the two-factor authentication on their Ring account, use strong passwords, and regularly change those passwords to thwart potential hackers.
