Male Hacker Harasses Girl Over Monitor in Chilling Exchange: ‘I’m Santa Claus!’

News 12

A Mississippi mother is sharing her horrifying story of how a hacker trolled her child after getting access to her daughter’s bedroom through a Ring camera meant to give the family a sense of security and protection. The mother, Ashley LeMay, is sharing her experience in hopes of alerting parents everywhere.

LeMay shared that at first, buying a security camera seemed like a smart idea for her family.

As a mom of three girls who is also a nurse, LeMay works late-night shifts. After doing research to find a security system that could help her find a way to monitor her girls and still feel close while she works, she settled on the Ring camera. "I did a lot of research on these before I got them … I really felt like it was safe," LeMay told WMC5 News.

So, when another mom told LeMay that the Ring cameras were on sale on Black Friday, she thought she would give it a try. “She had one and she was like watching her kids on her phone and I was like ‘oh you can actually speak to them. That’s really neat',” she said. 

But only four days after her camera was installed, LeMay’s 8-year-old daughter started hearing scary things in her room.

A hacker gained access to the child’s bedroom and was tormenting her over the speaker.

LeMay’s daughter, Alyssa, said that she first heard weird sounds coming from her room while she was walking down the hallway. 

“First, what happened I was in the hallway I thought it was my sister because I hear music. It’s like ‘Tiptoe Through the Window.’ So I come upstairs and I hear some banging noise and I am like ‘Who is that?” she said.

The male voice was that of a stranger, and not only could he talk to the child, but he could also see her. This stranger who had hacked into the security system was telling the child to “do destructive things to her bedroom.” Luckily, LeMay’s husband was home at the time and quickly came to investigate when he heard the strange noises.

The many was saying some unsettling things such as “I’m Santa Claus, don’t you want to be my best friend?” while the song Tip Toeing Through the Tulips played. 

“I watched the video and I mean my heart just like … I didn’t even get to the end where she is screaming ‘Mommy, mommy’ before I ran inside,” LeMay said.

Alyssa's parents are seriously alarmed over the realization that a strange man had access to watching their daughters.

“They could have watched them sleeping, changing. I mean they could have seen all kinds of things,” she said. “Honestly, my gut it makes me feel like it’s either somebody who knows us or somebody who is very close by.”

The family told the news station that they took down the camera and are terrified the hacker could be someone who lives nearby or someone who knows them. Either way, the camera system is back in a box and being returned for a refund.

A Ring spokesperson gave WMC5 a statement, stating that the incident wasn’t the result of a breach of Ring’s security.

"Customer trust is important to us and we take the security of our devices seriously. 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. 

"Due to the fact that customers often use the same username and password for their various accounts and subscriptions, bad actors often re-use credentials stolen or leaked from one service on other services. As a precaution, we highly and openly encourage all Ring users to enable two-factor authentication on their Ring account, add Shared Users (instead of sharing login credentials), use strong passwords, and regularly change their passwords."

To help parents keep their home security from being hacked, they should make sure their WiFi is invisible to others. They should always set up two-factor authorization and follow the suggested security measures as outlined by the manufacturer of the product, such as a Ring camera.