13 October 2021, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Neubrandenburg: Employees sort parcels from online retailer Amazon at the new distribution center. The retailer's second distribution center in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is officially opened today. According to the operator, around 10,000 parcels from European logistics and sorting centres are unloaded here every day and assigned to delivery vehicles. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB (Photo by Jens Büttner/picture alliance via Getty Images)
A Massachusetts mother who thought her Amazon account was hacked learned that her own child was the one racking up $5,000 in charges.
Jessica Nunes learned of the 5-year-old girl’s shopping spree after dozens of packages arrived on her doorstep, according to WBNS.
“She ordered five pink motorcycles, five blue motorcycles, 10 pairs of cowgirl boots and a Jeep,” Nunes told the outlet of the purchases made by her 5-year-old daughter, Lila Varisco.
Her daughter Lila ultimately ordered over $5,000 of products, completely unbeknownst to her mom.
“You just press the yellow button and you press the brown button,” Lila said.
Nunes recalled giving Lila her cellphone to play some games on while in the car, but learned shortly thereafter that wasn’t all the child was doing.
“I had looked back at the time. It was around 9:30, which is exactly when we were in the car. So (it) wasn’t fraudulent. It was just this one, the bikes and the Jeep came out to about $3,180. The boots alone were about $600.”
Lila’s orders arrived not too long afterward thanks to Amazon’s two-day shipping. Nunes added that the items “were actually non-returnable originally.”
“These were actually non-returnable originally, but I had reached out to Amazon at 2 o’clock in the morning and I was, like, ‘Please, is there anything that we can do?'” Nunes told the outlet.
Thankfully, Amazon made an exception and sent Nunes the return labels. She was also able to cancel the order of cowboy boots before they left the warehouse, however, it was too late to do so for the “giant two-seat Jeep.”
“We still have a giant two-seat Jeep coming in as well that I couldn’t cancel the order, but they are going to let me return it,” Nunes said.
Nunes says she didn’t outright punish Lila, and instead used it as a teachable moment, and went on to say that “if she behaves and does some chores… maybe we can get her a bike that’s more geared towards her age range.”
“I did tell her that maybe if she acts right, she behaves and she does some chores around the house, that maybe we can get her a bike that’s more geared towards her age range. A little slower, maybe,” she said.
What do you say, Roomies? How would you handle the situation if your child ran up thousands in Amazon charges?
