A mother's terrifying claim has parents thinking twice about a common nursery item — one that's typically there to provide safety and comfort. According to Kurin Adele (@kurinadele), a popular influencer who describes herself as "your crunchy mom friend" in her TikTok bio, her baby monitor was recently hacked by a total stranger. But here's the creepiest part of all: Adele claims that the person on the other end of the connection had been talking to her son through the monitor for weeks.
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Adele shared the story in a desperate PSA just a few days ago
Since then, the video has received more than 6.3 million views and thousands of comments from concerned parents.
@kurinadele Get rid of your wifi cameras!!!!! #owletcamera #babymonitorhack ♬ original sound – Kurin Adele
"Get rid of your wifi cameras!!!!!" Adele warned in the post caption, before diving into what actually happened in her TikTok.
"Our Owlet monitor got hacked and someone has been talking to my son at night," the mother says as the video begins.
She then goes on to explain that she only realized what was happening the night before, when her son awoke in the middle of the night after wetting the bed.
While changing her son's bedding, Adele noticed his monitor was unplugged
But according to the mom, this had actually become quite common lately.
"I have noticed over the past couple of weeks to a couple of months [that] he's been unplugging his camera," Adele shared. "So I asked my husband, I was like, 'Hey, can you plug his camera back in?'"
But before her husband even made his way over to the monitor, Adele's son started loudly protesting.
"I don't want my camera plugged in! I don't want my camera plugged in!" the boy said through cries. "Someone talks to me at night and it scares me. Someone wakes me up and talks to me and I'm scared, I don't want my camera plugged in."
The news stunned Adele and her husband, who had never heard this from their son before
They also knew that the voice on the other end of the monitor couldn't have been either of them, since they don't use the two-way monitor to speak to their son at night.
"Me and my husband looked at each other completely terrified and we reassured him that we would not be plugging his camera in [and] that he was safe," Adele recalled.
Shocked by their son's claims, the two parents immediately looked into changing the password on their Owlet app — especially since they have an additional one in their daughter's room. But as soon as they went to change it, they saw a notification informing them that their current password had appeared in a data leak, which put their account at high risk of being compromised.
Once again, the two parents were shocked
"Who the heck knows how long someone has had our password and has been messing with my son," Adele continued. "Owlet never notified us. And the only reason we didn't know about this sooner was because our son thought it was us talking to him. So, whoever was talking to him was telling him that it was his mom and dad."
"Needless to say, we're running to Target today to pick up the Infant Optics camera because it does not use WiFi," the mother concluded.
The video immediately caused other parents to panic, too
"THATS SO SCARY!" one commenter wrote. "I'm so sorry mama."
"The way my stomach sunk when you [said] he takes his diaper off and there’s also somebody talking to him through his camera … [call the] police right now!" another person warned.
@kurinadele #babymonitor #babymonitorhack #infantopticsbabymonitor #owlet #infantoptics ♬ original sound – Kurin Adele
Others said they too have been skeptical of WiFi baby monitors over the years after hearing about the risks.
"We never used a Wi-Fi monitor because of this reason!" one person shared. "So scary!"
"My husband works in cyber security," someone else chimed in. "During a training, they had to hack into people's cameras. He said it's really easy if you know what you are doing."
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Meanwhile, other people said this exact same scenario happened to them
"This same thing happened with our Owlet camera," one parent shared. "I was walking past my son's room and I heard someone telling him to 'calm down buddy … it’s ok.'"
"This exact situation happened to us and our Owlet went straight in the trash," another commenter wrote. "Immediately switched to Infant Optics."
Others shared cameras they've used as an alternative in order to keep their little one's safe.
"I love my Infant Optics!" one mother shared. "I've always been terrified to get a WiFi one."
"I have the Nanit and it makes us change our password frequently," another commenter wrote. "So far, no issues which has been nice!"
"[This is] why we went with the Vava … it’s inconvenient to have to carry the monitor around, but better than the alternative," yet another mother shared. "I’m so sorry mama!"
Adele initially reached out to customer service, but received a "dismissive" response
However, because her story had started to go viral, she later received a direct call from someone at Owlet who extended their sincere apologies and vowed to look into the situation further.
@kurinadele And thats how handle things properly #owletbabymonitor #babymonitorhack #babymonitor #owlet ♬ original sound – Kurin Adele
In the days that followed, Adele received another personal call from Owlet's founder and CEO, who also expressed their concern. Soon after, the company's tech team did a deep dive into the family's WiFi network and account settings to see if they could find any evidence of who or what might have hacked the account.
Unfortunately, the search came up dry, but the company did promise to make changes as soon as next week, creating informative blogs, email updates, and other forms of content to let customers know how they can safely and confidently use WiFi baby monitors.
"And that's how you handle things properly," Adele wrote in her post caption, after sharing the update.
@kurinadele Replying to @Catherine Anderton both are in my st0r€fr0n t!! #babymonitor #babymonitorhack #infantopticsbabymonitor ♬ original sound – Kurin Adele
As of now, it seems that Adele is satisfied with the company's response, and only hopes that her story can help other parents who may currently own WiFi monitors.
