Toddler Takes Himself on $2K Online Shopping Spree

22-month-old Ayaansh Kumar teaches his parents a lesson about phone security
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 25, 2022 7:38 AM CST

Born at the start of the pandemic, Ayaansh Kumar is no stranger to screens. The 22-month-old from Monmouth Junction, NJ, often plays on mom Madhu Kumar's phone, mimicking his older siblings who've been studying virtually over the last two years. However, his parents never expected that he was tech-savvy enough to buy nearly $2,000 in furniture from Walmart.com—until a seemingly endless stream of large packages began showing up at their door, per WNBC. Madhu Kumar had been using the website to browse for furniture, mostly accent chairs, for the family's new home, but had never actually purchased the items stored in her virtual cart. Her husband denied doing so for her, as did her two older children. That left one suspect: tiny Ayaansh.

"He just went to the cart and whatever was there—boom—he just clicked and all payments just went through," father Pramod Kumar tells News 12, which reports Madhu's payment information was saved on the site. "It is really hard to believe that he has done this, but that's what happened," Pramod says, per WNBC. "He’s so little, he's so cute, we were laughing that he ordered all this stuff," adds Madhu. WNBC confirmed Ayaansh's proficiency with a reporter's phone, noting the toddler "was able to close the calendar app, send an email to the reporter's mother and then search through the contacts." The family says they plan to return most of the ordered items to their local Walmart for a full refund. They also plan to add facial recognition to their phones and remove credit card information. (More online shopping stories.)

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