A couple is convinced that someone hacked the Amazon Alexa in their bedroom and woke one of them up in the middle of the night.
Tessa Sinatro (@tessa_who) documented the disturbing experience on TikTok.
Sinatro, a culinary influencer, says that it all began while her girlfriend Carly Shapiro was walking the dog. Neither had been feeling well, so they were going to bed early.
Sinatro says she was lying in bed watching TV and watching videos on her phone. “While I’m scrolling, I hear a man’s voice going like, ‘Hello? Hello?'” she says.
She says she checked to see if the voice was coming from the television or the TikTok she’d been watching.
It wasn’t.
So she walked out into the family room and asked Shapiro, who was just getting back, if there was a man in the house.
There wasn’t.
“She’s like, ‘Must’ve been your phone, TikTok, there’s nobody here,'” Sinatro says.
Then the couple went to bed.
In the middle of the night, the man’s voice returned. This time Shapiro heard—and saw—him, they say.
Things that say ‘hello’ in the night
Sinatro says she woke up early. Although it was only 5:30am, Shapiro was already wide awake.
Shapiro, who’s a light sleeper, says she woke up at 4:30am. Then she heard it. “I hear a man’s voice ‘hello’ in our bedroom,” she says.
She says she ripped her eye mask off and looked towards the sound, which seemed to be coming from their Echo Dot with a clock. To her horror, she says she saw a projection of a man’s face on it.
“I’m paralyzed with fear,” she says. Shapiro waited for it to turn off; when it did, she says she got up and turned it to face the wall.
Both acknowledge that the Echo Dot has a limited display, not a full screen. Further, according to the product description on Amazon, it has a microphone but no camera.
“We understand how this sounds. There’s only room here for the time or the weather,” Sinatro says, adding, “Why would anybody make this up?”
They say they asked people on Reddit what may have happened and were told that Shapiro is “crazy.”
But Shapiro is adamant about what she saw and heard.
“I know for a fact I was awake and hearing and seeing a man say ‘hello,'” she says.
Hacking Amazon Alexa
Like any device hooked up to the internet, it is possible to hack an Amazon Alexa or an Echo. In 2022, researchers in the United Kingdom were able to get an Echo to obey commands it gave itself.
They were also reportedly able to get it to create a “silent skill,” essentially an app that pretends not to work while secretly intercepting—and potentially responding to—all your commands.
There are numerous unverified reports of these home devices being hacked or otherwise taken over. A user on an Amazon forum claims that someone would take control of all three of their devices and make them play “Creepy Whispers” sounds.
These reports are exceedingly uncommon, however. Usually, there’s a reasonable explanation, like a neighbor saying commands loud enough for the device to hear them through a wall. Or someone inside or near the house is using it to prank the occupants.
Late last year, MSN reported that it hadn’t found any reports of Alexas being hacked by anyone “with nefarious intentions.”
However, MSN noted, “Over the years, researchers have hacked Alexa to find vulnerabilities bad actors could exploit.”
Someone to watch over you (without permission)
If someone within range had access to Shapiro’s and Sinatro’s Echo, it is possible that they could speak to the women and listen to them. But unless the device has a camera, which the Dot model lacks, at least they won’t be watched in their bedroom.
No matter what, both Shapiro and Sinatro remain seriously creeped out over the incident.
“We unplugged them and aren’t planning on using them again. We are definitely scared of it happening again or what if someone is constantly tapping and listening through our devices?” Shapiro told the Mary Sue via TikTok direct message.
They’d loved using the devices (they have multiple) for music and controlling the lights, she added, but are resigned to flipping the switch the old-fashioned way and listening to music some other way.
People who commented on Sinatro’s post were similarly freaked out.
Many shared their own stories of allegedly hacked Amazon Alexa.
“This happened to me!!! I had one in my sons room and there was a man and his camera in his room was also hacked!!!! Definitely call the company and get rid of it!” wrote one woman.
Said another, “There was a huge issue a few years back with baby cameras being hacked. You aren’t crazy, it is doable.”
Several noted that you can look at an Amazon Alexa’s or Echo’s log to see if anyone else accessed it.
Sinatro says they did. “I checked and unfortunately there is no trace of it at all,” she wrote in the comments.
Others suggested that they get rid of the devices.
“You’re not crazy now throw that thing in the Hudson River,” one said.
@tessa_who Our alexa was hacked and we’d love some feedback #fyp ♬ original sound – tess
Sinatro did not respond to a TikTok direct message seeking comment. Amazon declined to comment.
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