Oops, Echo can be costly...

IT’S the hi-tech ‘assistant’ that can perform a range of household tasks with a simple voice command from the user.

But the £149 Amazon Echo may be listening to another master entirely. Owners have found the gadget – which can be told to buy items online – taking orders from the TV.

And a number have now accidentally ordered dolls’ houses that were being discussed on a news show.

A San Diego TV station received complaints after an on-air report about a girl who ordered a dolls’ house via her parents’ Amazon Echo made viewers’ devices try to order the same item.

The six-year-old had asked her family’s new Amazon Echo – which includes a virtual assistant called Alexa – ‘can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?’

The device ordered a £160 KidKraft Sparkle Mansion dolls’ house, as well as four pounds of cookies. But things got worse when the phrase was repeated by TV anchor Jim Patton, who said: ‘I love the little girl saying, “Alexa ordered me a dollhouse”.’

The device starts recording for up to 60 seconds when it hears the word ‘Alexa’. And as voice-command purchasing is turned on by default on the Echo, viewers found it had followed the television’s orders.

Experts said the incident highlighted the need for people to password-protect their devices to guard against rogue payments.

There are fears that a growing wave of cyber criminals are targeting smart household devices in a bid to hack into people’s accounts and steal money.

Amazon was approached for comment.