Dad warns after ‘smart doorbell’ is hacked

AFAMILY has issued a warning to others with so-called “smart” (internet and phone-linked) doorbells after theirs was hacked.

Paul Davies, 38, from Port Talbot, made the discovery after receiving an alarming email one evening.

It alerted him that his account for his smart doorbell – which was linked to a mobile phone, enabling him to keep an eye on visitors while away from home had been logged into.

Just hours later, he received phone calls from a stranger saying that he, his wife and their three young children, were being watched inside their house.

Mr Davies said: “We were in the house. The kids had just gone to bed, and I had an email around 6.40pm off the Ring [home security company] website to say there was a login from a different web address. I just assumed that was a fraudulent email so I ignored it.

“About 20 minutes later I said I could hear voices. My wife, Lianne, said it was probably my son’s toy coming through the baby monitor, but they were coming from outside. I had a look and there was nobody out there.”

Mr Davies said his phone started ringing around 8.30pm and a man’s voice asked, “Is that Paul?” when he answered.

“He was being friendly at first, asking me to come out the front, saying, ‘I’m waiting for you outside.’ I looked outside the window – I couldn’t see anyone there. I asked him, ‘Who are you?’ and he said, ‘It doesn’t matter, come outside.’”

At that point, Mr Davies said the man’s voice became threatening.

“Then he said ‘I want to batter you,’ and then said, ‘If you don’t come out I’m going to steal your car.’”

The person knew the family’s car was white and asked Mr Davies to go to the front door to pass him the keys.

“I told him I wasn’t going to come outside and hung up. My wife was quite worried and looking outside the window with me, but we couldn’t see anyone. I didn’t want to leave the house unlocked with the three children in the house and my wife.”

Mr Davies was particularly concerned when the stranger’s next call mentioned his children, three-year-old Alfie, sixyear-old Florie and five-year-old Eva.

“He rung me straight back and said, ‘Why won’t you come outside?’ I told him the kids were in bed and then he started asking ‘Can I look at your kids?.’

“I wasn’t sure if someone was watching the house and pretending they were on my drive, and if they were, how far did they want to take it? They did no harm, but when they asked to see my kids, you think there are some twisted people out there.”

Mr and Mrs Davies made a connection between what the stranger was saying and information on their Ring account.

“I got the Ring app up on my phone. Any time someone live views you, you can see and [the account had been] live viewed about four or five times in under 20 minutes.”

Mr Davies explained that when a camera is triggered by motion, it records footage which can be viewed later, adding: “Then I realised they had been recording their voices while using the doorbell as a camera – which is probably why I heard voices earlier on.”

Mr Davies called 101 to log what happened with the police.

A police spokeswoman said they were carrying out inquiries.