PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A family in Prince George County says they want answers after their Ring home security system was hacked by a stranger who made inappropriate comments towards their children and nanny.

On Tuesday, 8News had a chance to speak with the Reed family, a Prince George County family who said their privacy was violated.

They said their nanny and four children were terrorized by a strange man who was yelling and watching their every move after gaining access to their Ring security camera.

A man with a very distinct accent took over the Reed family’s Ring security system and began speaking to the family: “Hello, is someone here, can you hear me?”

“It gave me chills and anybody that I played it for said they felt chills up their spine,” Mackenzie Reed, a mother of four who recently went back to work, said.

Reed was gifted the doorbell ringer and then decided to buy five in-home cameras to keep an eye on her children while at work.

Earlier this month, the family’s nanny went downstairs after hearing a strange voice taunting her.

  • Man’s voice: “Why is the door open? I’m in your house now, why is the door open?”
  • The Reed’s nanny: “Ugh, I opened it.”
  • Man’s voice: “Look behind you.”

The voice was coming from the Ring camera in the playroom. Reed told 8News she felt that the man was trying to entice her children.

“He said ‘it’s Mickey Mouse, Mickey is in the house,'” Reed explained. “I felt like he had seen this playroom, noticed it was for kids and was trying to see who he could get to come to the camera. I don’t think my nanny was the target I think it was the kids and it makes my stomach turn to think what he would’ve asked the kids to do or say.”

The voice appears to ask the nanny to take her clothes off: “Can you take your clothes off for me?”

The Reed’s nanny was terrified, telling the voice she was “going to call the police.”

“They could be watching and making note of our schedules,” Reed told 8News. “If they are hacking our system, it’s registered to our home address and they would have our address.”

The Reed family has taken down the cameras inside the home and reached out to Ring. They told 8News that Ring would not allow them to cancel their subscription or return their system.

A spokesperson for Ring told 8News on Tuesday that the company has no evidence of any compromise in their system but they are aware of some instances of account information being swiped and used in harmful ways. Ring says to keep this from happening, customers should make sure to enable two-factor authentication on all devices and create strong passwords.

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