4-year-old boy bought thousands of dollars worth of popsicles using his mother’s Amazon account
An online fundraising effort was set up for a mother after her 4-year-old boy bought more than $2,000 (£1,438) worth of SpongeBob SquarePants Popsicles on Amazon.
The child, identified as Noah, is a fan of the cartoon character and ordered 51 cases of the SpongeBob Popsicles, an ice treat, to his aunt’s house in Brooklyn, New York.
A friend of the family, Katie Schloss, wrote in an Instagram post on Monday that 918 Popsicles arrived from Amazon – to the tune of a whopping $2,618.85 (£1,883).
“As (truly!) adorable as this story is, Jennifer Bryant, Noah’s mom, is a social work student at New York University (we took Policy I together) and simply cannot afford this,” wrote Ms Schloss.
According to the post, Amazon refused to return the “fruit punch and cotton candy” flavoured ice treats – with Noah’s mother forced to front the bill.
Ms Bryant, mom to 3 boys, doesn't know how she's going to be able to pay this off, in addition to student loans and all of her family's other expenses,” added Ms Schloss, who set up a GoFundMe page for the family.
Following the appeal, more than $3,700 (£2,661) was raised for Noah’s mother on GoFundMe — and the figure is rising.
“Thank you SO much for your mind-blowing generosity and support,” wrote Ms Bryant of the fundraising. “As a child living with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), all future donations will go towards Noah's education and additional supports. We cannot thank you enough. Truly.”
On Instagram, a number of people responded in bemusement at Ms Schloss’s story, with one writing: “This is the cutest thing ever. I’m sure they’ll be back up to speed soon and in the meantime he’s got a good supply of Popsicles. Those were always my favourite ones from the ice cream truck.”
Another added: “He is quite possibly the cutest thing on the planet.” Many called on Amazon to refund Ms Bryant for the popsicle haul.
The Independent has reached out to Amazon for comment.
@nabob @Pinkaholic79 💖🦄🌺 @margaret.s @roz @harryflatters @Tanith @Flossy 🧁🧁🧁 @Flotson @Janet 💋🍰🍝🍹 @Bill Obermeyer @andym.aat @Paul - MenCanCleanToo @Rustyfrog @renatew5😺🐶 and any one else.
Still there @Tanith. I just don't agree to the fundraising part to help her out. Funny thing it actually happened to a friend of mine, but not that drastic, she ended up with 36 kitchen roll, she kindly gave a couple.
I thought that Amazon had a 'Remember my details' check box that defaults to ON. I always made sure that it was unchecked. Maybe things have changed.
@Flossy 🧁🧁🧁 @Happygirl @Tanith Amazon make it so easy to order products, I have made it so that I have to put in a password every time I order something but this still doesn't apply to apps and digital orders, these go straight through without password, also easy to order through Alexa app.
If Kieran use s my tablet or phone, I have to remind him not to buy or install anything without my permission. He's a bit of a computer wizz kid so we have to keep watch on him.
My tablet is an Amazon fire tablet so it's kind of geared up to Amazon products.
Amazon have a lot to answer for.
Kieran is on the autism spectrum and it's the kind of thing he would do if he could get away with it.
He's already been in trouble with the school for downloading " inappropriate" content on a school project.
Personally I think the school should be thanking him rather than punishing him as he has pointed out flaws in their security systems.
Didn't think of sharing the popsicles?
Never save your bank card information. Always keep your data secure. This happens because people just do not care about their own bank details.
The little so and so, ha haaaaaaaaaa it did make me chuckle though, although i don't know how to order from Amazon, do you have to have pin numbers etc?
Hope she had a big big big freezer!