This Child Used Her Sleeping Mother's Fingerprint to Buy $250 Worth of Pokémon Gear

A 6-year-old purchased $250 in Pokémon items by using her sleeping mother's thumbprint.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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And now, a story about an American hero.

Earlier this month, a 6-year-old girl from Arkansas decided she’d add some new Pokémon pieces to her toy collection. But rather than ask her parents to purchase the items, she decided to take matters into her own hands—well, technically her mom’s hand.

Ashlynd Howell was able to place an order for $250 worth of Pokémon gear without her parents’ knowledge. Here’s how it all went down: According to the Wall Street Journal, Ashlynd got a hold of her mother’s phone to make the purchases; however, the device was secured by Touch ID. Rather than accept defeat, the child decided to do something that was both genius and a little scary.

While her mother, Bethany Howell, was taking a nap on the couch, the kid grabbed her sleeping mom’s hand and used her finger to unlock the phone. From there, Ashlynd went wild.

“After Ashlynd’s parents received 13 order confirmations for Pokémon items, they initially thought they’d been hacked,” the Wall Street Journal reports. They even considered that Ashlynd had purchased the items by mistake, but they later realized it was no accident.

“No, Mommy, I was shopping,” Ashlynd told her mom. “But don’t worry—everything that I ordered is coming straight to the house.”

How adorable and infuriating, right? Bethanny was only allowed to return four out of the 13 items; the rest were used as Christmas gifts. They told Ashlyn that Santa Claus found out about her Amazon wishlist and decided to give her just that. 

We guess everything worked out just fine, but the mother should probably sleep with one eye open for now on. Or just go back to the good ol' passcode. 

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