Mum’s warning over popular Kmart toy

A mum has issued a warning to other parents after hearing a man moan over her child’s walkie talking that was a gift at Christmas.

A mum has issued a warning to other parents after hearing a man moan over her child’s walkie talkie.

The Christchurch woman purchased the walkie talkies from Kmart as Christmas gifts. However, while making dinner one night, she heard strange noises.

This included a man making “sexual moaning noises”.

“Clear sexual innuendos, just saying things like ‘Do you like sausages? Mmmm, I’m coming for you. I’m coming over to you now’. It went on for a good few minutes,” she told the New Zealand Herald.

The product’s packaging said it had a distance of 300m. She became worried the person was close by. She locked the doors and called the police.

Mum's shock find on child's walkie talkie. Picture: Kmart

When she tried to turn the toy off, she realised the on button was permanently stuck. The only way she could switch it off was by getting a screwdriver and removing the batteries.

Police explained if the other person had a stronger radio frequency, they could be much further away. It means they could still talk but her children wouldn’t be able to reply to the person.

The mum alerted Kmart to the issue.

“Toy-grade walkie talkies conform to public UHF CB radio standards,” a Kmart spokesperson told news.com.au.

“They are designed to operate within a limited frequency range, with a preset channel, not allowing users to switch. Occasional interference is not a defect in the product itself.

“Like any communication devices provided to children, we recommend parents exercise discretion and supervise how their children use the device.”

It’s not the first time a mum has been left distressed due to UHF walkie talkies, which is a radio frequency most personal walkie talkie devices operate on.

Kmart responded to the issue. Picture: news.com.au

A South Australian mum was watching her two sons ride their bike with a friend. Two of the children had a walkie talkie. A third walkie talkie had been left at camp for the parents to keep an eye on them.

Then, one of the other parents heard a voice they didn’t recognise on the channel all three walkie talkies were tuned in to. The mum called her kids back. That’s when her son told her someone had told him to go to the playground using the device.

“So he went there – which was right next to our own caravan, but we were at someone else’s site at the time – thinking it was one of the parents messing around. He got on the walkie talkie and said, ‘I’m here’, and the person said, ‘Now go to your caravan’. And Ari responded, saying, ‘I’m here, where are you?’ And he said something like, ‘I’m the bald guy’. And that was it,” the mum told KidSpot.

The parents all searched the camp ground and found nothing, thankfully. But it was the realisation that anyone could jump on the channel.

Originally published as Mum’s warning over popular Kmart toy