WHY (Photo: gilbertofilho

The Associated Press reports that, "Thailand's craze for the fluffy, owl-like robotic toy "Furby" has led to an online scam that cost dozens of victims a combined $200,000." A teenager who posted an ad on Instagram took their money, but did not deliver the Furbies as promised.

How something that looks like a Satanic alien kitten could inspire such devotion remains a mystery.

(h/t The Daily Dot)

(Photo: Club 937)

Consider your most recent nightmare, one that caused you to bolt upright in bed, quaking in fear. Did it involve a Furby? If not, now it will. You're welcome!

You may remember the Furby as an animatronic stuffed animal from the '90s that your parents once bought you for Christmas. It was fun to play with for an hour, but after a while grew so annoying and so creepy that you hid it in the basement and told you parents you lost it (like, hypothetically).

For no reason other than the fact that children are weird and sometimes terrible, Furbies were wildly popular in the '90s. So naturally, its developer, Hasbro, has decided to revamp this gurgling, fur-covered nightmare for the digital age. God bless America.

Gizmodo did an extensive review of the new Furby, which comes in LSD colors and boasts LED eyes. Their findings will churn your stomach:

You don't really "use" the Furby so much as you willingly subject yourself to it. The Furby makes almost constant noise in its own native language, Furbish. Chortles, whistles, grunts, whines, moans, screeches, incoherent speaking in tongues....

The Furby's erratic mania culminates in its schizophrenic personality changes. It shouts, "I'M CHANGING," squeezes its eyes shut, and then reopens them. Now it's changed. During our testing, it remained in some sort of demonic phase, with slit eyes, a raspy voice, and lots of cackles. Once its eyes changed into cows, and then cherries, and it appeared intoxicated. Bath salt Furby lasted for a while longer, before suddenly, inexplicably reverting to docile.

The Mayans may have been right about 2012. Bow to your new overlord, the Furby.