Tag: fraud

Lessons the Hard Way…

On By rosereadsIn Life & other interesting questions5 Comments

Four in the morning and I can’t sleep.

A plan to pay rent is in the works and tomorrow or today I will begin implementing it.  I have changed all of my passwords,  backed up the laptop files so I can clean it and cancelled all of my scheduled payments. The last step really wasn’t necessary since I am going to be closing the account down, but it made me feel better.  The Netflix and Hulu subscriptions have been put on hold as well.

I, sincerely, appreciate everyone who has expressed their concern, but I want to be clear.  I didn’t do everything I could have done to prevent this.  My own neglect lead me to where I am right now.  I messed up and someone or someones took advantage of it.

Which is the main reason that I am sharing this very personal and embarrassing situation. Maybe it is the teacher in me that is determined to let others know so they can avoid stepping into the same trap.  Wireless connections are not as secure as many think and spyware doesn’t always just report what websites you visit to an on-line marketing company.  It can do other things.

And the reality it is, I may never figure out how they did it. All I can do at this point is fix the damage and take steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Oh and thank the heavens, again and again that I have family and friends willing to help me find solutions and to think clearly for me when I break down.

A hard lesson is being taught to me and a suspect there will be many more restless nights.

There is no doubt in mind though that I will be better off after all of this than I was before it.

Getting Hacked..

On By rosereadsIn Life & other interesting questions2 Comments

Lessons it seem must always be learned the hard way in my case.  I did something stupid and now I am broke.  To make a long story short, my bank account has been drained of funds and now I am scrambling to figure out how I am going to pay the rent which was already behind as well as the electric bill.  It is partly my fault for not keeping a better eye on my bank account and being careless online.  All my passwords have been changed and laptop is being wiped.

Now, please don’t get me wrong this isn’t a request for help.  Just an expression of my frustrations and a warning for others.  Don’t ignore the warnings about securing your on-line information.

I am still working out the details of how the bad dudes got a hold of my account information.  The police have been notified.

As I was writing the above portion, my roommate came home and we have figured out how to pay the electric bill.  Tomorrow is visit to the bank to close my account and see what the manager can do for me.  There will also be a phone call to the landlord to see if I can get an extension and then work my ass off to pay the bills.

My friend, Sonia, is helping me out by offering me more opportunities reading tarot.  Another friend gave me money for groceries.  So I won’t be starving.  There are still things to figure out and eggs to be placed in various baskets for safe keeping.

I am blessed and I will make it through this.

Be careful and always log off your computer completely.  For more tips, please visit http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/katrina/protectyourselfonline.htm