Argh. Those Darned Criminals!

Grumble grumble. There I was, hanging out with the niece in my very clean tack room, when I spotted an email saying my son’s bank account was frozen. What the heck?

So I called the number in the email and listened to a woman telling me someone had been trying to access my account (not his), repeatedly. By phoning? I’ve taken so many phishing classes at work over the past few years that when she asked me to verify my address I panicked and thought I was giving some scammer my personal information. I guess they hear it a lot, because she said that if I wanted to be sure it was really the bank, I could call the number on the back of my credit card. Then we got cut off. I was so worried.

So I did call the number on the back of my debit card and explained my concerns. The second bank woman was very nice. I’m glad it was “only” my bank account in danger, since fewer automated settings rely on that than my credit card. “Just” my direct deposits of my pay and Social Security, and PayPal. I can take care of those fairly quickly. I now have a new account, login, and password. That will thwart those darned criminals.

It seems like the digital age gets scarier and scarier. You always have to be alert for so many potential threats. It’s exhausting. And nerve wracking. My hands were all shaky as I went through the endless process of changing everything. But I’m grateful that the bank spots these things. I guess I’ll forgive them for taking away my checks with horses on them.

Tomorrow is yet another day of challenges and opportunities at work, so I’ll sign off and try to get sleep. I hope you had only positive excitement today!