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Apologizing for something you have no control over

July 5, 2017   ·   0 Comments

I find myself apologizing on the phone to friends and family for something I had no control over.
On Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at 6.15 a.m. I received a phone call from an old friend asking me if I was alright. Shaking off from a deep sleep, I responded that I thought I was OK. He explained that he had received an email from me indicating “sad news” asking for him for help.
He was calling from Paris, France, hence the early hour, and was most concerned as the email called for a response ASAP.
I thanked him for his anxiety assuring him that I had not sent an email. Immediately, even before my first cup of coffee, I checked my iPad then called Rogers. After what seemed an eternity, I spoke with someone in Halifax who checked my account assuring me that Yahoo would be contacted and the situation would be corrected.
I had been hacked and my contacts were hijacked. Talk about feeling violated and helpless! Immediately
I emailed my contacts advising ALL to not open or respond to the fake email. I was now off the grid and would be until the problem was resolved. I quickly got dressed and drove to my bank and after advising them of the situation changed all my banking information, passwords etc. Upon arriving home, the phone calls from anxious friends started. Apparently, in this bogus email, the writer asks for money to be sent to Istanbul for my sister.
Anyone who knows me would be suspicious.
What is really creepy is that my sister never got the fake email.
Even more weird is that I got phone calls from people I never had email addresses for. After a week, I contacted Rogers again (in Toronto) who at first said they could not help me but after transferring me to another department, in Halifax, took my info, again, and promised to get me back on the grid within 72 hours.
They did!
Questioning how this could have happened, I was informed that the hacking of emails has become increasingly prevalent and even though I never opened suspicious emails, downloaded questionable attachments and changed passwords on a regular basis, they got me!
Weeks have now passed at this writing but feelings of intrusion, violation and insecurity still remain.
If there is a bright light to this encroachment it would be that I was contacted and made aware of my many concerned friends some of whom I haven’t spoken to in a few years.
Once again, I do apologize for needless anxiety brought about by the criminal activities of immoral individuals.
Please be extra vigilant with your email accounts to prevent corruption!

B. Tiffin
(Formerly) Oak Ridges

         

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