Monday, September 25, 2017

Hacked!




I was watching HULU on my laptop two nights ago when I got an email from Yahoo saying there was a successful login to my email account from NIGERIA(!) and that if that wasn't me logging in then I should change my password. A chill went up my spine.
I changed it immediately, as well as the passwords for my Chase banking accounts and my UBS account. It made me very nervous but I put it out of my mind.
Then this morning I went into town for groceries. When I went to checkout my Chase debit card was denied. I paid with a credit card and then walked down the block to the ATM. Again, my card was denied.
I got home and called Chase. It was very frustrating because I was on the phone with FOUR separate customer service reps and when each would put me on hold I'd lose the connection and they didn't call me back. UGH. I wanted to scream. I finally appealed to another rep and he finally got me to someone who could help, BUT they said that I would need to go in person to a branch office to iron this all out. WTF? How inconvenient is that?? I found out later it was because there was no way to verify that it was actually me talking to them on the phone. I could be the hacker from Nigeria.
So I drove to the nearest branch in East Hampton (of course the new Chase branch in Sag Harbor doesn't open for another two weeks. Double ugh!) The Chase banker was very helpful and I ended up being there almost an hour and a half. Their system detected some fraudulent activity (someone was trying to use QuikPay to take out $200). I had to close all my accounts and open new ones, plus get new login credentials for the online banking. Very time consuming.
Later, when I was relating the story to Jan, she mentioned something that made me figure out how I screwed up royally: I got an email from "SquareSpace" saying my site was about to expire and they needed to confirm my email address for correct billing. Yes I GAVE THEM MY EMAIL LOGIN INFO. DUMB. DUMB. DUMB. How stupid can you be?
So now I'm freaking out that they find other vital info on my old email history.
As I write this I realize I need to cancel my VISA card.
The banker suggested I take my laptop to a computer expert and get it scrubbed of the virus/malware.
There's a place in the village called Geek Hampton, I'm taking it there tomorrow. Stay tuned for the ending of this story...I'm still freaking out...

UPDATE: I went to GeekHampton this afternoon and it was a great experience. One of the kids at the "Genius Bar", Tristin, was super friendly and smart. He ran a malware app on my computer twice and installed it for future use. Best of all, what I thought was going to cost me a hundred dollars only cost $25. Whew. He also assured me that there was no "Trojan Horse" on my laptop. There was a small amount of malware, probably that annoying little pop-up virus ad that kept showing up every 20 minutes, and he got rid of it. I've learned my lesson: NEVER open any attachments from ANY suspicious emails, much less give them your email info!

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