I’ve been hacked—again

It was not the first time I had been hacked, and fallen into the very traps I had been repeatedly warned about. I distractedly responded to a request in the name of an old friend whom I hadn’t been in touch regularly. I recognized the icon—him and his wife in a picture together—and the request did sound like him. By the time I suspected it could be a hacker, it was too late; I had already given too much information.

While it’s true I had not been myself due to a personal struggle, still there was no excuse for stupidity. I’m not out of the woods yet, but so far it appears it has cost me no damage to pocket or reputation. 

The first time, my stolen identity had been used in an attempt to borrow money from some of my friends. Those who knew me well, without thinking twice, dismissed the requests as pranks; others took the trouble to ask me, as a precaution, what the matter might be and how they could help; others still, who were too ready and willing, no questions asked, were stopped in time, by my own warning. One of them was the same friend who had gone out his way to make arrangements for teleconsultations with the right doctors when I was struck with COVID, and the ones, too, who took me to the hospital and helped shepherd me through my recovery. 

There are such good and selfless souls, but it’s best to avoid getting anyone, especially the vulnerable ones like them, in trouble for your own hacked account. I know someone who lost ₱100,000 of her own money in that scam. Another friend lost $600. As it is, I still don’t know if I will be spared any damage from the latest hacking. It probably helps I’m not into online banking. Vergel, who asks many questions and can’t stop probing by nature, does that for us.

Other ways

Still I called my bank, and was advised to temporarily stop using my credit cards. But there are other ways one can lose money online. I myself bought something that looked nothing at all like its picture on the site, though not something worth a cry. But I never seem to learn. Only recently I bought a little hairpiece, and it didn’t work at all as advertised; as inexpensive as it was, I should have suspected from the start. I just laughed it off, but warned those with the same hair problem as I and therefore equally vulnerable.  

Anyway, I have finally reestablished my account, but it took nearly a month. I first went to Globe, to no avail. It seems that, for reasons of privacy, you had to do it yourself. And so I did. I followed instructions,  but as soon as the business of passwords came I was lost. So I kept pressing “Forgot password,” but either I was unable to follow the next instructions or the instructions are themselves the problem. 

I found a grandson to help me—young people seem to understand the language of modern technology better, or are simply made for it. He suggested I change my email for my Facebook account only. I didn’t even know you could do that. He tried doing it for me, but he got stuck himself when my phone kept saying “Incorrect password.”

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Yesterday, I decided to sit down and have a go at it again, with possible passwords written down and with pen and paper in hand for taking down things I couldn’t trust my memory to sort. I also tried to psych myself—this is only a devise, and I am its master—and proceeded to take command. 

After some minutes, lo and behold, I got back into my Facebook account and the Messenger platform coupled with it.  But there was this strange email address I didn’t recognize, and reported it as possibly the “hacker’s”. Well, it turned out to be the new address my grandson had entered to replace my old one. I proceeded to change my password into what they advise as the “strong” type hackers should have problems with, so strong I myself might not remember them. 

Not to worry, this time I wrote it down—somewhere.