Most of us, whether tech savvy or not, are aware of hackers, of fraudsters and scams, but this last week I have learned more than I ever wished to know about the sophistication of those involved. I share it with you as a warning to be very vigilant.
For many years I have been a Facebook junkie, my defence was it kept me in touch with my kids and family living in different countries and different time zones. In their own time they could choose to read what I am doing or ignore it. It has worked well, got me back in touch with some old school friends who I had lost touch with and friends in other countries. It was my social connection during COVID, and I enjoyed it.
However not now. I have had a very stressful week where I feel awful that my friends are falling for the banter and being scammed. This is a brief history of how it all unfolded.
During the making a collage of photos to post of David and me for our wedding anniversary, I had to attend to something else, and when returning to my Facebook site it read “Your time has expired please log in again.” I was a bit surprised as never had I seen this before, but I put in my password as requested. It told me that was incorrect and to try again, after more failed attempts I tried to reset my password. Asked if a code should be sent to the usual connection, I ticked that box. I did not check this “usual connection”. I never received a code. In frustration after many failed attempts, I called my trusted computer technician.
He arrived the following day intending to help sort me out, I am not a computer techie, but he is.
After repeated attempts we checked the “usual connection” and found both my e-mail account and phone number had been changed by the hacker to his. The hacker had such a sophisticated system he was getting the info before Facebook, always one step ahead.
There are other options under these circumstances which are detailed and a bit complex, but we persevered by following them. Identification was required so we sent the photo of my current passport to be told they would authenticate the photo within 48 hours and notify me when completed.
Meanwhile my hacker has hijacked my Facebook message account and is chatting to various friends pretending to be me, I cannot access my account or my messenger to see what is happening.
I found this out when an unexpected visitor arrived from Waterloo with $200 worth of Apple gift cards. He was looking very pleased as he showed me what he thought I had asked for. Apparently earlier that morning I had replied to his asking if he could drop by, he was in Cambridge, and would I prefer 9.00 or 9.30 a.m? The hacker, not me, replied 9.30 please.
The hacker then asked my friend if he could do me a favour. After he said yes, he was asked for $200 worth of Apple gift cards and to message when he had them. Instead, he chose to just bring them since he was coming anyway.
The sagas continue: An 85-year-old cousin in England walked two kilometres to his nearby bookstore W.H. Smith to purchase gift cards. The bookstore staff suggested it might be a scam and he should check. He sent an e-mail asking me.
Every day I felt worse and more stressed, there was nothing I could do. Some friends put messages on their Facebook page, they, like me, were blocked from my site. Government agencies are inundated with a backlog of cyber-attacks, corporations, political parties, hospitals all take precedent over my personal problem.
Finally, my passport photo and information were accepted as being genuine. I was allowed to enter and given a code. I did so only to find this was partially my site but not all, some of my photos from years back, no list of friends, but more than 500 photos of various people some of whom I knew asking me to reach out and befriend them! Are you kidding, still no solution.
At this point e-mails and phone calls continued, asking if I made the request for gift cards. Thank goodness some people are suspicious; others regrettably have complied saying that I have done so much for them of course they would help me.
A neighbour who quickly recognized this was a scam played along answering the hacker pretending he thought it was me. “Sure, I can do you a favour Jill, but not until I finish work, I’m surprised you can’t get them yourself.” My hacker told my neighbour a tale of woe. I was supposedly at a funeral in Vancouver for a friend who died of COVID 19 and had promised another friend who had cancer I would get gift card for her birthday.
Those that get gift cards are asked by the hacker to message a photo of the cards, he then gets the code and the dollar amount and my friends are out of pocket.
For now I have been advised to stay away, eventually all my friends will either have gifted the hacker or said no and it will burn itself out. One dear friend bought $300 worth of Apple cards on her Visa, sent the hacker the photos and he was most appreciative and said how sweet she was, and I would pay her back but meanwhile could she get another $300 worth! This sounded suspicious so fortunately she phoned me. She is out of pocket by $300 but it might have been $600!
IF this ever gets resolved I will be very wary, maybe never return to Facebook, the junkie has been cured. I’m glad I have so many friends (or did have!) who say they would willingly help, but I do wish it hadn’t cost them so dearly.
Please beware of any suspicious messages
My sincere apologies to anyone affected but as my computer technician says this is not “on” me, but that doesn’t make me feel any better. I do hope this never happens to you, hacking has become so sophisticated, and it is here to stay so please BEWARE.
