In case you hadn’t noticed, we are living in hard and dangerous times.

There have always been dishonest people, and people driven to dishonesty by desperation. But today’s cyber world has opened endless new doors for those looking for an easy dollar . . . or more.

Twice in my lifetime, I was nearly victimized by purse snatchers — once in Washington, D.C., and once in St. Petersburg, Russia. And twice I was able to foil their attempts.

But this week was my first experience with cyber crime.

Yesterday, I received a text notice from my bank that there had been a suspicious transaction on my credit card: a $1,000 charge by META. It was definitely not legitimate, and I responded accordingly. Then I went online to my account and saw a number of attempted charges, allegedly by META and Facebook, for tiny amounts — $3.50, 39 cents, etc. But my bank was on top of it, so I simply kept an eye on my accounts throughout the day.

This morning I received yet another notice of suspicious activity, and a statement that my card was being blocked for my protection. I called the number given, spoke to a very helpful gentleman at the bank who verified all of my information, and was told that a new card would be sent to me on Monday via Federal Express.

Done and done . . . more or less. I still have to deal with changing my credit card information with several online vendors once my new card arrives; but that is nothing compared to the hell that some people have experienced when their private information has been hacked.

I was lucky. My bank — which I will not name for security reasons, but to whom I am very grateful — was on the ball. Their security caught the anomaly and took appropriate measures. But why do we, the law-abiding public, have to deal with this crap? Aren’t our lives complicated enough?

Clearly, those attempted charges were not instigated by META or Facebook, but by some clever little hacker sitting at a laptop in a basement, using their considerable skills for nefarious purposes. Such is the world we live in.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the conveniences of modern technology; being able to conduct my personal business from the comfort of my home, having research at my fingertips, keeping in touch with my friends . . . all of these are especially important at my age. But there is clearly a downside to having our personal information accessible to anyone with a computer and a diabolical mind.

And don’t even get me started on the evils of Artificial Intelligence!

*. *. *

So, that was how my week ended. I wanted to share it with the world as a cautionary tale, and also in case the anonymous perpetrator — who will probably never be identified — is reading this. If you are, I have just two things to say to you:

First, you should probably scratch me from your list of potential victims — I don’t have enough money to be of much use to you; and

Second, there are a lot of good jobs out there for people with your tech skills. You should try it; it’s really satisfying to know, at the end of the day, that you’ve done something worthwhile with your time, and actually earned your money. Also, working with others might improve your social skills.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/9/26