life, love,art. heart failure and assorted ramblings

life, love,art. heart failure and assorted ramblings

Don't Talk Like That...

I write to find out what my heart thinks....
I am here to celebrate my life, to uncover my fears, to hold on to love, to grieve my losses, to laugh long and hard, and to learn how to live a full magnificent life with heart failure. I am honoring my creativity, and exploring all of my emotions out loud ...before anyone can say....."Don't talk like that!"


.

.

Sunday, June 9, 2019

RED FLAG...RED FLAG


I fancy myself as fairly internet savvy!  But I may now be technically classified as a gullible old fart!  I know there are “bad” people out there!  I am very cautious! I have up to date security software on my phone and laptop. I check my bank accounts daily (actually I subscribe to a daily activity email). I only use a credit card or PayPal when purchasing online …gives me a chance to dispute charges and get my money back. But for all that I thought I was doing right…this one caught me way “off guard”!

Clicking on a link on the official Social Security Association Website, “redirected” me to a site that was not SSA, but it looked exactly the same. Then I made an appointment to meet with a SS counselor for some specific filing SS guidance and advice. We were to meet 2 days later via a very official but off-site email scheduling program, at the Library meeting room a couple of blocks away from the Official SS office…First RED FLAG and I missed it.  When we got to the library, there was no SSA counselor, the library staff had never heard of such a thing….RED FLAG is now waving vigorously.  The SS office was just a few blocks away, we opted to go straight there to figure out what was going on.
 
They were aghast! We were horrified! The next 3 hours my phone (with all of the pertinent contact info from the nefarious site were located) was examined by the SS office.  Scrolling back through the SS office noticed the official website address had changed from SocialSecruityAdministration.gov to  SocialSecruityAdministration.US.  Now that RED FLAG is flapping wildly and I finally get it….We have been caught up in a scam to get our SS numbers.  The wonderful and very helpful people at the Official SS office were proactive, awesome and reported to SSA FRAUD and FTC through their offices… but instructed us to follow up with second personal reports when we got home.  We also needed to freeze our credit on all 3 bureaus.  It was a full day of “undoing”.  Even though the guy did not show up, and it does not appear that the scam was successful, we were instructed to take every precaution!

I suspect I may now be truly qualified as an official gullible old fart!
"What a Fool Believes"  Doobie Brothers

No comments:

Post a Comment