By Joe Rector
Two weeks ago, my iPhone dinged at midnight. Sleepy-eyed, I looked at it and saw that my phone provider was sending a verification code. My thoughts were to leave it alone and take care of it in the morning. Throughout the night, I received another eight codes to which I was to respond. Obviously, someone was trying to convince me to respond. That began one hell of a nightmare for Amy and me.
When I arrived at the golf course for work and tried to connect to my music library, nothing happened. Next, I tried to connect to my email with the same result. With tee boxes waiting to be mowed, I shoved my phone in my pocket and entertained myself by singing.
Upon returning home, I contacted my phone service online. The company had no brick-and-mortar site; it is all internet contact and help. This AI-generated “help desk” kept asking for the email address and password associated with the account. I typed in that access to everything on my phone was blocked; the same information kept coming, and after a long chat with either some person or an AI “thing,” I was told that my problem was being sent to the “next level” and that someone would call me within an hour. Yep, you guessed it; that call never came. I began the process again, jumped through the same hoops, and, believe it or not, a human finally came on. She called me, and I tried to answer her questions, even though her English was much better than my skills in her language. Still, I couldn’t understand the directions given with such a heavy accent. She told me she would have to call me back.
I give her credit; she did call back–the next day, but no help was given. I’d spent more than six hours trying to retrieve the service for my phone that ended after those codes came in the middle of the night and were said to have come from the company. Amy and I drove to the Verizon store and bit the bullet and bought two new phones and accounts and higher costs. Still, we had phone service, and it only took four hours to complete the transaction.
At the same time, Amy began receiving security alerts about our credit card. Probably the same group of thugs had gained access to the cards. Bills for all sorts of things came flooding in. Luckily, Y-12 FCU has a wonderful security system, and they shut down our cards and account immediately. Since the day was Juneteenth, all but one branch was closed. The CSR was kind, patient and helpful. We left the bank with new cards and felt relieved. However, she’d forgotten to close the account, so the next day, we were alerted that our account was again closed and told that we would have to return to the bank
This time, we had to return our day-old cards, open new accounts, and get new cards. That process took approximately three hours. We were also told not to use our cards until the following Thursday. Because our account had been hacked, we had to change security information and give new usernames and passwords. Because I sometimes rush to complete things, I didn’t write down some of my passwords, so contacting the companies by phone was necessary.
For the first time in my life, I froze. Most often, I can do something to correct a problem, at least temporarily. This time, I simply didn’t know what to do. I’m not a computer genius, not even a proficient user. As for the phone, I kept opening it and hoping that something would suddenly happen to make the mess all go away. I speak no Indo-Aryan language to help me understand instructions from a phone center. The hacked phone was good for nothing to me.
We Baby-Boomers are, for the most part, at the mercy of younger folks and family members who might be able to get us out of technological nightmares. I’m sure most teenagers could have taken care of our woes in short order, but none were available. The feeling of helplessness is something I’ve now experienced for the first time. It’s not something I like or ever want to visit again. For over two weeks, Amy and I have struggled to fix these problems. I believe we are on the other side of them now. However, we can only pray that nothing like this will come again.
Those people who are also short of computer skills and who look for a cheaper phone plan should be aware. A good security system for computers is vital. A phone plan might be cheaper, but when it has no human support and relies on AI, no help is coming for any problems that arise. It’s better to be safe than thrifty.
Finally, for those who choose to prey on older folks or those with limited technological skills so that they steal identities and assets, I hope that the fires in hell are hot enough to forever burn your thieving hands. Use the genius that you have developed for something beneficial instead of criminal.
