Almost a week later, my husband and I are still reliving the nightmare.
Last Saturday, we fell victim to a phishing attack and were almost scammed out of $50,000.
It began with a text that read: “Capital One: Did you attempt to use your card for $1,782.03 at Best Buy? If you recognize this transaction, reply YES. If not, reply NO.”
Naturally, I replied in the negative.
Then came a follow-up.
“Capital One: Your card is restricted. Would you like to speak with a representative? Reply YES or NO.”
And so it began.
What appeared to be a very patient gentleman was in fact a very calculating thief hoping we would swallow the bait.
By some means he had accessed not only my cell phone number but also my checking and credit card accounts and charged outrageous amounts for laptops, cell phones, computer software and other electronic goods.
Viewing my statement, the charges were all pending.
His goal was to lure me into assuring Capital One I wanted the goods.
“That’s how we catch the thief, ma’am,” he said.
Though it seemed far-fetched, we admitted this was way beyond our ken and he must be right.
After all, the purchases were there in black and white.
We still shake our heads at our gullibility.
The guy was slick, claiming he worked for the credit company’s fraud department. How were we to know otherwise? After all, he’s the one who reached out to us to alert us of these charges.
Things began to feel fishy when he had me call the credit card company to “work” with an agent to OK the charges.
When I was on the call, he began texting me, telling me what to say.
