My friend, last week, I fell victim to a phishing attack that gained access to my bank account and made away with some money.
Before I tell you that crazy story, It’s been a couple of weeks we’ve been working backstage and we’re launching our third major event for the year soon.
A few Smart friends sent emails to ask why I haven’t written in two over three weeks, that’s because we’re swapping our email marketing software and it’s taking a while to move all that data over to the new home
Back to my story
A message came in saying “Arrey you’ve just missed the delivery parcel. Click on XXX link to book a re-delivery.”
It is just a few weeks after my birthday and I presumed it was one of those late birthday gifts
The link said I was going to pay a small fee for redelivery so I quickly filled in my credit card, tried a couple of times and ended up frustrated with the pages not knowing I was in the wrong hands.
A few hours later, I was taking a nap when my phone rang. You know that point when you’re half asleep and half awake? That’s exactly when my phone rang.
On the other side was this young charming beautiful lady
“Dear Mr Arrey, I’m Karen calling from your bank XXX”
If you check your bank account right now, X and X amount has just been deducted and I wanted to ask if you recently made this purchase?”
It was true. The first sum had just been deducted and I told her that it wasn’t me
“This is a phishing attack, a group of criminals have gotten hold of your card info and are trying to take some money from it” she said
“But don’t worry Arrey, that’s why I’m calling so that we can handle this from the bank and send over a new card”
I was sold!
The first sum was already deducted from my account and although it’s a spending account, my first thought was “please help me”
“First things first, we’re going to send you a new card in the next three days” she said, adding that she was going to ask me a couple of security questions to confirm that was my account
“But I need you to respond to me quickly because these guys already have access to your account as we speak” Karen reiterated.
We went through a few basic questions and then she said ” Mr Arrey, you’re going to receive a security code on your phone right now and I want you to read that out to me”
I was half asleep and half awake. All this conversation was happening within three minutes and I didn’t know exactly what was happening.
All I knew was that someone had deducted some money from my account and I didn’t want them to take more.
The moment I read that security code to her, I saw my spirit standing at the other side of the door, beckoning me
Giving that code meant I was giving an complete stranger access to my account and helping to authenticate their login without knowing
I had to think fast.
So I came up with a quick strategy to keep her busy on call
I asked Karen how she knew my account had been compromised and as she was explaining, I kept trying to 1. gauge her answer, 2. Access my account as fast as I could
The idea was to get into my bank account as fast as possible and send money left in that account to the last person I made a transaction with.
I didn’t care who it was but I couldn’t start punching new digits to send money to my other accounts.
And that’s exactly what I did. Quickly, I made a first, then a second transaction while Karen kept trying to explain to me how they (“my bank”🙄) were trying to save me
Do you know what happened next?
On the second transaction, it appeared Karen noticed I had figured out a quick plan.
“Mr. Arrey, when was the last time you took out money from this account?” I chuckled and said to her “just minutes ago haha”
It was at this point that she knew she – – – – up!
And little did I know that I was about to fall victim to hardened criminals.
That quick action had saved over six million that would have been withdrawn in broad daylight
But why am I sharing this with you?
I lost some money to these guys but can you imagine if I fell victim to their second game plan?
My Smart Friend , if you work / transact any business online, there are three things you should do at this point
Firstly, make sure you have one card dedicated to your online transactions. (It should be separate from your main account where you keep the rest of your money)
Within this account (I like to call it my spending account) ensure that you only deposit the amount you are willing to spend for that month
Lastly, be cautious. I have no idea how these criminals got access to me, I don’t know how they got my contact but I’m thankful that this wasn’t as bad as it would have been
I’ll speak to you soon my friend and get ready for something exciting we’re launching this weekend. It was a small request from a few friends and some Smart Club members and I’m so excited that we’re finally ready to bring you the good news✊
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I Will PERSONALLY Work With You To Build Your Dream Brand & Double Your Revenue Through A High Income Digital Skill From Now Till December
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Arrey Bate
Internet Entrepreneur | Author | Journalist