TALES FROM THE BOBBI LAMA

I will never forget the moment I discovered that the hours of remote repair with the Geek Squad was not the Geek Squad after all! The “bad guys” are very clever with how they do perfect simulations of companies to deceive us, and they are getting better. I thought I was savy, checking websites and email addresses, avoiding answering phone calls and texts, not opening attachments, etc., but not good enough. They got it all…everything in both computers (which is everything). When I think back to all the hours they were supposedly doing a scan to find viruses, and that I had willingly handed over total remote control for them to get my problem solved, I felt embarrassed. It’s left me so much more cautious, even obsessing with all the closures, cancellations, and changes to every account I have. It’s made me feel violated, vulnerable and suspicious of everything. And now, I have to work on getting rid of the worrying and watching my back. For all I know, they are reading this even as I type. (Obviously I’m still a little paranoid.)

The good news for my ego is, unfortunately, that this has happened to almost everyone I’ve talked to, or to someone they know, and it made me feel less alone in my victimization. I shared what I learned with them, and they shared their lessons and resources with me. And as this scam cleanup month is passing, I feel I’m doing all I can every day. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a little bit of peace soon. One friend reminded me of the old saying, “Fool me once, shame on them. Fool me twice, shame on me.” What a lesson I’ve learned!