Guess what guys? I had my first hacker. I have to say I feel kind of flattered, but mostly just P to the Oed. It was all so suspicious. So many things happened to me today that were just wrong!
First, I thought I had lost my work key (again) but remembered I had specifically put it in my purse to hide it from employees who like to steal my belongings. I check and it’s not in there. Peculiar. I check around my desk, my co-worker’s desk, the kitchen, the storage room, the mail room — nada. So I look in my purse again just in case and realize that $30 is missing in addition. Super.
Then, Mom texts me to inform that our bank called her. Yes, I’m 23 and my mom is still a partner (or whatever you want to call it) on my checking account from when she opened the thing with me when I was 16. Note to self: get her removed, stat. No offense Mom, but I’m trying to (painfully) grow up here, no need for you to check to make sure I’m keeping a certain amount in my account. Love you. Anyway, she lets me know they are sending me a new debit card for suspicious activity on my account. Again, peculiar, so I tell her it’s probably a fraudulent call but I’ll call the bank just in case.
Call the bank and what do you know! They actually have cancelled my current debit card because of some random activity and the new one was sent in the mail on the 9th. This is odd considering I check my account daily and all transactions since then were indeed my own.
Then I notice pretty much all day that my phone will not load one of my e-mail accounts. PECULIAR. I attribute this to normal AT&T crappy coverage shenanigans, as per usual. I get home and realize my mail program on my computer isn’t loading this particular account either, so I manually sign into Gmail, or try to at least.
They notify me that I’ve had “suspicious” activity on my account (great) and that I need to receive a text with a code to verify it’s actually me. I do so and proceed into my e-mail, where I notice I have 20 bounced back e-mails for people with recipients who have addresses that start with A, B or C. I click on these, and in turn Google alerts me that this is the suspicious activity and I can read a log of my browser usage (to make sure it’s actually me and not a wrongful error). Apparently at 9:45 this morning some idiot in China hacked into my e-mail and started sending everyone this:
Hi , long time no seeing you !
There is good news I want to share . For a long time , I want to buy
a laptop , one that is high quality but low price . This morning I got
my laptop , just one week after I put the order on the site (
link removed) .
The site has many kinds of electric products , like mobile phones , TV
, Games , and so on . All of the products are original and brand new .
You can see it yourself in your spare time . I believe you won’t
disappoint and get some surprises . The laptop I get is really high
quality and it arrives me so quickly . Hope you can get what you want
on the site , too .
Best regard .
First of all, anyone who knows me knows that I speak proper english and I also write in proper english, so this has to be some kind of fraud. Second, some of these e-mails were application accounts where I sent my resume — I never met them before, ever. And third, TG4G (Thank goodness for Google) because they realized this was spam mail immediately and didn’t send out the message! So my future hosting coach along with several networking contacts won’t think I’m a crazy person, infesting their inbox with random crap. Also, when I read “Hi, long time no seeing you !” I instantly think, “Wow! This person must be from America.” Advice for all you hackers out there: work a little bit harder at being realistic! I mean, if you’re targeting Americans, at least learn how to write like one! ( I would probably make an excellent hacker if I had no moral compass.)
I have to give a round of applause to Google and my bank for being so alert and taking the initiative to prevent major disasters from occurring. Technology these days… pretty amazing stuff!
Kirbie Johnson 