February 3, 2011
“How is it that one match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box of matches to start a campfire?" --Christy Whitehead
When perpetrators of cyber crime spammed my email account recently, it only took a single action, one match if you will, to start a forest fire of chain reactions.
A whole box of matches could not set afire what followed.
I wrote about this last week and promised to tell you "the rest of the story", as the late Paul Harvey used to say.
After a 5:30 a.m. call alerting me to the "attack of the zombie" on my free email account, my day was no longer mine. And oh joy, the fun continued for nine more days.
I felt like I was stomping out wildfires across Kansas with my bare feet.
If you have not heard about "zombie" email attacks before, here is what they do.
Zombies visit you via an email you received and then lie dormant until activated by a signal over an internet connection. Zombies use your computer to send out junk email, usually in an attempt to collect credit card information or other personal data. The practice is called "phishing."
Apparently, the email from "me", perpetrated by the zombie, went far and wide.
Its message indicated something like this: "I am stranded in the U.K. in London and someone stole my purse. I lost all my credit cards and money and my passport, and I can't get home. Please email me a credit card number so I can get the money to get back home. Thanks, Kay."
It was still early in the morning when all phones in the house began to ring at the same time including the landline, my business cell phone, my personal cell phone and my husband's cell phone.
My email box filled with messages from concerned friends, family and business associates.
Text messages came in bunches; someone knocked on my front door to alert me to the email problem; and others tracked my husband down at work. Friends posted on Facebook and tweeted me.
By 9 a.m, I was in full combat mode fighting the attack of the zombie.
After checking with my computer guru friends, I learned that my "mother ship" computer and laptop were most likely just fine. Virus checks turned up nothing. I changed all my passwords on all my email accounts. All was well in my cyberworld.
I thought I was finished stomping out brush fires set by the cyber criminals.
But the phone calls continued, "Kay, I think you gave me a virus just now, did you know that?"
"It's not a virus," I tried to explain. And so my day continued.
My husband called to tell me he had concerned folks in his office asking the same question. Most people wanted to know if I was OK and if I really needed money, but one wondered why I didn't call my husband if I was indeed stranded in London. One asked why the American Embassy didn't help me.
The Examiner emailed to tell me readers stopped by to alert them to the crime.
The claims adjuster who handled our homeowner's insurance claim last year called from the home office because he received the email from me as well.
Exasperated, I took a break from all this and went to lunch with the neighbor gals.
While we were eating, the waitress came to one of my friends and said she had a phone call. Puzzled, she went to the kitchen to take the call on their restaurant phone. It was her husband who heard from another neighbor who was worried that I was OK. "No she is fine," she said, "Kay is sitting across the table from me eating a burrito, and I can assure you she is not in London."
As the next nine days unfolded, I heard from old college friends and high school classmates, parents of teams, clubs and organizations I was involved with when our kids were in school, former neighbors who now live out of state and someone we sold a car to who now lives in Florida.
The good news in all this is the fact that I have both real life and cyber friends who have my back. That's nice to know.
Thank you dear readers and friends, and I sincerely hope you do not encounter a zombie as I did. Odds are, experts say, you will. It is only a matter of "when" not "if".
Do's and don'ts are simple--change your password regularly on email accounts, especially free ones, monitor your account regularly and don't worry too much about this happening to you. If it does, fix it and go on. These days, it is a fact of life in cyberworld.
There is one more loose end I have not taken care of yet, and I better get on it right away, come to think of it.
When I walked into the beauty shop last week, I was met with this comment: "Kay, you better call the police and let them know you are back safe and sound from London."
"Why would I need to call them", I asked.
"Oh, some of us turned you in."
