Marees Musings

HACKED [OFF]!

Globally it’s estimated that 30,000 websites are hacked every day, and it’s cold comfort that online scams are up by some 60% recently. So I’m not alone, as I will explain. 

The connection between a hack and a scam is obvious. First the hack, which is a bit like someone breaking into your house with designs on pinching stuff. It might happen to your PC, or as I found out, your credit card. Originally the word itself had nothing to do with computers, but was hacked (HAH!) from the 1960’s MIT Model Railway Club’s fiddling with their trains in order to modify their functions. Long before folk tinkered with model trains and now, technology, there was the ProtoGermanic term  ‘hakkona’: that is, to chop, hoe or hew. That’s exactly what it feels like and all!

Next up, the scam, another common term nowadays, which says something about the state of modern living. Back in 1782, it meant a highway robber; possibly derived from scamp which in those days was a swindler or a cheat. I thought I’d dealt with those lowdowns back in May, but here they are again. By the way, there’s no evidence for the word being a shortened form of Scandalous Misdeeds, but says it all, eh?

Finally, the theft. Those in the know realise what’s going on long before any personal information, or in my case, money, is quietly removed. I’m no whizz at technology but like most people, the convenience of a credit card makes life easy. You receive a statement once a month. They make interesting reading, but in my case, as the total is automatically paid from another of my accounts, ignoring it seemed OK, and I often do. No worries. Until recently, that is.

Here’s the sad story. I’d been packing for a weekend away, which is stressful at the best of times; writing endless ‘to do’ and ‘to take’ lists etc. As you (or at least, I) do. My phone, a few clothes, pj’s, plane tickets … my VISA. I’d booked the shuttle for the airport. With an hour or two to spare, I took a look at my card statement. What’s this!!!!??? Over twenty transactions, all in US dollars, not huge but weirdly random amounts, that I had no recollection of. My clear thinking, along with my grammar – refer to previous sentence – went straight out the window at this point. I needed help, and fast. With luck, I got some: a phone call to cancel my card NOW, a quick trip with that friend [with a car] to the bank to withdraw wads of real cash to last me over the weekend, and back home just in time for the shuttle.

I’ve been banging on about this to anybody with ears, and the stock answer seems to be ‘It happens all the time.’ More cold comfort. As you will gather, I survived. I’ve now got a new card and slowly learning to trust people again. But I’m still hacked off.