An Open Letter to Scammers and Hackers
Isn’t there some other legal work you could come up with to play with your tech tools? Our banks and stores and credit card companies all tell us you earn a good living, but while you are doing so, you are making our lives hell.
It seems that scammers have an easier time getting into my accounts than I do. And our security formats for two-form verification is more than a pain in the behind. No, I cannot hold the camera still for the selfie. I have Parkinson’s. No matter how many times I put my Mexican IDs through your software, you reject it because you don’t like holograms. The two-minute process can take two minutes, two hours, or two days. I’m working on one that is taking two months!
And I love logging onto sites where I have to prove to a machine that I am a human being using a machine. Logging onto a financial site can take time as you input your username, your password, go through a security challenge, get an OTP from your telephone or your email just to check your balance.
Or transfer sites where each and every transfer is put on hold from anywhere from two hours to seven days. Wasn’t technology supposed to speed up our transactions?
And then there is the email. I have a job which assaults my inbox with about 200 emails a day. Which of course, is worse during election years and holiday seasons. Not only do I have to screen for legitimate emails, my spam program weeds out a lot of spam, but the spammers get more creative every day. The newest one was an invitation to an exclusive party. To RSVP you have to send by “signing in.” That should have been my first clue, but apparently, I hadn’t consumed enough caffeine. So, they got my email, username, and telephone number. Trying several times, I gave up and wrote to the original sender who reported they’d been hacked! Great. Now I have to spend time changing all the passwords on my email accounts!
And the phone is no better! No, Uncle Juan didn’t get into a car accident in Guadalajara on the way for a surprise visit. And no, I’m not late on my IRS tax filing and need assistance to clear it up now that there is a special program.
No matter how careful we are, they seem to be one step ahead of us. This is supposed to be the time in our lives when things are supposed to slow down, become simpler. Instead, when I go to the USA (seldom) if I want to pay with cash I have to stand in a special line and pay at a special cash register. Or scan my own purchases and tap, swipe, or input codes for cards. Younger folks give us the Gen Z stare because we have to stop and figure these things out. Yah? Well, I’d like to see them count back change accurately!
Bah humbug, all this technology. We can’t live with it, and we can’t live without it.
Editorial Notes: Our new Lakeside Living Editor is Lillie Henley. Her contact information is in the column. Welcome Lillie!
After five years of never missing a single deadline, Katina Pontikes has resigned her column Vexations and Conundrums. She is moving to the USA to live in New Mexico. She will be missed, and we wish her the best of luck.
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