HACKED

I’ve always thought you’d have to be pretty naive to get digitally or telephonically scammed. I know not to open PDFs from unknown senders. I never open emailed links unless I'm sure of the sender, and I am pretty sure that neither long-lost relatives nor Nigerian princes are leaving me vast unclaimed sums of money. Yet I got hacked by means of six simple digits.

I’m sharing my sorry tale so you can be spared this fate.

It started one evening at around supper time. The timing was cunning: had I been sitting at my desk with my professional head on, I may have been more wary. As it was, I had my post-work-and-dog-walk and feed-everyone-and-listen-to-their-day’s-news head on.

WhatsApp gave a cheery little ping, and I read the names ‘Ann and Caitlyn’, wondering for a moment who they were. My teenager reminded me that it was a mom and child from her old primary school with whom I had not had phone contact for years.

As I was juggling a sizzling stirfry, listening to the teenager’s drama project needs, and stepping back and forth