Beware, hackers are all around us

While we are dealing with a pandemic called COVID-19, there is another pandemic creeping into our everyday lives, and it can rob us and other people’s money without us being fully aware of it. This is the pandemic of scammers and hackers, and their primary victims—like COVID-19—are seniors.

Hackers have turned my life upside down. I was lazily surfing Facebook when a friend of many moons ago texted me with our usual “Kumusta ka?” I stopped my surfing and attended to his queries. “What is your cell phone number again and your email address?” he asked. I readily gave him the details he needed. Then came the shocker: “Pautang naman ako ng pang-down ko ng real property.” I was terribly shocked; this wasn’t the Manny I know. Borrowing money from each other was not in our vocabulary.

I told the hacker he was not Manny, and then I lost my Facebook and Messenger accounts. What followed was a nightmare. My tech-savvy daughter wasn’t home and my husband did not know these things, either. My daughter had to write our relatives and friends that I had been hacked and that they should not give money to hackers.

But there are people I know who were not in her list. So the hackers, using my identity, borrowed money from those left in my list. They tried to scam a respectable lady who insisted that I call her and smartly blocked me from her list. They tried to borrow from a famous artist friend who responded that we should just talk when he comes back to Manila. They also asked my dear cousin, who responded, “My cousin writes good English. You are a scammer!” Another cousin in the United States said, “Tell me where I am before I speak with you again.” They also borrowed money from my former driver, and the latter stopped talking with them and had a good hearty laugh.

But Manny, the first friend they hacked before hacking me, could not laugh like our friends, and neither could I. Our lives were turned upside down. We had to change our cell phones and email addresses, and go to our banks to safe-keep whatever we had there.

The fear and the worry that friends and relatives were being scammed were at the back of our minds, and we could not even sleep at night. My Facebook was topsy-turvy. My daughter changed my old Facebook into a new one, but our friends were confused. They reported the new one to Facebook that we were the hackers, and we’ve lost many a valuable friend there. My doctor-brother who I consult with every now and then is now out of my reach. These scammers have wreaked havoc on my friendships and relationships.

These scoundrels have even gone worldwide. A friend in the United States reports that she has been hacked and the hacker is Filipino. They are a syndicate working on innocent seniors and hoping they can extract huge sums of money.

My friend Manny says this: “Hey guys, please know I’m swimming in money here where I live and I do not need to borrow money from anyone!”

Everyone, please know that we are not safe on Facebook, nay, anywhere. These are hard times. Hackers and scammers are lurking all around us and waiting for an opportunity to steal from us and our friends by instantly stealing our identity. Nothing is sacred, nothing is safe anymore. Be very careful.

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Sylvia Europa Pinca, 69, is former president of Europa Public Relations. She writes for various publications.