THANK you for using your card,” the text message started, which was innocuous for me. But then it went “at SP FASHIONNOVA.com for ₱24729.63.”
It continued:
“If you do not recognize this transaction, inform us immediately so we can block and replace your card to prevent further unauthorized use. Text the keyword FRAUD<space>xxxxxxx and send it to zzzzzzzz.
“If you are out of the country, send your reply to FCD@nameofbank.com.ph using the exact keywords as your email subject. Please disregard this message if transaction is valid.”
FASHIONNOVA?
I clicked on the link. It was an online women’s fashion store. I have never ordered women’s fashion anywhere especially online, so unless Aqua, my only female fur baby, has access to my card and had put in an order, then this one was clearly fraudulent.
Aqua denied using my card.
Wow.
It seems someone out there somewhere has access to my credit card data and is splurging at my expense. Except that every purchase they’ve made I will challenge as I have no intention of bankrolling someone else’s shopping spree.
‘It seems someone out there somewhere has access to my credit card data and is splurging at my expense.’
For sure, this is happening to so many others not only in and around Metro Manila, but around the world and it brings to mind a documentary I saw on YouTube recently where an investigative reporter uncovered a network of call centers in India that was scamming westerners of their hard-earned money by posing tech support for Microsoft or some other reputable company.
In those scams, the victim is stupid enough to share her bank details with the scammer. In my case, my details may have been accessed due to a breach somewhere because, for the life of me, I have not given my details to anyone — except, say, to the Philippine Airlines website or the IHG or Marriot Hotel sites.
Or Pornhub.
Life has become so much more convenient with the rise of technology; when I was growing up, for example, you only had Monday to Friday to deal with a bank and secure your cash for the weekend because banks were closed by 5 p.m. on Fridays. And on workdays, you had to deal with bank tellers.
Today, you can avail of bank services 24/7 unless the network is down; you have other forms of payments like GCash and you can auto-debit payments for utilities and Pornhub. But all these require the sharing of confidential data and that’s where the risk lies. Because there have been breaches and there will always be breaches, which means that someone will get access to our confidential data.
And with such access whatever money or credit we have can easily be stolen and diverted for someone else’s benefit. And we will be left holding an empty bag with bills to pay.
But I am 101% certain. I haven’t ordered anything from FASHIONNOVA. And neither has Aqua. Apologies to my favorite bank but you’ll have to find someone else to pay for that purchase because I definitely won’t.
