Powerless In Less Than A Week

What would you do if one day you woke up and realized you no longer had access to your bank account, Facebook, emails, iCloud account, absolutely nothing? Would you just ignore it because you don't think it's real or would you have a complete freak out moment and start taking action?

Well just so you get a better idea of how someone feels about this, keep scrolling.

In the past week I have endured all of these terrifying moments. I have had someone completely take over my life and has made me completely powerless. If none of you have ever known what it's like to feel completely powerless then let me fill ya in. It's the definition of hell. Knowing that no matter how hard you try or who you call to help does absolutely nothing and just makes you even more frustrated, scared and anxious. And it actually makes it worse. This person behind the computer screen has continually been one step ahead of me.

I have spent more time changing passwords and making sure every online account I have is as secure as humanly possible. I have barely slept due to the fact that I have nightmares that I am going to wake up one day and my life, my identity, will be completely taken and there will be nothing I can do about it. Every social media account or email account I log on to I find myself holding my breath because I'm frightened that I will have an email or an notification telling me there has been "suspicious activity" or "a recent password change".

This person has taken over my Facebook, they have/are messaging my friends and family and stating details know about me or a memory/experience to gain my friend's and family's trust. They are liking statuses and photos on my news feed, they are asking for phone numbers. I created a new account in hopes to bring awareness to my friends and family that that person is not me and to be cautious but within eight hours of my new account, the hacked account reported "Impersonation" to Facebook and I have been 86'd from Facebook all together.

I have been forced to change my email and password to my iCloud account only to find out that they had changed the answers to all of my security questions and my birthday was changed.

I have been forced to freeze my checking/savings/credit card accounts because there was suspicious activity that resulted in filing for credit card fraud.

I have been forced to change my email passwords more times than I can count because after successfully changing my password, it would be changed again minutes later.

The list goes on...

I am now at the point where school and work have taken a back seat. I am in my final two months before graduation, the sun is out every day and I should be enjoying my final days of my college career. Instead I am spending all of my time trying to protect my identity from someone who seems to have way too much time on their hands.

I like to think I am a very trusting person. I like to think that I am a good person. Maybe this is karma coming back to bite me in the ass but all I know is that I have become a paranoid and non-trusting person. I have become that crazy, paranoid person that everyone thinks their weird because they take way too many precautions for a social media or email account.

My rebuttal: until it happens to you, you will never be able to understand how vital it is to protect yourself from the internet.

#identity #theft #fraud #facebook #emails #passwords #checking #savings #creditcard #accounts #identitytheft #paranoid #terrifying #frightenend