I spent Thursday evening and Friday morning in a frenzied state because my online banking account showed two Amazon Marketplace purchases that I did not make. I discovered this crime at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and shut my card down online, until I would be able to talk with my bank and obtain a new debit card the next day. I felt good knowing that whatever organized crime group that was using my Amazon account to order their crap had been effectively foiled.
I have had to replace my debit card two times in the past six months due to unauthorized charges. I am thankful that the fraudulent charges were found, but the process of obtaining a new debit card and changing all my online account payment information for monthly bills is a process. When my bank opened the next day, I went in and filled out a claim dispute for the two $41.00 charges, obtained a new debit card, and engaged in a lively conversation with the banking official about how crappy online thieves were and how the hell do elderly people, like those twenty years older than myself, keep track of all this crap. To add an even more diabolical layer of protection to my online finances, I changed my 4-digit pin from one that I had used for over twenty years.
After my trip to the bank, I went to work changing my online passwords and updating the online bill pay accounts I utilize. I subsequently locked myself out of my Google account, both on the computer and on my phone. I had to involve IT to issue me a new Google email password since Google will lock you out of your account after one thousand failed attempts with your new sneaky password. Even without email, I still felt better knowing my bank account was super safe.
After all this inconvenience and drama, I then discovered that the two charges I was disputing and had closed my debit card over, were legitimate charges. I needed two new pairs of shorts and a cooling device for an upcoming trip. Amazon had broken down my order into two shipments and had billed the shipments separately, thus I did not recognize the charge amounts and hit the account separately and my Amazon account just showed the full price, not the individual package price. Despite my embarrassment and desire to just go about my business, I decided to steal from Amazon, or my bank was not cool and besides, I would not do well in jail. I called my bank to let them know I made a mistake and I needed to cancel the disputes I had filed earlier that day. The banking staff were gracious and when asked if I needed anything else, I let them know that I had done enough for one day.
I now have a dining room table full of sticky notes with all my sneaky new scribbled passwords and I really do not know if the pugs will ever receive another shipment of chow from my online Chewy account, or if my Amazon music account will be shutting down at the next payment cycle. How do people manage all these online transactions, pins, accounts and monitor online transactions as they age? According to the bank staff who was assisting me yesterday, “this kind of thing happens all the time with elderly people.” Prior to knowing that I was 100% the cause of her wasting her time that morning and me spending the next 48 hours attempting to fix what was not broken I laughed, and we both talked about how nice it was that the banking staff was so patient with these confused elderly people. Hi! I am one of these confused elderly people. I am 56-years old and think of myself as competent when it comes to technology. I may be a bit too competent as I am quick to shut things down and scramble to think of and activate mysterious fifteen letter passwords that I have no chance of remembering, thus ensuring the cycle of password changing continues ad nauseum. Welcome to the golden years. #jesustakethedebitcard
