It is morning. The morning after I was almost scammed but escaped by the skin of my teeth. How did it happen? A phone call. Repeated phone calls. From a man named Jacob who insisted his company owed me a refund of $249 for a defunct software I had purchased some time back. I had hung up on him many times and then yesterday I listened, and sure enough, when I looked, I had the software icon on my desktop. So, that was my first big mistake. I thought, well, maybe it is legit. So, from there I was led down a primrose path to disaster--or it would have been disaster if I had not realized that he said he had deposited $1000 in my bank and I must now go to Western Union and refund to him the difference between $249 and $1000. I called my bank and asked them to check my account and was informed that indeed he had put $1000 in my checking, but it was from my own savings account. YIKES. The credit union put a block on the account and advised us to go immediately and they would open us new accounts for both checking and savings, and new cards. That took us a good two hours of our afternoon--but fortunately nothing was lost except the chance he may have obtained too much personal information. So, we also signed up for a program called Defender, against fraud and ID theft, which covers our computer and cell phone as well.
What could have been a horrible disaster was stopped from such by the good care given us by our credit union, and so all that is left is remorse and embarrassment for not having heeded my husband's "hang up" when the call came in. It is a weird thing for me to have done because always my utmost desire is to be in harmony with my husband. He was pretty upset but has forgiven me and I have learned a great lesson--just 'do it' when he says "hang up" again. Yes, the guy did tell me in his last desperate call that my computer would be compromised and that he was going to be fired for my not returning the money. I yelled at him, "You are a scammer! You didn't deposit any money in my account, you only moved my savings money to my checking hoping I would not notice it was mine--and..." My husband said, "Hang UP" and I did! So, when I turned my computer back on indeed it was compromised. It didn't boot up properly and had to go through a repair process that took quite awhile. However, when it did come back up, it was fine. I downloaded my virus scan program again, and it seems to be functioning alright.
So much for a stupid day's work with a miraculously good outcome in spite of everything wrong I did. Now the lesson I learned is to not listen to them when they call--just "hang up". And I swear that is my future from here on out.
Next interesting thing that happened out of this was that when we were visiting with the fellow at the Credit Union, it turned out he had served an LDS Mission in Omaha, Nebraska in 2009. That was the year the Joseph Smith Sr., Family had planted Lilac bushes at the Council Bluffs Visitor Center. And this young man was one of the missionaries who had done the planting work for us that day. Small world? Coincidence? Really, what a nice thing to come out of a horrid situation--to meet this young man again and renew our acquaintance after so many years.
With that all behind us, I'm ready now to look forward to a wonderful weekend. Elder Bednar and his wife are coming to our St. George East Stake Conference. We're excited to see them and hear the good counsel from a modern day apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Next thing we have to get ready for is my left eye cataract surgery next Tuesday. Then we go for skin checks at the cancer clinic to see if we have any problem spots. Then we get ready to go to Spring Creek Nevada to speak at a special program on the importance of family history and descendancy research. We'll share our stories of research, visiting cousins across the USA and the world, and the blessings that come to a family through keeping in touch and building family bonds of love and respect.
I can see pretty well today with my right eye. It is fun to see how white things are so white when I look through that eye, and how creamy yellow they are when I look through the left. Ah, next week, I will have both cataract removals behind me and we'll see how it all comes out.
I'm very blessed after all.
