Don't Be Stupid

I’m putting this out there because after I watched a segment on the Today Show about falling victim to bank account hackers I would bet with the info revealed, there are probably some people out there who may easily succumb to these thieves. I think most of us would NOT fall prey to many of their tactics because I THINK we all know:

• You don’t click on a link from a text or an email
• You don’t fall for those hoax phone calls where the message left is doom and gloom and your life is about to end as you know it
• You don’t give information like account numbers or SSN or your Apple ID to people over the phone.

But here’s the thing: The segment I watched was with Andy Cohen (yes, the dude from Bravo) who was a victim recently. I would have imagined that he’d be totally hip to this shit. But he wasn’t. He fell prey. And the worst thing I heard he fell for was the hacker coached him to change certain settings on his iPhone. These setting changed allowed his calls to be forwarded to her (and her lackeys). Later, when he realized that something felt fishy and he called his bank and asked for a call back, all return phone calls were forwarded to the thieves. By the time he went in person to his bank, the next day, it was too late and the money in his account had been wired elsewhere and the account had been closed. He didn’t say a dollar amount but it was enough, he said, that he was on the Today Show to warn others. Ugh! My worst nightmare.

The moral of the story: A) Don’t click a link if you get one via email or phone. B) If you get a weird email you aren’t sure about, call your bank or the company you’ve heard from directly and find out what’s what with them and C) NEVER follow directions to input info into your phone which could potentially change your settings. These damn hackers and thieves are getting too savvy! 

In other news, Mom news, there isn't much new. She's still not really eating and until that gets remedied, I don't know how they'll be able to release her. There is a place that says they'll take her but they don't have a bed. Why are we even discussing this when she won't eat? Things are still so up in the air and there doesn't seem an end or even a possible solution in play. Well, the solution, I think, is going to be long-term care in a facility that can deal with memory care. I feel so bad for Maggie who is shouldering almost all of this. I wish I could be there to help. 

Not much is happening at school, just getting back into the swing of things and trying to get ahead of the game. I did finish the IEPs I have over the next two weeks and sent drafts off so that's good. I'm getting a lot of future work complete for ELA and Government which makes things less stressful. I do have a stupid staff meeting at the end of the day today. I'm sure it will be a waste of time and something that could have been done in an email but alas, my principal likes to have the chance to prattle on about nothing at every opportunity. 

Dinner tonight will be "grilled" Thai pork chops with broccoli and rice. Nothing too exciting but easy and yummy. The "grilled" is because I won't use my actual grill but rather the grill setting on my Ninja. 

Jim's final appointment with Dr. Locher is this morning. Fingers crossed all goes well and he won't ever have to see him again! Not that I don't like the doc but you know...I'd prefer Jim not be cut open again. 

I have my appointment set with the financial dude for Monday. Hopefully he can help me, give me good advice/investments. We'll see. 

K - that's all I've got. So excited that tomorrow is Friday! Not that it's been a long week at school but I've been on the wagon and I really look forward to a nice glass of wine on Friday night. 

Happy Thursday peeps. Later!