Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
People all over the world have been affected by the horrors of cyber crime. It’s a term that covers a broad scope of criminal activity using a computer. It includes identity theft, financial fraud, identity defacement and cyber-bullying. It can also involve the hacking of someone’s account and money scams.
Unfortunately, I encountered all of these crimes at one go by an unidentified criminal or ‘an organised gang’ as it liked to call itself.
It started off a few years ago when a couple of my old email accounts were hacked. In them were a lot of my personal details, contacts, pictures, financial details and so forth. Basically, information that any normal account used over time would include. Never did I suspect that it would be hacked. However, when it happened I found myself locked out of them.
I didn’t give it a second thought as I had another more recent account which still had all my details and to be safe, I secured myself from any further threats by creating a new password.
Several months passed by and everything seemed fine, or so I thought. Little did I know that the hacker would come back to haunt me with a vengeance.
It started when I received a rather bizarre friend request on Twitter. I didn’t accept it as it appeared strange. Then I started to receive nasty text messages. I ignored them at first thinking someone had just messaged a wrong number … but it didn’t stop.
Things went from bad to worse when I received further texts on a work number too. I started to receive death threats stating that I would be run off the road on my way home, or near my office, and emails at work accusing me of unspeakable things, as well as demanding money.
I was being targeted by a texter who claimed to be part of a group and that I had to pay for the threats to stop.
I was baffled and so was my husband who was extremely worried about me. We couldn’t figure out what was happening. But after some time we started to assume that this was all connected somehow to the past. Please bear with me, as it may get confusing. It seems that the past hacker who had stolen my personal images and information had stolen more than that ... this person also stole my identity.
This imposter used my name and photos to scam people for money and cheat people in return for promises of vulgar acts. The perpetrator would email other victims as me and book dates in locations I would normally go to for work.
What’s more revolting is that this hacker would send explicit images to people claiming it was me when it was obviously not. Now what were these victims meant to think? When they were cheated they targeted me, assuming I had been behind the whole scam.
Then I received a barrage of raging insults and further threats. I even received texts asking me for BD5,000 in return for ‘my freedom’.
My husband advised me to change my phone numbers immediately and to alert the authorities. The same day I changed my numbers, my work colleagues began to receive emails.
The emails and texts said I was being followed and would state where I was on many occasions.
I now had to be accompanied by work colleagues to and from my car. When out walking I always had someone on the phone with me wherever I went. My husband Sam would stake out my office and follow me around to make sure I was safe. I realised it wasn’t a hoax when I received a photo of my car and my license plate number on my work email account which proved I was being followed.
Things did get scary but I wasn’t going to stop living. Then the fake accounts on social networks appeared from angry individuals who believed I had cheated them. Fake accounts that used my stolen personal images and phony explicit pictures began to pop up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Friend requests were sent to my family members and friends and anyone who was on my contact list.
To make matters worse, the bullies started applying for jobs on LinkedIn and on other websites using my name and a stolen resume. Anytime I changed a profile picture or name on my accounts, they would copy me and confuse people.
Truth be told, at first I wanted to keep things quiet and protect my family and friends but I knew in my heart that I had to speak up.
But before I started saying anything, my family, friends and business contacts began to realise that there were fake Mai accounts using my name or that of my husband. They knew it wasn’t me when the person used unreadable English.
Everyone I knew reported the accounts on the social sites and all cooperated except for Facebook which took a lot of convincing … and still did nothing.
The accounts featured nasty rumours, links with viruses and scams. My husband attempted to open a link using his smartphone and it crashed his phone.
These cyber-criminals started advertising me for sale to men and women and some people even contacted my office thinking I had created them.
This was every girl’s nightmare. Try working while receiving constant calls or emails from people asking for you when you have no idea what and why it is happening.
The only thing we could do was inform our contacts online of the problems I was facing and keep the authorities informed throughout the ordeal.
Now I am sharing my story with you. I am not looking for sympathy but would urge other women and men to take steps to protect themselves. I would hate to see this happen to anybody else, knowing that my warning could have prevented it.
Please be safe and secure. Do not accept links or friends you do not know and do not share your information with anyone. Destroy all unused email accounts. Anything can be faked and doctored in this day and age. And, beware the fake Mai online as this group is still at large. If you aren’t sure, then contact me personally at GulfWeekly.
