Knock Knock! Who’s There?

We’ve all had that sinking feeling, a feeling you have when everything around you is perfect or at least close to perfect yet, something within you is amiss!!

So off course after few sessions of telling really close family members how I’m feeling and how I wanted to feel better, I woke up to a nice bright and happy day.

With my re-stirred optimism I was ready to take on any storm headed my way, I even managed to convince my 4yr old to happily get to school because he had 2 days of holiday ahead of him.

And then just like in the movies, there is this incident that makes you take guard for a while, makes you wonder about everything, everything including your digital safety.

I get a phone call from someone claiming to be from one of the most used and loved shopping app, telling me I was one of their lucky winners however I could claim my price only after I shopped again for a certain amount. Now coming from a  customer service industry, I probed further for his employee id and wanted to know what my previous order was he said the details would be given to me once my order was placed today.

The instinct in me which since the last 4 years is on a forever high alert, I immediately called the online shopping portal and wasn’t surprised to know that all this was a spam!!The shopping portal representative further asked me to complain to the police in case the calls become persistent. I was though surprised to know that the shopping portal had no remorse over someone impersonating them.

I’m however disheartened, nah not because I’m not a lucky draw winner, I win bigger battles in my daily hustle bustle!!

I feel downcast because there is no assurance of my safety neither in the real world nor in  the digital world.

The guy who called me had my name and my number, he knew the city I lived in and I hadn’t shared these details with him and no one in my immediate family or friends had either!!

This, yes was just another spam call, but it defused my faith in technology! A technology that’s meant to enhance our lives, is slowly on its way to gobble us down.

And no matter how cliche this sounds, but just the way a popular TV show anchor says, Be safe, Be aware!!

Sometimes too much information shared could be an invitation to an already waiting irritant, ready to pounce on any given opportunity!!

Social media security is a habit you need to practice and also make your kids wary of it. There will always be a pool of choices to lure you with, however with the ongoing incidents of cyber crime and invasion of privacy, it’s best to be cautious and careful!!