It Starts Out with an Email to Renew Services You Don't Have

Last Friday was one of the worst days of my life. I received an email from someone claiming to work for Norton LifeLock. The email, copied below, claims that I use their services and need to renew for one year. The amount billed was for $370.40, which should have been a red flag. Still, I am a trusting person and when I called to question the billing that was on my credit card, I received a plausible explanation.

I spoke at length to the agent and asked for my account to be credited. It took awhile but at the end it seemed like that would happen. However, the agent then told me they needed my bank information to put through the credit. Mistake #2. They started by saying a needed to credit myself for $100 -- I can't remember why. I typed it out but it came up as $1,000. They then said I needed to return to the $9, 630.60 ($10,000-370.40). They said I needed to go to my bank and withdraw $9,630.60 in cash and send them a wire transfer of that amount, I guess through Western Union. It was going to a place in Thailand, Mistake #3. That was the fatal flaw. I finally woke up and accused them of fraud. What they did to make a convincing case was to actually credit $10,000 into one of my bank accounts, which made it appear what they said was truthful. What I didn't know is they had taken the $10,000 out of one of my other accounts at the same bank and transferred it into the account in question. I discovered this negating transaction after the conversation was over.

I went to my bank and discussed the fraud. I was told to put a hard freeze on all my accounts, close them out, and replace them with new accounts, a process that could take up to two weeks to complete. I did this. As you might imagine, by the time I had executed the bank process to prevent any additional fraud action, I was sick to my stomach. I didn't sleep at all that night.

I reflected on why I let this happen. I'm a reasonably intelligent person. My Achilles Heal is I tend to believe in the goodness of people. This experience taught me otherwise. Will it make me jaded in my views? Certainly, I'll be doubly cautious. I should have followed the tried and true audit procedure of trust but verify.

<sup>NortonLifeLock                                                                           Transaction No #EMR-90260        Renewal Successful. This charge will appear as "NLT" on your Bank/Credit Statement.Date of                                                                   Renewal: April 16 2021.

             DescriptionQuantityUnit PriceTotalLifeLock™ with Smart Gadget, Device Manager, and 20GB Cloud Backup</sup>

^{(1 Year Subscription)$370.40                   Sub Total$370.40      Sales tax$0.00     Billed Amount$370.40   If you need assistance with this Renewal, Contact: 1-800-659-2619 (Billing).
            Thank you for your Business.                         320 South Dr. California - 94043, USA}   

I hope my blog helps others with similar problems. I have a new appreciation for all victims of fraud and what they go through, especially to right the wrong.

Posted by Dr. Steven Mintz, The Ethics Sage, on April 19, 2021. You can sign up for his newsletter and learn more about his activities at: https://www.stevenmintzethics.com/. Follow him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/StevenMintzEthics and on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ethicssage.