Con artists, thieves and ne'er-do-wells

Not long after eight o'clock this morning the phone rang, splitting the quiet like a dull knife. I raced to pick up a phone and was greeted by an extremely uptight woman's voice asking for me. I asked her who she was with and she responded with a lengthy title which included the phrase "fraud department" from my bank!

Thus began a twenty-five minute conversation verifying my last purchases with my bankcard.

Read: MY last purchases!

Apparently, somehow, inextricably, my card number had found it's way into the hands of some SOB who thought shopping online for whatever they wanted using someone else's cash was a sporting event - and they were off and running.

Whatever sleep fog I had remaining in my brain was rudely shaken out and replaced by anger, fear, incredulousness....and more anger. How? Why?

How?!?

This is something that happens to people every day, all over the world, so I am not surprised. I am, however, shocked and fearful. I am wounded and terrified but not surprised...just incredibly angry that it happened to me!

I have already spoken to the boys about curtailing any internet purchases for the future, and to diligently check their statements every month for activity they cannot verify and claim as their own.

My only satisfaction today is in knowing that somewhere some bastard wasn't able to buy his ticket to the United Emirates using my money.

Sadly, this also makes the point that I don't have the sort of money it would take to buy an airline ticket to any destination, let alone the UE.

The bastards.