identity theft

There's A TON to be said about being anonymous and not having everyone in your business (somehow I thought I wanted more people in my business and knowing ALL about me when I started this blog and got so involved on Facebook)--BUT I AM A NEW WOMAN NOW -- you may have to actually subscribe or ask my permission to read this blog from now on (as if you really care)!!

You see.....last week my hotmail and facebook accounts were high-jacked and this person was impersonating me and trying to get my friends to give money.

It was so annoying all the forms and back & forth I had to go thru VIA EMAIL (b/c of course they don't want you calling them to complain...who really wants to talk to a REAL LIVE PERSON THESE DAYS!?!?!) to get these accounts disabled or BACK to me as the rightful owner. Hotmail is not resolved and I will no longer be one of their customers. Facebook was actually VERY easy to work with and they got it settled fairly quickly. But I also had to go around and change my password on LOTS of various accounts (like Netflix and amazon.com) so this scammer didn't try to take over those accounts and STEAL real stuff from me!

I am now super paranoid about what ppl know about me and this blog is probably not such a smart idea if someone can steal my identity....but here's where being a not-so-popular blogger comes in handy, b/c nobody is reading this to want to steal my identity....right?!?!? or at least that's what I want to believe....

OH, big advice, DON'T USE YOUR BEST FRIEND'S NAME AS YOUR PASSWORD ON EVERY SITE YOU ARE A MEMBER -- don't use your graduation year, don't use your birth year, don't use your spouse's name, don't use your high school or college, don't use ANY friend on FB's name, hmmmm...i'm sure I have many more DON'T USE advice! of course, you all knew this, but I was wearing my rose-colored glasses and thought nobody would have a need to hack into my accounts, or nobody would be that MEAN! Well, trick me once, shame on you, trick me twice and shame on me!!