In a recent opinion editorial, I recounted the frustrations of attempting to update personal information online or by phone after moving house. It was a Kafkaesque nightmare that involved corporations, banks, airlines, businesses, and more and it continues to plague me. But it doesn’t compare to what I went through shortly afterwards when I fell prey to serious cyberspace crime.
I’m pretty good at spotting scam emails and texts but I still got caught. Alarmed by what seemed like a legitimate PayPal warning that a large sum of money was being charged to my account, I fell for a message that could have destroyed me financially. It took a Herculean effort to ensure my financial safety and identity.
In time to avoid monetary loss, I closed bank and credit card accounts, including those I share with my husband, and opened new ones. I alerted Social Security to lock my number and notified three credit rating agencies to do the same so that no one could use my good rating to their own advantage. Then I closed my PayPal account and filed a report online with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and reported the fraud and identity theft to the State Police.
Next, I reported the fraud to banks and other relevant entities connected to my personal financial information so they could attach a “fraud alert” to my accounts in the event suspicious activity occurred. I also needed to share with creditors updated information they would need to know. Finally, I changed multiple passwords and usernames. The whole thing was exhausting and made harder by the dysfunctions of websites and the difficulty of talking with real people when I needed help. I share those details because they may be helpful to others who fall victim to cybercrime.
After telling my story to people I know, and many I don’t, I was staggered to realize the magnitude of cybercrime. Literally every person I talked to told me their personal fraud story or knew someone who had been a victim. They were mostly older women because we are vulnerable and personal information is easily accessible on the web, including our age group.
Some of these victims had lost huge amounts of money. In one case, a woman had been wiped clean. Many of them believed fraud messages ostensibly from Paypal or Amazon, two of the larger scam fronts used by cybercriminals adept at what they do.
That’s when I decided to write to my Congressional senators and representative because this level and severity of crime urgently needs to be addressed. I also encouraged anyone who is similarly victimized to call their members of Congress so that they begin to realize how widespread and devastating the situation is.
I also sat down to pen this piece, because cybercrime has become an epidemic of such huge proportion that its related stress is becoming a mental health issue. That is not hyperbole. Sleepless nights, depression, anxiety and excessive irritability are among its many symptoms as any victim can tell you.
That’s why Congress needs to take cybercrime seriously, put in place consumer protection legislation, and find ways to hold perpetrators accountable, even when they operate from other countries. Congress also must ensure that businesses are equipped to deal with the problems victims face, which brings me back to the issues I raised in my earlier piece.
Corporate America – from banks to businesses to airlines and phone companies, to name just a few – must invest in user-friendly websites that actually make it possible for customers to change their emails, login information, and passwords for a start. They must be made to provide telephone help from real people who actually understand the problems that arise so that they are equipped to shepherd people through overwhelming challenges. That requires a major investment in human resources, the least technology giants can do in facing up to cybercrime.
A 2020 report by the World Economic Forum offers clear steps that must be taken in order to combat cybercrime. First, the report says, “Countries must become more agile in updating or developing cybersecurity strategies, as well as legal and regulatory frameworks regarding cyberspace.” The report points out that this will require a multi-stakeholder approach because governments cannot do it alone; international cooperation is also critical since new and more dangerous cybercrime methods will proliferate over time, as they have done in recent years.
Clearly Congressional hearings are sorely needed, with testimony from the FTC and other governmental and non-governmental agencies conversant with the cybercrime epidemic, along with victims, who cannot continue to proliferate while disappearing into the sinkhole of financial and internet despair. As the World Economic Forum understands, “users should never be the last line of defense in cybersecurity. It is a shared responsibility.”
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Elayne Clift writes from Brattleboro, Vt.