Betrayal

Simulation 2025

It started with a text from Apple Support saying my account had been charged twice, giving the amounts and said if these were me, do nothing, if not, click this link or call this number. This was the kind of message I’d gotten before for credit cards. I hadn’t made those charges. I hesitated because I routinely delete texts claiming to be DMV or Paypal but this felt more serious, so I called. A man answered with “Apple Support”, and he told me I had been hacked, that I had already gotten many intruders on all of my devices and needed to go on my computer so we could stop this. He was very specific in his descriptions, so I logged on to my computer with 80% confidence he was who he said he was, 20% doubt. The things he asked me after logging in seemed innocuous, but after I’d allowed him access to my screen I asked, ‘I how do I know you are who you say you are’. He goes to the Apple site which looks exactly as it should, and puts up his Apple Support ID, then types a few things and I’m looking at an animated network map of the world which he says is showing where my hack originated and which other cities were already involved, little webs emanating from them, very official looking. He then shows me an increasing list of people that have and can use my data as I watch the list grow. By now I’m pretty freaked out at what this conjures in my head. He clicks something else that shows five different windows all with activity going on, lights flashing, grids shifting, and he says this is scanning, finding and blocking this activity on my devices. These displays looked so real, combined with the assurance that they would restore the firewalls, calmied my nerves. I felt grateful someone was helping me. He opened another window with a form to fill out for my refund. As I was filling in the amount it went to a new page with what I’d filled in but the wrong amount, way more than I filled in. I say let’s redo, since it wouldn’t let me correct it, but he’s acting very upset because it can’t be changed, it’s already in the bank’s hands. My confidence level dropped to 20% as I say how can that be possible, how could apple support have a system where you couldn’t check what you did before submitting? He agreed it was a flaw, but now I had to get the money back to them quickly because there would be a big fine for this mistake. To convince me, we went to my account where he showed me that the extra amount was there in the account. When I signed in, I was looking at my familiar on-line banking page and there was that large extra amount. I log out and we’re back to the scanning screens. My fear that all these intruders were finding things to do with my data was stronger than my doubts about “Apple Support”. I got as far as the bank to wire back the money. The heroes of the story are the two sharp bankers who recognized the pattern. When one of them told me everything they had said and done, I was stunned. As if in cosmic confirmation, he called my cell phone while I digested this in the office, and I let her answer the phone. Hearing the wrong voice he hung up. Though the red flags were there they came late, when I had already been primed to feel dependent on those that scared me about the hacks. Seeing is believing. The simulation of familiar websites and pages was too convincing. I offer this story in hopes others will be alert to how effectively what visually familiar can be mimicked.