IF YOU BUY ONLINE...
Ya just might wanna check your BANK ACCOUNT...

They're pretty devious, these internet entities that somehow weasel their way around the web and come away with your credit card numbers so they can BILL you, Yes, YOU, for FALSE charges. I checked my bank account online Sunday Evening, and saw a $17.95 charge from something called "24-hour Protect Plus", and I know for a FACT I've never heard of that firm. I "Googled" it, and found that many others besides me have been billed by 'Protect Plus' for something they didn't pay for. In one website, I found that "24-hour Protect Plus" had obtained its information, fraudently, no doubt, through Paypal, which I use when I buy stuff from Ebay. Paypal can be used to buy from a whole lotta different sites; you can send money thru it; it's sorta like a "Cyber Western Union" in that regard.

We all pay a price for convenience, though, don't we? In this case, the price is INCONVENIENCE. Not only did I have to call my bank's "800" number and inform them about these fraudulent charges from someone or something I've never heard of; I also, being the ultra-paranoid debit-card user, also asked the bank to VOID my existing card immediately and send me another one, which will take a week, maybe more. If I wanna draw out money between now and then, I've actually got to drive several miles to the BANK and do it the old-fashioned way. Plus, when my new card gets here, I've gotta go back to the bank, so they can ACTIVATE IT. Finally, I've then gotta go back into the Paypal system, take out all my old bank card numbers, and put the new numbers in. But I'll tell ya, I'm thinking seriously about not using Paypal anymore. It's truly a case having to resort back to the Old Ways that things were done, because if you buy anything online, you'll get HACKED. Are you paranoid yet? If not, you should be...they don't have to rifle thru your garbage anymore; they can just sit at their own little menacing hacker-laptops and steal yer vital data that way.

If all I had checked online was my bank balance, I would've missed this fraudulent charge. But, I also checked my "credit card authorizations", which are NOT listed along with the balance; it's up above, and doesn't drop down to the 'balance' section until the transaction finally goes through. This is a SERIOUS HEADS-UP to all of you who buy online. And take it from me, I'm NEVER serious in this blog. BUT I AM NOW! And keep checking your accounts faithfully. This is the THIRD time this has happened to me in 5 years. And if someone can hack into your private information, how many more people will get YOUR information from that 'someone'?

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"Blogger.com", the site that administers this Blog, invited me to "update" my blog. I did, selecting the same lighthouse motif. In the process, I lost all my fun & games stuff...but I've replaced those with some other fun stuff...also, the 'New' Blogger enables me to post links without using clumsy Java Code. So, there's more links up there. And, I've still got the (newly customized) George W. Bush Prezzidential Countdown Clock, up above. Cool, huh?