phishing

graffiti spotted on a wall in paris i forget where


no
 its not a typo
 you know what phishing is?

 its a nasty game
 played by thieves
 trying to get real info from you
 specifically 
credit card or bank info

 this past december
 i was gracious enough to purchase two flatscreen televisions for perfect strangers
 that was not phishing
 that was credit card theft

 american express
 cancelled my card
 issued me a new one
 and
 i am going to assume
 no one was caught or sent to jail
 the names and i assume the addresses phone numbers involved were fake

 well 
imagine my susprise
 on a quiet thursday afternoon at the office
 when an email arrived
 from american airlines 
confirming two tickets from columbia to las vegas round trip

 yes 
once again
 i am being generous to strangers

 i freaked out
 really i did
 first
 i was panicked
 thinking
 my personal card was compromised
then
 i realized
 my personal cards
 are not associated with my business email

i called our corporate travel guy
 gave him all the info
 and 
he contacted american airlines

 he called me back to tell me 
that 
when he called american
 asking to verify ticket information
 the first thing
 the american rep said was
 let me guess, its for tickets from columbia to las vegas

he said
 how did you know that

she said
there is a big phishing trip happening today
 we've been getting calls about this all day

 i was asked to forward the email to an american airlines email address
 and 
while i was writing this post
 i got a reply
 thanking me 
and 
reminding me
 never 
to 
click links on/in suspicious emails 

and
 i am reminding you
never
ever
click a link
call the airline
call the store
call
do not
click


 this boat 
wasnt 
fishing
 in the seine 
but 
i thought it was sort of apropos