Don't update your phone

 

Okay, I do believe I’m done with technology. The other day, my phone told me it needed to update. Fine, whatever, I hit the button and ignore the thing for a few hours. The next day, I try to make a purchase and my credit card is declined. Uhm, what? Did I, horror of horrors, forget to make a payment? Yikes! As quick as I can, I log onto my account trying to figure out the problem. No red flags, no notices in the message box and my balance is actually a negative. Oh my, I paid the bill twice?! Talk about being on top of things. Thus, I try to make the purchase again and it’s declined a second time. No biggie, it’s nothing urgent. Rather obvious the problem is the merchant – not me or my card. A few hours later, I’m trying to make another purchase with a different company. Yup, you guessed it my card is declined. Ugh, I’m going to have to call my credit card company and figure out what the heck is going on. Once I get a person (you know after 20 different answers to irrelevant questions with the robot first), I explain my problem. She then asks me if I updated my phone. Stumped as to what this had to do with the price of donuts, I said something snarky as to why this was any of her business. She then goes on to tell me some rambling story about hackers, fake updates and credit fraud. And the upshot of it was to stop having my credit card on the wallet app or any other app on my phone. Oh my. Then how am I going to pay for my Starbucks fix? Or all my groceries with Walmart and Publix? But beyond that – why was my credit card blocked? And why was there no notice of this sent to me or on my account when I logged in? Simple answer was the update looked suspicious and my only phone number is my cell phone which looked compromised. But how in the world am I supposed to know if an update is an update and not some hacker? And speaking of hackers – how did my credit card company know so much about what I do with my phone? Yup, I’m out – do believe I will never update my phone again. Don’t ask me how I’m going to survive without the wonderful world of apps for everything. Don’t know if I should even answer the phone anymore. Goodbye world, I’m going to go live in a cave somewhere without electricity…