Recently I had the fun experience of almost being conned.
Which was unnerving…
But it made me realise a few things.
Let me explain what happened…
I’m based in a co-working café in Shoreditch and a couple of weeks ago a new guy came in.
I could see he was grabbing a desk close to mine…
And a few minutes later he struck up a conversation.
He told me about his successful businesses in America…
His interest in maths and group theory…
And how he was launching a new crypto venture in the UK.
I could feel my body language open up the more he spoke.
He was very charming…
And he was interested in my life too.
Like where I was brought up and what my business was all about.
So I shared a few things with him.
He suggested I download Whatsapp on my laptop…
So he could send me some more info about his business.
I couldn’t really be bothered at first but he told me why it was a good idea...
So I relented. And he sent me a few pdfs.
We continued chatting for a while.
It was like catching up with a long lost friend.
Before I knew it a couple of hours had disappeared.
And the guy excused himself and said he would be back later that afternoon.
I turned back to my laptop…
But there was a niggle inside me. Something didn’t feel right.
And that’s when it dawned on me exactly what I’d told this stranger.
My phone number, email address, primary school name, secondary school name and LinkedIn details…
In other words…
The answers to security questions I use to manage my online accounts.
He’d also convinced me to install Whatsapp on my laptop and sent me a load of files.
And I hadn’t realised what was happening.
Suddenly I could feel my heart starting to pound against my chest.
My breath shortening…
My mind racing, replaying the conversation over and over in my head.
What else had I told him?
There was no doubt in my mind what he was up to.
Might this guy try to hack my email…
Send me a virus…
Open up a fake bank account in my name…
Or steal my identity completely?
I could feel myself cringing with embarrassment.
I’d been completely blindsided and I knew I’d let my guard down.
But I sprung into action straight away.
I blocked the guy on Whatsapp and uninstalled it from my laptop…
Changed my email passwords…
And called up my bank to add extra security to my account.
My mind was still playing everything over…
It was an uncomfortable experience…
But I knew I’d done all I could.
And thankfully nothing fishy has happened so far.
So why am I telling you this?
Well, there’s three takeaways…
The first is learning from your mistakes.
I goofed up pretty badly here…
But we’re all human and we all make errors of judgement.
The important thing is we learn from them.
I’ve now boned up on these types of scams and I’m much more alert to these things.
They’re everywhere and you’d be surprised at the lengths people will go to.
The second takeaway is about listening to your body.
That niggle I mentioned was a clue that something wasn’t right.
I think it’s important to recognise these feelings….
And then try to decipher what they’re telling you.
It reminds me a bit of my old job.
Even though it look me a lot longer to realise, I had that same nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
And the third takeaway is about taking action.
Once I realised what this guy was up to, I acted straight away.
This was fairly easy, as I knew what needed to be done.
But taking action is not always this easy…
In fact it can be downright difficult.
Like quitting a job of 13 years.
But unless you take action, you’ll never make the changes you want or need.
Something to bear in mind.
Hope you enjoyed this…
And got something out of it.
I’m going to wrap up.
Have a good Thursday.
- Tom
p.s. If you’re ready to get greater clarity on your situation, why not book a short call with me? The link is here. I’d love to chat.