Being careful in cyberspace

I did something stupid a few weeks ago. I replied to an email request for an update of my credit card information from a company with which I subscribe for computer virus protection. Maybe it was even a legitimate request. But I shouldn’t have done it and now I will worry forever to see if I really screwed up. Was it really from McAfee or was it a scam?

I am normally very cautious about this stuff. I don’t know what I was thinking. I regretted it as soon as I hit the ‘send’ button.

A few days ago my cable/internet provider company sent an email saying they had been informed that someone was sending a similar message, posing as their legitimate business, ‘phishing’ for credit card information too. They were warning people not to respond and assuring their customers that they would never send such a message.

I’m doomed.

I already was notified by ChoicePoint that I was one of the customers ‘compromised’ last fall in their data theft. Now this.

So yesterday, one of our credit cards was ‘denied’ at the gas station. I thought for sure this was the sign that the number had been stolen. I called the credit card company frantically as soon as I got home, and – after countless aggravating attempts to get to a real person to talk to – found that there was no ‘caution’ attached to the account at all. They had received the most recent payment, all was clear on the account… nothing wrong at all. Hmmmmm. They thought maybe it was just a glitch in the processing system.

Not very inspiring. I’m still worried.