Technology is great until someone hacks your debit card

I recently got to celebrate both the good and the evil of modern technology. Since the advent of Uber, getting anywhere is as easy as touching the app button, right? That also makes it simple for evil hackers to get a hold of your debit/credit card numbers.

This became glaringly and woefully apparent last week when I got a call from my bank informing me that someone had taken a two hour, $431 joyride through Singapore, on my dime, well on my debit card. Maybe this has never happened to you before but I remember before it happened to me thinking, "so big deal, I'm not responsible for any charges on my credit card but I didn't really make!"

But then I realized there's actually more to the whole thing than I thought. When I first heard that my debit card numbers had been stolen, I figured I'd get a new debit card and that would be it. My bank would understand. But then I realized. the far-reaching consequences of what had happened.

First of all, the emails and phone calls started coming from people who had my debit card number as a means of paying for my automatic monthlies. So now I have my kid's music school, the gym, and Netflix, just to name a few, very pissed at me. And then there's the aspect of actually not owning a debit card since you had to cut up the other one while you waited for the new want to come.

I use my debit card 20 times a day. In fact I don't ever carry cash. Well almost never. And as I sit here writing this, waiting in a line at a drive-through Starbucks, I'm realizing that without my debit card, I don't know how I'm going to pay for this.

So right now, AS I WRITE THIS, I'm in that uncomfortable limbo where you've ordered something, and you're not sure how you're going to pay for it.

OK whew. I had a couple dollars on a Starbucks gift card I had stored in my Apple Wallet in my phone. Ain't technology grand? Judging by the receipt Uber sent me detailing the route, someone took the scenic route!

I hear Singapore is very nice this time of year.

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