Providence jumped on a website where two hundred and fifty thousand Virginia boater registration numbers were stored. After paying the fee, she did a wildcard search, plugging in suspected letters and numbers she’d written down. The system found thousands of possible matches. By filtering out motorboats, boats no longer in service, boats registered in southern Virginia, and sailboats over thirty-five feet, she was able to narrow down the number of possibilities to three hundred and thirty-seven.
I can work with that.
Her phone pinged with a text from her bank.
“Withdrawal for your mortgage payment failed due to insufficient funds. Please contact your local branch for details.”
Thinking it must be a mistake, she hopped online and logged in to her account. But she was denied access. She retyped her login and password. Again, she was told one or both were incorrect.What’s going on with this?
After resetting her password, she was able to access her bank account and clicked over to her account balance. “Oh, my God, no. No way.”
Her account balance was $0.
Dread sent her pulse soaring.That can’t be right.She had over fifteen thousand dollars in that account.
Tap-tap-tap.“Provi, can we come in?” Sammy asked through the closed door.
“Sure, come on in,” she said, forcing down her growing concern.
Sammy walked in, Miranda close on her heels with a tray of food. “We made you a love lunch,” said the child.
How thoughtful.The tightness in her guts released a little. “Thank you both so much.”
“Do you want us to stay with you, so you don’t have to eat by yourself?” Sammy asked.
A tear slipped down her cheek. “I would love the company.”
“Why are you sad?”
I just lost my entire savings.“These are happy tears because you’re so nice.” Though her guts were in knots, she ate the chicken sandwich and a few slices of apple. Sammy chatted away and Providence did her best to pay attention. When she’d eaten as much as she could stomach, she thanked them again. “I have to run out, but I’ll be back in time to make dinner.”
By the time Providence pulled into the parking lot of her local bank, her nerves were so shot, she wanted to throw up.
The bank manager welcomed her into her office. “What can I help you with today?”
“I got an email that there were insufficient funds in my account to auto pay my mortgage. I was locked out of the account, so I changed the password and got back in. The balance says zero, but that’s not right.”
“Let’s take a look.” The manager logged in. “Unfortunately, that’s correct. You have a zero balance.”
“But I’ve got over fifteen thousand in that account. Where’s my money?”
The manager turned back to the screen and began clicking away. Providence sat there, her foot bouncing up and down, while her head pounded and her stomach ached.
“It was withdrawn a couple of days ago and wire transferred to a different account.”
It felt like someone punched Providence in the diaphragm. “Someone hacked into my account and wiped me out?”
“I’m so sorry.”
Sorry? I want my money back!“Can you give me the account number where the money went?”
The manager did, then told Providence she needed to file a bank claim and a police report.
“How long will it take to resolve this?” Providence held her breath.
“The shortest I’ve seen is three months.” The manager pursed her lips.
“And the longest?”
