PHISHING

Phishing on Digital Devices

 I remember the good ‘ol days when hucksters would call our ‘ol land line at home and attempt to talk you into buying something while initially offering something for free to get your attention.  I once got a call from Arthur Murray Dance studios announcing that I had won free dance lessons!  The caller had to put me on hold after I got very excided and then asked if his studio was handicap friendly?  His manager got on the line and profusely apologized for rescinding their free offer which left me devasted.  Another call from Omaha Meats offered big discounts on their meat.  I informed the caller that we had grown up in Kansas on healthy, lean buffalo meat and would be happy to purchase some.  He had to put me on hold and discuss with his manager only to return with the sad news that they couldn’t comply.

But today’s electronic devices and apps have pretty well eliminated the human element in place of unresponsive robo contact.  In the span of one week, I received a call on my iPhone that was flagged as “SPAM RISK”; received a voice mail on my land line that my vehicle warranty had expired; been notified on e-mail that my McAfee subscription had expired, so I needed to urgently respond; received wonderful news that I had won a Ninja Kitchen System from Lowe’s and a Dyson Vacuum from Home Depot and $100 Wal*Mart and $500 Costco gift cards, to name just a few of my many windfalls!  Vandals are copying profile photos on FaceBook and creating fake accounts to ask your friends to friend them.  If you have many friends, they may forget that they are already friends.  Your new friend may then ask for money for a good cause!

Social engineering has now been defined as manipulating people to give up confidential information.  Cybercrime is now just a click away.  This new ruse to gain access to your personal and financial information has been flagged as “phishing” and if it wasn’t profitable to dupe unsuspecting folks it would stop.  Or you could be asked to click on a link which leads to a sham website.  Malicious Trojan horses disguised as malware files may breach a computer to lock it up in exchange for Bit Coin ransom.  Phone calls or “Vishing” may ask you to purchase and provide the numbers of gift cards to rectify a bogus debt or bail out a close relative.  They cannot be traced.  Even “SMS Phishing” text messages can now be received.  Some major companies are now buying Phishing insurance and have mandatory training for compliance.

The old adage “If it seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t” still applies to all solicitations on digital devices these days.  Delete this correspondence or call the organization such as your bank or Social Security to verify notices.  Since I once had McAfee security software on a laptop years ago, I recently attempted to unsubscribe from the McAfee notices and my system responded with the message that “This website can transmit malicious software and has been involved in online scams or fraud.”  Some common warning signs include dubious grammar, attached documents, unsolicited correspondence, using popular, current events, free stuff and the need for urgent responses. 

“WARNING Will Robinson!”

UNIQUELY ME

SOULFUL RADIANCE

UNIQUELY ME HAIKU

I am not this face;

I am the soul that’s within.

I’m uniquely me.

I spent this morning selecting and charging the cost of a replacement Samsung washing machine which brought me no joy whatsoever on this Juneteenth holiday.  As I haltingly inched my way through the Starbucks drive-thru in a vain attempt to improve my demeaner, the movement of a young teen boy caught my attention through the adjacent bushes of a nearby McDonalds.  He was meticulously gathering straw covers and other items that had been cast off by the clueless patrons that had gone before me.  The observation conjured up images of myself doing menial tasks in exchange for minimum pay until the day when I had amassed enough skills in my tool kit to command the means for purchasing household appliances.

I was young and relatively carefree of home mortgages, car payments, credit card debt and all the other accoutrements of life that money buys in exchange for our life hours.  We make good soldiers in those early years since we’re so starry-eyed and bullet proof.   But then the inevitable march of time catches up and we find memory wanes, our chest has lowered, muscle aches and pains arrive with more frequency, body hair disappears from obvious places and appears in too obvious places and our skin begins a gradual loosening process as character lines meander within our smiles.     

The actress Judi Dench has wryly observed some of the characteristics of aging as “Don’t prioritize your looks my friend, as they won’t last the journey.  Your capacity for living in the moment will blossom.  Your instinct for knowing what (and who) is worth your time will grow and flourish like ivy on a castle wall.  Prioritize the uniqueness that make you, you and the invisible magnet that draws in other like-minded souls to dance in your orbit.”

It's called growing old gracefully my friend and it’s a gift denied to many.  So, work on your soul within for that is timeless and where our ultimate destiny lies.  And best of all, soulful character lines are much more radiant than wrinkles.

 

MEANINGFUL PRIZES IN LIFE

AJGA, Sedgefield CC, Greensboro, NC

There’s a golfing war that‘s broken out last weekend with an opening salvo shot across the bow of the USPGA by a new Saudi backed golf league, LIV, that has romanced a number of players to join their ranks for an enticing amount of money.  The inaugural tournament was just held in London, but there are more planned for the United States this year.  They’ve introduced some interesting changes such as just three rounds VS four, hence the Roman numerals for 54 holes.  But the big attraction is more money as they lure players over to their side.  The PGA has been the fertile ground that has grown the sport’s best.

The Saudi government has some serious human rights issues to contend with on the world stage and the term “sportswashing” has surfaced referencing an attempt to use sports to wash over these negative associations.  Some folks have accused the defectors of selling their souls for a quick payout.

I finally had the downtime to finish a Christmas gift of The Match bestseller by Mark Frost while recovering from Covid-19, another plague raging across the country right now.  Coincidently, Frost touts the book as an account of “The day the game of golf changed forever.”  The book details an arranged match by two millionaires seeking to determine if two gifted amateur golfers, Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward, can outmatch two outstanding professionals, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan.  The millionaires have a significant bet on the game while the four men are basically playing an unannounced match for the love of the game and the challenge of playing the best.

The book has a copyright of 2007 or fifteen years ago, but the final conclusion is uncannily germane to today’s golf war.  It hit home even more for me lately as I’ve been active in volunteering for the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) to promote amateur golf competition in this country.  The concluding thoughts expressed by Frost could have been written this week:

“Not enough meaningful prizes in life are contested solely for honor anymore, for the love of the thing itself, or the undiluted satisfaction of testing your mettle against the best you can find and, win or lose, walking away the better for it because of the truths it enabled you to face and find out about yourself…Some green, untested souls might be tempted to wonder why one should still care, but none of us are here forever, we’re not even here for long; and if it’s true that our collective past exists inside all of us, unless we take time to bear witness to the best of those who strived before us, our chance to learn from their lives will be lost forever, and we will be the poorer for it.”    

TIME ENOUGH

Day Lilies, Jamestown, NC

Everybody wants just one more day, 

but to a Day Lily, 

one day is time enough.

A SPECTACULAR SUNRISE

Sunrise Walk, Kiawah Island, SC

 A spectacular sunrise is God’s way of giving us something beautiful which inspires us to rise with a grateful heart and venture out into the world as the conduit of his grace to all we encounter.