Using Our Powers for Good, by Ben Jeapes

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.

This could so easily be a post reporting egg on my face. Two attempted scams within a week, one of which I almost fell for and one of which – well, I did.

First, an SMS text saying I owed money on an unpaid parking ticket. It worked because it got me at a vulnerable moment – I really was worried that I had overstayed at a local car park without realising. There was a link that takes you to a box where you enter your registration number, and lo and behold, there are the ticket details and a link for payment. It’s well done and looks professional, like an actual GOV.UK site. I only twigged when I saw the date of the alleged offence, which not only was not the date I was worried about but I knew for a fact I hadn’t driven anywhere. So I tried again with the registration number of my last car, and the one before that, and the one my parents drove in 1972. Same result every time.

Nice try. I could have a safe chuckle and block the number.

The second one was darn scary. I awoke to find a text on Facebook Messenger that quite convincingly seemed to be from someone with whom I might exchange texts anyway, asking if I had been sent a code as this was part of the system for logging on to Facebook on a new iPhone. It was too early in the morning for my brain to be fully active and asking obvious questions like why he didn’t ask his wife or three grown-up children to receive the codes instead. Turned out I had received a code, so I gave it to him, and behold, I got a message saying someone else has logged in to my Facebook account.

So I went straight to the computer and changed my password by clicking on the “I’ve forgotten my password” link. If he intended any damage, he thankfully hadn’t changed the contact email address yet. I could also tell it to log out of every device I was currently connected to as well as set a new password of my own. It then turned out Facebook has an actually quite helpful wizard that reviews all your recent changes (posts, comments, personal info) to confirm that you actually made them. So, within ten minutes I had my account back and could give a great big PHEW.

Why am I reporting this on a website supposedly about writing? Well, for one, as a public service. But for two: wouldn’t these guys make great novelists? I wish I was as good as them. Okay, they wake up each morning with the proud intention of deceiving people – but in a way, so do we. They convincingly and realistically create scenarios and characters that are utterly convincing. They engage our sympathy; they make us want what they say to be true. It’s a God-given power of creativity.

And it’s a reminder that all God’s gifts can be misused.

Ben Jeapes took up writing in the mistaken belief that it would be easier than a real job (it isn’t). Hence, as well as being the author of eight novels and co-author of many more, he has also been a journal editor, book publisher, and technical writer. His most recent title is a children’s biography of Ada Lovelace. www.benjeapes.com