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Out of the blue, my inbox was bombarded with an avalanche of emails—hundreds of them. There were messages asking me to confirm my email address, requests to reset my password, and prompts to complete account setups. The sheer volume was overwhelming, and many of the emails came from obscure shops and websites, with some even in foreign languages. In total, I received over 2,000 of these messages. About 100 slipped past my spam filter, which was a clear sign that something was amiss. The remaining 1,900+ went straight to spam.

This wasn’t just some random annoyance. I discovered it was a full-blown breach when I found an order confirmation from BJs among the emails. Someone had accessed my BJs account and ordered a $25 Chipotle gift card to be shipped to an address in Brooklyn, NY. Obviously, that wasn’t me! I quickly canceled the order (those thieves even used my rewards points) and changed my BJs password. However, when I tried to log in with the new password, my account was locked due to too many failed login attempts from the intruder. I had to reset my password again, and as a precaution, I updated my email and banking passwords too. As soon as I changed my email password, the flood of emails ceased. I also reached out to BJs to report the fraudulent activity and should be getting my rewards points back since the order was canceled.

What an intense 30 minutes! This was the second time my security was compromised—last time, someone used my debit card to order food from Jersey Mikes. It’s frustrating that the thieves didn’t pick places I actually use, but rather ones I have strong, oddly specific aversions to.

I often joke that if someone stole my identity, they wouldn’t get much out of it. While that might be true, it’s still incredibly inconvenient to deal with password resets, card replacements, and the hassle of contacting various institutions.

I’m not entirely sure what the takeaway is here, but it seems that hyper-vigilant email checking isn’t such a bad thing. Periodically changing passwords is crucial, and being cautious about where you store your information is essential. Anti-virus software is also a must-have.

What strategies do you use to protect yourself from internet thieves?

Featured image from DepositPhotos artist: brianajackson.