Cyberthief

Last Friday, someone hacked my gmail account, and then proceeded to hack into all my other accounts. Before Friday, I never used 2 steps authentication. I don’t use a cellphone. I gave my last one to my daughter because I never learned to use a touchscreen, and because as an agoraphobic, I rarely leave the house. When I do, because I’m also blind, I never go alone. If someone wants to call me, they do it through messenger or the landline.

As a person striving to be as independent as I can with limited parameters, sending codes to verify it was me was never a logical step, not when I’d need someone to read me the code, and especially if that someone wasn’t available.

I’d thought separating the email for amazon and the one I use to purchase things from my everyday life was enough to protect myself. That, and the fact I’m a tiny fish in the sea. No not even that – I’m but a grain of sand in the bottom of the ocean.

I didn’t know that when google asked “save this password” that it was hoarding all my passwords into gmail, and that if someone accessed that, they could access all. I thought it only kept it saved on the laptop.

I was so, so wrong.

My brother was able to secure my gmail account, but I lost the fb – both the personal and the author page – and my amazon.

The hacker wasn’t able to steal any money. When he tried buying himself a $25 gift certificate, amazon paused the purchase, suspended my account, and my bank blocked my card because I never bought a gift certificate, and because I’m not in the location where it was issued from.

Yesterday, after spending days trying to recover my accounts, my brother told me that my fb account was gone, that he couldn’t recover it because not only was the password changed, but the email as well, along with the ads manager email for my author page.

I filled amazon’s form to appeal the account suspension, and last night received an email saying that they’re closing my account. They wrote:

“After a review of your details, we have determined it is necessary to close your Amazon.com account. Any pending orders have been canceled.

We may not reply to further emails about this issue.”

They said nothing more, gave no other explanation. Simply signed as

“Account Specialist”

When I tried replying, I got an automated response saying I’ve “written to an account that does not accept incoming e-mails.” It was one of those no-reply emails businesses use to reply to you but that you can’t reply back.

Without an amazon account, I can’t contact amazon or KDP support again.

I don’t know what to do.

My next series is coming out nicely. I’ve finished the first and second book, ordered their covers, finished drafting the third, and am at the end of the fourth. I was planning to release book 1 at the end of September, with the rest following a month apart from the other. But my KDP account is gone.

I cried a lot, because I’m sad, but more because I’m angry.

I’ve been banging my head figuring out how to use amazon for years, always settling for less because not all of their features are accessible to the blind or because I’m not in a “preferred country”. But now, I can’t even settle for less because they won’t allow me that.

Ever see the saying “we look forward to inquiries from marginalized groups, disabled people, lgbtq” and so on? It’s just a propaganda that is thrown out there. When I told Bookbub that their page isn’t accessible to the blind, they told me they were sorry but they didn’t have the bandwidth to upgrade. When I reached out to an agent whose submission guidelines said “except for marginalized groups” they weren’t taking queries, I got an automated response saying that they wouldn’t be taking queries regardless that I followed their instructions. And when I finally did find an agent that did, their “submission form” wasn’t accessible.

I’m trying to look forward. I wrote a bit yesterday and today, tried creating a new fb account (and failed, because apparently they’ve upgraded to non-accessible forms), but everything feels tainted somehow. I didn’t just lose my accounts, I lost years of memories and friendship on facebook, and the possibility of success that amazon offers. I’m realistic enough, and have the experience to know that simply uploading a book to amazon doesn’t mean success, but the hope was there.