The first sign that something was wrong came at the worst possible moment: rent day. I was standing in front of my landlord, card in hand, expecting the same routine as every other month. Instead, the terminal rejected the payment.
I tried again, hoping it was a temporary issue. The second decline felt harder to explain. When I opened my banking app, the reason became clear in the most frightening way possible.
My checking account was empty. My savings were gone. Even the emergency fund I had built over years had been drained.
Then the alerts started arriving one after another: transfers completed, transfers completed, transfers completed.