By JUDY LYNN

This is an embarrassing story, but one I’m moved to tell. On Aug. 1 I was scammed. I unconsciously allowed myself to be scammed.

First error: I was focused on working a jigsaw puzzle (multi-tasking) and I answered the phone.

I was told that an employee of my bank was stealing money from my account and sending it to someone in California. They needed me to send her a check so that they could investigate and find out who in the bank was stealing my money. I fell for it! I went down the rabbit hole!

He had all my information – including bank statement, physical address and PO box number. He had me drive to the Coupeville branch and call him from the parking lot.

Then to the Oak Harbor branch. He instructed me to go in for a very large cashier’s check. Then he directed me to the post office where I mailed the check priority. All the time he was telling me not to talk to anyone about this because it could hinder the “investigation.”

He had me holding (not literally) through the next day, waiting for an email to come from the agent who would describe everything that was happening with the “investigation.”

It’s hard for me to describe how I felt through all of that. In retrospect, I feel like someone else was in my body as I followed his directions. I am not normally gullible, but these guys are really good at what they do.

Later that day I told my best friend what was going on and she didn’t sleep that night. The next morning, I was still believing, and I got upset with her for not believing me!

It was so unbelievable and weird! Why didn’t I wake up to this until that night when I started to remember everything?

Saturday morning. My first call was to apologize to my friend. My second call was to my son Jeff, an attorney in Cleveland. He jumped on it by placing an intercept on the envelope. He instructed me to go to the Coupeville post office and alert them. Jeff kept track of the check as it moved to California for delivery.

I canceled my credit and debit cards and had a freeze put on my checking accounts.

The great news: Friday the check was returned to the Coupeville post office, and I immediately took it to the bank for deposit. Thank you, Jeff and all the others who had my back, through this nightmare.

Lessons learned:Never answer the phone unless you know the number and the person calling. I now have my phone set up to send any call that is not in my contacts to go directly to voicemail.

Focus and avoid multi-tasking.

Call someone you trust and believe your friends.

As I’ve told this story to others, it’s astonishing to learn how many people this has happened to. The purpose of my telling this very embarrassing story is I don’t want it to happen to you.

Judy Lynn is a longtime Whidbey Island resident.