I was once a happy-go-lucky consumer who enjoyed ambling through shops and online indulging in some unauthorised purchases, aka those that weren’t on my list. Nowadays, I’m just highly suspicious and mildly annoyed most of the time, scowling when my phone rings, whistles or toots, alerting me to the next call, text or email attempting to inject me with dopamine and trick me into signing over the family farm.

My cynical, distrusting demeanour is again heightened with hackers holding Qantas to ransom after using “vishing” – voice phishing – to gain data from the clients of cloud-based customer-relationship platform Salesforce. Apparently, they have stolen customer data, and I am now at risk of having my information used against me.

Illustration: Marija ErcegovacCredit:

How will I show my face when it’s discovered I’ve never been a member of the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge? I jest, of course, although that little quip did enter my head as a distraction to what it all really means for me and others who have given Qantas........

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