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The coffee shop WiFi trap that cost me $140 in gift cards
Last month I was at a coffee shop outside Cleveland, killing time before a meeting. The place had free WiFi, so I connected without thinking twice. Popped open my email and saw a message from a delivery service saying my package was stuck and I needed to verify my payment details. The link looked legit, same logo and everything. I clicked, typed in my card info, and got a $140 charge at a store I never heard of. Turns out the coffee shop's network was unsecured and someone was running a fake login page. Now I only use my phone's hotspot when I'm out and I double check every email for typos. Anyone else get burned by public WiFi at a small shop or cafe?
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tara_palmer11d ago
Man, that's rough. But here's something nobody talks about: even if the WiFi is legit, your phone might still auto-join a fake network with the same name later. I always forget to turn off that auto-join setting until something weird happens.
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