Something feels wrong: what to do first

If something about your computer, your email, or your bank activity
does not feel right, take a breath. Calm, deliberate steps beat fast,
panicked ones, and you do not need to be certain anything is wrong to
use this page. Checking with us about a false alarm costs nothing.
Missing a real one costs plenty.

1. Call or text 701-306-0188

Call or text any hour. Your message goes directly to Michael, not a
queue. If the situation involves your main computer, reach out from
your phone instead.

2. If money moved, call your bank right now

This is the one step that beats calling us. Banks can sometimes freeze or
recall a transfer in the first hours, and the odds fall quickly after
that. Tell them the payment may be fraudulent, ask what they can stop,
and write down the time you called and the name of the person you spoke
with.

3. Take the affected computer off the network, and leave it alone

Unplug its network cable or turn off its Wi-Fi, then stop using it.

Do not reset, wipe, reinstall, or run cleanup tools before the system
has been reviewed. It feels like the responsible thing to do, and it
destroys the evidence that tells us what happened, what was taken, and
whether it spread.

4. Keep the evidence

Do not delete the suspicious email, text, or file, and do not empty the
trash. Do not reply to or forward a suspicious message. Leave
conversations exactly as they are. If you want to capture
something, take photos of the screen with your phone.

5. Use a device you trust

Reach us, and do any urgent account work, from a computer or phone that
was not involved. Avoid signing in to important accounts from the
machine you are worried about.

6. Write down what happened while it is fresh

What was clicked or opened, what appeared on screen, roughly when, and
who was involved. Three sentences with times in them are worth more than
a perfect memory tomorrow.

What happens when you reach us

We will talk through what you saw, decide together whether anything is
actually wrong, and if it is, contain it and walk you through the next
steps in plain English. The first conversation is free whether or not
you are a client, and nobody gets judged for clicking something. That is
what the layers are for.

Keep a printed copy. This page prints cleanly. The moment you need
it may be the moment you do not trust your screen, so print it now and
keep it near the phone or in the top drawer.