On Black Friday, I fell for an Amazon scam – here’s what you need to know
This week, poet and artist Frieda Hughes reflects on the presence of the many liars, cheats and thieves around us – and mourns the lives they could have been leading
AMAZON WILL NEVER PHONE YOU
The phone call announces that a woman with ulterior motives
In damaging property, is going to get away with it. I have seen how
Every aspect of her life involves the lie it takes to break something
Over and over again until it cannot be mended, yet
I have no solution. The van driver photographs the parcel
He leaves on your doorstep as proof of delivery,
Before taking possession. The scammer types “forgotten password”
Into your Amazon account having obtained your phone number.
Amazon send you a code as the scammer calls demanding verification
Of your identity with the secret they have just sent you.
Now, you will be shut out of Christmas and all your birthdays
As they redirect the many purchases they will make on your behalf.
You did not know that Amazon will never phone you.
What if there were no liars, cheats and thieves?
What if those lives were not tied up in the knots of betrayal
That hold them together and upon which they dance?
What if the energy of their deceit was directed
Into the building of hospitals, the invention of new medicine,
The care of the vulnerable, or support of our defence?
What if, instead of lies, they made a difference?