Hello #ecency buddies, they said give thanks in everything. But sometimes the experience is between happiness and sadness, in such situations, I have also learnt to give thanks with tears in my eyes.
It is not a mystery that while some people are working hard to find and maintain a genuine means of livelihood, others are working tirelessly to be a pain to those working SMART to make ends meet.
Ecencials, on January 18, 2026, I returned home from work tired, lay down, and was scrolling on my Ecency app. I got to the chat forum and saw a post saying Ecency airdrop. Initially, I went away having seen that post for over two days, and that day, making it the third day. I also visited the Hive chat forum on Ecency and saw the same post, so I responded to it, but there was no further conversation.
Afterwards, I went back to the Ecency chat forum and clicked the link shared on the post, not knowing it was a scam trap. That single action changed the story on my #Hive and #HBD balances. It was indeed a chaotic day for me. I couldn't believe I fell for that trap. I couldn't believe my eyes when I woke up the following morning.
As usual, at work, I logged in to check my balance through Hive Keychain. Behold, I was speechless, inactive for some minutes, but it was what it was. My six months of staying awake through the night and writing content went up in flames by a simple wrong action of clicking on an unsuspected link.
I have blamed and asked myself various questions: why did I click before confirmation, and why did I not ignore the link? Why this, why that. Another challenge was the embarrassment and shame of picking up the pieces and building back my blocks.
My special thanks to my sagacious LADY 
To other users who also fall victim to this trap, you are not alone. I deeply salute your courage to stay mute. I have tried to keep it to myself, but the pain keeps flaring up now and then, and I have also leaned on some friends like 
Before this challenge, my family pleaded with me to host them using the HBD, but I set a target timeline, which they accepted when they couldn’t convince me to spend the funds. Now it has gone.
I have learnt my lessons and am also thankful that it happened now, not after my 6 or 7 years of work. Now, I look before I leap. I have dustes my feet and moved on.Gradually, I rise.
