Haha, as far as I know I have never paid any fees to Steemit, Inc for being in the VIP club :-))
Fortunately it was my first recovery process, so I also have no reference / previous experience.

I will update my security measures, even though that was not the main problem today. I really thought the link was provided by a different user, and that made me trust it. It was actually no technical issue rather than a human one. I have to be more attentive in general and start realizing that not all people can be as nice as you are...:-)

Thank you, Asher!