Phishing is the most common way to impersonate someone authentic and scam people. There are tons of mail fraud complaints resting in the cyber crime police stations in India. While most of the emails originating as scams end up in the Trash of an email account, some emails pass through the filters and end up in Inbox. Here is where people open the mail and with a little hurry, do not check the point of origin of the mail and whether the sender is authentic or not.

Recently I read about a mail from Paypall. No, I have not mistakenly put a second ‘l’ at the end of Paypall. That’s where the mail originated from. They identified themselves as PayPal and sent the mail to a friend of mine, using his Full Name. That’s a surprising factor, because most of the scam e-mail is sent by creating random email addresses. And if someone opens that email and clicks any link or image in it, then the sender gets a confirmation that an email account with the random name exists.

In addition to the online credit card fraud, these kind of e-mails ask you to login using the link provided in the mail. When an unsuspecting user clicks the link, he will be directed to a website which looks exactly the same as the authentic website. The unsuspecting user tries to login using his authentic user name or account number and password. This will get stored in the scammer’s database and he will use the credentials to abuse the account of the innocent user.

Like wise, these scam e-mails are also sent under the disguise of PayPal, an authentic money transfer portal whose reputation precedes it. This email I read said that my friend’s account is going to be closed as they suspected a fraudulent task and the next action that any user should do is, use the link provided in the email and login to their PayPal accounts. If this process goes through, then the username and password will be stored in the scammers’ database and he may use it for any kind of fraudulent act.

Below is the mail verbatim:

Subject line: Notification of Limited Account Access RXI-6166
Body: Hello <<Full Name Here>>,
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.

We requested information from you for the following reason:
A recent review of your account determined that we require some additional information from you in order to provide you with secure service.
Case ID Number: PP-648-716-821

This is a second reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible. Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access.

Be sure to log in securely by using the following link:
Click here to login and restore your account access

Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.

In accordance with PayPal’s User Agreement, your account access will remain limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further limitations or eventual account closure. We encourage you to log in to your PayPal account as soon as possible to help avoid this.

To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution Center. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal by visiting the Help Center and clicking “Contact Us”.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Thanks,
PayPal Account Review Department

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you
will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account
and click the Help link in the top right corner of any PayPal page.
—————————————————————-
Copyright © 1999-2011 PayPal. All rights reserved.
PayPal Email ID PP-648-716-821

That’s the mail my friend received. Users have to be extremely careful when they receive these kind of emails. There are several steps that can be taken to prevent these kind of phishing identity theft situations.

1. Always check the sender’s email address for these kind of emails.
2. If the mail says that it’s from PayPal or ICICI Bank or any kind of authentic banks, then the sender’s mail will have to surely end with ‘@paypal.com’ or ‘@icici.com’ or any other company name. If it’s not ending like that, then it’s definitely a scam e-mail
3. If the sender’s email address looks authentic, check the contents of the email. Scam e-mails usually have grammatical and spelling errors which are very much obvious to regular English readers and speakers.
4. If you can’t recognize that it’s a scam, then do not use the links provided in the emails. They lead to the scammer’s website. So, if you receive an email stating that it’s from PayPal, read it first. Then, open another browser window or a new tab and login directly(I do this) by typing www.paypal.com or any other website name.

These are sure fire ways to save yourself from phishing. If you, by any chance become a victim of PayPal phishing, then immediately contact your bank whose credit card is attached to your PayPal account and inform them about the situation and block the card from further use.

Next step would be to report the phishing email to PayPal by copying and pasting the email in their Support page. This will let them ensure that money ‘can’ be reinstated into your account and inform their customers about the phishing email.

Even if you do not fall for the lame trick, inform the PayPal team about the email so that they can take the necessary next steps.

BTW, when I tried, Paypall.com led me to ApnaPaisa after hopping on several IP addresses.

Did you ever fall for the phishing trick? did you face any problems because of these phishing emails? Do share in the comments section.

If you have ever wished to edit a personal video using any kind of video editing tools like Adobe Premiere Elements or Corel Video Studio Pro and several others, you may have to shell out a bomb to procure them. The idea of buying and installing any video editing software is a breeze, but the main pain comes in the form of the learning curve. These video editing tools are highly efficient and assist professional videographers who want to edit videos of any format, apply GPU accelerated transitions and even add any kind of visual elements. But, at the end of the day, they do not help the novices who just want to edit their personal videos and add a few effects like adding names and a few visual effects here and there. To do simple tasks like the ones mentioned above, the user in need should take a professional’s assistance, which is time consuming and as well as, sometimes comes with a price tag. Now, there is a solution to all these problems.

In order to put a stop to all these troubles and enable the user to share their videos on social networks easily, WeVideo has created a platform where in users can upload their videos to the cloud and do video editing right from their browsers. So, there are no hurdles of driver compatibilities, meeting the requirements specified or any kind of extra hardware to be setup in order to use the mammoth features of WeVideo. And, you will never have to worry about updating the software again, as, the entire thing is on the cloud and you just use your browser to perform the job.

The motive of WeVideo is simple “Making Video Social”. So, there are no hiccups of downloading the edited file and uploading it again to video network sites like Youtube and Vimeo and several others. You can do the same right from your dashboard. It’s that simple.

The unique ability of downloading videos in HD is another addition to the plethora of features. Unique interface which is such a breeze to operate and add videos to the timeline and perform desired operations like editing, cropping, adding borders, mixing visual effects makes WeVideo an easy and efficient tool. It’s a must have for every amateur and as well as experienced videographers.

There are several packages offered based on the usage. You can try out with a free account to get in touch with the interface and then move on to a package. The interface is simple, intuitive and requires flash support.

Do not mind guys. But, the ‘Government maintained Ration cards Online’ website says this after you submit all the information. “Issue of new ration cards is suspended till the completion of the exercise to identify and weed out ineligible ration cards. Soon after the completion of the exercise, online submission of application for new ration cards will be enabled.” WTF!!! So, they want us to believe that they are going to filter the fake ration cards. Yeah, they may, within the next 120 years, when Iris based ration cards will be available. Subscribe to our mailing list people. I will let you know when the site works again. Browse around other articles.

A ration card is mandatory for every family in India. It enables the government to know the statistics of how the families are, what their economic status is(below poverty line or above poverty line) and other metrics like age, gender and education can be pulled out from the database. This simple and easy reference tool, named as ration card is also used by other private and government agencies like LPG gas supply and electricity boards respectively. All in all, a ration card is mandatory for every citizen no matter what. But, many of us skip the ordeal of applying for a ration card, as the process itself is cumbersome.

As with every other process related to Indian government, applying for a ration card too is quite a painful process. A newly married person, if he is shifting to a new house, should get a NEW ration card with the name of his wife and himself in it. In order to apply for it, he has to….will give it out point-wise.

1. Remove his name from the earlier ration card, which his parents had taken. There is a process here too:
1. If married and moving out, take your marriage certificate to MRO or other government officer with the authority to agree that you are married.
2. Fill a form which specifies that your name can be removed from the already existing ration card of your father.
3. Wait until the government officials come to your house for the verification process.
4. They may ask for several other documents, which we do not normally have, so pay a bribe.
5. Wait for the new leaflet which says that your name will be removed in the next iteration.
2. Now, take this permission leaflet to the place where you are applying for a new ration card.
3. Fill a form there requesting for a new ration card. Attach the earlier taken ‘Removal of name’ leaflet to the application.
4. Also attach the verification documents like, your license, electricity bill, telephone bill with your address in it, rental agreement if you are in a rental house.
5. Submit the form with a nominal challan amount paid duly in the ration card office itself.
6. Go home and wait for the officials to arrive for verification.

Once the verification process completes, you will pretty soon get your new ration card. While the process looks tiring, it brings in a new exhilaration once it gets completed.

Now, displacing all this mundane process, Government of Karnataka has taken a leap ahead and moved this entire process online. This approach enables the civil supplies department to weed out the illegal ration cards that are rampant in Karnataka.

The process is quite simple and less tiring. You can Apply for ration cards online through Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department website, http://ahara.kar.nic.in All you need to have in your hands is, your electricity bill and a few more details, like your ward number, ward name and main areas of your ward.

You may find it hard to get to this link, as it’s placed in a marquee on the home page itself and it’s moving. So, stay on alert at the home page itself and click on the link. I can not give you the original URL itself, as it gets called in a pop-up. So, disable pop-up blockers and access the website.

Make use of the FAQ section in the pop-up, Help link does not work, yet. May be in a few days, it will come live.

Until then, use your imagination.

After reading earlier posts regarding the Cheapest Indian Android Tablet Aakash and comparing Aakash and Reliance 4G tablet, many readers have posted questions on how to order an Aakash tablet? Here is a good news for all the readers. Now, you can pre-order an Aakash tablet which is the next version than displayed earlier. The new Aakash tablet is named as UbiSlate and it is exclusively for commercial aspects, that is, to be sold as a retail piece for people who want to lay their hands on the cheapest Android tablet ever.

UbiSlate is priced at a nominal Rs. 2999 and the specifications of UbiSlate are:

• Android 2.2 tablet with a 7” screen
• Connect to WWW via GPRS or WiFi or 3G
• GPRS is easier to access without any modem dongles hanging around, as UbiSlate has a built-in modem
• 3G can be accessed by attaching a 3G dongle externally
• DataWind’s ‘patented’ technology designed for the browser enables faster web access even on GPRS networks
• You can access Facebook, Twitter, Email clients and several other interesting features that you use on a PC desktop or a laptop
• Audio library software is built-in to manage your music library
• Memory is expandable upto 32 GB
• Just shove in any thumb drive for external memory(Wish there was a memory CARD support, because USB thumb drive will be another dongle hanging from the tablet)
• Android Froyo 2.2
• More than a lakh apps from Google Android Market
• and…….UbiSlate is a phone too

Pre-order your UbiSlate tablet.

Competing against any Indian govt. made or proposed or supposed model of any kind of innovative technology is easy to compete against. This is primarily because, the decision makers are nearly of 60+ years age and do not have the time to even check the native apps on their own mobile phones. But, they have the ultimate magic wand of deciding which kind of technology is easy to use and which is much easier to produce and market for the already cheap-products-in-need-and-used Indians. In addition to the already present, subsidized education grants(which are highly ineffective), the proposition to provide educational tablets to school children has elicited a mixture of responses.

But, as soon as Indian Government decided on specifications and reviewed Aakash’s prototype, the Canadian company DataWind has started producing more than 7,000 tablets per day in it’s Hyderabad center. Even though the mass production has not yet started productively to cater to millions of people interested, Aakash tablet will not hit the markets until they are first distributed to the educational institutions which are listed by the Indian Government. That’s where Reliance’s 4G tablet comes into picture.

So, what are the specifications of Reliance 4G Tablet manufactured by DataWind?

The specifications of Reliance 4G tablet are quite unclear now. But, when compared to Aakash tablet, we can hope that the new tablet will host a longer battery life and a capacitative screen. As we have early reviewed the Aakash tablet and as it constitutes a resistive touch screen which takes a little time to adjust to, for fast and frequent users, it is quite enough for people who are handling a touch screen for the first time.

Reliance 4G tablet will be priced at Rs.4,000 – Rs.5,000. That’s a very nominal price for a 7” tablet and it will definitely go down into millions of peoples’ hearts and pockets as well.

Reliance 4G tablet is supposed to be released for the public in the last quarter of 2012. So, until then we need to keep our fingers tied expecting how it would look like and what the experience of working on that tablet would appeal us to be.

What are the features that you would expect in such a nominally priced Indian version tablet? Reply in the comments section below.

Now, you can book the next version of Aakash tablet, due to release next quarter in advance at Order Aakash tablet online.