IFRAUD-monster

New and Diverse tactics of Internet Criminals

noreply@blogger.com (^^ErIcA^^) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:03:00 +0800

Link to us: http://sn.im/v1vwq

Will you help your friends when they are in need and ask you for helps? I guess most of us would help them whenever we can and will try our very best to help them as they are our friends. It is a very common characteristic and value which most of the human has. Sadly, those Internet criminals out there see it as a weakness of human being and start to take advantage of it to swindle others’ money. Previously in our posts, we were talking about how scammers or criminals approach you with an identity of a stranger who you are not close to. However, the ways they approach their ‘preys’ is no longer the same.

On the 16th March 2010, CNN releases Internet fraud-related news in CNNMoney.com talking about the increasing of the Internet fraud cases and some new tactics used by criminals in committing Internet frauds. Nowadays, scammers become more and more savvy and cunning as they come out with new ways to commit crimes through Internet.

"We're seeing that the criminals are using new and diverse tactics to reach out to people," Kane said. "They'll take over your account and then use your identity to ask money from friends for an emergency. Instead of coming from a stranger, it's coming from someone who is supposedly your friend." said John Kane, manager of research for the Internal Crime Complaint Center.

Now, as you can see, even the criminals are reaching out to you through the social networking sites! Perhaps it is Facebook? Twitter? Flikr or Friendster? What is more scary is that they hack into your account and use your identity to pretend as you to cheat money from your friends in your friend list without you knowledge. In the same way, they can also hack into your friend’s account and pretend as your friend to ask for financial assistance.
Imagine this, if one day, your friend in facebook who claims that he or she is having an emergency which need RM5000. You are the ONLY person that she/he trusts, so in this critical time she can’t believe anyone but YOU to help her. What will you do? Will you help her? Sometimes, in this situation, we can’t think rationally, hence, the tendency of us helping our ‘friend’ is high.

Therefore, no matter how; the first thing you should do is to calm down and think what to do next after you receive such a message from your friend who asking for money. Then, call your friend to confirm that the message is sent by your friend. If your friend insisted that do not contact her through phone, then you should be skeptical. Anyway, you must get your friends clarify everything by themselves.
Besides, to avoid your account from being hacked and taken over, create a stronger password using alpha-numerical characters. Once you get to know that your account is being hacked, you should report the case to the social networking site host and then inform all your friends that your account is being hacked so that they will not be the victims of the hacker.

References: Aaron Smith, Nigerian prince still wants your money, CNNMoney.com [Online], Retrieved on 24th March 2010, URL: http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/16/news/economy/internet_fraud_fbi/index.htm

Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud( 419 Fraud)

noreply@blogger.com (Tenesha) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:45:00 +0800

Link to us: http://sn.im/v1ax7

Advance fee fraud is commonly known as where an investor is asked to pay money in advance before receiving any stocks, goods or warrants in order for the deal to go through. The fee can be on many forms either by commission, regulatory fee, or even tax. Advance fee scheme normally target investors who have already purchased their goods on unsecure web sites, or through a ‘Middle Man’ website that will collect information’s about your purchasing and requires you to pay an advance fee.

The most commonly advance fee fraud is the ‘Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud’. In this scheme there will be someone pretending to be a Nigerian officer, a civil servant or a business person who will email you informing individuals to help transfer money to a Nigerian Bank account reason being to help individuals and companies to earn mutual benefits, help move millions of dollars out from the country in exchange of a higher commission and profits. They will ask about your companies letter head, address, telephone number and will also strictly inform you not to inform any officials claiming its private and confidential between both parties. If you are not careful and respond to these scheme and blindly send them your companies’ letter head, bank account number they are able to rob the victim’s bank by taking money, swamping visas or even sell to other similar criminals.

This scheme has rise tremendously therefore the US government of The U.S Secret Service have came up with laws to combat these fraud by setting up a special task force dedicating to only Nigerian Advance Fee Frauds.

Therefore be careful while opening and responding to an email. Read the content of the email properly before signing up and agreeing to something. Of you are not too sure about the content and hesitating about the truthfulness of the content don’t ignore the email by not responding or simply by deleting it. Go with your instincts.

References: U.S Securities and Exchange Commission, “Advance Fee Fraud” Schemes, Modified on January 29, 2008.

URL: http://www.sec.gov/answers/nigeria.htm

References: United States Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law and Enforcement Affairs, Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud,

URL: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/africa/naffpub.pdf

Poll Result

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:06:00 +0800

Link to us:http://sn.im/v1ak5

It’s time for us to reveal the poll result for the last week which is about a spyware. So this question we have asked last week “Do you know what the spyware is?” There are 3 options for this question but only one option is empty vote. The shop that is empty is option 1 that says “No. Don't know what that is and haven’t even heard about it before”. This 0% shows that there is none of them that don’t know what spy ware is. As we know most of the people nowadays should know about what spyware because people nowadays use to online browsing on internet, working, studying and we are often remind through email, by friends or family to be careful of spyware that attacks our computer system. Therefore, it is impossible none of them never even heard before what spyware is about.

Besides that based on the poll result, we could also see that up to 75% of the people chose option 3 where it indicates that they had heard about it before but don’t really know what it is. This shows that many people are aware of the existence of spyware but they did not take initiative to in detail searching the details about spyware. Therefore some of them only know Spyware is a type virus that attacks our computers or some only knows about it when their computers have problems however they did not know what the real meaning about it and how it affects as well as how the spyware manage get in our computer. It might because people nowadays are too busy with their work and daily routine so since this spyware is not even consider important in part of their life they will not spend time to know so detail about it. When their computers have problem they will just send to the computer technical shop to work it out.

Lastly, actually only a 25% of them really understand and know what is the meaning of spyware really is. This is where the participants choose 2nd option which is “Yes. I know about it and have it on my computer”. These people maybe the ones that really have high interest towards computer programs and details

Computer fraud

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:56:00 +0800

Link to us:http://sn.im/uxjxc

URL:http://computersafetytips.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/computer-fraud.jpg

Have you ever wondered why your boss knows that you had copied company’s top secret files and in the end getting you fired? Have you ever encountered a situation where your friends told you that you have been online during the day but actually you were not? Or have you ever found that a bank called you because you have transfer all your money to another account through online but actually you didn’t?

These situations above are very common in our daily life no matter you realize or not. Even if it never happens on you, I bet you have heard of this situation before. We must ‘thanks’ spyware for its help. Spyware is some kind of program that might send your personal information in your computer to another computer in extreme details, including your key strokes. Isn’t this illegal? Most of the time, you are the one who agreed, downloaded and installed into your computer. You didn’t? Spyware is just everywhere and approximately 90% of computers that use internet are infected by spyware. Some programs include spyware and most people just don’t even bother to go through the terms and conditions especially when it is free. You can’t do anything if it is your company’s computer because the computer belongs to them, not you but there are protocols for them in using spyware. So, don’t worry.

The disaster that might cause by spyware is can’t be predicted but can be described with a word, devastated. I believe computer had become an essential part in our life as we used it to store our information due to convenience. For hackers, it is just a gold mine. With the help of spyware, it just makes hacker’s life easier. All they need to do is just waiting for you to type in your personal information such as password and account number. Therefore they can gain access to your account and your life by just a few clicks. Spyware can destroy your data, bankrupt you in a second and duplicate your identification. Maybe one day you will find out that there is another person with your name, living your life, using your money and committing crime on your behalf.

When there is a problem, people will try to counteract the problem with a solution. With suitable anti-spyware program, most of the spyware will be detected immediately. It can detect and eliminate the incoming spyware before it can do any damages. As the technology is getting advanced, there isn’t any anti-spyware program which can filter and detect all the spyware available as there will always have a new spyware created to sneak into your computer. The best solution is constantly update your anti-spyware system and be extremely cautious with your internet surfing and program installation.
Good luck…

Chiw

Internet Laws

noreply@blogger.com (Tenesha) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:13:00 +0800

Link to us: http://sn.im/uw578

Internet fraud are cases are just rising as year goes by. Time after time there are innocent victims losing all they have as for this many acts have been implemented to combat this issue .There are many laws in the country that are created. Different country has different acts for different frauds. In Malaysia, there is a special department build by the government which is the Malaysian Communication And Multimedia Commission (SKMM) to over look, monitor, and to enforce the communications and multimedia laws in Malaysia. In the year 1998 the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission act 1998(MCMCA) was created and implemented.

In Malaysia there’s is no laws solely for internet or regarding internet frauds but it is all categorized under SKMM. Any complaints will go directly to them. Consumer can lodge their complaints to them. they deal with all means of communication problems, from broadcasting, internet to postal services. Consumer can either lodge a complaint online where a consumer forum of Malaysia (CFM) is set up for consumers educating about their rights and also protecting the rights, consumer will be able to exchange view and have discussions about any related topic. CFM was established in 2001 as a society as a representation of all parties. In CFM there’s a Complaint Portal established (CoP)to help users lodged resolved complaints regarding their communications and multimedia services. Consumer can lodge their reports in two ways first by login in to CFM and sending a compliant through online or dialing up their consumer hotline to lodge a report.

Everyone should know the existence of this law and do not get fooled easily by all these irresponsible scammers trying their ways to get into your accounts stealing personal information’s and so on. Be careful and always educate yourself with basic consumer rights and tips and precautions to avoid from being scammed for your good.

References: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commissions

URL: http://www.skmm.gov.my/
References: Communications and Multimedia, Consumer Forum of Malaysia
URL: http://www.cfm.org.my/

Weekly Poll Result

noreply@blogger.com (^^ErIcA^^) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:34:00 +0800

Link to us: http://sn.im/uvff2

The poll result of last week is out! There are two draws and one empty vote among four options. The poll question sounds like this: Do you know about the techniques of Internet hacking? The option with the highest vote is ‘No. I do not know how to hack’; which has 64%. Apparently, most of the voters do not know about the techniques to hack but they know what Internet hacking is.

There are two options that have a draw- ‘Certainly. I’m good in Internet hacking’ and ‘Yes. I know some basic techniques in internet hacking’ where both of the options have 18% of votes. From the result, we can say that there are altogether 36% of voters who know about the techniques of hacking. Some is good in it whereas some of them just know a few basic hacking techniques.

On the other hand, none of the voters vote for the last option which is- ‘No. I do not know what hacking is’. It is a good a sign that shows that the readers of our blog or voters are aware of the Internet hacking and learn about it.

^^ErIcA^^

Fake Diploma and Degree cert on internet

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:58:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/usqzu

URL: http://www.phonydiploma.com/Images/Product%20Images/Certificates/Any-Fake-Certificate.jpg

Life has change. Now it is even harder day by day to maintain or move on our life as the world now no matter anywhere you are is becoming more and more competitive. Each and anyone of us will wish to live in an up to date life so they work even want to work even harder than other people but when there is challenger they will hope to beat them up and become the best among the best so that they can get maximum benefits and rewards in life. For example, all parents from young will often send their children to tuition, classes like piano, ballet, and many more type follow by school too.

Children nowadays no longer like children in the pass 20 to 30 years behind. They now no longer have very excitement childhood like the children before. Since young they have already expose too many kinds of challengers and also heavy timetable and they are just so use to it. Therefore children lately have much more better result than before as this is a purpose for them to get an entry to enter high school, university and also work. Therefore many children and parents will force themselves to work for the best only.

Like now, many big companies or enterprise include government department also choose the best people to work for them. As now there are more and more people with good grades graduate from universities and also a holder of degree, master or PHD. However jobs are limited so this had make the qualifications become high and higher when they want to hired someone to work for them. In the past we only able to see the requirement need for a clerk maybe someone who had finish form 3 or form 5 which able to speak English and Malay for most but now the world had change even a general clerk must be someone who had finish their studies in secondary school with passes in their form 5 examinations and above. It will be best if there is someone who able to speak more than three general language like English, Malay and Mandarin with other alternatives like Indian language, Spanish, Japanese or Korean for those company who had business transaction with companies in other countries.

Due to all these reasons, for certain people who are slightly weaker than those people that manage to adapt to the world change so fast they will try to use other alternatives to get at least a work to survive in such competitive world advancement. The best way now is many people are using fake certificates which are not qualified by recognized university to get an entry to the company and many companies end up hired people who are not qualified to work with the job offered which end up brings the company business in danger. Those people are so desperate to get a job by using such method and don’t mind using money to get it as it will be definitely cheaper for them to do it and faster for them to complete the course compared to the original course.

Many cases had happen as there are many frauds create by some people to con the desperate victims who are having such difficulties and all these people that get con are people who had problems in life and also greedy that’s why this frauds can be effective to them. Sometime when we on computer and surf the internet we can see some pop up like “How to get a degree in three months time” or “How to get a degree for RM300” or even “Do you want to get a better life then join us”. Common sense a degree will need at least 3years to complete how would it be possible for it to complete in three months time? Although local university fees may be cheap but how can you complete a degree for only RM300? Besides that to get a better life, do you think we will have to have a degree? Even you have a degree it may not able to lead you in a better life right? All these are just so impossible but people use to believe it. As the greediness attitude in their heart had make them believe such impossible statement, articles and pop ups.

Remember that nothing comes easy if we don’t work hard to get it. Never ever try to think of short cuts as short cut may not be the best solution in life and it may lead you to certain type of crimes and this will be the killer of yourself in life. If this really happen you may not get any trust from anyone in any companies. Remember that good or bad information’s are easily being spread around with the advancement of technologies. It is impossible you will runaway in such problem and this will make your name and identity bad forever. Isn’t it not worth at all just because of some greediness you lose your whole life?

In this world there are also many types of ways to work out our life. Not everyone who study in the area like business, law or even medical only will get better life. If you are not able to study for areas of study then, work in another area which use or learn to do more handworks than theoretical studies for example like technician or mechanics. Although some they don’t offer certificates but you can work or do examples to prove to your boss or management in the companies. This can also make you work longer and work happily in life. When you like your job you will probably work harder and you will think it is easier for you compare to work hard and pressure yourselves in areas that do not suits you.

Therefore, we must always remember nothing comes easily. Do what we can by using our own ability not by using short cuts ways. If we will able to do so those frauds online will not able to attract us and when there are problems for sure they will not come out to admit and you will end up have to suffer for all these unnecessary pressures and problems. IT IS JUST SO NOT WORTH IT. ALWAYS think before YOU DO.

Reference:Eyal Ben Cohen, Accredibase Report exposes multi-billion dollar international fake diploma fraud, Newswire, [Online], Retrieved on 11 March 2010.
URL:http://www.mmdnewswire.com/fake-diploma-fraud-6729.html

Reference:Kristina,How to buy a right fake Degree, Articlesnatch, [Online], Retrieved on 12 March 2010.
URL:http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/How-To-Buy-The-Right-Fake-Degree-/996744

Reference:Accredibase Report exposes international fake degree fraud, The home of UK recruitment news, [Online], Retrieved on 12March 2010.
URL:http://www.recnews.co.uk/index.php/2010/01/25/accredibase-report-exposes-international-fake-degree-fraud/

*Chiw*

The Good and Bad of Hacking

noreply@blogger.com (^^ErIcA^^) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:40:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/urt76

People tend to associate hacking as a bad thing to do. But, what does hacking actually means? Is it hacking is all about illegal acts and crimes? The definition of hacking depends on who you ask. As there will be people giving you positive definition while some of the people will give you negative definition on hacking. However, Bruce Sterling, author of The Hacker Crackdown, gives a positive view and explains the term hack as it “can signify the freewheeling intellectual exploration of the highest and deepest potential of computer systems. It is true. Hacking has its bad site as well its good side.

References: Donn B. Parker, 1998, Fighting Computer Crime, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., United State of America.

The Good of Hacking:

Some of the individuals and organizations conduct security audits and research, and then publish their findings. These findings help the users who are not familiar with the security to understand more and protect their security system. Besides, it helps to protect the online society from security risks and being exploited. In short, hacking is considered as good when it is used to find security holes and then help to fix the problems or develop security tools and techniques to fight against the security risks.

The Bad of Hacking:

Hacking becomes harmful when the hackers break into others’ computer systems to steal information such as financial information like bank account passwords or other corporate confidential information in order to gain…. Hence, it becomes an Internet crime where the hacker will be sentenced to a few years in prison under the Internet laws which we are going to discuss in the following post.

References: The Benefits of Hacking: A Different Perspective for
the Security Conscious [Online], Retrieved on 9th March 2010, URL: http://www.trdtechnical.com/eportfolio/Final_Project_Tina.pdf

In short, hacking has its good and bad sides. It is depends on how people use it and the intention of doing it. Anyways, there are ways to prevent you from becoming a victim of the hackers. The video below shows a easy step to stop hackers and key loggers.

Video taken from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmazjLt0zJE&feature=related

^^ErIcA^^

Poll Results-Internet Laws

noreply@blogger.com (Tenesha) — Tue, 9 Mar 2010 14:03:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/uq5xq

Nowadays we are so dependent on the internet that we do almost everything via the internet. However because of that there are irresponsible people who are taking advantage of these by creating scams scamming through users account. These victims will fall to their trap and lose everything they have. Therefore is there a legal internet law that protects us from being a victim? Do we have a right to ask for justice? Last week’s poll question we ask our readers to vote asking whether they are aware of the existence of internet law that can protect then form being scammed. Below are the results.

Half of them said no, they are not aware about any law that got to do with scamming. Where else 30% of the readers answered, not really where they have heard about it but not sure whether it really exist. The rest of the 22% of the readers answered yes that they are aware of these internet laws.
Stay tune for our next week’s post where we are going to talk about laws that can protect you and bureaus that you can go to and lodge a report and earn back your rights.

-Tenesha-

Phishing? Fishing?

noreply@blogger.com (^^ErIcA^^) — Fri, 5 Mar 2010 23:45:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/unhmq

Phishing? Do you mean ‘fishing’? Undeniable, both of the terms have the same pronunciation but meanings. Most of the people do not know what phishing is and some might heard about phishing but do not know how it works. Hence, the objective of this post is to tell more and let the readers learn more about phishing. Generally, phishing is the act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. (Reference: Webopedia, Definition of Phishing [Online], Retrieved on 3rd March 2010, URL: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/phishing.html) Why is it called phishing? The term phishing is given as Internet scammers are using e-mail lures or as a bait to ‘fish’ for passwords, financial and personal data from the ‘sea’ of the Internet users.

How does phishing works?

Typically, it is considered as phishing when an email from a legitimate organization is directed to the user and gives a link to request the user to visit a website where they are asked to update their personal information such as passwords, bank account numbers, social security and credit card details. However, the website is a just a bogus website that is set up only to steal the users’ information.

Ways to protect yourself from being phished

1. Don’t give out information the company should have
Companies will never simply ask for sensitive information through Internet which they already have such as usernames, credit card numbers and passwords but phishers will. So, do not simply fill in forms that ask for sensitive information.

2. Keep Your Email and Instant Message Addresses Private
To keep yourself safe from the phishers, you have to first prevent them from landing in your email inbox. Make yourself different email addresses for your trusted friends, and family, one for financial institution and one for general use. Many of the email providers will allow users to redirect emails from each of these different addresses to one account to minimize the inconvenience of checking each account.

3. If you are in doubt:

i) Immediately Report Suspected Phishing Contacts
If you suspect that the email which you receive is a phishing scam, report the case immediately by forwarding the email to reportphishing@antiphsihing.org or spam@uce.gov. Besides, almost every bank or credit card lender has their own website where allows customers to report suspicious emails and instant messages.

ii) Call the company directly
You can also call the company’s customer service phone number straight away to confirm if the email is from the company itself.

(Reference: cnet.reviews official website, How to avoid phishing scams [Online], Retrieved on 3rd Macrch 2010 URL: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3000_7-6459186-1.html)

^^ErIcA^^

PayPal Scams

noreply@blogger.com (Tenesha) — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 20:16:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/unhll

Online shopping have became a trend these days from buying clothes, accessories, toys, to antic things etc. online business are blooming like mushroom these days, creating blogs and website to promote their business and some are very successful. Purchasing via online is easy, convenient and flexible however there are its disadvantages-internet scams!

If you are an online shopper and uses Pay Pal be careful. There are tons of scammers targeting PayPal users by sending users an official looking email asking them to verify their account and personal information. The whole email looks as if its real by including its logo, graphics, and page format. These scammers will send emails saying that PayPal is trying to detect unused accounts and email addresses and Pay Pal has been encountering problems with their software and therefore files have been lost, whatever way the content of the page is written the main motif of these scammers are asking users to update or verify their personal and credit card information. There are times where forms provided for this purpose right in the email; other times there is a link directing the recipient of the email to another site where they are to enter their information.

The sole purpose of all this is to get a users details and cheat them out of money. Once these scammers get hold of this information these users will be the next victim of identity thief.
References: PayPal Scams, Scam Laws [Online], Retrieved on 1st March 2010, URL: http://www.spamlaws.com/paypal-scam.html

Here are few guidelines that users can follow to prevent from being a victim:-

1. Log in safely
Open a new window browser and type in PayPal’s URL

2. Check email greetings
PayPal always address their users by their first and last name or the business associated with your PayPal account. However a PayPal scam email will address by using ‘Dear PayPal user’ or ‘Dear PayPal member.

3. Don’t download and share personal information by email
PayPal will never send you attachments to download and will also never ask for passwords and financial information through an email.

4. Password safety
Keep your password private and confidential don’t share it with others if you doubt anyone knows change it immediately. Try using a more secure password by choosing a more unique password for example a combination of alphabets, numbers and symbols. Don’t use the same password for PayPal and other online services like, Yahoo, MSN, etc, as using the same password will increase the likelihood that someone could learn your password and gain access to your account.

References: PayPal, Security Tips and Fraud Prevention
URL: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/fraud-prevention-outside

Poll Result - Internet Auction Fraud

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 2 Mar 2010 22:34:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipurl.com/ulktr

Hi everyone, it’s time to reveal the poll result for last week which is about the internet auction fraud. The previous poll question it asked “Have you ever done an auction through online before?” According to the result, 50% of the people selected second option which is “No, I don’t trust doing auction through online”, 30% of the people selected option 4 which is “Depends on which I can get for a cheaper price” and 20% of the people chose “No but I will like to give a try”.

So 1st of all what is internet auction? Internet auction is an item that offers for sale through online. Why are the people will purchase items from internet auction or willing to have a try on purchasing through online auction the advantages is because they could purchase an item at a discounted prices and they also able to purchase hard to find items, therefore they think it’s worth and safe to purchase it from internet auction. Actually it is not, because even online auction now also becoming a place where scam operators started to run their deception.

Therefore according to the result the highest percentage that people do not purchase through online auction is because nowadays getting more and more people becoming a victim of online auction. The reason why it happened is because of non delivery items occurred, actually most of the seller does not have the items but still they show up the items and waiting to get the buyer’s name and credit card number once the buyer purchase the items so after payment things will happen at that time is email of the seller no longer valid, the buyer couldn’t find any information or contact of the sellers if let say they get to contact the seller, the seller also give another reason to delay of the delivery items until the buyer realize that actually it is a fraud.

In conclusion, internet auction has their pros and cons so do check carefully before purchase any items through online. Stay tune to us we will provide you the proper preventions of frauds.

*Chiw*

Podcast - Lottery Scams 彩票欺诈(六合彩诈骗）

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:49:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipurl.com/uif87

Hey congratulations, you have won in a lucky draw and you will soon receive a cheque worth $600,000 U.S. Cash!”

Does it sound great? Yeah of course right?

But pause a minute and think carefully there is no free lunch in this world everything we have theres a price to pay for.
Lately lottery scams in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have rouse tremendously working out towards the citizens.
As we read we feel sadness and think back why are these people so ridiculous however the same incident have happen again and again to people without them realizing they have been conned.

So how does this lottery scams works?

In Malaysia and Singapore it is legal for the citizens to buy lotteries. So many people will hope that they pay out such a small amount of money hoping to get more money in return. Especially when the economy is down more people will want try their luck.
Nowadays people tend to focus on overseas lottery like America, Singapore, Australia as the currency is higher than us, and the winning money will be very much more then here locally. And this is where and how many people get con. As this scam operators are very smart and sneaky as they are able to speak in a very convincing manner explaining in details that you will never doubt it’s a scams to prove they even will send you emails and websites to prove to you that there is actually such thing but its all made up and fake.

Lottery scams is one of the most common types of email that we always receive in especially those emails that tell you, you have won a large amount of money in an international lottery or some others that are more o less the same please do not be so innocent to believe it and get too happy over it as this will make us lost our mind very fast. So when u hears all this remembers to stay away and do not believe it.

*Chiw*

Podcast- Penipuan Hadiah Percuma Melalui Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Tenesha) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:03:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/uie84

'Online Free Gifts Scams'

Im Tenesha, the title of my blog for this week is 'Online Free Gifts Scams'

Who doesn’t like free gifts or goods? Everyone likes free stuffs. Imagine a click of a button and we can get free gifts and goods! However pause just minute, do things come as simple as that? This is what people fail to realize and always find themselves trapped in internet frauds online advertisements about free gifts.

free gifts online can come in many forms from free goods, phone cards, free vouchers holiday packages, even free Wi-Fi and etc. A typical ad will be asking you to answer survey questions, complete sponsor offers or refer to few friends. The goods are expensive and valuable however some consumer don’t ever get their free goodies at all.

These sites indicates that by answering survey questions and you’ll get free goods however its more likely that you’re been registered in a drawing to win the item. Careless people always get trapped to these types of frauds because the initial advertisement of the site misrepresents the process of getting the freebies. The ad makes it so simple and easy however in reality the survey they sign up for may be in pages and in the end don’t necessarily receive anything at all.

Beware and make sure you only go to authorized sites here are few guidelines you can follow:

· Go with names that you recognize

Go to sites that you heard before. If you never heard of the company’s name goggle the name with the word ’scams’. If it’s a scams there will be complaints or articles about the company.\

· Get reliability report of the company

Uncover any complaints that have been filed under the name of the company from the Better Business Bureau (BBB)

· Check for the contact information

Look beyond emails address or contact form, look for address and telephone numbers and try calling if there’s anyone picks up. You don’t want get it one where the company doesn’t want you to contact them.

· Read the term and conditions and also the privacy policy

There might be hidden information and details that user may overlook at. Read every single line carefully especially regarding with your personal details.

· Look for trust marks and seals

Online trust marks are icons that tell you that these sites meets third party standards.

Glossary:

penipuan- scams

cabutan hadiah- lucky draw

awas- beware

pedoman- guidelines

kebolehpercayaan- reliability

Penipuan Kencan Dalam Talian!- Malay Version of Online Dating Scam

noreply@blogger.com (^^ErIcA^^) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:56:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/uif7z

English-Translated Script

[00:00-00:11] Peace to all! Welcome to IFRAUD-Monster! Online dating scam! Will you become the next victim?

[00:12-00:13] Don’t worry!

[00:14-00:24] In IFRAUD-monster, we will share and provide tips for you to prevent yourself from falling into the trap of online dating scam.

[00:25-00:34] So, how do we know or identify online dating scam? The answer lies in the profile and messages sent by that particular people.

[00:35-00:47] The first thing that should be given attention is the profile display picture. Most of the times, online dating scammer will use attractive and sexy photo as bait.

[00:48-01:05] A scammer with a female identity will use a sexy and attractive picture as their profile picture, whereas, scammer who with a male identity uses good looking and macho picture as their profile picture to lure their ‘preys’.

[01:06-01:19] All these photos most likely are photos stolen from the websites, hence, the person in the picture also become the online scam victim too.

[01:19-01:27]So, never trust anyone hastily regarding their appearance on the profile.

[01:28-01:48] In addition, be cautious when you received e-mail that appeals for money assistance. After the scammers have gotten the trust and confidence from the potential victims, they will try to get empathy and ask money from the victim by claiming that they are in difficulty and the urgency.

[01:49-01:52] Clearly! This is an online dating scam!

[01:53-02:18]Next, you can check on the usage of English like grammar and apeeling in the message sent by that particular people. By checking the grammar and spelling in his or her message, you can identify if that person is a scammer, where they claim that they have a good educational background. For example, a degree holder or professor but he or she is weak in writing. 31)

[02:19:02-31] In conclusion, be careful when involving yourselves in online dating. Here, hope that you are able to learn something useful from this podcast!

Glossary:

Kencan dalam talian: Online dating
Penipuan kencan dalam talian: Online dating scam
Laman-laman web: Websites

Online Pharmacy Scam

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:50:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipurl.com/ufboa

URL:http://www.washingtoninjuryattorneyblog.com/stockxpertcom_id146504_size0.jpg

Have you ever heard of online pharmacy? What is an online pharmacy? If yes, do you trust purchasing medicine through online? There are many people nowadays loves to purchase medicine trust online because it is more convenience buy it online and they are also able to get the medicine that they want from other places through online. However, lately the benefit online pharmacies had been misused by people who had made many people got cheated. This is what we call as online pharmacy scam. This type of scams usually able to be identify as that people do this scams to the victims often persuade them by recommending them many different types of medicines and drugs in a very low price that able to attract and tempt them to buy it more and more. In addition there are also some victims that purchase that harmful medicine without any instructions and opinions from a doctor. Therefore these scams are very dangerous as it could actually causes human’s health and worst it may even causes death to a person.

There are always lots and lots of spam emails that convince people to purchase their medication through online transactions but actually the purpose of them doing so is to get the credit cards details of that victim or hoping to convince the victim to do cash transfer willingly to their account. So, for those people who ordered the products that they recommend from them through online without checking on it, it is very risky for them to consume it because it doesn’t provide any guarantee that prove the medication can cure and can be consume by them worst for people to is already very week it might cause unnecessary damage to the victims organ that will make health works badly.

As there is a case where there is a lady and she was one of the victims of scams like this. She found out a websites that she felt was really amazing where they sell medicine that could actually able to help her to cure her sickness but in the medicine box or the surface of the bottle it is without prescription but she just because she want to cure her sickness she went and purchase from this website and end up she got worst and her life time that doctor had predicted for her is even more shorter as the medicine had make certain parts of her body organs virus spread even more faster. This is the reason why her healths become worst after she consume. Remember never simply consume and medicine without any doctor’s advice or prescription.
Reference: Yvonne Rodenhiser,Spotting Online Pharmacy Scams: Learn from My Mistake, [Online], Retrieved on 17 Febuary 2010.
URL: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/296926/spotting_online_pharmacy_scams_learn.html?cat=12

Therefore, in order to protect yourself from these scams,
1)You should be more alert of the medicines offers not only through online but everywhere and much often have more encourage to seek for the care of professional like doctors and pharmacist.
2)Does not open any unsolicited links or email or even files that attached to them.
3)Do not enter any of your personal online account or credit cards information on a website that you are not sure whether it is a trustable website or not
4)Always check the website carefully because scammers always set up a fake website that looks very similar to the real websites to con the victims.

Reference: Online Pharmacy Tracker, Online Pharmacy Blacklist, [Online], Retrieved on 17 Febuary 2010.
URL:

Reference: Scamwatch,Fake online pharmacies, [Online], Retrieved on 18 Febuary 2010.
URL:http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/FakeOnlinePharmacies

Website Cloning

noreply@blogger.com (Tenesha) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:52:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipurl.com/uf1rn

Website cloning these days are very popular. There are always websites and programs that teach you how to cone a website and also how the whole process does is done showing step by step instructions. Because of this there are some irresponsible people who take this opportunity to clone website and cheat user online. This scammers will clone famous websites that requires user to fill in their user name, password, personal information like bank account pin number, identification number and so on and the sole purpose is to illegally take their personal information and hack to their personal bank account. User will blindly type in all information asked without hesitating thinking it’s the real trusted website that have been logging into all this while.

To avoid being fooled here are some tips on how to check a site if its real:-

a. 1. Visit the banks website in the domain name in your browser

b. 2. Phone your bank to make sure if they requested for your details

c. c 3. You can also determine if the website is genuine a not by looking at language used on the website . if the it is fake the quality of language will be poor.

Other precautions to take:-

a. 1. Always check your bank account statements and balances especially if you use online banking and transactions.

b. 2. Be careful on what you download from the internet

c. c 3. Be careful while opening attachments via your email.

In this current world of technology everything is possible cloning a website is as easy as a,b,c this days for scammers these days its we as internet user that need to take the necessarily precautions as every click you click on the internet its your own responsibility.

-Tenesha-

Poll Result is Out!! (9th-16th February 2010)

noreply@blogger.com (^^ErIcA^^) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:55:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipurl.com/uetin

Do you know what phishing is? The options for that poll question are ‘Yes. I know what it is and how it works.’; ‘No. What’s it? A game?’ and ‘Not sure. Heard before but don’t know how it works.’ The purpose of setting this poll question is to find out how well people know about phishing before we write a topic on phishing. If you have already voted for the poll last week, then I think you might want to know what will be the result of the poll. So now, let’s reveal the result of the poll in 9-16th February 2010.

There are 45% of people voted for the option ‘Not sure. Heard before but don’t know how it works’. Apparently, it indicates that most of the people have heard about phishing but they are not sure how phishing works.

While, there are 33% of the voters voted for ‘No. What’s that? A game?.’ This indicates that 33% of the people have no ideas about what phishing is. They even do not heard of that before.

Besides, the lowest percentage is 22%. There are only 22% of people know about phishing and how phishing works.

In short, we can conclude that most of the people have heard about phishing but do not know how it works. In that case, we are going to talk more about phishing in the coming post. Stay tune~

Lottery Scams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:50:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipurl.com/ucidl

“Hey congratulations, you have won in lucky draw and you will soon receive a cheque worth $600,000 U.S. Cash!”

URL:http://static.which.net/media/images/guide-taster/foreign-lottery-scams-explained_300x200-141822.jpg

Does it sound great? Yeah of course right?
How long do you need to work to earn cash worth $600,000 U.S. right? Some people make take the whole life to accumulate such amount and some people may take years to earn that.
And now just right in front of your eyes you don’t have to do anything or pay any effort in return to get something instead you will automatically get such big amount of money. I can frankly say that it is definitely a fraud. Remember that, there is no free lunch in this world everything needs us to work it out ourselves to get such good return. If we have such thinking in our mind we will definitely able to stay away from such scam.
Reference: Brett M.Christensen, Email Lottery Scams International Lottery Scam Information, [Online], Retrieved on 10 February 2010.
URL: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/email-lottery-scams.html

However lately we found out that In Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore do have lots of scam working out towards the citizens. Nearly every day when we open the newspaper the news on scam is just so visible and everywhere around us. Why people always fall in such scam have you ever think of it before? Actually sometime we actually able to identify it as scam especially when we read the newspaper we might be thinking why such people can fall into such scam it is just so RIDICULOUS.
Reference: Consumers Fraud Reporting Lotteries, [Online] Retrieved on 10 February 2010.
URL: http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/lotteries.php

Yet when that incident really hits on us we do get con again. Normally such scam can successfully con us because we are greedy for such return that we do not need to do or sacrifice anything to get it. That’s why the humanity greediness is actually the main major that makes us fall in such scam. So we shall always remind ourselves there are no such thing as what we call money drop from sky or free lunch. This could at least prevent being the victim and the scam operators are the WINNERS. How do the scam operators work? They are smart to catch the interest of what people as bait to trap the peoples and one of the examples is through the lottery scam.
Reference: Lottery Scams, [Online], Retrieved on 12 February 2010
URL: http://www.fraudaid.com/scamspam/lottery/index.htm

In Malaysia and Singapore it is legal for the citizens to buy lotteries. So many people will hope that they pay out such a small amount of money in order to hope that there will be a big return of money as this is the lottery objective that the people who in charge wants to fulfill. Of course they do earn a lot but buying lottery actually also gives many people a fresh hope that they will able to strike and this will at least help them to get a better life or fulfill some dreams. Especially when the economy is down even more and more people will wants to buy the lottery just get a chance to gamble their see whether they will have such good luck or not that they will get such amount of money to past through the bad economy. In this incident greediness takes place again!

So in all such incidents if the lottery that you need to use lesser money to but the prize to won is in high return will be the one that all the people will focus to buy on. Especially when they themselves have strong confident that they will going to hit it will be the one that will invest in a larger sum of money and at the same time if those scam operators call to persuade them to buy stakes foreign lotteries which for sure will get higher return if those lottery is from places like America, London or even Australia will be the best bait use to trap the peoples. As we know their currency is higher than us and for sure the return also will be much higher than that lottery we buy in our country here. This is why many people got con in the lottery scam. As this scam operators are very smart. They are able to speak very well with you through phone or explain carefully as if such thing really exists through sending email and websites to prove to you that there is actually such thing.

Nevertheless since the country are so far from us most of us won’t bother to check or take much notice about it because the money they spend might be a small amount and they thing such advance and rich country will not have such scam problem. This is what most people have in mind. This is why more and more victims got con in such lottery scam. Remember that, everything on websites can be created easily. Some may take few days, some may take few years. So remember we should only believe what we see in our own eyes and please do not invest on things that we are not reachable or contactable in our distance as these things involve money and money is one of the sinful thing that some of us cannot resist from it.

As the conclusion I would like to say is lottery scams is one of the most common types of email that we will always received in our email and some if the web can detect it might send to your junks to awake you that’s is actually a real JUNK. You will have to make decision to open it or not and to believe it or not. Thus I feel that each and every one of us must always be careful with all the things happening around us don’t take the news in the newspaper as just a story take it as a hint or advice that we will have to be more careful and caution with the incidents that almost the same hits on us. Especially those emails that tell you that you have won a large amount of money in an international lottery or some others that are more o less the same please do not be so innocent to believe it and get too happy over it as this will make us lost our mind very fast.

Those scam operators are very smart. They will not make you notice or awake from your dream as fast as they will take few times to contact with you and to persuade you into the trap that they had set earlier. Many of them will never run away from those common dialogues which will then or later on ask for personal details, identity of the bank accounts and those transferring fees transactions. So when u hears all this remembers to stay away and do not believe it. As you will regret later on if you trust and do what they say.
Reference: Paul Gill, The Top 10 Internet/Email Scams, [Online], Retrieved on 12 February 2010.
URL: http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/scamsandidentitytheft/ss/top10inetscams_3.htm

DO NOT TAKE THINGS FOR GRANTED. EVERYTHING THAT WE GET NEEDS US TO WORK FOR IT. THERE IS NOTHING IN REALITY THAT WE DO NOT HAVE TO DO TO GET SUCH BIG AWARD. THEREFORE BEWARE THOSE SCAM OUT THERE.BE MORE CAUTION ESPECIALLY ADVICE TO THE OLDIES AND YOUNGSTERS.

*Chiw*

Diet and Weight loss Scam

noreply@blogger.com (^^ErIcA^^) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:22:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/ubvmg

“Lose 10kg in a week with no exercise and need not to go on diet!! Click here!”

Look familiar to you isn’t it? Seen this kind of advertisement in Internet before? It looks appealing, right? Feel like giving a try? Hold your step! Let’s ponder and ask yourself a few questions before you proceed to the ‘click’!

1. Will there be such effective products or treatment?
2. If it is really that effective, the whole world would be in amaze and keep talking about this product or treatment, right?

Undeniable, human tend to be attracted by promises that help to achieve something easily without effort. Hence, scammers exploit this mentality of people by creating these kind of ads in the Internet. However, don’t get trapped easily by doing some researches on that particular product.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), those advertisements or offers for a weight loss product is probably a scam. If...

1. You can lose weight quickly
Be skeptical of any advertisements that can guarantee you to lose more than 6kg per week. Avoid trusting these kinds of advertisements. Do remember that to lose weight healthily it takes time, you can’t expect it works just in a day or a week.

2. The product works for everyone
None of a single product that works for everyone including teas, herbal remedies and pills. Herbal teas can somehow help to curb the urge for snacks and assist in the diet program, yet, it can’t be treated as only source of meal. What is more, herbal ingredients aren’t regulated for effectiveness and safety by the US Food and Drug Administration.

3. Loss weight permanently and never diet anymore
To lose weight and maintain the body weight, one have to eat sensibly and of course a regular exercise is essential.

4. Melt away the fats or pounds
By applying cream, patch, gels or body wrap to an area of skin can melt away the fats in that particular body area isn’t proven scientifically. Even if with body wrap, it causes only a temporary loss of water due to excessive sweating. However, all the water has returned as soon as the person drinks enough.

Reference: Federal Trade Commission Official website, Facts for Consumer: Weighing the Evidence in Diet Ads [Online], Retrieved on 10th February 2010.
URL: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/health/hea03.shtm

Remember. That a click can make a big change to your life. "A click can change my life? I think you are just making a mountain out of a molehill!" Well, you will never know you might lose your health, money or even your precious life just because of taking these products.

Again, need not to worry. In I-fraud monster, we will provide you to tips to stay away from the scams and avoid these scams to reach you. Below are several freeware you can download to block the those pop-up ads:

1. AdAware

2. Pop-Up Blocker

3. STOPzilla.com

4. Pest Patrol (It helps to illiminate Spyware as well)

Reference: Something-Fishy.com, Diet Pill Ads and Diet Scam Pop-Ups [Online], Retrieved on 10th February 2010. URL: http://www.something-fishy.org/sfwed/pressrelease_dietads.php

^^ErIcA^^

Online Banking. Good or Bad?

noreply@blogger.com (Tenesha) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:53:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/ubg5i

The world has changed everything goes technology these days. Our daily clerical works can be done via the internet. We wanted to find out how much do people trust leaving up to the advancement of technology to do their daily chores so last week poll question we ask our readers whether they trust and will pay their bill online? Below are the results:-

The results above clearly shows that although technology has became one of the very important things in our daily life’s however people are still hesitating in using it certain areas for example online banking. 78% of the readers find that it’s just too risky doing their billing online as involves money transactions. Only 11% of them feels that the advancement of technology these days are good, it is save to billing online there’s nothing to be scared of. However the rest of them has mix feelings about it.

Online banking has been around for quite some time, here are the advantages and disadvantages of online banking.

Advantages:

1. Convenient. User can do transaction, paying bills and checking balances anytime and anywhere

2. Fast, Effective and Efficient. Its faster than ATMs and one can handle several accounts in a time.

Disadvantages:

1. Security Issues. Users are mostly concerned about hackers and anti-social elements. Hackers can hack in to the users account and use up all their money.

2. Necessity of the Internet. To do online banking one must have access to the internet with connection sometimes in certain places its impossible to have the connection to the internet.

3. Customer Care Services. Via internet the communication between a bank representative and the user might to slow as there’s no conversation takes place only all through written. And this sometimes may confuse the users and not getting the correct answer.

Reference: Ezine@rticles, Online banking:Advantages and disadvantages, Michael Russell

URL:http://ezinearticles.com/?Online-Banking:-Advantages-and-Disadvantages&id=445102

Online banking has its pros and cons the decision are up to the users. Carefully understand the cons and take necessarily precautions. Happy Banking! 

-Tenesha-

The 'Free-Product' Internet Scam

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 5 Feb 2010 00:27:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/ua3xe

Who doesn’t like free gifts or goods? Everyone likes free stuffs especially we Malaysians. Imagine a click of a button and we can get free gifts and goods! Who doesn’t want to? However pause just minute, do things come as simple as that? This is what people fail to realize and always find themselves trapped in internet frauds online advertisements about free gifts.

Beware of free gifts online, it can come in many forms from free goods, phone cards, free vouchers holiday packages, even free Wi-Fi and etc. a typical ad will be asking you to answer survey questions, complete sponsor offers or refer to few friends. The goods are expensive and valuable however some consumer don’t ever get their free goodies at all.

there are also sites which are free products with purchase where user will have to complete product offers free or paid, before releasing the free product, these sites may require friend referral . however its not as simple as it seems as these sites may come with strings attached- in the form of a charge in your credit card if you don’t follow certain rules set by the company. You may have to return or cancel within a specific time to avoid charges. Here are
few examples of sites: Myfreetrip.com, freecreditreport.com, annualcreditreport.com.

Beware and make sure you only go to authorized sites here are few guidelines you can follow:

Go with names that you recognize

Go to sites that you heard before. If you never heard of the company’s name goggle the name with the word ’scams’. If it’s a scams there will be complaints or articles about the company.\

Get reliability report of the company

Uncover any complaints that have been filed under the name of the company from the Better Business Bureau (BBB)

Check for the contact information

Read the term and conditions and also the privacy policy

There might be hidden information and details that user may overlook at. Read every single line carefully especially regarding with your personal details.

Look for trust marks and seals

Online trust marks are icons that tell you that the sites meets third party standards.

References: When is the freebie offer really free?by Leslie McFadden, March5, 2007

url: http://www.bankrate.com/msn/news/pf/free_not_free_20070305_a4.asp

by Tenesha

Online Dating Scams! Will I be the next victim?

noreply@blogger.com (^^ErIcA^^) — Wed, 3 Feb 2010 22:24:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/ua13z

Most of the things or we can say all things are created for a good purpose. However, things usually turn out to be detrimental as people begin to abuse them. For examples, weapons are made for the purpose of national and self-defense, yet, people use it to rob, murder innocents and do all sort of crimes. Likewise, online dating originally is to help singles to find their life partner. Again, scammers abuse it to swindle and take granted from the people that genuinely seek for life partner through Internet. There are thousands of people out there had fallen into the traps of those wicked online dating scammers and lost faith to online dating with a broken heart. So, will you be the next victim? Don’t worry! In this post we are going to tell you about more on online dating scams at the same time provide you useful tips to be a smart online dater. Well, you might think that you will never go for online dating, hence, what is the point of you reading this post? Yes, you are right. Nevertheless, you might not know the people around you, your friends or family might have chances to be the potential victim. So, read it as added information for you, your friends and family.

How do we know and identify a dating scam? The answer lies in the profile and message.

1. Attractive and appealing profile picture
Scammer whom with a female identity often uses a sexy and adorable picture as their profile picture, whereas, scammer who with a male identity uses good looking and macho picture as their profile picture to lure their ‘preys’. All these photos most likely are photos stolen from the websites, hence, the person in the picture also become the online scam victim too.
So, never judge a book by its cover. Don’t believe anyone hastily regarding their appearance on the profile.

2. The profile descriptions often are generalized
Scammers often describe themselves in general terms like easygoing, kind, loyal, truthful, sincere, loving, understanding, and caring, elegant, sociable, sensitive, gentle, cheerful, optimistic, romantic, warm, cuddly, hard-working, goal orientated, ambitious... You might find more than ten of these positive adjectives in their profile description. Isn’t that ridiculous?

Examples of online dating scam profile description:
“I am an open, loving, and romantic woman who enjoys reading, listening to music, and watching films. I love to cook, especially for others. I have a sense of humor which is a little left of center. I 'll admit that I have a tiny bit of baggage, but it's more carry-on than check-in. I am definitely ready to meet Him, the man I am meant to grow old with. I am sure I will definitely be a faithful and understanding wife...”

Reference: Online Dating Secret Friends, Dating Online Scams Seeking Vulnerable Victims [Online] Retrieved on 3rd February 2010
URL:http://www.onlinedatingsecretfriends.com/dating_online_scams.html

3. E-mail that appeals for money assistance
After a period of time, where trust romance and desire is established, the scammer will try to get the victim’s empathy and ask for money by claiming that they are in trouble and need money urgently. Obviously, this is a scam! Remember, do not simply give your money away.

Example of dating scam message:
‘’I heard a friend of my who lives in Nigeria she has an accident and she was in the hospital I have to move there to see her health when I arrive there I lost the hospital address and it night and I can't get flight at night cause it too dangerous for me to go home at nigth I have to log in a hotel for me to go the next day in the midnight some mens came so they attack me and stole all my money goods I brought In the hotel and they ran away but they did not hurt me i try to explain things to the hotel…so they said all they need is there money so right now am stucked in a hotel in Nigeria and all I now to come back home is to pay the hotel bill and i will be glad if you can.’’

Reference: Online Dating Secret Friends, Dating Online Scams Seeking Vulnerable Victims [Online] Retrieved on 3rd February 2010
URL:http://www.onlinedatingsecretfriends.com/dating_online_scams.html

4. English grammar and spelling in the message
By checking on the grammar and spelling in the message, you can easily identify if the person you are chatting with is an online dating scammer, whereby they claim that they have a good education background such as a Master degree holder. (Refer to the highlighted words in the example of dating scam message above)

Reference: Disabled world official website, Online Dating Scams

http://www.disabled-world.com/communication/disabled-dating/online-dating-scams.php

Poll Result is Out! (18/1-2/2/2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 2 Feb 2010 02:44:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/u9yh5

Good day everyone, it’s time to reveal the poll result for the last week which is about the vacation packages through online. So this is the question we have asked,” Have you purchased any vacation packages through on-line and what do you think about it?” We have 5 options for voters to vote and there are, ‘Yes, but faced a lot of miss-communication and hidden charges that was not posted up’, ‘Yes, It’s easy, convenient, and trustable’, No, I will never purchase it online it’s just too risky’, ‘No, but will try it someday’ and others.

According to the poll result, we have received 15 voters in 7days. We can see that out of the 5 options only 3 options that have been chosen by the voters. As we can see that the highest votes in the bar chart are the bar which contains 47% which had answered ‘No. I will never purchase it online it’s just too risky’. From the results we could analyze that the percentage of the people who choose this may had bad experience when they purchase online or they might have listen to many bad experience or news about the online purchasing. Therefore this had made them lost confident in purchasing online.

Furthermore, there are 33% of people who had chosen the option 4 which is ‘No. But will try it someday. People who had chosen that might be because they felt that online is not trustable enough that they will dare to put in a large sum of money to purchase it online but they might want to try it using a small sum of money first. From this people who had try might gain more secure in investing or purchasing from this company. As lately there are too many fraud cases around that make the people lost confident in it but people are also wise enough to think that not all companies are bad and not trustable. So still they will hope to try 1 day.

Lastly, the remaining 30% of people had chosen ‘Yes. But faced a lot of miss-communication and hidden charges that were not posted up’. Although they are many successful company that are doing online trading and purchasing worldwide however they are also some failures due to the communications problems it is because each or everyone of us have different thinking or some may due to culture different in each country. As only through online with wording document including rules and regulations are pretty hard to get 100% understanding from all the customers. Therefore is still not prefect purchasing online compared to face to face purchasing however things can be change to be better. Many companies are doing online business as it is easier and faster for them to communicate and business with worldwide people all around.

As the conclusion it is pretty beneficial to purchase online but then many people are still feeling insecure purchasing online. The world is changing to be more and more advance day by day that make all the daily routine like purchasing to be easier and cheaper. So is advisable that everyone should try purchasing through online.

Credit Card Frauds!

noreply@blogger.com (Tenesha) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:39:00 +0800

Link to us: http://snipr.com/u7o2

URL:http://mosnews.com/photos/22/1722_400x300.jpg

Owning at least one Credit card has become a trend to people these days. So how does actually credit cards link to one of the internet frauds? Well in this 21st century everyone wants things to be done as simple as possible and hassle free. To attract more users and make life more simpler for these credit card users banks have come up with many ways that customer can own a credit card and use one. Banks have made it very simple where from the procedures of filling up the application form, to purchase online items to settling credit card payment all online. It sounds so simple and totally modernized but stop just right there! People don’t see the big picture of it and the risk it brings to the applicants and the users. By applying online hackers and scamers can hack through accounts and obtain all your personal information, from you contact details, passwords to bank account numbers. And after this you can imagine want worst things can be done. All this have turned into a white collar crime where these scammers are not actually targeting the technology but the users through this technology.

To avoid fear and to build trust in the public banks are working hard to provide the best security bridge for customers, by equipping themselves with more secure anti-fraud codes and devices. According to David Chan, MasterCard’s International vice-president for operations and advanced payment products although Malaysia usage via electronic payment is still low however it is a ‘fast mover’ when responding to online fraud.

Reference:Malaysia ahead in fighting online credit card fraud, NetBuilder, 26 June,2006

URL:http://www.netbuilder.com.my/html/modules/news/article.php?storyid=20,

Here are few simple tips and guidelines one follow to combat credit card frauds:-

• Keep on eye on your credit card.
• Be careful to whom to give out your credit card to.
• Never respond to emails that requires you to give out your credit card info via email
• Never provide your credit information on a web site is not a secure site.
• Shred all credit card applications you received.
• Open credit card bills promptly and make sure there are no bogus charges.
• Don't write your PIN number on your credit card

Reference: Credit card fraud:21 tips to protect yourself, ScamBusters.org
URL: http://www.scambusters.org/CreditCardFraud.html

Avoid being of the victim. If you sense certain information is not right don’t go against your heart make everything clear before using it.

Always use common sense it is the best rule of thumb!

Cheers!
Tenesha :)