How to deal with kidnappers the chinese way

Demands of Kidnapper and Chinese negotiator

In our country we would:

• Shut down the street for 48 hours
• Take 12 hours to talk him out of it
• Spend £5 million giving him a fair trial
• And pay his food and lodging for life

No wonder Chinese products are cheaper than ours!!!!!

UK Property Rental Internet Scam.

Prospective tenants are being conned out of thousands of pounds in an elaborate internet scam, a BBC London investigation has found.

Fraudsters pose as landlords and advertise exclusive properties at low rents on advertising websites such as  Gumtree and Craigslist. They then claim that they are out of the country and need to see proof that the prospective tenants can afford the rent before they show them the flat. They ask the potential tenant to transfer a payment to a trusted friend or relative through a money transfer agency such as Western Union or Moneygram as proof that they have the funds. The fraudster requests a photocopy of the transaction as proof but than “poses” as the friend or relative and makes off with all of the money.

Gumtree said it was working with the money transfer agency Western Union to prevent the fraud but a spokesperson for Western Union said that their service should only be used to send money to family and friends and not to pay for goods or services.

“Don’t give the receipt or details for a money transfer to any person other than the person who is going to pick it up,” she said. The fraudster would have to provide the control number as well as ID to receive the cash. However, if they managed to create fake ID they might slip the net. “Our staff are trained to recognise ID, but they are not the police,” said the spokesperson. Western Union said it could not offer refunds to the people who have been defrauded by it.

Sisters Alexandra, 19, and Zaire Sheppard, 18, from Holloway in north London, have been victims of the scam.

They saw an advert on Gumtree for a two-bedroom apartment in Belgrove Street in Camden advertised for  £650 a month, plus a deposit of £700.

They e-mailed the owner, who called himself “Lin Dong”.

He claimed he had had trouble with tenants before and wanted proof the sisters could afford the rent and deposit.

Lin Dong asked Alexandra to send a payment of £1,350 through Western Union, not to him, but to a trusted friend or relative of her choice.

He then requested a scanned copy of the transfer payment receipt so that he could verify that she had the available funds.

Some time afterwards, a fraudster using fake identification, pretending to be Zaire Sheppard, walked into a Western Union office with the scanned receipt and took the money.

Alexendra said: “I was put off my guard because I was not asked to send the money directly to Lin Dong – I sent the money to my sister.”

Similar scams have been reported in various areas of London

BBC London checked the origin of the e-mails and found they were all sent from Lagos, Nigeria.

Trading Standards is worried about the increasing number of such online scams, and has warned online listing and money transfer sites to be more vigilant in checking for potential fake listings before they are published.

Free Sony Ericsson T18 & R320 Laptop Hoax/Scam

Last year I read about an extremely well distributed email hoax that was supposedly offering forwarders of the message a free laptop from Sony Ericsson.

Looks like the hoax is back again but this time in an enhanced and graphical format -

Or, alternatively, you may receive the text based version which is much like previous renditions -

Take a closer look and you will quickly realise why the new emails are just as much of a hoax as the previous ones!

Firstly, the email address hasn’t changed and still says it is from an Anna Swelung. If you check with Sony Ericsson they will tell you that Anna Swelung doesn’t even work for them.

Secondly, if you Google for the T18 or R320 you will find that they are not laptops, they are mobile phones!

Finally, the very fact that the message asks you to forward it onto your friends like a chain letter should be a red flag as this is a very common part of email hoaxes.

BUT, if anyone is lucky enough to get one, let me know!!!

Here’s the official word from Sony Ericsson

Top tips for better health on a budget

With the credit crunch really beginning to bite, who can afford expensive gym memberships and fancy diets. But there are other ways that you can improve your health without breaking the bank. We take a look at a few:

Drink water

The old favourite but many of us still aren’t drinking enough water. The daily recommended amount is 8 glasses a day which will improve your digestive function as well as help with concentration and better skin. Headaches and tiredness can often indicate that you are not drinking enough water and don’t waste your money on bottled, straight from the tap or filtered is fine.

Cinnamon

As an arthritis sufferer myself, this one really interests me. Adding half a teaspoon of cinnamon to your breakfast cereal, or sprinkling it onto your cappuccino instead of chocolate, can relieve the pain of arthritis as well as lowering cholesterol and balancing blood sugar levels . Even if you don’t like the taste of cinnamon, the  smell alone can boost brain function and improve memory.

Don’t forget to floss

As unlikely as it sounds, there is actually a link between gum disease and narrowing of the arteries (which can lead to heart attacks and strokes) so brushing twice a day and using dental floss could actually help you live longer.

Chewing Gum

As long as it’s sugar free then chewing gum can actually be good for your teeth because it cleans the surfaces of your teeth as you chew. It also and stimulates saliva production, which helps to neutralise the acids that attack your teeth.

A nice cup of Tea (Green Tea that is)

Studies have shown that green tea can lower cholesterol and reduce blood pressure. It can also balance blood sugar levels, helping to prevent Type 2 diabetes. And if you are watching your weight, green tea boosts metabolism which will help you burn off more calories.

Soya Milk

The benefits of soya products include lowering cholesterol levels and protecting the heart, and research has revealed that they may even help to prevent cancer.  Soya products could also help you to lose weight, as it contains arginine, which aids the breakdown of fat. Soya contains isoflavones, which are antioxidants thought to protect the walls of arteries.  Start by adding soya milk to your cup of tea and coffee.

Red Hot Chillies

It doesn’t really matter how you eat them, fresh or powdered, chillies are a great source of  vitamin A, which helps to protect the immune system. Their active ingredient – capsaicin – helps to speed up your metabolism and boost your calorie loss. In addition, they can also help to balance blood sugar levels and have blood-thinning properties, which benefits the heart and blood vessels.

Top Tips for committing the Perfect Crime

Does crime pay?

Well that really depends on 2 things. What you get out of it and whether you get caught. Be honest, we’ve all thought about it from time to time. If only we could commit a crime and get away with it. I’m not talking about the violent stuff here, I can’t condone that in any way, but what about the ‘frauds’ and the ‘scams’, surely they aren’t as bad. After all, your not hurting anyone, are you? I’ll leave that for you to work out but if crime is for you, you need to know how to go about it.

 

The best reason to commit a crime – PROFIT

Why profit? Well, for starters, because you need motivation to commit a crime, a reason to break the law . There’s no point in committing a crime if your going to get nothing out of it. People commit crimes because they want money and once you realize that money is the best possible motivation, you need a victim. 

The Victim

A victim is anybody who suffers because of the crime you commit. The victim is the owner of whatever it is that you took. Now, the crucial thing is to pick your victim carefully. The victim doesn’t even need to be one person, it can be a group of people, a company or even a whole country (I’ll come to that later). The best victims are the ones that you don’t know, so don’t steal off friends and family.

The Crime

Once you have a victim you need to do some actual planning and decide what kind of perfect crime you want to commit. Think carefully because the type of crime you commit will have a bearing on the punishment you may or may not receive if you get caught. 

Accomplices’

If there’s anyone else in on the crime, keep them close to you at all times and make sure that they have got as much to lose as you.

What if you get caught?

Deny it and keep denying it until the evidence is so overwhelming that there is only one way out. Run? No, don’t be silly….Sing like a Canary… and let someone else take the fall.

Is there such thing as a perfect crime? One where you can steal from your victim yet even if you get caught there is no punishment, at worst you just offer to pay the money back to your victim. Let me think…I know…

                                                   BECOME AN MP AND CLAIM EXPENSES!!!!!

How to avoid internet scams

There is an epidemic sweeping the world and it’s not Swine Flu. Internet scamming is the latest big thing and it seems we have all either been caught out or know of someone who has. The World Wide Web (WWW) truly is a wonderful creation and allows us to communicate on levels never previously possible. If you have ever “googled” or “twittered” than you will realise just how easy it has become to get your message across to millions of people in the blink of an eye.

But the negative side to this is that “scammers” or “fraudsters” can also use the same tools to send their messages out to millions of unsuspecting and vulnerable targets. Before we get carried away here let’s not jump to the conclusion that everyone out there is trying to rip us off. There are plenty of legit businesses providing a great and honest service, but like anything in life we only tend to read about the bad ones. The crooks have always been there, but they are smarter now and the internet has made their ‘job’ a lot easier.

So how can you avoid being a victim of an internet scam? Unless you don’t buy anything online or in fact don’t use the internet at all, and that includes emails, then you will always be at risk but follow a few simple rules and the chances of being “scammed” will reduce dramatically.

• Never click on a website link contained in an email, especially from anyone asking you to verify financial information or passwords.
• Shop on trusted sites displaying site security information and contact details. If there is no address or telephone number keep away.
• Only make payment through approved methods such as Pay Pal or through the sites shopping cart. Don’t use Western Union or Wire Transfer to send money.
• If you don’t know the site, ALWAYS check them out first on Google. If there has been any problem in the past, someone will have posted an article about it.
• Never disclose any personal information until you are sure the site is secure and authentic.

I recently received an email myself from a Chinese electrical wholesaler offering to sell discounted, branded computer equipment and mobile phones. I have no idea where they got my email address from but after a quick bit of digging around, I found several people who had already been “ripped off” and sent money for items they either never received or were fakes. There are loads of websites who publish lists of scam firms, but as quick as one shuts down a new one will emerge. Best advice?…..

                                          If it sounds too good to be true it probably is!!

How to get a man to wash his hands

IF YOU HAVE EVER WONDERED HOW TO GET A BLOKE TO WASH HIS HANDS AFTER HE HAS BEEN TO THE TOILET, THIS MIGHT JUST BE THE ANSWER. WORKS FOR ME!