Historian Goes to Jail for Theft of Lincoln's and Washington's Letters

Edward Renehan Jr., 52, is a historian of a different kind. Instead of doing historical research or writing history books, he tried to do a somewhat different kind of historical activity and in the process, he made himself in history as ‘The Historian Who Stole the Letters of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Went to Jail’.

He was sentenced on Friday to a year and a half in prison after apologizing for stealing the letters.

Edward Renehan Jr., 52, also must pay more than $86,000 in restitution to a Manhattan gallery where he tried to resell the letters, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin ordered as he imposed the sentence.

Renehan admitted he stole the presidential letters in 2006 and 2007 from the Theodore Roosevelt Association, based in Oyster Bay, on Long Island. He was then its acting director.

Among the letters, one was handwritten by Lincoln on March 1, 1840; two were written by Washington. One of those was dated Aug. 9, 1791, the other Dec. 29, 1778.

Renehan still faces a state charge of stealing and trying to auction off a 1918 letter that President Roosevelt wrote about his son Quentin's death in World War I.

Roosevelt Association director Jim Bruns said outside court that it was "a painful pill when a historian is caught in a position like this." But he said it was a significant breach of trust that must be faced.

Source: The Associated Press, NY, USA

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Scam Artists Fine-Tune their Portfolio with Armed Robbery

Police are looking for a few scam artists in Austin, Texas, who just upped the ante from theft to armed robbery.
These scam artists first talk to people very gently for giving them donation. They say it is for a charity organization. However, if the victim refuses, they pull out a gun and force them to hand over money.

Seems like they have perfected their new art!

The suspects have African accents and are working in groups of two or three.

One of the suspects is a man in his 50s in a black felt hat with a short brim and a tattoo on his left arm with the letter E or H.

Source: KXAN-TV, Austin, TX, USA

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The Digg Fraud

Digg is a social bookmarking service where you submit links. If the links are popular (voted by friends, fans and others) they are listed on the Digg frontpage.
Apparently, only a miniscule portion of the submissions appear on the frontpage and that are also submitted by a very small majority of an alleged ‘Elite Digger Ring’.

There are a million visitors on Digg daily. That pops up a very interesting scenario. A scenario where money ‘the Great God’ is involved. A single frontpage article can send in visitors to a site by the thousands per minute. In addition, as with every ‘big money thing’ there is always a black game where without the help of the institution that is concerned you can’t make money, as is the matter with the fraudulent Establishment.

It is alleged that Kevin Rose is allied with a select few Diggers and that constitute the ‘Elite Digger Ring’. As you can understand it is a matter of ‘big money’, nothing can be impossible.

It is apparent that Diggers like MrBabymen, Msaleem and a few others have Dugged a gigantic amount and sometimes they Digg so quickly that you will be baffled. But their accounts are not banned instead you find the newbie Digger, that unsuspecting and unknowing fool’s account being banned with a one or two sprinkles from the top to bring in a show of reality to the show.

Here’s what one banned newbie Digger by the username of xDigger has to say:

“I was only a few days baby on Digg. On my third day of my Digg Life I had Dugg about 320. It was a holiday and I decided to spend the day Digging articles I like. I was banned the following day, but that is a small matter. They also had banned Zaibastu. He was the only guy who noticed me in the sea of Diggs, made me a friend and Dugg my first article. This is indeed very bad.

What’s bad in using scripts, if it can save your time? For is not the computer an invention that helped humankind save time. Now will you ban the computer from being used in offices and specially in Digg’s offices for it is saving time?”

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Detention Sergeant Arrested for Theft from Inmates

Amado Martinez, was a detention sergeant of the Pinal County Sheriff's Office Detention Facility. But his acts were somewhat against the colors of his uniform.
He was indicted on Friday on 18 charges, including theft from inmates, forgery and identity theft.

A staff employee at the Pinal County Adult Detention Center discovered Martinez was stealing money from inmates, investigators said.

Martinez was booked into the Pinal County detention facility on a $100,000 bond.

Source: KPHO Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ, USA

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Alexandria Woman Arrested for 17 Thefts

‘Frailty, thy name is woman,’ said the bard. Although some may say that he was incorrect, but a recent exploit by a ‘she’ turns the table upside down.

Alma Rene Williams, 22, of 2052 Overton St., Alexandria, is a woman miraculous – unlike any of her kind that we know or may have known.

Alexandria police arrested and charged her with 17 counts of theft in connection with the theft of cell phones and cash from Alltel Wireless over the past few months.

The charges are: one count of theft of more than $500, six counts of theft between $300 and $500 and 10 counts of theft of less than $300, police said.

An employee of Alltel Wireless at 3611 Jackson St. alerted police on Aug. 13 to the theft of money and 20 cell phones. After an investigation, officers arrested Williams, an employee of the store.

Source: Alexandria Town Talk, Alexandria, LA,USA

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24 Cracking Tips to Save Yourself from Identity Theft and Credit Card Fraud

Don't just rely on insurance to protect you from identity theft and card fraud. It's much better to take these precautions to prevent it from happening in the first place!

These tips can save you from financial loss and the pain and effort needed to make it right again:

Identity-theft insurance:

A typical identity-theft insurance policy will pay for such things as rejected loan application fees and lost wages if you have to take time off work to reclaim your identity. The biggest benefit, in my opinion, is that many providers will be able to tell you what to do, who to report to, which companies to call and so on. This might be useful if you think you wouldn't keep a cool head in that situation.

Credit-card protection insurance:

A typical credit-card protection policy will cover you for loss due to fraud up to a specified limit, perhaps £5,000. Once you have reported the loss to the insurer, the limit for any additional losses that occur after the report could rise to £50,000 or £100,000. In addition, these insurances will often cover cash that has been stolen with your cards (up to a few hundred pounds).

Other benefits can include a service that will contact all your card providers to notify them of theft and to get replacement cards re-issued. Furthermore, if, because of the theft, you have no money to get home, the policy will probably pay for your transport costs too. The cost of replacing documents such as your driver's license and passport may also be covered if they go missing at the same time as your cards.

Are these insurances worth it?

Identity-theft and card protection insurances may particularly benefit people who are victims of fraud that is committed outside Europe, as it can sometimes be harder then to recover your money. However, I believe that identity-theft and card protection insurances are of negligible value to most people. This is because of these basic rights:

1. Credit-, debit- and charge-card issuers must bear the cost of fraudulent use. In some cases, you have to pay for part of the loss, but this is limited to £50. The exception is if you're grossly negligent, e.g. if you write your PIN on your card.
2. If you make a purchase worth £100 to £30,000 with a credit card and you have a problem with your purchase, your credit-card issuer is equally liable to refund you. This means you can ask your credit-card company to refund your account in addition to the vendor.

This leads us to the third way to protect yourself and your money:

Be careful!

If you're careful, the chances of suffering from fraud are very low. If you have a loss, it can take a while to fix it and get your money back, and this can be stressful. That's why it's best to be alert. We've not shared any tips on this for a while, so here are the better ones:

Documents:

1) Keep your cheque books separate from your credit cards.
2) Keep your driver’s license separate from your keys (as your license has your address on it).
3) Keep your passport safely hidden away when traveling.
4) Shred all documents with your personal or financial details, rather than bin them.
5) Check bank and card statements for unfamiliar transactions
6) Re-direct your post when you move and notify all companies that send you post of your new address.
7) Check your credit report occasionally.
8) Ignore letters that seem too good to be true; the ones that offer you money for nothing or ask for personal details.

Cards:

1. Report missing cards immediately.
2. Don't let restaurant and shop staff take your card out of your sight, because they might clone it.
3. Inform your bank if you're planning a trip abroad, so they don't get suspicious of your overseas transactions and bar your cards.
4. Be paranoid about people finding out your PIN number. Try to memorize it, not write it down, and cover it up when you enter it into readers or cash machines.
5. Put all your cards on a photocopier and copy both sides. Write the emergency contact numbers for each provider on the paper. Then store it somewhere secret and safe.

Computer and telephone:

1. As with letters, ignore dodgy calls or emails that ask for money or personal details from you.
2. Don't click through links sent to you by email from your bank or any other financial organization. Often these are cleverly disguised 'phishing' attacks to lead you to fake websites, where you enter, and therefore reveal, your personal details and passwords.
3. Be careful with your passwords, and don't choose anything obvious.
4. Don't give passwords to anyone who calls you, regardless of who they say they are. Find the correct number online and call them back, so you know it's not a fraud.
5. Make sure you see the padlock sign before you type personal details into forms on the Internet.
6. Get some anti-spyware and anti-virus software. Don't be conned into buying a fake product though! Get tips from your IT friend, or pick software you know has a good reputation. I've used Ad-Aware and Spyware Doctor for anti-spyware, but other well-known packages are Norton and McAfee. I've used McAfee's anti-virus software too.
7. Scan all attachments you receive by email for viruses.
8. If you download (i.e. open or save) any files from the Internet, save them to your computer first and then scan them. Don't just open them.
9. To be extra safe, don't download files from sources you don't know and trust.
10. Try to resist putting your personal details on networking sites such as Facebook for all to see.

Source: Motley Fool UK, UK

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China's Dangerous Milk Scam

Nearly 10 percent of milk samples from three top Chinese dairy companies contained toxic melamine, the government quality watchdog found in tests for the banned chemical that has killed four children.

Melamine is a toxic industrial chemical rich in nitrogen. It is added because it can make watered-down milk's protein level appear higher.

Melamine is very dangerous. Four infants have died in China, and hundreds of children have been diagnosed with kidney stones after drinking the contaminated milk. It was linked to the deaths of cats and dogs in the United States last year.

Coffee chain Starbucks fears it may have taken contaminated milk from supplier Mengniu Dairy It has pulled the company's milk from its 300-plus cafes in mainland China.

Source: Forbes, NY, USA

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Mississippi Student Arrested for theft of $100K

Jake Marshall is a 23-year-old doing his communications major from Biloxi. He was arrested on Tuesday by the Mississippi attorney general's office.

Why was he arrested? No, not because he stole boiled eggs or toasted bread, but on two counts of wire-fraud.

According to investigators, Marshall used the checking account and routing numbers off his paycheck from Tampa, Fla.,-based Barbizon modeling school to allegedly funnel up to $100,000 into an account with Tuition Management Systems, a private vendor used by Mississippi College.

They say that he spent his summer handing out fliers at Northpark mall for Barbizon and entered the numbers on the bottom of his paycheck into Tuition Management Systems' online form, apparently with the plan of paying his tuition and pocketing the rest.

Jan Schaefer, spokesperson for Attorney General Jim Hood, said investigators arrested Marshall on campus after he picked up a check for $19,000 cut from the tuition service.

Mississippi College will hold a disciplinary hearing next week to determine Marshall's future as a student.

He is being held at the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond until his court appearance, which has not been scheduled.

Quite an ingenious method for paying tuition fees!

Source: Jackson Clarion Ledger, Jackson, MS, USA

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$33 Million SoCal Fraud - 18 Arrested from LA

Federal authorities arrested eighteen people from Los Angeles area accused of filing more than $33 million worth of phony Medicare bills.

The authorities say they arrested the suspects Thursday after the FBI searched six locations, including a clinic in South Los Angeles. Those arrested include clinic owners, medical professionals and owners of medical equipment companies.

Eight federal indictments allege they submitted bills to Medicare for unnecessary medical equipment, including motorized wheelchairs and hospital beds.

The charges include submitting false claims and conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Some of those charged with multiple crimes could face dozens and even hundreds of years in prison if convicted.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, CA, USA

Related Links:
AP State News - 18 arrested for alleged $33-million SoCal fraud
18 arrested for alleged $33-million SoCal fraud - MontereyHerald.com

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Colossal Amount of Chinese Fake Flash Memory

A huge number of fake flash products are very easily available in the Chinese markets, reports a media firm.

A large quantity of “fake” NAND flash is showing up in the China market. The counterfeit products are packaged as finished products, such as memory cards or USB flash drives, from brand-named suppliers, but the fake chips themselves appear to have Samsung Electronics markings on them. It is unclear who and when noticed the counterfeit products, which are usually re-labeled flash cards or drives that are also completely unreliable.

This is hardly the first time when counterfeit products emerge on the emerging markets, however, given that flash memory is now used widely across the world, it can be expected that fake flash products may also be found on well developed markets. For example, re-labeled USB flash drives were sold rather widely through eBay several years ago.

Not only are these a threat to users but they are also pose a grave danger to the manufacturers. These fakes are very cheap and they compete against the normal devices on the market. Since flash-based products usually come in sealed packaging, distributors and computer stores cannot test them all of them, hence, users may easily get faulty devices.

Neither Samsung Electronics nor any suppliers of branded memory cards or USB flash drives issued official statements on the matter.

Source: X-bit Labs, Los Angeles, CA, USA

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4 Solid Steps to Stop Your Bike From Being Stolen in the Campus

A college is a perfect place for a ride. Ride to class, ride to the nearest gossips, ride the the nearest mountains or the countryside, or ride anywhere. However, today's bikes cost $500 to $1,500 and more, and they've become prime theft bait. So much that campus police departments are warning students to leave their nice bikes at home.

It’s very easy to steal a bike but very hard to identify the thief.

It is a plague. Nearly 1.5 million bikes are stolen each year from college campuses.

Apparently, bike theft rings are at least partially responsible. These rings sell stolen bikes for drug money, and they're good at it. And, according to a recent report about a man in Toronto who stole over 2,800 bikes himself, bikes also have considerable scrap metal value with today's high commodity prices.

4 tips (must read tips) to avoid your dear bike from being stolen:

1. Check homeowners coverage:

It varies by policy, but you may have some coverage for a student's bike in your homeowners insurance, if the student is living on campus. That off-premises coverage covers most property away from home including items in a car, and might be 10% of the total property coverage, says Cris Barnette, a Farmers Insurance agent on the West Coast.

If the student lives in an apartment off campus, he'll need a renter's policy. And you also need to consider the deductible. The point: check with your agent.

2. Buy the right bike:

"Buy a bike you don't mind losing," says Richard Amneus, a bike shop owner in Oregon. "If you must have a good bike, keep it in your room for special occasions and use the 'beater' to go to class."

It might sound like taking advantage of a bad situation, but buying unclaimed bikes from local law enforcement agencies is the best. Once a waiting period has elapsed, they are fair game and cheap.

3. Make the bike identifiable:

According to studies cited by the National Bike Registry, some 48% of stolen bikes are eventually recovered by law enforcement, but only 5% ever find their way back to the owners. Putting a card, like a business card, under the grips is a good solution.

You can also register the serial number with the National Bike Registry. See the site.
But note: Serial numbers (and bike registry numbers) can be easily eliminated by thieves.

4. Ride and park smart:

If you have a nice bike, don't leave it in a dark place all by itself and available to the masses. Park and lock it in a place where lots of bikes are parked, and next to more expensive bikes if possible.

So, enjoy those crisp fall morning rides, and keep your bike through the school year.

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46 Years Old Man Arrested for Theft of 247 Empty Beer Cans

He is a 46 year old man from Waterford. He is a crack addict.

On early Tuesday, he had no money for crack. Therefore, he went to a 7-Eleven store, opened the doors of its outside storage room and grabbed a large bag. The bag was filled with empty beer cans. He stashed it into his car and made his way.

But the police – they are an awful lot – maybe! They stopped him and in no time, he was behind the bars. They recovered 247 cans worth about $25.

Later, he told the police that his crack addiction forced him into doing the theft.

The police did not reveal the man’s name.

Related Links:
Waterford man stole cans for crack

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100 Arrested in Passport Scam Using Dead Americans' Birth Certificates

Federal authorities on Tuesday announced the arrests of more than 100 people including 30 from the Bay Area. These people are suspects in a US Passport Scam using birth certificates of dead Americans.

Between July 2005 and August 2008, 112 individuals across the country were charged with federal passport fraud and related offenses, according to the U.S. State Department. The individuals charged include fugitives, military deserters, delinquent taxpayers, parolees, convicted felons, habitual drunken drivers and undocumented workers from more than 20 countries, all of whom wanted passports to hide from law enforcement, according to authorities.

Dubbed "Operation Deathmatch," the investigation was a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Diplomatic Security's San Francisco and Los Angeles field offices and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Sacramento field office.

Senior security service officials from both agencies, who did not want to reveal their names, said investigators merged California's death record database, going back to 1940, with passport requests. Though this type of investigation is ongoing, the officials said, this operation was the largest and most successful because computer technology is so much more advanced than it used to be.

The Deathmatch defendants include Chih-Fong Chen of Atherton, an undocumented Chinese immigrant. She stole the birth certificate of a deceased woman, Lorena Lew, while she was working for the Jocelyne J. K. Lew Immigration Law Firm.

And while it's possible for terrorists to steal and use other people's identities, senior diplomatic security officials with the U.S. State Department said there were no defendants charged with terrorism as part of this investigation.

Officials also said that there was no particular reason for announcing the results of Deathmatch Tuesday, especially since the work is ongoing and began in 2005.

Most of the people charged were arrested or surrendered in federal courts, according to the U.S. State Department. Some remain fugitives. Federal passport offenses carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Law enforcement officials also seized three firearms, $650,000 in cash, a Mercedes and more than 80 of the fraudulently obtained U.S. passports.

Related Links:
Some here snagged in fake ID-passport sting
Two Santa Cruz County men busted in passport fraud sting
Nationwide Passport Scam Investigation Nets Bay Area

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Two 13-Year Olds Try to Rob With a Fake Gun

Two boys, both 13-years old, tried to rob a 46-year-old man outside his Hollywood Avenue home. They were using a fake handgun.

The man spotted the boys looking at his motorcycle outside his home. He asked them what they were doing. Suddenly, one of them pointed a fake gun towards him and asked him what was in his pockets. He tried to grab the boy but both of them ran away.

The man did not stop; instead, he gave them a chase. He captured one of them and the police captured the other nearby.

Both were then turned over to the Youth Division and charged with first-degree attempted robbery.

The incident has prompted Police Commissioner Edmund Hartnett to schedule a press conference. He discussed the dangers and consequences of using fake guns in the conference.

Related Links:
Cops: Fake gun used in attempted robbery
Two teens face serious charged for holding up man with fake gun

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The Chi-Rho Amulet is Fake

A unique Roman silver cross. The earliest Christian artifact found in Britain. Can it be fake? Yes, many consider it to be so.

And amidst this fracas it was sent for testing.

The Chi-Rho Amulet was found in an early fifth century cemetery in Somerset. It was found in the year 1990. It is regarded as a very important evidence of Christianity in Roman Britain.

A new technique known as ‘inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry’ may help in this case. This technique will determine the exact metallurgical make-up of the amulet. This data will then be compared with data held on other Roman silver. Only then it will be clear if it is fake or not.

Related Links:

The Truth Against the World

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65 Year Old Elkhart Man Tries to Stop Theft

A 65 year old man from Elkhart was grabbed onto a pickup truck and was dragged about 200 feet.

His crime? He tried to stop scrap metal thieves from stealing.

The man was hospitalized on Monday with multiple broken bones and possible internal injuries. Police didn't release his name.

Police say the man tried to stop two men who had broken into a pole barn he owned along Indiana 19 in Elkhart, but the men ignored him and began to leave in a Dodge pickup truck. The building owner then grabbed the truck and was dragged about 200 feet when the truck didn't stop.

A witness saw the man fall off the truck and stayed with him until emergency workers arrived.

But whatever happened, we have to praise this old man for his courage and bravery in front of adversary.

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Bullying and Theft Rife at Holloway Women Prison

Women prisoners at the Holloway prison in north London felt very unsafe. Inspector Anne Owers has reported this finding. Her report also states that bullying and theft is very common inside the prison.

Prison managers are already acting on the need to improve the level of security inside the prison.

The inspection found levels of "victimisation" by other prisoners was nearly twice as high as at similar prisons, Ms Owers said.

Phil Wheatley, director general of the National Offender Management Service, said: "Holloway has now implemented a new violence reduction strategy, produced following consultation with women on safety issues."

Ms Owers said: "Our major concern, and that of many of the women we spoke to, was bullying and pilfering on the residential units," she said.

"Much of this was low-level, but appeared to be accepted as part of life at Holloway."

The report also found that the level of self-harm among the women inmates were high.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "Once again prison inspectors have found that our overcrowded prisons are holding many mentally ill women who should not be jailed."

Related Links:
Prison Self-Harm 'At High Levels'
Holloway self harm levels 'high'
Nat APge 19 Bullied inmates feel unsafe at women’s prison
Cells at the city's jail 'not fit for purpose'

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Concordia E-mail Phishing Scam

During the past several weeks, Concordia e-mail users have received emails requesting for details about their e-mail accounts, including requests to provide “usernames” and “passwords”. It also states that if you fail to provide the information your account will be disabled.

These requests are from individuals attempting to gain access to your e-mail accounts so that they can send SPAM from them . . ., which is also something that has happened over the past several days. Unfortunately, several users provided their account information, which resulted in those specific e-mail accounts being used to send thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands or even millions of SPAM messages to individuals across the world. Over the past weekend, Concordia received such notification that some of their student e-mail accounts were used to distribute SPAM. When they receive such notices, they reset the account password so that those accounts can no longer be used for spamming.

Those individual account owners who are unable to log-into their mail, please contact the Solution Center – 3375 – to have your password reset.

Please be cautious and suspicious when anyone ask for your account information. If you have any doubts about the request, follow your instincts and DO NOT respond.

The only ITS staff at Concordia who are likely to contact you about your accounts, and who will NEVER request your password via e-mail are:

Dennis Duncan, Director, Infrastructure Services Rasul Shishehbor, Systems Administrator Tony Pietrzak, Systems Administrator Rick Meidinger, Network and Security Engineer Bruce Vieweg, CIO.

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King to be Sentenced for $109 Million Fraud

Former Port Macquarie bus tycoons Tony and Peter King will face separate sentencing hearings for defrauding the National Australia Bank of money amounting to $109 millions.

The court had already convicted Tony King for defrauding the bank of $44 million.

He claimed the King Brothers bus company owned 144 used Mercedes Benz buses. However, the buses did not exist.

He is already serving time and will be sentenced on Thursday on a new charge of defrauding the bank of a further $65 million.

His twin, Peter King, is out on bail.

He will be sentenced in early November on the combined charges of defrauding NAB of $109 million.

Both have pleaded guilty to the most recent charges. They will be sentenced in the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney.

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100's of Workers Fall Prey to 2012 Olympics Job Scam

2012 Olympics – get a job now! Thousands have fallen to this trap, mainly eastern European workers on a fake website claiming to have non-existent jobs for the 2012 London Olympics.

BBC London alleges that more than 500 Slovakians paid £600 deposits to a convicted fraudster who then disappeared.

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell is working with the police to investigate the scam.

It is claimed that Nigel Lewis had advertised for some staff to work in the Olympics Village in a programme.

For a deposit transferred into Mr Lewis's firm UK CruiseLine Ltd, the would-be employees would be given accommodation on a cruise ship in London Docklands and a job on the site of the Games.

However, after 550 Slovakians had handed over their money, Mr Lewis disappeared, it is alleged. Some took out loans to raise the capital needed for the deposit.

Any Slovaks who did come to London found that the UK CruiseLine offices were deserted and the three cruise ships that were supposed to be moored at the King George V dock near Stratford had also gone, the BBC programme states.

The BBC tracked down Mr Lewis working in a Dartford hotel. He told them that no profit had been made from his UK CruiseLine venture.

"I've worked on this project almost 12 months solid and I've got nothing for it, just heartache," he said. He also insisted that he had intended to buy three cruise ships and secure jobs on the Olympic site but that "it just went out of control".
Programme-makers have now handed over their evidence to the police.

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60% American Youths Watch Fake News

The Daily Show is the most popular nightly news show in America among the 18-31 age groups.

Experts say that young American adults are more likely to get their political news from the Daily show and its counterpart, the Colbert Report rather than from network programs.

Research has shown that between 48 and 60 per cent of young adults watched fake news shows to get information about the 2004 American presidential campaign.

Though these shows may be humorous they leave their viewers less politically informed which is bad for a democracy and the proper formation of a good point of view and political opinion.

Researchers from Ohio State University found television viewers who watch fake news programs are less informed about issues and candidates in election campaigns than those who watch network news shows.

Young Mie Kim, co-author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State., said both news and entertainment promote some knowledge gain, "but people who are exposed to news gain more factual information and learn more about a wide range of important topics than those exposed to entertainment media.

Related Links:
How a satirist became America's most influential TV personality

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10 Tips to Save Yourself from Credit Card Fraud

Follow these 10 steps to save yourself from credit card fraud:

1. Never provide your credit card information on a website that is not
a secure site.

2. Sign your credit cards as soon as you receive them.

3. Shred all credit card applications you receive.

4. Don't write your PIN number on your credit card - or have it anywhere near your credit card.

5. Never leave your credit cards or receipts lying around.

6. Open credit card bills promptly and make sure there are no bogus charges. Treat your credit card bill like your checking account - reconcile it monthly. Save your receipts so you can compare them with your monthly bills.

7. If you find any charges that you don't have a receipt for - or that you don't recognize - report these charges promptly (and in writing) to the credit card issuer.

8. Shred anything with your credit card number written on it.

9. Never sign a blank credit card receipt. Carefully draw a line through blank portions of the receipt where additional charges could be fraudulently added.

10. Ideally, it's a good idea to carry your credit cards separately from your wallet - perhaps in a zippered compartment or a small pouch.

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Fake E-mails Purports to be from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

An email arrives from the foundation asking people to go to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation International Training Workshop. The invitations sent by the email looks very inviting and real but alas! there is no such summit or workshop.

People who got the e-mail were told to send a registration fee to Dr. Norman Trevor of Togo in West Africa. The money but would never reach the foundation. The people, those who sent their money, were made a hypnotist’s cock and the scammer’s, now, probably are lavishing under the African sky.

So, be on the lookout for such e-mail and just delete them and warn your friends.

Source – David Colker

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