Here is another alert if you have a bank a/c.

Subject: New cheating scam – Be alert

Any cheque banked in into your account need a few days to transact. Although the amount appears in your account, but it’s still pending for transaction, the person issuing the cheque can cancel the cheque at any time!

A few days ago, one of my friends received a sms with the message:  “You’ve strike 1st prize with a prize money of RM200,000 cash.”  The sms came with a contact no My friend ignored it since he had heard of too many bogus scams using similar tactics.

After a short while his handphone rang, a Miss Fang asked: “Sir have you received a sms telling you that you’ve strike 1st prize?” My friend answered: “Yes, I have” Miss Fang: “Please let us have your bank account number so that we can deposit the money into your account. My friend thought, why not, let’s see what you can do. My friend has a buddy who works in that bank. Hence, he gave her his account number.

Ten minutes later, my friend’s handphone started ringing again. Miss Fang said: “Sir, we have deposited your prize money into your account,  please check and verify.”  My friend checked using his handphone and found that RM200,000 was really deposited into his account. He was euphoric, just like that and he’s RM200,000 richer!

30 minutes later, Miss Fang called again.  She was crying: “I’m sorry sir, I made a mistake, I forgot to deduct the tax before I deposited the prize money, 20% of RM200,000 equals to RM40,000. Now the company wants me to reimburse the money. Can you please return the RM40,000 tax? I beg you.”

My friend thought for a while and felt pity for the lady. Thinking of the money in his bank account, he went to the bank. Suddenly he thought of his buddy working in that bank and decided to ask his buddy to double check and confirm with him first. Upon checking, his buddy found out that the money was deposited using a cheque of a different bank. Even though the cheque was deposited but the actual amount of money can’t be transfered into his account on the same day. If the other party decided to cancel the cheque, then he’ll not get this RM200,000.

My friend was shocked. He almost lost RM40,000. Before my friend left for home on that day, the cheque was actually cancelled. If not for his buddy, if not for him being a professional, or if he was scared of letting others know of him striking the prize then this bogus scam  would be successful.

This is a true story, please beware. Future scams could be even better planned.  Please don’t forget to forward to your friends and relatives to warn them from being cheated. — Thank you.

Oh ya, Anyone working in communication industry has any idea if such tactic works???? Thanks.

The Email Story:

Latest scam tactics in Taiwan…it will likely to nearer to you soon! So please be aware.

DO NOT LEND YOUR HANDPHONE TO STRANGERS.

These con artists who will approach you are likely to be a female or an elderly person. They will tell you that they just got rob and need to call the police. Right in front of you, they will call 110, 911 or 119 (the emergency tel for the local police). They will speak loudly for you to hear that they are reporting a case but halfway through, they will pretend that the reception is poor and walk about 5meters away from you with their back towards you.

All they need is 1min and a tiny gadget that acts as a USB (available for sale in China) to copy your entire phone book contacts.

Then over the next few hours, they will SMS to all your contacts, pretending to be you (with your tel no appearing in your contact’s phone). The SMS will say that you are now overseas, in trouble with the police, you cannot use your phone and that is why you are sending out SMS. You need help to transfer money to an account. Usually the amount they ask is within affordable range. Your phone will not be contactable for the few hours that they are busy sending out SMS. So your family and friends will believe you are in trouble.

The case below happened to a Taiwanese and he reported to the local police a few days later when his friends finally manage to contact him and he learned that he was being duped. The police told him that this is an old trick that they use to target tourists and now they are moving to the locals.

So my friends, please do not lend your phone to ANYONE you do not know. If they really want help, send them to the nearest police station!

Recently I was talking to a friend, who travels alot during the course of the business. He told me out of curiousity, he heard about the rebates toll users are entitled to. So he asked the person at the toll office (where you can top up your Touch N Go (like those in Sg Besi, Ayer Keroh, Sg Buloh, Bkt Raja and the one entering Shah Alam) about the rebate when he went there for a top up. She told him that the rebates you have accumulated need to be credited to your Touch N Go “within” 6 months. Otherwise, the rebates will be extinguish ( that is “kaput”).if not credited to your Touch N Go within this period. To his surprise, he got a rebate of RM468.

My mate told me since I always travel down to Singapore regularly, I should go and check it out what rebates I have and do it fast. So, this morning, on my way to Melaka, I stopped at Ayer Keroh toll to check my rebates. To my surprise, I have got RM58 and this amount was transferred to top up my Touch N Go card. What a pleasant surprise. Imagine, if I had heard about it earlier, I could have checked it earlier last year when I had to drive down to Singapore once every fortnight

So, for those of you who use the Tagged or Touch N Go card, go and check it out. Imagine the millions of $$$ Touch N Go operators have saved from giving out the rebates to deserving customers. Remember,you can only claim the rebates at the Toll area where you can top up your card. You cant get the rebates done when you top up your Touch N Go card in other places like ATM Machine, Bank, online, 7 Eleven etc… MUST BE AT TOLL Centre.

Touch N Go did announced it in the newspapers very briefly but little info or brochures were given out for obvious reasons. Wouldnt you do the same if you were the operator huh?

The Turtle

A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. The turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing.

Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal for them at last!

For about six months they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed.

After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the
salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the
little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell.

He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned. The
family consented and the little turtle left.

Three years passed and the little turtle had not returned. Five years…six years… then on the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no
longer contain his hunger.

He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a sandwich.

At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, ‘See! I knew you wouldn’t wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt.’

[Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we do not do anything
ourselves.]

The Frog

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs!

The farmer replied, ‘There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs – millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!’

So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer
would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next
several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, ‘Well…. where are all the frogs?’

The farmer said, ‘I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!’

[ Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember, it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs.

Also remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at night worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million frogs croaking?

Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.]

The Pretty Lady

Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river.

There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn’t cross the river.

The big monk offered to carry her across the river on his back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. ‘

How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?’ thought the little monk. But he kept quiet… The big monk
carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When
they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet..

And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation.

Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. ‘How can you claim yourself a
devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty?

All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite. The big monk looked surprised and said, ‘I put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?’

[This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us and they make us angry.

Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt, sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous .. But like the little monk, we are not willing to let them go away.

We keep on carrying the baggage of the ‘pretty lady’ with us. We let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony.

Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the baggage of the ‘pretty lady’.

We should let go of the pretty lady immediately after crossing the river.

This will immediately remove all our agonies.
There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.

Something to ponder..

LIVE & LET LIVE ………..!!

First of all, what is a good durian? For us, a good durian is one that is ripe, fresh and free from larvae/worms. However, a durian with worm doesn’t mean it is not good because it can still be delicious.

So how do you know if a durian is good or fresh?

Here are some steps you can try when looking for a good durian:
1. Look at the tip, if it is too dry means it is no longer fresh. A little dry is okay.
2. Look at the bottom, if it is crack it may be over-ripe or not so fresh. But it still can be delicious.
3. Smell the durian, if there is a strong smell, it is most likely good. If there is no smell, it is probably not ripe.
4. Use your fingernails to scratch the durian, if it sounds hollow it is likely to be a good one.
5. Put the durian close to your ear, shake it and listen carefully, if there is a ‘moving’ sound, it is likely to be good.
6. Look for holes around the durian, if there is tiny hole somewhere, there is likely to be a worm (larva of an insect) that has burrow into it.
7. Yes, there is actually a 7th step, but it’s not going to be useful. If you have the chance to open the durian, open it and taste it.

Ways Of Opening A Durian

There are few ways to open the durian. Some might find opening a durian just too difficult, so I’ll list other methods in case you want to try another way.
1. Use a short knife, one that is slightly bigger than the standard swiss army knife- most durian farmers use this.
2. Use a big knife, the one for chopping meat – ladies love to use this.
3. Use bare hands – works well for some over-ripe durians.
4. Use a special durian opener, which is made of wood. Not exactly sure where you can find this tool.
5. Use a chainsaw – works very well, but not encouraged. If you’re gonna open one this way, shoot a video and send it to me afterwards, yeah? Thanks.