NEW SCAM - Express Couriers

NEW SCAM 

Just when you think you've heard it all. Here comes another scam. This scam is very clever. Be very careful out there! One could easily fall for this - beware of people bearing gifts! 

There is a new and clever credit card scam. Please circulate this. Someone it happened to says it works like this:

Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from someone who said that he was from some outfit called: "Express Couriers" asking if I was going to be home because there was a package for me, and the caller said that the delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour. And sure enough, about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and wine. I was very surprised since it did not involve any special occasion or holiday and I certainly didn't expect anything like it. Intrigued about who would send me such a gift, I inquired as to who the sender is. The delivery man's reply was, he was only delivering the gift package but allegedly a card was being sent separately; (the card has never arrived!). There was also a consignment note with the gift. 

He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a $3.50 "delivery charge" as proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult and not just left it on the doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by anyone. 

This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said that the company required the payment to be by credit or debit card only so that everything is properly accounted for. 

My husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled his wallet out of his pocket with the credit/debit card and 'John', the "delivery man", asked my husband to swipe the card on the small mobile card machine which had a small screen and keypad where Frank was also asked to enter the card's PIN and security number. A receipt was printed out and given to us. 

To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, $4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various ATM machines. 

It appeared that somehow the "mobile credit card machine" which the delivery man carried now had all the info necessary to create a "dummy" card with all our card details after my husband swiped our card and entered the requested PIN and security number. 

Upon finding out about the illegal transactions on our card, we immediately notified the bank which issued us the card and our credit/debit account was closed. 

We also personally went to the Police, where it was confirmed that it is definitely a scam because several households had been similarly hit. 

WARNING: Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package", which you neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind of payment as a condition of receiving the gift or package. Also, never accept anything if you do not personally know or there is no proper identification of who the sender is. 

Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit/debit card information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction! 

If you pass this on, it may just prevent someone else from being swindled!

Indie runner Abu Backer quits Bukit Gelugor on eve of polls

GEORGE TOWN, May 24 — Just hours before the campaign period for Bukit Gelugor by-election ends, Independent candidate Abu Backer Sidek Mohammad Zan announced his decision to pull out from the four-cornered fight.

The controversial lawyer, who had drawn attention after he threw himself in front of the Penang chief minister’s car on Tuesday, said he was disappointed at how his efforts at campaigning was blocked at every way.

“I’m disappointed with all this. I’m withdrawing from the contest,” he said at his very first and last ceramah at Padang Suria Kampung Melayu early this evening.

Abu Backer had earlier today claimed that his campaign was “sabotaged” at every turn, ranging from not being able to park his rented caravan in front of the hotel he is staying to being denied permits to hold ceramah in public areas.

“I have applied to hold ceramah at so many places, in Farlim, in Air Itam, in Kampung Melayu, but not one got approved,” he said at a news conference this morning.

However, one of his applications was approved today, which enabled him to hold a ceramah at about 7.30pm where he dropped the bombshell.

“I’m not feeling well, I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted later.

In his brief ceramah, he had also said that he won’t be around in Penang tomorrow and that he will take his supporters to Langkawi.

Questioned about his Langkawi plan later, Abu Backer told The Malay Mail Online that he was just joking.

“It was just a joke. Maybe I will hold a press conference tomorrow to explain further on this,” he said.

According to state Election Commission deputy director Mohd Faiz Shazwan Zainal Abidin, candidates can’t withdraw after nomination day.

He added that the ballot papers have already been printed so Abu Backer’s name and horse logo will still be there.

This means the ballot papers will still have four names and logos — Parti Cinta Malaysia Huan Cheng Guan, DAP Ramkarpal Singh Deo, Abu Backer with the horse logo and Mohd Nabi Bux Mohd Sathar with the hibiscus logo.

The Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat was vacated after the late MP Karpal Singh was killed in a car crash last month.

There are a total 82,431 registered voters in the constituency.

 https://my.news.yahoo.com/indie-runner-abu-backer-quits-bukit-gelugor-eve-150000747.html

#PrayforMH370

#PrayforMH370

Singapore and Malaysia hit by extreme dry spell

Singapore suffers its longest dry spell on record, while Malaysian cabinet mulls whether to declare a national emergency

• Reuters
• theguardian.com, Wednesday 26 February 2014 09.48 GMT

A port is covered with thick haze in Port Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014. Photograph: Lai Seng Sin/AP

Singapore and Malaysia are grappling with some of the driest weather they have ever seen, forcing the tiny city-state to ramp up supplies of recycled water while its neighbour rations reserves amid disruptions to farming and fisheries.
Singapore, which experiences tropical downpours on most days, suffered its longest dry spell on record between Jan 13 and Feb 8 and has had little rain since.
Shares in Hyflux Ltd, which operates desalination and water recycling operations there, have risen 3.5% over the past month.
In peninsular Malaysia, 15 areas have not had rainfall in more than 20 days, with some of them dry for more than a month, according to the Malaysian Meteorological Department.
The dry spell in the Southeast Asian neighbours is expected to run for another two weeks, forecasters say.
The Indonesian province of Riau has also been hit, with part of the region wreathed in smog, usually caused by farmers setting fires to illegally clear land. Poor visibility has disrupted flights to and from the airport in Pekanbaru.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak was due to discuss the drought at a regular cabinet meeting on Wednesday that would decide whether to declare a national emergency, according to state news agency Bernama.
While some dry weather is expected at this time of year, the abnormal lack of rain is raising concerns about the pace of climate change in the region.
“The concern is that these uncommon weather events may be happening more frequently sooner rather than later,” said National University of Singapore weather researcher Winston Chow.
Malaysia is the world’s second-largest producer of palm oil and planters say dry weather lasting more than two months can hurt yields six months to two years down the line, affecting output and fuelling benchmark Kuala Lumpur prices.
Concerns that dry weather will hurt production have helped push up palm oil prices about 8% in February, setting the market on track for its biggest monthly gain in four months.
The lack of rain is also believed to have caused extensive damage to the rice crop.
In Singapore the dry weather is being blamed in part for the mass death of fish stocks at several offshore farms. Around 160 tonnes of fish have died in recent weeks because of a lack of oxygen in the water.
The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) said it had received more than 7,000 calls involving forest and bush fires nationwide since the beginning of February, due to the hot weather, five times higher than in the same period last year.
Selangor, Malaysia’s richest and most industrialized state, began limited water rationing on Tuesday as levels in its dams plunged to critical lows.
“We pledge that every consumer will receive water, but it will be rationed to ensure supply every two days,” Bernama quoted state chief minister Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as saying.
“In a week, consumers will receive water for four days.”
The state of Negeri Sembilan near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, declared a “state of crisis” last week as water in its dams fell to critical levels.
In Singapore, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) has boosted the supply of recycled water, known as NEWater, and desalinated supplies, in order to keep up reservoir levels.
Singapore’s national security concerns mean it has developed into one of the world leaders in water technology as it tries to cut reliance on imported supplies from Malaysia.
Around 55% of Singapore’s water is now desalinated or recycled, in line with an aim to be self-sufficient by 2061, when a 1962 agreement to buy 250 million gallons per day from Malaysia ends, according to the PUB.
The deal lets Singapore buy 250 million gallons of water a day from Malaysia at 0.03 ringgit ($0.01) per 1,000 gallons, and sell back treated water for 0.50 ringgit per 1,000 gallons.
Johor, the southern Malaysian state that borders Singapore, has been urging an early re-negotiation, saying the deal is too advantageous to the city-state.
“The talks should begin immediately,” Hasni Mohammad, chairman of a state public works panel, told Bernama in an interview on 18 February.
“We have long been in a losing position when we sell raw water to Singapore at three sen (for 1,000 gallons),” he said, adding that the price of treated water was too high.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/26/singapore-malaysia-extreme-dry-spell

KLIA Taxi - Scam or not?

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

KLIA Taxi - Scam or not?

I would like to alert travellers to an issue with taxi’s at KLIA.

The taxi system at KLIA is pretty confusing for most people unless you are a regular traveller to Malaysia and the very poorly design website www.klia.com.my doesn't offer any information regarding taxi services at the airport.

The main taxi company at KLIA who until recently held a monopoly is Airport Limo. This company provides a multi tired limo service by way of stating your destination, class of taxi and then purchasing a coupon for the journey.

The other system is what’s known as a city cab which is basically a standard meter taxi service which operates from level 1.

One of the frustrating problems with Airport Limo is the regular shortage of taxi’s especially at peak periods or owing to traffic congestion in KL. It is quite common for the coupon counter staff to tell you that there are no taxi’s or that there is a big queue.

I usually take a premier taxi which is between the budget and limo for a more comfortable ride and the fact that most of the drivers know the location of my condo.



The taxi coupons sold are valid for a month and owing to my weekly trips to and from Singapore I always have an option to use it another week if I change my mind and take the train or city cab.



Over the past few months I’ve noticed a trend whereby I’ve been told time and time again that there were no taxi’s and that I must get a limo or mini bus which costs significantly more than a premier taxi.

When I’m told that there are no taxi’s and I must get a limo/mini bus I simply request that they sell me a ticket. The counter staff look confused and usually don’t want to sell me one. When I firmly request a coupon the behaviour of the staff usually follows a similar pattern whereby a lot of time is spent on the radio chit chatting (about me) and generally ignoring me.

When I force the issue the staff act very sheepishly and begrudgingly sell me a coupon. Now the strange thing is that 9.9 times out of 10 when this happens I find little or no queue and at least several taxi’s available at the premier car area outside door 5.

The behavior of the staff and the fact that there isn’t usually more than one or two people queuing for the premiere taxi’s makes it appear that there is a scam taking place to rip off unfamiliar travellers. I have witnessed several other people encounter similar experiences at both the budget and premier services.

So is it a scam or are the unwelcoming counter staff simply out of touch with what is happening in the queue even though they have a radio?

The taxi service at the LCCT operated by a different company also tries this from time to time, however I haven’t found it quite so prevalent.

Perhaps it’s time raise a report to the authorities, not that SPAD will take any real action. 

http://www.maninseat12a.com/

Cyber crime a ticking bomb in Malaysia

Posted on August 29, 2013, Thursday

CYBERJAYA: Cyber crime is considered a ticking bomb as the Malaysian police recorded RM1 billion in losses from victims of such crime from January to July this year.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin said Malaysia was ranked sixth globally in terms of cyber crime threat risks by US-based IT security developer, Sophos, in its three-month Security Threat report this year.
“It (cyber crime) is serious and we must educate the public in preventing it,” he told a press conference after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Royal Malaysian Police and Limkokwing University, here, yesterday.
The MoU was signed by Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director, Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan, and Limkokwing University of Creative Technology senior vice-president, Datuk Raja Aznil Raja Hashim.
It provides the university with a five-year contract to provide contents such as posters, video clips and animations to the police in cyber crime-prevention campaigns.
Mohd Bakri said out of the RM1 billion in losses from cyber crime in the first six months of this year, 9,857 cases were reported with 7,801 of these solved and 3,385 people detained.
He said last year, the losses amounted to RM1.115 billion with 8,920 of the 11,543 reported cases solved and 3,712 people arrested.
Meanwhile, Syed Ismail said most of the cyber crime committed in the country were through parcel scams, selling goods via the Internet, and masquerading.
“Cyber crime in the country has yet to reach a level, where a syndicate would steal an information or intellectual property from a person or organisation and sell it to other parties or a rival for a price,” he said.
Therefore, Raja Aznil said the collaboration with the police in the campaign was vital to educate the public on the prevention measures so that they would not easily fall prey to cyber crime.
“This campaign mainly targets the young generation as they are tech-savy in using computers and mobile devices. They are also prone to be influenced by what is posted on the Internet, making them easy prey,” he said. — Bernama

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/08/29/cyber-crime-a-ticking-bomb-in-malaysia/#ixzz2lKjMsoJQ

Tan Twan Eng Wins Man Asian Literary Prize

By Jonathan DeHart

March 15, 2013

The Man Asian Literary Prize may be losing its sponsor, but Asian literature is ascending.

Yesterday evening in Hong Kong, it was announced that Malaysian lawyer-turned-writer Tan Twan Eng snagged Asia’s top literary award, the Man Asian Literary Prize, for his tome The Garden of Evening Mists. Tan is the first Malaysian to snag the award, created in 2007, and his book was the second winner originally written in English.
The competition for the $30,000 prize was fierce. Other nominees – representing an impressively diverse range from across the continent – included writers from Japan (Hiromi Kawakami, The Briefcase), India (Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis, which won South Asia’s DSC Prize), Pakistan (Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Between Clay and Dust) and Turkey (Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, Silent House). It’s worth noting that Tan and Thayil were also short-listed for the Man Group’s larger Booker Prize in 2012.
Judges Dr. Maya Jaggi, who chaired the panel (see an excellent essay she wrote on the state of Asian literature here), Vietnamese-American novelist Monique Truong and Indian-American writer Vikram Chandra, winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for his novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain, had their work cut out for them.
“I have experience of judging many literary awards,” Jaggi said. “But our task as a jury was exceptionally difficult, as well as gratifying, because of the outstanding quality and originality of the novels in contention from across Asia, and the strength of our shortlist.”
In The Garden of Evening Mists, Tan tells the story of a woman, once imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp, who decides to create a Japanese garden as a memorial to her sister who died while interned in the camp. But this isn’t just any Japanese garden. The woman learns the art of gardening from none other than the gardener who once tended the shrubs of Japan’s emperor. The former imperial gardener has gone on to live in Malaysia’s Cameron highlands and the two form an unlikely bond in spite of history.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Tan explained that his own international experiences – born in Malaysia, educated in the UK, currently roving between Asia and South Africa – have played a major role in shaping his writing. “It’s made me realize that to be a writer, you have to look beyond your national boundaries if you want to be read by a universal audience,” he said.
Past winners of the Man Asian prize have included South Korean novelist Kyung-sook Shin, whose book Please Look After Mom has sold more than two million copies worldwide, and previously undiscovered Filipino author Miguel Syjuco for his book Illustrado. Other winners all wrote from China: Bei Feiyu (Three Sisters), Su Tong (The Boat to Redemption) and Jiang Rong (Wolf Totem).
The Man Group announced last October that they will relinquish its sponsorship of the prize this year due to a lack of funding. The search for a new sponsor is ongoing. But the award’s six-year run has been a boon for Asia’s literary scene.
Most mainstream readers are already aware of Asia’s literary megastars like Haruki Murakami, Salman Rushdie (who won the Booker of Bookers before Man took over the award for Midnight’s Children) and last year’s Nobel winner Mo Yan. But for those who may wish to dig a little deeper, the Man Asian prize has shined a spotlight on many rising talents.
Professor David Parker, executive director of the award’s organizing body, told The Guardian last October, “After the runaway success of Please Look After Mother (by last year’s winner Kyung-sook Shin) the Korean government has now decided to put up more money for Korean literature to be translated into English. That’s one of the things we have achieved and I think that is an important thing.”
What’s more, this growing awareness is not limited to the world outside of Asia; it has turned on readers within the region as well. Parker added, “We are not only bringing new literature, or formerly unknown literature, to the world, but also to Asia itself. That’s a subtle but significant thing, that Asia, because of this prize, is becoming more interested in Asia. That’s something we are very happy with.”

 http://thediplomat.com/2013/03/tan-twan-eng-wins-man-asian-literary-prize/