Monday, April 18, 2011

E-mail scam

Here is another scam.

I need your cooperation and assistant in transferring my financial portfolio in excess of three million, Seven Hundredn Thousand United State Dollars which is my allocation from my inheritance.
I am Lilian Lambert, the daughter to Late sefi Lambert the Software developer here in Britian. I am 24 years of age and single. I need a new start and a different environment.
Contact me via Email: lilanlambert@msn.com
Yours Truely,
Lilian Lambert

Catherine Lim presents a little tale

http://catherinelim.sg/2011/04/17/a-little-tale/

A scam - asking money to pay hotel bills

I received this e-mail purportedly to be from someone that I know. But this e-mail is a scam. The scammer probably hacked into the e-mail account and used the account to send out. This type of scam can be caught, if the authority are interested.



Hello!
I'm sorry I didn't inform you about my traveling... We are presently in London, United Kingdom on short vacation and as i write to you now.. its unbelievable me and my family are stuck here,got mugged at gun point on our way to the hotel and our money,credit cards,phone and other valuable things were taken off me at gun point, thanking Almighty God for save keeping our passport., i really need your urgent assistance quickly ? WE JUST NEED £1,650 GBP TO SORT OUT OUR HOTEL BILLS AND we promise to refund it back to you once we get home cause i still have some cash in my account but i cant access any here right now ,already canceled all our cards immediately after the muggers took our things off me!!! still at the public internet library where we making use of the free internet access, i will forever be grateful if you can help me,Waiting to hear from you quickly cos our flight leaves in few hrs but need to sort the hotel bills and please save us from been embarrassed.

Famous quotes from our leaders

This article in SGEP contains a list of famous quotes from our leaders.

Mapletree Commercial Trust

FISCA's evaluation of this REIT is available to members after login (www.easysearch.sg/fisca)

Security - a scam?

Some companies make a business by providing security - airport security, building security, computer security, internet banking security and other types of security. They exaggerate the risks that can arise from lack of security and provide expensive solutions to solve these risks. They make a lot of profit from these solutions.

Apart from the high cost and burden to the businesses, which are passed to consumers, these security measures add to the hassle of life. Life is already so stressful and the excessive security measures make life more complicated.

If airport security is loosen, what will happen? Maybe a plane might fall to terrorists every few years. The number of people that is killed would still be quite small, compared to deaths by road accidents. I am not suggesting that the airport security be removed entirely. I am suggesting more sensible ways to implement security that is less costly, less troublesome and still quite effective.

I have the same observation for internet banking security. We have gone overboard in giving so many layers of security for small payments through bank transfer or credit cards. In the real world, the cash in my pocket can be easily stolen. Someone can take my check book and forge my signature. The real world carries more  real risks than hacking through the internet. Why do we need to over-emphasize the security risks of computer systems?

The biggest scam is the y2k. Many consultants and accounting firms exaggerate the risks to computer systems that could occur when the date passes through midnight of 31 December 1999,. They pocketed hundred of millions of consultancy and security fees. Nothing happened when the world enters into the 1st second of 2000. The companies that paid the millions were conned, and they were too ashamed to admit it. The key people  responsible for this waste were the regulators, who fell for the con  and imposed strong requirements on the banks, insurance companies and other businesses to implement the y2k security measures.

I ask for the people responsible to use their common sense and evaluate the costs of prevention against the benefits of avoiding loss - i.e. to exercise risk management in a sensible way. If the cost is excessive, it is better to take the risk (i.e risk retention). If preventive measures have to be taken, choose the appropriate measures that are cost effective.

Tan Kin Lian

Political parties in Finnland

9 political parties in Finland get at least one seat in the recent GE.  Of total 200 seats, the top four parties got 44, 42, 39, and 35 seats.  Finland has 5.4 million people, a small country by number of inhabitants.

http://www.currentfinancenews.com/world/finland-vote-100-in-anti-bailout-block-in-majority-coalition-math/

LKY will contest the general election

LKY has announced that he will contest the general election. Do you support this decision? Give your views in this survey.

Gas at $4 a gallon

The CNBC media commentators talk about gas (petrol) at $4 a gallon to be a psychological barrier.  Beyond that price, the consumers will reduce the consumption of gas. What is the petrol price in Singapore now, and how much is it converted to US$ per gallon? I believe that our petrol prices must have exceeded the US prices by a lot!

UPDATE
I did my research. Petrol price is $2.12 p litre (95 UL). 1 US gallon = 3.785 litre. USD = 1.247 SGD. So, the petrol price in Singapore is USD 6.43 per gallon - over 50% higher than the "critical price" in US. Singaporeans do pay high price!