Wednesday 23 July 2008

Beware of scams that steal your money via your telephone bill

A colleague received an email from a recruitment agent (pasted below) that promises that she would "assist you with finding employment, or an income opportunity, that will suit you best." His initial thoughts were - "great" another person that could find him a good job. All he had to do was fax his updated CV etc. to the number and perhaps the right job will be just around the corner. Then he looked closer.... the email was very specific in the instructions on what to fax and emphasised that return email could not be used. Then, looking closer at the fax number, he realised that it was a premium call rate number: 0866 - which would attract a charge of R1.85 per minute!


{More details here: If you refer to the blog: "Don’t be fooled by this false advertising: "FREE fax to e-mail service"" you will see that these 0866 numbers are free to the person receiving the fax, but the sender pays R1.85 per page.}


That's the catch.... all the "recruitment agent" wanted was that you "forward your full detailed CV, together with all available supporting documents, such as reference letters and certificates, to our Fax no: 0866570156".


But where's the scam? How would they make money out of this?
Well, the instructions make sure that you fax all documents to this number - this ensures that the fax call is as long as possible. {I wouldn't be surprised if the fax fails a few times before finally accepting the fax! But, the scam is that the faxes are probably never looked at either!}

They make money (and you lose it) from the kick-back that they receive from Telkom for the premium rate call. So, for each call made a percentage is "earned" back from Telkom.


So, beware - don't react to this type of request where they try and entice you to dial premium numbers and so steal money via your (or your place of work's) telephone bill!



Here's the email:


From: Employment Specialists [mailto:@]
Sent: 22 July 2008 23:00
Subject: We want to assist you with finding employment, or an income opportunity, that will suit you best.

Hello Work hunter
We were recently informed that you are currectly job hunting.
I was appointed to assist you with finding employment, or an income opportunity, that will suit you best.
Please forward your full detailed CV, together with all available supporting documents, such as reference letters and certificates, to our Fax no: 0866570156
(Please do not email your CV & supporting documents, because most of the employers still prefer and insist on fax copies.)
On receipt of your CV and supporting documents we will evaluate your application, and pass your info on to employers that are currently in need of someone with your specific skills and expertise.
If you are chosen as one of the shortlist candidates, you will be contacted, in order to set-up an interview.
We now await your urgent response.
Yours faithfully,
Melani Lewis
The Employment Specialists
"Your career is our speciality"
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Employment Specialists Disclaimer & Confidentiality Note
This e-mail, its attachments and any rights attaching hereto are, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the property of The Employment Specialists. It is confidential, private and intended for the addressee only.
Should you not be the addressee and receive this e-mail by mistake, kindly notify the sender, and delete this e-mail, immediately and do not disclose or use same in any manner whatsoever.
Views and opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender unless clearly stated as those of the company.
The Employment Specialists accepts no liability whatsoever for any loss or damages whatsoever and howsoever incurred, or suffered, resulting, or arising, from the use of this email or its attachments.
The Employment Specialists do not warrant the integrity of this e-mail nor that it is free of errors, viruses, interception or interference.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday 6 July 2008

Forget about paying for your download manager app - this freeware app gives away more than you could imagine!

I was a GetRight man and was about to "pay the fee"... but then I found FreeDownloadManager that worked well and I'm still finding features that impress me and save me lots of download-time and bandwidth (since it resumes instead of restarts after a link failure)! Best of all it's OpenSource!
Why would anyone need a download manager you might ask - my browser downloads files just fine?
Well, I started using a download manager immediately after I understood how it could save me time. Time is saved when your download resumes instead of restarts when the link fails. And time is also saved when you download from a faster site (called a 'mirror') and when multiple parts of the file are downloaded at the same time.
Download managers do all of this and more...... What's more, is that they do it behind the scenes - when you click on a file to download, then the download manager comes into action and takes over the download.
There are lots more features that Free Download Manager (or FDM) has. As you use it, you will find yourself using more and more of the features.
FDM is designed for downloading files and whole web sites from any remote server via HTTP, HTTPS and FTP.
It is a powerful, easy-to-use and absolutely free download accelerator and manager.
FDM makes it possible to avoid many problems related to downloading:
Connection instability: When the downloading process is interrupted you needn't start from the beginning again. FDM can resume broken download from where it was interrupted saving your time, nerves and money. Some servers do not support download resuming, but FDM will warn you about it allowing you to decide on downloading.
Connection speed: FDM splits files into several sections and downloads them simultaneously, allowing you to use any type of connection at the maximum available speed.
Download files from several mirrors simultaneously: FDM will download the file from the fastest mirror.
Schedule a list of downloads: allows you to start and pause downloading files at the set time
Download whole web pages or even whole web sites with HTML Spider.
BitTorrent protocol: Download files using BitTorrent protocol.
Download video from video sites: Download video from video sites, such as YouTube, Google Video, etc. The video can then be saved in native .flv format or converted to one of more popular video formats.
Upload your files easily to share them with other people
See here for a full list of features: FDM's FullListOfFeatures

Download FreeDownloadManager from here [6.5MB]: download

Friday 4 July 2008

Stop throwing away unused ADSL bandwidth at the end of every month....

Buy non-expiring bandwidth: If you don’t use up your 1GB per month of your ADSL bandwidth then you probably lose it since TelkomInternet’s policy (and lots of other ISPs) is “use it or lose it”. Changing your ISP will allow you to buy bandwidth and carry over any unused bandwidth.


For example:

WebAfrica: R70 per GB (excellent help-desk; credit cards accepted). See here for more info: WebAfrica info

NoFrills.co.za: R65 per GB (no help-desk; EFT only); R40 dial-up.


No ADSL connection yet?:

then get connected using Nashua mobile - they now offer ADSL for R139 per month – that includes: ADSL line (from Telkom), 1GB per month, free ADSL router (it’s network locked but…. try this)

Then if you run out of bandwidth, top-up using WebAfrica (as above).


If you prefer to have No monthly charges then rather:

Connect using GPRS/3G using your cell phone as a modem. Out of bundle rates: R2 per MB (else purchase a bundle for lower rates).
See here for info on connecting your cell phone to your PC: setting-up-your-pc-to-connect

Tuesday 1 July 2008

Some of the best Mugabe cartoons I've seen in a long time :) :) Sad, but very, very funny! Some of the drawings are really good
















Tagga, click away crime is now free! TAGGA your goods and help kill the *illegal* second hand market!

It's official: Tagga is now free! No annual subscription fee. No catch - it's now a genuine community service with no fees to register nor search for stolen goods.
Do your bit to help kill the illegal second hand market and register now. If everyone registers and updates the system then it will be more difficult for the bastards to sell your stuff and profit from crime.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that you could also win R10,000 if you have that matching serial number: Click here to find out more: R10,000
From Tagga web site when registering:
"
TAGGA can be used FREE of charge. We are supported through various advertisers as well as the proceeds from our online shop.
So please support our sponsors and browse around our online shop.
Donations are also welcome.
Thank you for your support.
"

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