Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Terrified girl jumps out of moving cab
A 21-year-old woman, fearing she was being abducted by a cab driver, jumped out of the moving vehicle in Seremban on Monday.
The girl was travelling to Mantin with her mother and sister and had boarded the taxi in Jalan Bandar Tunggal, Tamil Nesan reported.
However, a short distance away, the mother asked the taxi driver to stop outside a grocery store where she and her other daughter wanted to buy some provisions.
As soon as the two passengers got down, the driver accelerated towards Jalan Temiang.
Frightened at being left alone in the taxi, the woman opened the door and jumped out.
Passers-by rushed her to the hospital, where she was treated for her injuries.
(Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/5/3/nation/11217155&sec=nation, dated 3-May, 2012.)
Unsafe Ampang Point
Source: http://www.starproperty.my/PropertyScene/PropertyScene/21139/0/0 dated 3-May, 2012.
AFTER years of operating at the Ampang Point commercial centre, the business community and shopowners no longer feel safe or secure due to many break-ins and robberies that not only happens during the night but in broad daylight as
well.
Grilles, doors and office locks do not stop the thieves, bags are snatched from customers eating at restaurants, car windows get smashed after a visit to the bank, pharmacies are robbed despite being equipped with CCTV cameras, and even children centres and IT companies are being broken into and robbed of laptops, cameras and cash.
There have been too many cases and police reports made, but so far the criminal activities are still rampant and cases unresolved.
Even houses in the Ampang residential area have not been spared.
Ampang now has too many unsavoury characters; many liquor and medicine bottles can be found littered near the shops in the morning.
The business community and owners will feel much safer if there is a 24-hour police booth in the centre of Ampang Point open carpark.
More police patrol around the shops at night would deter break-ins and snatch thieves.
We hope that by having a police presence in the community will help to reassure us of our safety, not only with regards to the properties but for each and every individual in the area.
We sincerely hope that the Ampang police will look into our plight.
BB,
Ampang Point
Saturday, January 14, 2012
When informed decisions go awry
Making investments with money you don’t have and with information you should not be privy to is both morally and legally wrong
LAST year, a young entrepreneur turned property investor lost his business outfit. Although his monthly income fluctuated somewhat month-to-month, he was able to get loans from the banks to finance his purchases, which he had incrementally amassed to about 10 over the years.
He was able to have a selection of properties because of the nature of his work which allowed him to source and research the sector and related industries. He was also a quick and adept student of the market and its trends, because like many Malaysians, he was interested in bricks and mortar as an investment instrument. It is uncertain how he will pay for all of them today.
Because of Malaysians’ great love for properties, there is the tendency to buy multiple units, each in succession when the previous purchase is not yet fully paid for. While there is nothing wrong with this strategy – some of us are more comfortable with properties than with other forms of investment instruments – these “assets” can become a financial millstone. Quite a number of Malaysians bought multiple units at one go, sometimes in the same project because they have faith in the developer. Or they buy into the same segment, for example, condominiums.
If one has the means to hold on to these investments over the long term, there may not be an issue. The danger of multiple property purchases – and ownership – comes during a down cycle.
A couple of years ago when the property prices were steadily moving up, Malaysians’ enchantment with the property market resulted in various courses being offered by property experts.
Nearly, if not all of them, were millionaires because of earlier property investments and they were offering courses to teach how one can become rich, like themselves.
However, the scenario then and the scenario today has changed drastically. It may not be possible to use the same strategy they had used. Like any investment, and at any one point in time, there are risks involved. But over and above taking a risk, there is something known as moral hazard. When risks become too high, the action taken by an investor may be hazardous and the probability of failure becomes very high. An action becomes morally hazardous when an investor makes a decision to do something assuming that he has a safety net.
Lately, there was a case where a spouse had bought two luxury condominiums with money that did not belong to him. Because properties at the time enjoyed high returns, he bought multiple units in Malaysia and Singapore. When the case came to light, he stressed that his wife, a public figure, is not involved.
A couple may not be a single entity from the legal standpoint. However, the reality is that the action of one will have a bearing on the other.
This was clearly seen early this week when the chairman of the Swiss National Bank, equivalent to our Bank Negara, resigned. Less than a week ago, he had denied any wrongdoing in a currency scandal that involved his wife.
The Financial Times reported that Philipp Hildebrand’s wife had in September 2011 bought US$500,000 before the Swiss National Bank, headed by her husband, imposed a ceiling on the appreciating Swiss francs to halt its rise. Because Swiss francs was appreciating so quickly, the greenback became “cheap” by comparison. The move by the central bank sent the Swiss francs down sharply. She sold the dollars one month later. She bought the US dollar cheap and sold high.
Hildebrand had earlier rejected calls to resign. When he did, he said: “I came to the conclusion that it’s not possible for me to deliver a definite proof that my wife requested the currency transation without my knowledge.”
His wife said she failed her husband because she had not considered the perception of a “conflict of interest.”
After his resignation, he asked rhetorically: “Can you live a dollar lifestyle, or a partly dollar lifestyle, like ours, and still be a central bank governor?”
That is an interesting question. It is a question of self examination that comes to each of us, at one point or another, sometimes many times over.
·Assistant news editor Thean Lee Cheng ponders: Should the action of a spouse have far reaching consequences on the “innocent” half? Should one profit from one’s vocation because of some privileged information?
(Source: http://www.starproperty.my/PropertyScene/PropertyScene/18287/0/0, date accessed 15-January, 2012.)
LAST year, a young entrepreneur turned property investor lost his business outfit. Although his monthly income fluctuated somewhat month-to-month, he was able to get loans from the banks to finance his purchases, which he had incrementally amassed to about 10 over the years.
He was able to have a selection of properties because of the nature of his work which allowed him to source and research the sector and related industries. He was also a quick and adept student of the market and its trends, because like many Malaysians, he was interested in bricks and mortar as an investment instrument. It is uncertain how he will pay for all of them today.
Because of Malaysians’ great love for properties, there is the tendency to buy multiple units, each in succession when the previous purchase is not yet fully paid for. While there is nothing wrong with this strategy – some of us are more comfortable with properties than with other forms of investment instruments – these “assets” can become a financial millstone. Quite a number of Malaysians bought multiple units at one go, sometimes in the same project because they have faith in the developer. Or they buy into the same segment, for example, condominiums.
If one has the means to hold on to these investments over the long term, there may not be an issue. The danger of multiple property purchases – and ownership – comes during a down cycle.
A couple of years ago when the property prices were steadily moving up, Malaysians’ enchantment with the property market resulted in various courses being offered by property experts.
Nearly, if not all of them, were millionaires because of earlier property investments and they were offering courses to teach how one can become rich, like themselves.
However, the scenario then and the scenario today has changed drastically. It may not be possible to use the same strategy they had used. Like any investment, and at any one point in time, there are risks involved. But over and above taking a risk, there is something known as moral hazard. When risks become too high, the action taken by an investor may be hazardous and the probability of failure becomes very high. An action becomes morally hazardous when an investor makes a decision to do something assuming that he has a safety net.
Lately, there was a case where a spouse had bought two luxury condominiums with money that did not belong to him. Because properties at the time enjoyed high returns, he bought multiple units in Malaysia and Singapore. When the case came to light, he stressed that his wife, a public figure, is not involved.
A couple may not be a single entity from the legal standpoint. However, the reality is that the action of one will have a bearing on the other.
This was clearly seen early this week when the chairman of the Swiss National Bank, equivalent to our Bank Negara, resigned. Less than a week ago, he had denied any wrongdoing in a currency scandal that involved his wife.
The Financial Times reported that Philipp Hildebrand’s wife had in September 2011 bought US$500,000 before the Swiss National Bank, headed by her husband, imposed a ceiling on the appreciating Swiss francs to halt its rise. Because Swiss francs was appreciating so quickly, the greenback became “cheap” by comparison. The move by the central bank sent the Swiss francs down sharply. She sold the dollars one month later. She bought the US dollar cheap and sold high.
Hildebrand had earlier rejected calls to resign. When he did, he said: “I came to the conclusion that it’s not possible for me to deliver a definite proof that my wife requested the currency transation without my knowledge.”
His wife said she failed her husband because she had not considered the perception of a “conflict of interest.”
After his resignation, he asked rhetorically: “Can you live a dollar lifestyle, or a partly dollar lifestyle, like ours, and still be a central bank governor?”
That is an interesting question. It is a question of self examination that comes to each of us, at one point or another, sometimes many times over.
·Assistant news editor Thean Lee Cheng ponders: Should the action of a spouse have far reaching consequences on the “innocent” half? Should one profit from one’s vocation because of some privileged information?
(Source: http://www.starproperty.my/PropertyScene/PropertyScene/18287/0/0, date accessed 15-January, 2012.)
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Internet Scam
Lucky break for man in online scam
KUALA LUMPUR: A man’s request to Datuk Michael Chong for a loan to claim a parcel of gifts, saved him from falling victim to an Internet scam.
The kitchen help from Klang had earlier been told that he had a parcel waiting for him at a courier service company from a woman he got to know through an Internet-dating site on Dec 1 but he was to pay £2,500 (RM12,350) for “overweight charges”.
The 27-year-old man then went to the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head to borrow the money.
“Only when I asked him what the money was for, he told me the whole story. He even offered to share the amount in the parcel with me!” Chong said.
The man had been waiting for the parcel – purportedly containing £100,000 (RM494,000) in cash, a laptop, gold Rolex wristwatch, iPhone4, Blackberry Playbook, pictures, postcards, shoes and football jerseys – from a London-based “Latifah Razak”.
(Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/12/11/nation/10077342&sec=nation dated Sunday December 11, 2011.)
RM1mil lost to online lover
By LOSHANA K SHAGAR
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: An insurance broker received a rude shock when she lost more than RM1mil in an Internet scam.
The woman, identified only as Lim, 47, gave RM1,021,000 in total to Kevin Axcel Brown @ Joe, whom she “met” in an online matchmaking site in September.
Joe claimed he was a 48-year-old Canadian chemical engineer with Petronas in Terengganu and had used different telephone numbers to communicate.
MCA’s Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong said most cases of Internet fraud involved promises of joint business ventures and marriage.
“There have been 13 cases of Internet fraud this year and nine of the victims were female.
“None of them had seen their scammers’ faces and yet could fall in love with them,” Chong added.
Joe had asked Lim for a RM1mil loan last October to settle his financial troubles and she deposited it into three different bank accounts registered under the name of Zanariah.
He then said he was abroad, but asked her to meet him at KLIA on Dec 7.
She waited for four hours in vain.
She had also transferred an extra US$7,000 (RM21,000) for Joe’s travel expenses.
Besides her savings, Lim had also borrowed from friends, family and financial organisations to raise the RM1mil.
Chong advised the public to be more careful as scammers had developed new tactics to con their victims.
“They show fake approval letters and even tap into an organisation’s phone number,” he said, showing two “support letters” Joe used to convince Lim.
The case comes after reports of a new telephone scam demanding victims to give “donations” allegedly for Barisan Nasional’s election fund.
The “Bukit Aman police scam” began three weeks ago with victims receiving phone calls from a number registered under the Bukit Aman Police Headquarters.
A “Datuk Halim” from the Commercial Crime desk would inform victims of a money laundering charge against them and ask them to deposit money in an account for the election fund.
Three near-victims approached Chong, who said there had been at least eight similar cases this year.
“They claimed to be acting on the Prime Minister’s orders and asked between RM3,000 and RM5,000 from each victim,” Chong said.
Telephone scam losses amounted to more than RM1.5mil this year, while Internet fraud losses stand at RM1.8mil.
(Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/12/10/nation/10070014&sec=nation dated Saturday December 10, 2011.)
KUALA LUMPUR: A man’s request to Datuk Michael Chong for a loan to claim a parcel of gifts, saved him from falling victim to an Internet scam.
The kitchen help from Klang had earlier been told that he had a parcel waiting for him at a courier service company from a woman he got to know through an Internet-dating site on Dec 1 but he was to pay £2,500 (RM12,350) for “overweight charges”.
The 27-year-old man then went to the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head to borrow the money.
“Only when I asked him what the money was for, he told me the whole story. He even offered to share the amount in the parcel with me!” Chong said.
The man had been waiting for the parcel – purportedly containing £100,000 (RM494,000) in cash, a laptop, gold Rolex wristwatch, iPhone4, Blackberry Playbook, pictures, postcards, shoes and football jerseys – from a London-based “Latifah Razak”.
(Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/12/11/nation/10077342&sec=nation dated Sunday December 11, 2011.)
RM1mil lost to online lover
By LOSHANA K SHAGAR
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: An insurance broker received a rude shock when she lost more than RM1mil in an Internet scam.
The woman, identified only as Lim, 47, gave RM1,021,000 in total to Kevin Axcel Brown @ Joe, whom she “met” in an online matchmaking site in September.
Joe claimed he was a 48-year-old Canadian chemical engineer with Petronas in Terengganu and had used different telephone numbers to communicate.
MCA’s Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong said most cases of Internet fraud involved promises of joint business ventures and marriage.
“There have been 13 cases of Internet fraud this year and nine of the victims were female.
“None of them had seen their scammers’ faces and yet could fall in love with them,” Chong added.
Joe had asked Lim for a RM1mil loan last October to settle his financial troubles and she deposited it into three different bank accounts registered under the name of Zanariah.
He then said he was abroad, but asked her to meet him at KLIA on Dec 7.
She waited for four hours in vain.
She had also transferred an extra US$7,000 (RM21,000) for Joe’s travel expenses.
Besides her savings, Lim had also borrowed from friends, family and financial organisations to raise the RM1mil.
Chong advised the public to be more careful as scammers had developed new tactics to con their victims.
“They show fake approval letters and even tap into an organisation’s phone number,” he said, showing two “support letters” Joe used to convince Lim.
The case comes after reports of a new telephone scam demanding victims to give “donations” allegedly for Barisan Nasional’s election fund.
The “Bukit Aman police scam” began three weeks ago with victims receiving phone calls from a number registered under the Bukit Aman Police Headquarters.
A “Datuk Halim” from the Commercial Crime desk would inform victims of a money laundering charge against them and ask them to deposit money in an account for the election fund.
Three near-victims approached Chong, who said there had been at least eight similar cases this year.
“They claimed to be acting on the Prime Minister’s orders and asked between RM3,000 and RM5,000 from each victim,” Chong said.
Telephone scam losses amounted to more than RM1.5mil this year, while Internet fraud losses stand at RM1.8mil.
(Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/12/10/nation/10070014&sec=nation dated Saturday December 10, 2011.)
The ‘make’ or ‘break’ element
WORKABLE TIPS By PAUL KARA
Prospective job seekers should not only be mindful of the do’s and dont’s at interviews but also the power of the social media.
MY DAY begins with a cup of coffee and the laptop in front of me. I usually check all my e-mails before switching over to the social media to see what the rest of the world has been up to, when I was asleep.
One morning, while scrolling through the Facebook (FB) wall, I was suddenly awakened, not by my coffee, but by what was staring at me on the screen. It was the picture of a male’s behind with his trousers pulled down revealing some flesh!
I would not have batted an eyelid and would have dismissed it as a drunken prank, but I could not. That image happened to be on the FB account of one of my company’s new employees who was still on probation! While my “liberal” side was holding me back from reacting, the “corporate” side of me felt that it was rather inappropriate since I was in a business which dealt with image building.
That thought was not mine alone as it soon became a topic of discussion among the company’s staff members and managers. Eventually I took this up as a case study and discussed it with my corporate contemporaries.
Job applicants must try to conceal their tattoos during job interviews and refrain from posting inappropriate pictures of themselves on social media sites.
Many of them were in support of the young man saying that it was his personal space and that he should be allowed to say “whatever he wants” in his FB account.
However, one cannot run away from the fact that displaying such an image does influence the kind of impression others would have of him. Also, bear in mind that emplo-yers have their private space too.
The FB can either make or break a person. Many potential employers use social media sites to check out job applicants. Some of my clients have told me that they have also gotten impressed with prospective employees simply by checking out the applicants on FB.
There are always tell-tale signs from the photos and wall entries to help with the assessment of a person’s character. My clients have been impressed by some of the photos they see of their interviewees such as hobbies in photography, cake decoration, postings on charity outings and outdoor activities.
So pretty much like the mohawk hairstyles, earrings and tatoos, how do employers view such liberties? Sometimes when graduates leave college or university, they forget that in the job market such liberties are not taken to kindly.
In a typical corporation, the manager is most likely to think that such people may be rebels and may have issues with the organised structure that is typical of the corporate environment.
Many young job applicants may think otherwise and believe that earrings, tattoos and fancy hair colour is a show of independence and expression. While I do not believe this is entirely wrong, it is a risk to take, especially when first impressions matter. A general manager told me that he viewed anyone who wore a cap indoors or who had a pair of sunglasses over their heads as disrespectful and rude.
When he was shortlisting his candidates for management trainees, he would weed out such individuals even before they were interviewed. It looked like he was biased, but he was the employer and had the right to do so.
The first impression is the key to making the potential employer consider you soon after the interview and which will determine whether you eventually get the job.
A sales manager recently said the first thing he did after he had shortlisted his candidates for the interview was to “… google the applicant’s name. It is incredible what you can find.”
After having said what needs to be done to take a safe path in a job interview, it does not mean that employers are unaware of the potential of the Generation Y workforce.
This is the generation that believes in the motto “live first ,work later”. They also have strong views on “rights” and working for the community.
Employers are impressed by the aspects of asserting rights and CSR (corporate social responsibility) projects which are very much community-based.
Most employers have an idea as to what to expect from the Gen Y workforce, but they somehow resent the manner in which these young job applicants communicate and convey their demands and interests.
So if you are a Gen Y “amoeba”, you may want to keep in mind the following suggestions in order to get that interview. Also make sure you don’t have bad body odour, lie about your qualifications, or gripe about your ex-boss. Remember that when you have a mohawk hairstyle, try to comb it down and remove the earrings at least for the interview. The employer will notice your effort and will interpret it as a gesture of respect for the interview.
It is easier to introduce these additions once you have established yourself in the company.
Be sure to weigh the consequences carefully before you decide to use the social media channel to air your grievances about current or former employers. Find out which aspect of the company would make you shine with your Gen Y qualities. It is not wrong to assert your rights; you just need to find the right forum.
■ Paul Kam is a lawyer by training. He has worked with private and public sector leaders throughout Asia and has designed and led several transformation, alignment and strategic change initiatives. With his understanding of market conditions in various industries, he is passionate in partnering with clients to shift and align mindsets and behaviours of leaders and employees. He is also a member of the Malaysian Institute of Management and is a certified team profiler and a life and wealth coach.
(Source: http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2011/12/11/education/10044684&sec=education dated Sunday December 11, 2011.)
Prospective job seekers should not only be mindful of the do’s and dont’s at interviews but also the power of the social media.
MY DAY begins with a cup of coffee and the laptop in front of me. I usually check all my e-mails before switching over to the social media to see what the rest of the world has been up to, when I was asleep.
One morning, while scrolling through the Facebook (FB) wall, I was suddenly awakened, not by my coffee, but by what was staring at me on the screen. It was the picture of a male’s behind with his trousers pulled down revealing some flesh!
I would not have batted an eyelid and would have dismissed it as a drunken prank, but I could not. That image happened to be on the FB account of one of my company’s new employees who was still on probation! While my “liberal” side was holding me back from reacting, the “corporate” side of me felt that it was rather inappropriate since I was in a business which dealt with image building.
That thought was not mine alone as it soon became a topic of discussion among the company’s staff members and managers. Eventually I took this up as a case study and discussed it with my corporate contemporaries.
Job applicants must try to conceal their tattoos during job interviews and refrain from posting inappropriate pictures of themselves on social media sites.
Many of them were in support of the young man saying that it was his personal space and that he should be allowed to say “whatever he wants” in his FB account.
However, one cannot run away from the fact that displaying such an image does influence the kind of impression others would have of him. Also, bear in mind that emplo-yers have their private space too.
The FB can either make or break a person. Many potential employers use social media sites to check out job applicants. Some of my clients have told me that they have also gotten impressed with prospective employees simply by checking out the applicants on FB.
There are always tell-tale signs from the photos and wall entries to help with the assessment of a person’s character. My clients have been impressed by some of the photos they see of their interviewees such as hobbies in photography, cake decoration, postings on charity outings and outdoor activities.
So pretty much like the mohawk hairstyles, earrings and tatoos, how do employers view such liberties? Sometimes when graduates leave college or university, they forget that in the job market such liberties are not taken to kindly.
In a typical corporation, the manager is most likely to think that such people may be rebels and may have issues with the organised structure that is typical of the corporate environment.
Many young job applicants may think otherwise and believe that earrings, tattoos and fancy hair colour is a show of independence and expression. While I do not believe this is entirely wrong, it is a risk to take, especially when first impressions matter. A general manager told me that he viewed anyone who wore a cap indoors or who had a pair of sunglasses over their heads as disrespectful and rude.
When he was shortlisting his candidates for management trainees, he would weed out such individuals even before they were interviewed. It looked like he was biased, but he was the employer and had the right to do so.
The first impression is the key to making the potential employer consider you soon after the interview and which will determine whether you eventually get the job.
A sales manager recently said the first thing he did after he had shortlisted his candidates for the interview was to “… google the applicant’s name. It is incredible what you can find.”
After having said what needs to be done to take a safe path in a job interview, it does not mean that employers are unaware of the potential of the Generation Y workforce.
This is the generation that believes in the motto “live first ,work later”. They also have strong views on “rights” and working for the community.
Employers are impressed by the aspects of asserting rights and CSR (corporate social responsibility) projects which are very much community-based.
Most employers have an idea as to what to expect from the Gen Y workforce, but they somehow resent the manner in which these young job applicants communicate and convey their demands and interests.
So if you are a Gen Y “amoeba”, you may want to keep in mind the following suggestions in order to get that interview. Also make sure you don’t have bad body odour, lie about your qualifications, or gripe about your ex-boss. Remember that when you have a mohawk hairstyle, try to comb it down and remove the earrings at least for the interview. The employer will notice your effort and will interpret it as a gesture of respect for the interview.
It is easier to introduce these additions once you have established yourself in the company.
Be sure to weigh the consequences carefully before you decide to use the social media channel to air your grievances about current or former employers. Find out which aspect of the company would make you shine with your Gen Y qualities. It is not wrong to assert your rights; you just need to find the right forum.
■ Paul Kam is a lawyer by training. He has worked with private and public sector leaders throughout Asia and has designed and led several transformation, alignment and strategic change initiatives. With his understanding of market conditions in various industries, he is passionate in partnering with clients to shift and align mindsets and behaviours of leaders and employees. He is also a member of the Malaysian Institute of Management and is a certified team profiler and a life and wealth coach.
(Source: http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2011/12/11/education/10044684&sec=education dated Sunday December 11, 2011.)
Monday, December 5, 2011
Seattle welfare recipient lives in million-dollar home
By Eric Pfeiffer | The Sideshow
A Seattle woman who is receiving welfare assistance from Washington state also happens to live in a waterfront house on Lake Washington worth more than a million dollars.
The 2,500 square-foot home, which includes gardens and a boat dock, is valued at $1.2 million. And even though the couple has been receiving the benefits for nearly 10 years, records show that they accurately listed the address of their current home when applying for the state and federal benefits.
As if the million dollar home weren't enough, the supposedly low-income couple also gave money to various charities and traveled around the world to locales in Turkey, Tel Aviv and resort towns in Mexico, according to court records.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/seattle-welfare-recipient-lives-million-dollar-home-161252749.html dd 6-December, 2011.
A Seattle woman who is receiving welfare assistance from Washington state also happens to live in a waterfront house on Lake Washington worth more than a million dollars.
The 2,500 square-foot home, which includes gardens and a boat dock, is valued at $1.2 million. And even though the couple has been receiving the benefits for nearly 10 years, records show that they accurately listed the address of their current home when applying for the state and federal benefits.
As if the million dollar home weren't enough, the supposedly low-income couple also gave money to various charities and traveled around the world to locales in Turkey, Tel Aviv and resort towns in Mexico, according to court records.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/seattle-welfare-recipient-lives-million-dollar-home-161252749.html dd 6-December, 2011.
HOW TO LOCK YOUR CAR AND WHY!
I locked my car. As I walked away I heard my car door unlock. I went back and locked my car again three times. Each time, as soon as I started to walk away, I would hear it unlock again!
Naturally alarmed, I looked around and there were two guys sitting in a car in the fire lane next to the store. They were obviously watching me intently, and there was no doubt they were somehow involved in this very weird situation. I quickly chucked the errand I was on, jumped in my car and sped away. I went straight to the police station, told them what had happened, and found out I was part of a new, and very successful, scheme being used to gain entry into cars.
Two weeks later, my friend's son had a similar happening. While traveling, my friend's son stopped at a roadside rest to use the bathroom. When he came out to his car less than 4-5 minutes later, someone had gotten into his car and stolen his cell phone, laptop computer, GPS navigator, briefcase--you name it. He called the police and since there were no signs of his car being broken into, the police told him he had been a victim of the latest robbery tactic--there is a device that robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors on your car using your key-chain locking device.
They sit a distance away and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside of the store, restaurant, or bathroom and that they now have a few minutes to steal and run. The police officer said to manually lock your car door by hitting the lock button inside the car--that way if there is someone sitting in a parking lot watching for their next victim, it will not be you!
When you hit the lock button on your car upon exiting, it does not send the security code, but if you walk away and use the door lock on your key chain, it sends the code through the airwaves where it can be
instantly stolen. This is very real.
Be wisely aware of what you just read and please pass this email on.
Look how many times we all lock our doors with our remote just to be sure we remembered to lock them-- and bingo, someone has our code and whatever was in our car!
Snopes Approved--Please share with everyone you know!
This is from my friend Wan, Message flagged
Sunday, January 9, 2011 10:34 PM.
Naturally alarmed, I looked around and there were two guys sitting in a car in the fire lane next to the store. They were obviously watching me intently, and there was no doubt they were somehow involved in this very weird situation. I quickly chucked the errand I was on, jumped in my car and sped away. I went straight to the police station, told them what had happened, and found out I was part of a new, and very successful, scheme being used to gain entry into cars.
Two weeks later, my friend's son had a similar happening. While traveling, my friend's son stopped at a roadside rest to use the bathroom. When he came out to his car less than 4-5 minutes later, someone had gotten into his car and stolen his cell phone, laptop computer, GPS navigator, briefcase--you name it. He called the police and since there were no signs of his car being broken into, the police told him he had been a victim of the latest robbery tactic--there is a device that robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors on your car using your key-chain locking device.
They sit a distance away and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside of the store, restaurant, or bathroom and that they now have a few minutes to steal and run. The police officer said to manually lock your car door by hitting the lock button inside the car--that way if there is someone sitting in a parking lot watching for their next victim, it will not be you!
When you hit the lock button on your car upon exiting, it does not send the security code, but if you walk away and use the door lock on your key chain, it sends the code through the airwaves where it can be
instantly stolen. This is very real.
Be wisely aware of what you just read and please pass this email on.
Look how many times we all lock our doors with our remote just to be sure we remembered to lock them-- and bingo, someone has our code and whatever was in our car!
Snopes Approved--Please share with everyone you know!
This is from my friend Wan, Message flagged
Sunday, January 9, 2011 10:34 PM.
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