SPAM CALLS From Outside Singapore

Recently, i received many spam calls. Some of them were from property agents, banks, credit card companies, slimming centres, yoga studios, insurance companies, etc. Others involved promotions of smart phones, lucky draws, etc. It was so irritating!!! These kinda spam calls can even come from countries outside Singapore. Those idiots who were on the other line usually speaks in English (with a funny accent) or in Chinese (PRC or Taiwanese accent). I am very sure these calls were made outside Singapore because the numbers that showed on the caller ID screen were not Singapore numbers. 

Today, while doing my work at around 2:16pm (Singapore time), i received one of these stupid calls. The number that flashed on my smartphone was +80319408. There was a lady on the other line speaking in Chinese (PRC accent). She asked me if i am using an iPhone now. I guessed she wanted to promote iPhone or related products to me. So i lied to her that i am not using iPhone anymore & switched to Samsung. She continued to ask me how come i discontinued to use iPhone & i told her the screen is too small. She asked if there is any chance if i will switch back to iPhone again & i said no, not at this moment. She then said many people said Samsung got problems blah blah. I said mine so far so good & moreover, it's a new phone as well. I will not be switching to another phone at the meantime. 

She then further probe into more personal questions for my name, address, occupation, etc. I then asked her if she dunno me, how did she got my number? She said it is computer generated & i said is that so??? I said i am very busy to entertain calls from unknown people. She turned nasty & asked me to tell her what am i doing now that make me have no time to even talk to her? I said i just dun like to disclose my details to strangers & then she hung up. What the fuck man!!! When i called this number back after the whole conversation, i would hear an automated reply from our local telco SingTel, to inform that "This is a SingTel announcement service. The number that u just called, is not in use." 

I always advise people NOT to give details of yourself to strangers or if in doubt, just hang up the phone. These people can really harass u non-stop once they get hold of your details. I even got a friend who even saw strangers appearing at their doorsteps too. Surprisingly, these unknown people could even address u by your name!!! Just imagine what if u are not at home & these people come into contact with your family members on the pretext that they are your friends!!! 

SO BEWARE OF ANY SPAM CALLS. JUST HANG UP IF U DUNNO WHO THEY ARE.

Malaysian Police Corruption

On the 22 January 2012 (Sunday), CK & me were on our trip to Rawang (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) to spend our Chinese New Year holidays there. We cleared the custom at Woodlands Checkpoint in Singapore & then the Malaysian Custom in Johor Bahru, before embarking on our long drive along the North-South Highway. As the Malaysian policemen were famous for ambushing drivers, especially cars with Singapore car plates, we were super careful not to exceed the speed limit of 110km per hour. As we drove along, our eyes were also focusing on the speedometer to make sure we were not speeding.

Everything went smoothly until at around 186.5~187.0km North (from Singapore) highway distance marker around Malacca area, a group of policemen were in front of us, stopping cars that were supposed to have been speeding just now. But very surprisingly, all of them were Singapore cars!!! We grew suspicious, but tried to remain calm. One policeman came to us & greeted us "Good morning, Sir. We found u speeding along the North-South Highway. Do u 'want to help' or do u want to pay 'summon' (commonly used word for fine in Singapore & Malaysia)?" CK was smart, he knew that we had been keeping the speed limit & knew that the policemen would not have any evidence against us, so he said "OK la, pay summon then pay lor". The policemen was taken aback as he did not expect us to respond like that. He called us to wait while he talked to another collegue. We waited for around 5 minutes & then we asked another policeman if they could issue us a ticket ASAP because we needed to go. He smiled & signalled us to go. CK said they had no evidence at all, if they really issued the summon ticket & we ended up in court, & they could not produce any evidence, we damned corksure that they will lose their jobs.

OMG!!! I really love Malaysia cos it is Singapore's closest neighbor. The only thing that i hate is their corrupted government & the whole country's general security. In this area, they should learn it from Singapore's zero-tolerance for corruption policies & also their efficency in solving cases. Most of the Malaysian government members, from top to bottom is hopelessly corrupted. I hope that the Malaysia general elections that is coming up this year will see them heavily defeated & let the opposition take over. At least there is chance for some positive change in future cos the present Barison Nasional (BN) government is just full of crap.

Internet Cheat

Nowadays, it is so convenient & popular to shop online on websites like eBay, OLX, Merlion Auctions, etc. On top of that, websites that offer dating partners for fee or free are also all over the place. Everything from passport application, funds transfer, university applications, hotel bookings, air tickets, etc whatever u can think of, these transactions can be easily excuted at just a click of the button. But once again, the convenience also brings about problems like account security, scams & other forms of internet cheating cases. There is always a misconception that only stupid people will be cheated, but incidents that involved smart & highly-educated people happens too.

Lemme related one cheating incident that happened to me recently. To cut the story short, this person called R. Dawson is out to cheat me USD410 of so called 'transfer fees'. To cut things short, he wanted to buy my snake-skin printed tote bag that i put up for sale in OLX for his daughter Mecky. He asked me to send her the bag to an address in UK. Since so far i have been lucky to receive full payment of my sales of my unused & old stuffs, even thou a few times i sent the stuffs out before i get paid (i shouldn't have done this, but well i did), the buyers have all so far been really honest people. So this time, i sent out the bag thro registered postage (total of SGD$43.75) before telling him how much the total cost is. But he later turned around to say that my PayPal account has not been activated for overseas payment & this had caused him to be deducted of USD410 from his bank account. So at this moment, he wanted me to transfer the money back to him & then he will credit the balance back to my account. Of course, my red alarm started to sound & i found all these very strange & suspicious. I then made a call immediately to PayPal to ask them if this is the usual practice. The staff confirmed with me that it is a scam & asked me to forward the email regarding my communication with R. Dawson. I hereby reproduce the details of the emails that we have exchanged, so that in future, u guys can identify the kinda communication patterns & tatics that these conmen used. My email address has been deleted to guard my privacy.

By the way, this same idiot has also been preying on other innocent sellers. Some of the complaints can be found in this link: 
http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19796&p=139727

By the way, please read all the detailed conversation in blue from bottom to up.

____________________________________________________________________

From: XXX (xxxxxx@hotmail.com)
Sent: 11 January 2012 14: 07PM
To: honestylife10@gmail.com
Hello Mr. Dawson, My accounted has been activated long time ago. I do not see any money coming into my Paypal account at all! I am even more unhappy about this than u. I have already made a call to PayPal & they have confirmed that all this is a SCAM!!! Do not think that u can carry out all these dishonest acts around without anyone knowing. I have already made a police report & also reported this to Paypal. So don't u think u can get even a single cent from me.

GOD DAMN YOU & YOUR FAMILY!!!

JUST YOU WAIT FOR BAD KARMA TO BEFALL U.

GOD WILL CURSE YOUR GOD DAMNED LIFE FOREVER.

DEVIL FUCK U!!!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:47:42 +0800>

Subject: Re: Snake-skin Printed Tote Bag>

From: honestylife10@gmail.com

To: xxxxxx@hotmail.com

Hello , Thanks For the Shipment. Now i just received a notification from the PayPal about our order, Is it true that this is the first time you are receiving a money transfer from usa ??? your account is not yet activated ??? im not happy about this at all, because your account needs to be activated before you can take the transfer from PayPal USA ,PayPal has debited the account activations fees which is USD-410 from my account ... Now your account is activated anyway , U only need to send back the USD-410 via western union to the provided address which i believe PayPal should have sent to you by now and send the western union receipt and information to PayPal.... The USD-410 is just a form of verifications (As said by the PayPal) it will be credited back into your account with the SGD-44, so total you will get in your account after you have transfer the USD-410 via western union and send the western union receipt and information to the paypal is USD-410+SGD-44......Hope u know western union office in your area? My most Consign now is the Western Union Charges,am not happy to pay it but i have no choice.

Here is the Information for you to make the refund below.

First Name :Mecky

Last Name :Dawson

Address:flat 14 norriss road greenwich

City:London

Zip-Code:SE172BL

Country:United Kingdom

Let me know when it's done!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

On 1/11/12,

R Dawson honestylife10@gmail.com> wrote: I have made the Payment already,just wait for few minute for the money> > to reflect in your account thanks.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

On 1/11/12,

R Dawson wrote:Sorry for the delay,it mid-night now in USA before i got your email, iwill make your payment as soon as it morning here thanks.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

On 1/10/12,

XXX wrote: Hello Mr. Dawson, The cost of the bag is SGD$15.00. The postage for it is SGD$28.75. Hence, the total amount will be SGD$43.75 overall. I had also attached the receipt for the postage for your reference. I have sent out the bag to the mailing address in UK provided by you through registered mail (hence, the higher postage cost). The postage people tell me it will be around 5 to 8 working days that will reach its destination. My paypal account will be the same as my email address, that is xxxxxx@hotmail.com
REgards, XXX

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:51:23 +0800 Subject: Re: Snake-skin Printed Tote Bag From: honestylife10@gmail.com

To: xxxxxx@hotmail.com Okay,i will be waiting for the total cost and your PayPal id and i can make the payment asap...

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

On 1/10/12, XXX <xxxxxxx@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hello Mr. Dawson, Thanks for your interest in buying the bag. I am not too sure how much is the exact cost for postage right now & will need to check it out at my university's post office tomorrow. I will let u know as soon as possible the total cost. In order to make sure the item reaches u safely & surely, i will choose to post it by registered mail. I will email the total cost (in Singapore dollars) to transfer to my paypal account, after that i will send out the bag at my soonest. Most probably all these will be done by tomorrow.
Thanks for your patience.
Cheers, XXX

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:05:32 +0800

Subject: Re: Snake-skin Printed Tote Bag

From: honestylife10@gmail.com

To: xxxxxx@hotmail.com
Hello i am Mr R Dawson from United State Of America,how are you today and how are your families ? hope all is good ? well i am interested in buying the item for my daughter who is in United Kingdom (EUROPE), because it my daughter that need it and i hope she would like it, so kindly get to me with the total cost of the item including the shipping cost to her address, i will prefer the shipment through Post Office because it is more cheaper and safer,i will be making the payment through either PayPal or Bank Transfer.I await your response as soon as possible.

First Name :Mecky
Last Name :Dawson
Address:flat 14 norriss road greenwich
City:London
Zip-Code:SE172BL
Country:United Kingdom
Thanks and have a blessed day.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

On 1/10/12, XXX support@olx.com> wrote: Hello sir/madam, thanks for your greetings. The bag is still available :)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

From: noreply@olx.com on behalf of honestylife10@gmail.com (support@olx.com)
Sent: 09 January 2012 23: 36PM
To: XXX (xxxxxxx@hotmail.com)From: honestylife10@gmail.com

Hello how are you doing today,i want to know if this item is stillavailable for sale reply asap..
This message is regarding:http://www.olx.com.sg/snake-skin-printed-tote-bag-iid-181061909
Thank you for using OLX, The OLX Team If you ever need support or have comments for us contact our Customer Service

Renovation & Repair Contractor Who Preys on HDB Residents (Part 2)

It has been a really busy year for me & i really do not have time to sit down to write a proper blog for quite sometime. I have been preoccupied with lots of research & experiments & apart from eating, sleeping & going to toilet, i hardly have time for anything else. But recently, some incident had happened that prompted me to hit the keyboard again - not to write my journal paper, but to write a blog to update u guys of the above-mentioned title. To recall what has happened, please click here to recall.

On the 7th October 2011 (Friday), i received a comment on one of my blog posts from a blogger called Green Dragon in regards to a HDB (Housing & Development Board)-registered renovation contractor cheat. He told me that the company owner of ATRIA Interior Art Decor is still at large & continues to prey on old & defenseless housewives at around the Serrangoon area. I think he not only operates at Serrangoon, but also at Ang Mo Kio area too because i got a friend called Celestine, whose mum got conned last year lives in Ang Mo Kio. That idiot stays in Yishun thou at Block 712, whose name is called Sim Wee Kiong (Freddy) (IC no. S7302910D), around 38 years old. Celestine had already made a police report at Ang Mo Kio Police HQ, but seems that our Singapore police is not doing anything to apprehend this idiot. I heard from Celestine that when she called the police again one week after making the report for any updates, the police who answered her said that 'this is not a police case because the contract is signed & asked Celestine to look for HDB instead'. Later, Celestine called HDB & HDB told her that under their listed of approved & registered contractors, ATRIA Interior Art Decor is not under their list, therefore this case can be classified as a cheating case & should ask the police to handle. But still, nothing has been done by the police till now because that HDB cheat is still at large!!!

Anyway, the blogger Green Dragon arranged for the daily 'Wanbao (晚報)' to come & interview both his mum & Celestine's mum on the 8th October 2011 (Saturday) over their whole ordeal. I did not join their interview because i have some experiments to do for my thesis & is whole day spent inside my lab. The news came out on the following Monday (10th October 2011) on page 2. I was so happy that both old ladies got their sweet 'revenge' & hope that more victims will be more brave & willing to come up & report their cases, otherwise our HDB & Singapore Police will just have time to shake legs & drink coffee, or maybe pushing the case to each other & making the victims go round & round without solutions. I would like to quote something from our variety show 'Huan Le Dian Feng (歡樂巔峰)' spoken from Mark Lee (李国煌):-

沒有事情發生，就在office理面吃花生。
沒有人來投訴，就在office理面喝teh susu。

I have attached the news printout in this blog for everyone to see & take precaution.

The Best Things In Life Can Be Free

Recently, CK gave me a mobile broadband modem from SingTel. He got himself a home broadband system & the one he gave me is free-of-charge. This comes as a timely gift because recently, i just terminated my StarHub home broadband plan because it is VERY expensive & i am the only one using it at home.

I am so happy that i started to test-drive the mobile modem the moment i reached home. It seems to be slower than the home-fixed modems we have last time (expected already), but the most irritating part is that it keeps on disconnecting itself without reason. I am damn fed-up with it & that concludes that good things never come free. But still i am not giving up & as usual, i continued to experiment different ways to improve its function & after some trial & error attempts, i finally hit the jackpot!

What u need to do is:
(1) Get yourself connected to the network first.
(2) Go to your favorite radio station website & connected to their internet radio.
(3) Off the volume if u do not want the music to disturb u or play low volume if u want background music.

The mobile modem will now continuously download at least some signals & is not being left idle at any time. As i noticed, if u do not use the internet & keep it idle without activity, it will disconnected from the network very easily. COOL isn't it???

Renovation & Repair Contractor Who Preys on HDB Residents (Part 1)

Nowadays, some heartless people will go around cheating people of their blood & sweat money. This happens all over the world & as potential victims ourselves, we must be really careful with any kinda people we are dealing with. Otherwise, it might be too late to rectify anything.

I have a friend called Celestine. Recently, she has had a nasty encounter with a conman, who claimed to be appointed by the Singapore Housing & Development Board (HDB), authorized to do any repair & renovation works for all HDB public housing flats. The whole matter was even being reported to the police HQ in Ang Mo Kio at 01July2010, which is also her birthday too. Sign...... The chronological sequence of events of this whole nasty incident will be related at the following:

25June2010 (Friday)
Celestine msn me to tell me that she took MC today to see the doctor cos yesterday she shouted at someone whom she claimed is a conman, so much so that now she had gotten sore throat. I was so shocked that i wanted to hear more about it. Celestine continued to say that she suspected that her mum nowadays got dementia cos when she called her from work the day before, her mum told her that she felt troubled becos somebody who claimed to belong to a government authority pressured her to signed a contract for spalling concrete repair at the toilet ceiling. The total cost quoted is $250 & this poor old lady has already paid $100 in cash.

When Celestine finally came home from work, she asked her mum for the contract for spalling concrete repair at the toilet ceiling. I told her that it must be some idiotic contractors who claimed to be HDB personels but who in fact are actually HDB-approved contractors. We can actually sue them for inpersonation. Celestine later made a call to the contractor based on the contract to tell them that she dun want the repair anymore. The contractor tried to be funny as said "Of course la. but we will just forfeit your $100". WTF! I adviced her to go & report them to CASE or call up the TV station to expose them if they dun return the money. Celestine told me that she did & sensing that things were not turning out well, the contractors agreed to pay, but minus the transport fee. I told Celestine to ask them get fucked off cos this is their problem as nobody asked them to come here. Celestine was hesitant cos her mum did really signed the contract & it clearly stated in the agreement that "Deposit not refundable". I told her that of cos she has a recourse as her mum is an illiterate & senile old lady, & she signed under pure inducement & pressure.
I also scolded Celestine later when she told me she is thinking of forgoing the $100 as it is damn troublesome to chase for it. The reason is that if she dun expose these conman, sooner or later they will prey on others.

28June2010 (Monday)
That idiot conman still had not return the money. Celestine made a reminder call to him. He told her he was not free & asked her to wait till Thursday. I reminded her that if she still did not see the money, she MUST make a report to police. She said she will.

01June2010 (Thursday)
The deadline is up. Celestine called up to ask for the $100 & is greeted with a slam of the phone. She redialed again & he answered that he decided not to return her the money. Celestine was damn angry of course & threaten to report to police this time. That idiot on the other line said that " Ya ya. Go ahread lo" & slammed the phone once again. So she decided to take up the case & report that at the Ang Mo Kio police HQ. The police has already classified it as a case of cheating.

I applauded her bravery of going forward to expose these shady practices of conmen & commented that she has help to prevent similar incidents like this to happen on others. As this day was her birthday too, this is the biggest gift that she had given to herself & others.

Earlier on, Celestine scanned a copy of the agreement signed by her mother. The following is the conman's company address & contact:
ATRIA Interior Art Deco
200 Jalan Sultan, #03-03, Textile Centre
Singapore 199018
Co. Reg. No: 53121344K
Tel: 6756-4335

So everybody please be careful.

NOTE: BY THE WAY, WE HAVE ALREADY MADE A POLICE REPORT & THIS INCIDENT IS A TRUE STORY. WE EXPOSE SUCH UNACCEPTABLE CONMEN PRACTICES OUT OF PUBLIC SPIRITNESS & NOT TO SPITE ANYONE.

Dishonest Hawker

Yesterday, CK & i went to have dinner at Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre (next to Upper Bukit Timah Road) on my way back from NUS. Since there is a big traffic jam at PIE, we might as well have dinner here first before going back to my home in Sembawang.

CK ordered a bowl of mutton soup. I think he did that on purpose cos he knew i love lambs (my ex-boyfriend is born in the year of the goat) & he wanted to take revenge. Nevermind, i will eat something else...... so i opt for a Japanese meal set just next to this mutton soup store. The price of the set is S$6.80 & CK paid S$6.90 for it ($6.00 + $0.50 + $0.20 + $0.20). So we expect the store owner to return a $0.10 change. But she didn't...... we waited for a long time & also observe her every move. There is no intention on her part to give us the change at all. Now, u might say that we are being petty, but don't u agree that the basic prerequisite to doing business is honesty? So i told CK to get the $0.10 back from her, i hate to let dishonesty gets its way. When CK ask for the change, the plump lady owner looked very fed-up & reluctantly took out the change for CK. Now, obviously she knew about it, but choose to be dishonest keep quiet so people can forget about it.

Indeed, it is really a disappointment that these kinda people are all around us. But what to do? Just like a Chinese saying "One kind of rice feeds hundred kinds of people". I hate dishonesty & obviously, from now on, i will STOP patronizing this stall.

My principle in life is that 'no matter how poor u are, u must still be honest, even if nobody is looking at u'.