Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Top 10 Scams of the New Year
1. Identity Theft -- We all are aware about it, but anyhow very difficult to stop. ID theft occurs when frauds steal personal information from your garbage, mailbox, recycling bin, or computer. They further store all documents containing your personal information in a locked file and cut before discarding. You need to keep all your personal identification numbers very confidential. Do monitor your account statements and your credit report on monthly basis. If you suspect a victim of ID theft, contact local police immediately.
2. Internet Fraud -- Beware of fake Web sites, e-mails and phone calls from spammers pretending to legitimate business asking for your banking and personal information. You can enter you personal or credit card information on secured Web sites. Look for the letter “s” (http://) and for an unbroken padlock symbol to determine if in case the site is secured. Check for the BBBOnLine Reliability Seal or even other sign of trust on each Web site. Please do not download programs on your computer from any unknown sources.
3. Advance Fee Loans -- When seeking a loan, it's against the law rule for the provider to ask you to pay for their services until you get your loan or credit. Lawful lenders never "guarantee" or say that you are probable to get a loan or a credit card before you apply, particularly if you have bad credit, no credit or a bankruptcy.
4. Work from Home -- Work at home ideas, such as envelope stuffing and product gathering, are not what they're split up to be. The Internet has seriously increased the number of these scams. Look out for open fees for supplies, claims of no experience needed and exaggerated claims of effectiveness.
5. Nigerian Letter Scam -- The Nigerian letter scam carries on proliferating. This scam are regularly received by e-mail, claims there are millions of dollars waiting to be deposited into your personal glance account. But these scammers are only after your checking account information. Best thing to do is completely ignore them.
6. Lottery and Sweepstakes Scams -- Victims are informed they have won a huge lottery prize or sweepstakes and are sent a false check for part of the "winnings." In return, they are asked to pay back a little part to cover taxes and/or processing fees before the remainder of the "winnings" is sent. Legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes contests would not need you to pay money in order to receive your prize. Foreign lotteries are against the law in the United States.
7. Overpayment Schemes -- This is how it works: You may advertise your car for sale. The scammer agrees to purchase your car, but gives you a check for too much money. He takes the car, and tells you to deposit the check in to your account for the credit, and then send him your check for the difference. By the time you find out his original check is no good, he has your check and the car. Never agree to payment for more than your selling price.
8. Home Repair Rip-offs -- More and more, unreliable scam artists show up on your entrance offering to do house and yard work for various costs. Don't hire them. When you need work done around your home, get guess from a minimum of three contractors who have stable addresses in your area.
9. Health, Beauty & Fitness Claims -- Beware of advertisements, which promise "rapid and easy weight-loss," "miracle cures" or "recently discovered" treatments for disease and illness. Before signing any agreement, take the time to read the fine print and make sure you understand your obligations and the termination or refund policy.
10. Bogus Charities -- Watch out for bogus charities with names, which sound like legitimate ones. Ask fund-raisers for their names, the charitable trust names and their contact information before allowing for a donation. Find out how much of your contribution actually goes to the program. Visit www.give.org for a list of national charities.
2. Internet Fraud -- Beware of fake Web sites, e-mails and phone calls from spammers pretending to legitimate business asking for your banking and personal information. You can enter you personal or credit card information on secured Web sites. Look for the letter “s” (http://) and for an unbroken padlock symbol to determine if in case the site is secured. Check for the BBBOnLine Reliability Seal or even other sign of trust on each Web site. Please do not download programs on your computer from any unknown sources.
3. Advance Fee Loans -- When seeking a loan, it's against the law rule for the provider to ask you to pay for their services until you get your loan or credit. Lawful lenders never "guarantee" or say that you are probable to get a loan or a credit card before you apply, particularly if you have bad credit, no credit or a bankruptcy.
4. Work from Home -- Work at home ideas, such as envelope stuffing and product gathering, are not what they're split up to be. The Internet has seriously increased the number of these scams. Look out for open fees for supplies, claims of no experience needed and exaggerated claims of effectiveness.
5. Nigerian Letter Scam -- The Nigerian letter scam carries on proliferating. This scam are regularly received by e-mail, claims there are millions of dollars waiting to be deposited into your personal glance account. But these scammers are only after your checking account information. Best thing to do is completely ignore them.
6. Lottery and Sweepstakes Scams -- Victims are informed they have won a huge lottery prize or sweepstakes and are sent a false check for part of the "winnings." In return, they are asked to pay back a little part to cover taxes and/or processing fees before the remainder of the "winnings" is sent. Legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes contests would not need you to pay money in order to receive your prize. Foreign lotteries are against the law in the United States.
7. Overpayment Schemes -- This is how it works: You may advertise your car for sale. The scammer agrees to purchase your car, but gives you a check for too much money. He takes the car, and tells you to deposit the check in to your account for the credit, and then send him your check for the difference. By the time you find out his original check is no good, he has your check and the car. Never agree to payment for more than your selling price.
8. Home Repair Rip-offs -- More and more, unreliable scam artists show up on your entrance offering to do house and yard work for various costs. Don't hire them. When you need work done around your home, get guess from a minimum of three contractors who have stable addresses in your area.
9. Health, Beauty & Fitness Claims -- Beware of advertisements, which promise "rapid and easy weight-loss," "miracle cures" or "recently discovered" treatments for disease and illness. Before signing any agreement, take the time to read the fine print and make sure you understand your obligations and the termination or refund policy.
10. Bogus Charities -- Watch out for bogus charities with names, which sound like legitimate ones. Ask fund-raisers for their names, the charitable trust names and their contact information before allowing for a donation. Find out how much of your contribution actually goes to the program. Visit www.give.org for a list of national charities.
Lottery Scams - Don't be the Next Victim
I must be the luckiest person alive. In the past three days I found out I won 1.5 Million Euros in the UK lottery, One Million Euros in the Winx International Lottery, 1.5 Million Euros in the 2007 E-Mail Lottery, and 500,000 Pounds in an e-mail lottery held by the Coca Cola Company. Wow! What did I do to receive all these riches?
The sad truth is there are actually people who fall for these schemes. For the promise of a quick buck (or million Euros as the case may be) people will turn over their bank account numbers, wire money in the hopes of getting more back, or give other information that could lead to identity theft.
These lottery and sweepstakes schemes have gone on long before the internet, with one of the oldest being the phony sweepstakes which required an entrance fee to claim your prize, which amounted to more than the “prize” was worth. Another variation of that scheme was requiring the potential “winner” to call a certain number to find out if he or she was a winner. The phone call cost the potential “winner” a certain amount per minute with an unusually-long wait time on hold. The real winner was the scamming company which made money off the phone calls.
Today’s thieves have a wide choice of scam-delivery mechanisms, including in person, the mail, phone and internet. However, the same holds true no matter how the scam is delivered: if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
How Can You Recognize the Lottery or Sweepstakes Scam?
There are certainly legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes offers. Who hasn’t bought a state or multi-state lottery ticket from their local lottery retailer? Or, who hasn’t seen one of those sweepstakes offered by a recognized company advertising in the coupon section of the Sunday newspaper? You fill out the entry form or reasonable facsimile (usually a 3”x5” card) with your name and address and send it off.
Therein is your biggest clue as to whether you’re the victim of a scam. In a legitimate lottery or sweepstakes you have bought the ticket or entered your name and address. In a scam lottery or sweepstakes you are notified you’ve won when you haven’t even entered or bought a ticket.
In addition, it’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders, whether national or state lines. Any lottery offer involving the purchase of lottery tickets for other state or country lotteries could end up with you being charged with illegal activities.
One ploy used by foreign scammers involving lotteries or sweepstakes is offering you an “advance” on your winnings. The scam artist will send you a check for part of your “winnings.” All you have to do is wire them payment for “taxes” or other official purposes. By the time you find out their check has bounced the money you wired is in their hands. And, because it was wired it’s harder to trace.
Lottery scammers don’t always use e-mail or the phone. Sometimes they do their dirty work in person. A typical scam would go something like this: You are approached in person by someone who claims he or she just won the lottery but isn’t eligible to claim it. They offer to split the money with you if you claim the prize. Sounds good, right? Except that before you claim the prize from the lottery retailer you are required to withdraw some money from your account and give it to the ticket holder as a good-faith gesture. By the time you find out you’re holding a non-winning lottery ticket, the thief is long-gone with your good-faith money.
In order to protect yourself from these scams, it’s important to remember the following:
Lotteries
• It’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders.
• If you ever receive a phone call, letter or e-mail announcing you just won a lottery, it’s a scam.
Sweepstakes
• It’s illegal for a company to require you to pay to win or claim a sweepstakes prize.
• It’s illegal for a company to suggest that buying something will improve your chances of winning.
• Companies cannot ask for money from you for taxes they say you owe on a sweepstakes winning.
• Be cautious when entering sweepstakes from displays you see in malls – often times these are people just wanting your name and address for a future sweepstakes scam.
• Only enter sweepstakes from recognizable companies, and never pay a fee to enter.
Avoiding being the victim of a scam takes a healthy dose of skepticism. If you are ever unsure about the legitimacy of an offer made to you, you can call the National Fraud Information Center’s Hotline at 1-800-876-7060.
The sad truth is there are actually people who fall for these schemes. For the promise of a quick buck (or million Euros as the case may be) people will turn over their bank account numbers, wire money in the hopes of getting more back, or give other information that could lead to identity theft.
These lottery and sweepstakes schemes have gone on long before the internet, with one of the oldest being the phony sweepstakes which required an entrance fee to claim your prize, which amounted to more than the “prize” was worth. Another variation of that scheme was requiring the potential “winner” to call a certain number to find out if he or she was a winner. The phone call cost the potential “winner” a certain amount per minute with an unusually-long wait time on hold. The real winner was the scamming company which made money off the phone calls.
Today’s thieves have a wide choice of scam-delivery mechanisms, including in person, the mail, phone and internet. However, the same holds true no matter how the scam is delivered: if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
How Can You Recognize the Lottery or Sweepstakes Scam?
There are certainly legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes offers. Who hasn’t bought a state or multi-state lottery ticket from their local lottery retailer? Or, who hasn’t seen one of those sweepstakes offered by a recognized company advertising in the coupon section of the Sunday newspaper? You fill out the entry form or reasonable facsimile (usually a 3”x5” card) with your name and address and send it off.
Therein is your biggest clue as to whether you’re the victim of a scam. In a legitimate lottery or sweepstakes you have bought the ticket or entered your name and address. In a scam lottery or sweepstakes you are notified you’ve won when you haven’t even entered or bought a ticket.
In addition, it’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders, whether national or state lines. Any lottery offer involving the purchase of lottery tickets for other state or country lotteries could end up with you being charged with illegal activities.
One ploy used by foreign scammers involving lotteries or sweepstakes is offering you an “advance” on your winnings. The scam artist will send you a check for part of your “winnings.” All you have to do is wire them payment for “taxes” or other official purposes. By the time you find out their check has bounced the money you wired is in their hands. And, because it was wired it’s harder to trace.
Lottery scammers don’t always use e-mail or the phone. Sometimes they do their dirty work in person. A typical scam would go something like this: You are approached in person by someone who claims he or she just won the lottery but isn’t eligible to claim it. They offer to split the money with you if you claim the prize. Sounds good, right? Except that before you claim the prize from the lottery retailer you are required to withdraw some money from your account and give it to the ticket holder as a good-faith gesture. By the time you find out you’re holding a non-winning lottery ticket, the thief is long-gone with your good-faith money.
In order to protect yourself from these scams, it’s important to remember the following:
Lotteries
• It’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders.
• If you ever receive a phone call, letter or e-mail announcing you just won a lottery, it’s a scam.
Sweepstakes
• It’s illegal for a company to require you to pay to win or claim a sweepstakes prize.
• It’s illegal for a company to suggest that buying something will improve your chances of winning.
• Companies cannot ask for money from you for taxes they say you owe on a sweepstakes winning.
• Be cautious when entering sweepstakes from displays you see in malls – often times these are people just wanting your name and address for a future sweepstakes scam.
• Only enter sweepstakes from recognizable companies, and never pay a fee to enter.
Avoiding being the victim of a scam takes a healthy dose of skepticism. If you are ever unsure about the legitimacy of an offer made to you, you can call the National Fraud Information Center’s Hotline at 1-800-876-7060.
What You May Not Know About Your Tax Rebate/Economic Stimulus Check
Have you already received your Tax Rebate check, or as they are now referred to, Economic Stimulus Check? Do you know the facts about this check? Do you know how yours will be delivered? Do you have important plans for your check? Just getting by? Paying off bills? No matter what you have planned our first concern is for the safe delivery of the check. With so many rumors floating around I decided to some research and find out more about the Economic Stimulus Check and dispel the myths surrounding it.
The Economic Stimulus Check is a tax rebate to taxpayers as a result of several income tax changes. Payments are sent out over the course of several weeks, with the mailing date to vary according the last two digits of the taxpayers Social Security number. For tax payers who filed electronically and had their tax refund direct deposited (or payment direct withdrawal) your income tax rebate will be direct deposited to your bank that was used for your deposit or payment. Taxpayers who submitted their income tax return via mail will have their checks issued the same day as those who filed electronically, however, their payments will be delivered via regular U.S. mail. If you have not paid your taxes or filed your return yet, your rebate will be held until that step is completed.
Many already know the amount to be issued to tax payers: $600.00 for individual taxpayer, $1200.00 for married filing jointly, and a possible $300.00 per qualifying child, born after December, 1990. However, many people do not know that they may not receive those amounts. It is possible that your Economic Stimulus Check may be offset by back taxes owed, unpaid student loans and several other government factors. How will this affect you? It is hard to tell, and you won't know your exact amount until your check arrives.
With the availability of money and the use of technology, it is no wonder that a new phishing scam has been created regarding the Economic Stimulus Check. Phishing scams are emails that attempt to lure you to a website to gain personal or financial information. One of the newest scams is a message that appears to be from the Internal Revenue Service delivered to your email address. And like many other phishing scams this message appears to be authentic and legitimate, especially since many tax payers file electronically and use their email address to confirm their filing status.
This message is used to gain your name, address, social security and even bank account information and provides you with a link to a website and the instructions to "click the link below and fill out the necessary information to receive your 2008 Stimulus Economic Refund." If you do click the link, you are at the very least verifying that the message was sent to a "real" email address, leaving yourself open to other phishing scams, even if you do not complete the "form."
The Internal Revenue Service website requests that if you receive this message you forward it to phishing@irs.gov. Do not open it. Not only can this message be a phishing scam but it could also contain viruses harmful to your computer. The information stolen is all that is needed to intercept your Economic Stimulus check or even to steal your identity.
Many antivirus and email programs contain phishing detection, but if you don't, or if you are worried about the quality of the messages you receive you may look into purchasing an antivirus software system that also provides phishing scam detection, such as Stopzilla, F-Secure Internet Security Suite, or AVG Internet Security (one of the for pay products) Trend Micro PC-cillin and many more antivirus products are designing their software to detect and stop phishing scams before they can do harm to your computer, information and credit.
Have all your questions regarding your Economic Stimulus Check answered at the official IRS.gov website. Not only does it offer a section of Frequently Asked Questions, but it also provides the opportunity to legitimately check the status of your check.
The Economic Stimulus Check is a tax rebate to taxpayers as a result of several income tax changes. Payments are sent out over the course of several weeks, with the mailing date to vary according the last two digits of the taxpayers Social Security number. For tax payers who filed electronically and had their tax refund direct deposited (or payment direct withdrawal) your income tax rebate will be direct deposited to your bank that was used for your deposit or payment. Taxpayers who submitted their income tax return via mail will have their checks issued the same day as those who filed electronically, however, their payments will be delivered via regular U.S. mail. If you have not paid your taxes or filed your return yet, your rebate will be held until that step is completed.
Many already know the amount to be issued to tax payers: $600.00 for individual taxpayer, $1200.00 for married filing jointly, and a possible $300.00 per qualifying child, born after December, 1990. However, many people do not know that they may not receive those amounts. It is possible that your Economic Stimulus Check may be offset by back taxes owed, unpaid student loans and several other government factors. How will this affect you? It is hard to tell, and you won't know your exact amount until your check arrives.
With the availability of money and the use of technology, it is no wonder that a new phishing scam has been created regarding the Economic Stimulus Check. Phishing scams are emails that attempt to lure you to a website to gain personal or financial information. One of the newest scams is a message that appears to be from the Internal Revenue Service delivered to your email address. And like many other phishing scams this message appears to be authentic and legitimate, especially since many tax payers file electronically and use their email address to confirm their filing status.
This message is used to gain your name, address, social security and even bank account information and provides you with a link to a website and the instructions to "click the link below and fill out the necessary information to receive your 2008 Stimulus Economic Refund." If you do click the link, you are at the very least verifying that the message was sent to a "real" email address, leaving yourself open to other phishing scams, even if you do not complete the "form."
The Internal Revenue Service website requests that if you receive this message you forward it to phishing@irs.gov. Do not open it. Not only can this message be a phishing scam but it could also contain viruses harmful to your computer. The information stolen is all that is needed to intercept your Economic Stimulus check or even to steal your identity.
Many antivirus and email programs contain phishing detection, but if you don't, or if you are worried about the quality of the messages you receive you may look into purchasing an antivirus software system that also provides phishing scam detection, such as Stopzilla, F-Secure Internet Security Suite, or AVG Internet Security (one of the for pay products) Trend Micro PC-cillin and many more antivirus products are designing their software to detect and stop phishing scams before they can do harm to your computer, information and credit.
Have all your questions regarding your Economic Stimulus Check answered at the official IRS.gov website. Not only does it offer a section of Frequently Asked Questions, but it also provides the opportunity to legitimately check the status of your check.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Are You Immune To Home Employment Scams?
While the Internet is a great way to start an online business with minimum cost, those who have just started out would soon realize scams and spams are almost part and parcel of doing business on the net. Of course this is something legitimate business owners would try to avoid but for the vulnerable newbies, getting caught out in scams can be a very costly and unpleasant experience.
This article is not aimed at discouraging people from starting Home based business through the Internet, but to guide the people about the Business opportunities available on the net that are bogus or illegitimate. These are more popularly termed as Scams.
There are numerous opportunities available on the Internet for starting a homebased business successfully. Some of these opportunities are really success oriented. However all these business strategies require hard work and dedication besides thorough knowledge about the market.
Some of these opportunities are quick and easy way of making money. Before getting involved into any business opportunity through the Internet, people must be aware and be very cautious against fraudulent scams.
They should not get carried away by people who try to fool others using fake testimonials, documents, guarantee cards, and offering huge income potentials in a short period of time. At times, these scams are quite easy to spot, but at other times, they can be very convincing and persuasive.
There are many reliable work at home jobs on the Internet, or more commonly known as Online business or Network Marketing. Legitimate online businesses are usually honest in their predictions and expectations of achieving success in any time frame. This is mainly because, like in any business, they really do require a lot of hard work and open-minded communication between the business owner and prospects or customers.
In many ways they more or less similar to your regular 8am - 5pm day job. The employee must first qualify for the job that is offered. He must then develop trust with the employer through dedicated work. Most of these telecommuting jobs are treated as part time opportunities.
Another way of working on the Internet is to work as freelancer or on independent contract. You can work as article writer, consultant, editor, designer and numerous other ways. With all these type of opportunities the risk of getting involved in scams is less.
The Internet business opportunity scams are more common in sales endeavors. The scrupulous people who run the Internet scams are always on the look out for a naive wishful and desperate surfer.
Many homemakers, and elderly people become a prey under these scams. Before getting it to any business option, people must get a thorough knowledge about these scams. They can get all the necessary information from the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission.
These organizations help you to keep away from the Internet based scams and also help to verify the offers on the net and file complaints if necessary. Another way to avoid scams is to start up the home based business after getting the necessary information from the Small business Administration.
It is essential for people to come forward and report the scams however small be the money involved. Scams have proliferated through Internet because of the access to millions of customers.
The most commonplace for Internet scams is through the auction sites. Fraudulent merchandise sales sites are on the rise. The scammers try to allure customers by offering hard to find goods such as electronic gadgets.
Thousand of shoppers who whisk their money have never received their goods. The people are advised to be skeptical of sites, which offer the goods at incredibly low prices.
This article is not aimed at discouraging people from starting Home based business through the Internet, but to guide the people about the Business opportunities available on the net that are bogus or illegitimate. These are more popularly termed as Scams.
There are numerous opportunities available on the Internet for starting a homebased business successfully. Some of these opportunities are really success oriented. However all these business strategies require hard work and dedication besides thorough knowledge about the market.
Some of these opportunities are quick and easy way of making money. Before getting involved into any business opportunity through the Internet, people must be aware and be very cautious against fraudulent scams.
They should not get carried away by people who try to fool others using fake testimonials, documents, guarantee cards, and offering huge income potentials in a short period of time. At times, these scams are quite easy to spot, but at other times, they can be very convincing and persuasive.
There are many reliable work at home jobs on the Internet, or more commonly known as Online business or Network Marketing. Legitimate online businesses are usually honest in their predictions and expectations of achieving success in any time frame. This is mainly because, like in any business, they really do require a lot of hard work and open-minded communication between the business owner and prospects or customers.
In many ways they more or less similar to your regular 8am - 5pm day job. The employee must first qualify for the job that is offered. He must then develop trust with the employer through dedicated work. Most of these telecommuting jobs are treated as part time opportunities.
Another way of working on the Internet is to work as freelancer or on independent contract. You can work as article writer, consultant, editor, designer and numerous other ways. With all these type of opportunities the risk of getting involved in scams is less.
The Internet business opportunity scams are more common in sales endeavors. The scrupulous people who run the Internet scams are always on the look out for a naive wishful and desperate surfer.
Many homemakers, and elderly people become a prey under these scams. Before getting it to any business option, people must get a thorough knowledge about these scams. They can get all the necessary information from the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission.
These organizations help you to keep away from the Internet based scams and also help to verify the offers on the net and file complaints if necessary. Another way to avoid scams is to start up the home based business after getting the necessary information from the Small business Administration.
It is essential for people to come forward and report the scams however small be the money involved. Scams have proliferated through Internet because of the access to millions of customers.
The most commonplace for Internet scams is through the auction sites. Fraudulent merchandise sales sites are on the rise. The scammers try to allure customers by offering hard to find goods such as electronic gadgets.
Thousand of shoppers who whisk their money have never received their goods. The people are advised to be skeptical of sites, which offer the goods at incredibly low prices.
How to Avoid Home Business Scams Online
Home Business Scams seem to be the most prevalent scam around on the Internet today. Many home business scams are designed to persuade you to sign up immediately before you have time to research or ask relevant questions. They try to take advantage of the impulse buyer. What most advocates of home business scams aren’t willing to tell you is that it’s going to require many hours of hard work before you earn a single dime online. Overall, home business scams are all too common on the web today.
These tips may help you avoid being the victim of a scam. First, let's agree on a definition of the word scam. In scam situations you are handing over money or goods for something that either does not exist, or does not operate properly. It may be of extremely poor quality, or fail to live up to the exaggerated claims of performance. Maybe it was never the vendor's product to sell in the first place. Work-at-home scams are often presented to appear as if you are being offered a job. This is because most people are more trusting of job offers as opposed to business opportunities. The best way to avoid these internet scams is to thoroughly research each opportunity before you move forward with it.
These scams can be broken down into various categories. The scams we shall be dealing with initially are brought to your attention via the Internet. These are the popular Home Business offers of over night prosperity which try to attract you initially with lots of hype, lots of CAPITAL LETTERS, lots of punctuation and lots of highlighted text. I am going to give you a quick rundown of so called work at home opportunities to avoid. You should memorize this list and avoid these offers like the plague. The most common home business scams are envelope stuffing, product/craft assembly, pyramid schemes, type-at-home projects and unsolicited emails.
To avoid being labeled a home business scam you need a business that provides something of value at a reasonable price. You also need a way to securely receive payment, and a way to deliver the goods in a timely fashion. Yes, there are scams out there, but the majority of the ads you will see are offering real opportunities that can make you money. Recently, (mid 2007) the Better Business Bureau has been receiving reports that even some online employment agencies, are being targeted by scam artists. Their only aim is to steal bank details and other sensitive information about people seeking employment. In other words, Identity Theft.
Internet home business scams are all too common, which places a burden on legitimate businesses to prove themselves to be legal. These hints on avoiding home business scams are only meant as a guideline to help you stay away from fraudulent and misleading deals. Recognizing home business
opportunity scams is something every person must learn if they truly want to find a legitimate home business opportunity. If it sounds too good to be true it usually is too good to be true.
These tips may help you avoid being the victim of a scam. First, let's agree on a definition of the word scam. In scam situations you are handing over money or goods for something that either does not exist, or does not operate properly. It may be of extremely poor quality, or fail to live up to the exaggerated claims of performance. Maybe it was never the vendor's product to sell in the first place. Work-at-home scams are often presented to appear as if you are being offered a job. This is because most people are more trusting of job offers as opposed to business opportunities. The best way to avoid these internet scams is to thoroughly research each opportunity before you move forward with it.
These scams can be broken down into various categories. The scams we shall be dealing with initially are brought to your attention via the Internet. These are the popular Home Business offers of over night prosperity which try to attract you initially with lots of hype, lots of CAPITAL LETTERS, lots of punctuation and lots of highlighted text. I am going to give you a quick rundown of so called work at home opportunities to avoid. You should memorize this list and avoid these offers like the plague. The most common home business scams are envelope stuffing, product/craft assembly, pyramid schemes, type-at-home projects and unsolicited emails.
To avoid being labeled a home business scam you need a business that provides something of value at a reasonable price. You also need a way to securely receive payment, and a way to deliver the goods in a timely fashion. Yes, there are scams out there, but the majority of the ads you will see are offering real opportunities that can make you money. Recently, (mid 2007) the Better Business Bureau has been receiving reports that even some online employment agencies, are being targeted by scam artists. Their only aim is to steal bank details and other sensitive information about people seeking employment. In other words, Identity Theft.
Internet home business scams are all too common, which places a burden on legitimate businesses to prove themselves to be legal. These hints on avoiding home business scams are only meant as a guideline to help you stay away from fraudulent and misleading deals. Recognizing home business
opportunity scams is something every person must learn if they truly want to find a legitimate home business opportunity. If it sounds too good to be true it usually is too good to be true.
Work at Home Scams: The 3 Best Scams
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More than a million people are victims of work at home scams each year. Some, I'm sorry to say, had it coming. They went in with their hearts instead of their heads. Others however couldn't have dodged the bullet even if they tried the work at home scam was just too sophisticated for the average searcher.
These days con artists don't just create work at home scams, they create systems that will damage the lives of their victims long after they have pulled out of the scam. Below are some ways con artists take advantage of you.
1. The "send in your resume" scam. This is a difficult scam to detect because it appears to be legitimate. After all, the company is asking for prospects to email them a resume and cover letter. This is something all legit companies do. However, it's your email address they want.
Once you email them with your resume or to ask for more information, they will attach a malware to their email. This allows the con artist to gain free access of the job seekers computer including passwords and personal email.
Because many people who work online have PayPal accounts hackers can gain access into these accounts and drain them. They also gain access of the victims address book, thus sending the scam to their friends and family or in sever cases death threats.
Another clever tactic used in this "send in your resume" scam is to ask for a lot of personal information such as full name, address, sex, telephone-cell-fax, bank account number, copy of Driver's License or Passport, and occasionally a Social Security Number.
Once the con artist has obtained this information it is sold to an identity theft ring.
2. The "I love you scam." This scam doesn't start out as a work at home scam but is designed as such. It starts with someone, usually in a singles chat room, approaching you to chat. These con artists form bonds with their victims and deceive them into thinking that they love them.
They then pitch a home business idea or tell them that are in are already in business and need their help. Because the victim feels as though they are in love they can't or don't say no.
The con artist then requests money to for the business or the victim is made into third party receiver of funds or packages. The packages are always stolen or were bought with fake credit cards. Because the victim "loves" the con artist they continue to send money or packages without questioning why they're not seeing a dime.
In the case of receiving funds, their bank accounts are drained. Victims are always left heavily in dept and because you are handling stolen goods this scam can get you prospected.
New age work at home scams are far more sophisticated than purchasing a box of junk. They leave heavily the victim in dept; destroy their credit rating as well as your reputation. Fortunately there are more resources today for victims of work at home scams.
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More than a million people are victims of work at home scams each year. Some, I'm sorry to say, had it coming. They went in with their hearts instead of their heads. Others however couldn't have dodged the bullet even if they tried the work at home scam was just too sophisticated for the average searcher.
These days con artists don't just create work at home scams, they create systems that will damage the lives of their victims long after they have pulled out of the scam. Below are some ways con artists take advantage of you.
1. The "send in your resume" scam. This is a difficult scam to detect because it appears to be legitimate. After all, the company is asking for prospects to email them a resume and cover letter. This is something all legit companies do. However, it's your email address they want.
Once you email them with your resume or to ask for more information, they will attach a malware to their email. This allows the con artist to gain free access of the job seekers computer including passwords and personal email.
Because many people who work online have PayPal accounts hackers can gain access into these accounts and drain them. They also gain access of the victims address book, thus sending the scam to their friends and family or in sever cases death threats.
Another clever tactic used in this "send in your resume" scam is to ask for a lot of personal information such as full name, address, sex, telephone-cell-fax, bank account number, copy of Driver's License or Passport, and occasionally a Social Security Number.
Once the con artist has obtained this information it is sold to an identity theft ring.
2. The "I love you scam." This scam doesn't start out as a work at home scam but is designed as such. It starts with someone, usually in a singles chat room, approaching you to chat. These con artists form bonds with their victims and deceive them into thinking that they love them.
They then pitch a home business idea or tell them that are in are already in business and need their help. Because the victim feels as though they are in love they can't or don't say no.
The con artist then requests money to for the business or the victim is made into third party receiver of funds or packages. The packages are always stolen or were bought with fake credit cards. Because the victim "loves" the con artist they continue to send money or packages without questioning why they're not seeing a dime.
In the case of receiving funds, their bank accounts are drained. Victims are always left heavily in dept and because you are handling stolen goods this scam can get you prospected.
New age work at home scams are far more sophisticated than purchasing a box of junk. They leave heavily the victim in dept; destroy their credit rating as well as your reputation. Fortunately there are more resources today for victims of work at home scams.
Male nurse charged with raping boy
By MATT COUGHLIN
Bucks County Courier Times
A nurse caring for a physically and mentally impaired 14-year-old Bucks County boy is accused of raping the teen in April, according to police.
Fred Magondu, 36, a Kenyan national living on King Arthur Road in Philadelphia, was taken into custody at a Philadelphia nursing home Thursday afternoon and later arraigned on charges of molesting a child who was in his care.
Police said they learned of the rape April 30. The boy receives 24-hour nursing care because he is mentally and physically impaired, unable to speak and blind, police said. According to court records, another individual care nurse, who has been caring for the boy for about nine years, discovered injuries to the boy when she attempted to change his diaper after he arrived at school April 30.
The boy was first examined at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown and then transferred to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Doctors at both hospitals told police the boy was bleeding and bruised.
Police learned that Magondu, a Harleysville Pediatrics employee who has been caring for the boy for several months, was working at the victim's home from April 29 to 30. Magondu was allegedly alone with the boy from 5 a.m. to 7:40 a.m. before putting him on the bus to school, police said.
Investigators interviewed Magondu in early May at an unnamed Philadelphia nursing home where he works, according to court records. Magondu said that on April 30 the boy had been bleeding but the nurse believed it was a physical problem and had changed a set of soiled linens. Police collected a sample of Magondu's DNA and the boy's bed linens and sent them to National Medical Services for analysis.
click here
In a report to police June 6, the laboratory said the linens tested positive for semen that matched Magondu's DNA and that the possibility of it being from another unrelated person was 1 in 7 trillion, according to court records.
Magondu was arraigned on multiple charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with minors and sent to Bucks County prison on $250,000 bail. If he is released, the judge ordered that Magondu have no contact with the child and surrender his passport to authorities.
Magondu has been a practical nurse since June 2006 and had renewed his license earlier this month, according to Department of State records. Those records list no prior disciplinary action. He also has an expired graduate permit that lists a prior address in Falls. During his arraignment Magondu told the judge he moved to Philadelphia from Fairless Hills with his wife and three children in January. He has no prior criminal record in Pennsylvania, according to state records.
The newspaper is withholding information about the teen to protect his identity.
Bucks County Courier Times
A nurse caring for a physically and mentally impaired 14-year-old Bucks County boy is accused of raping the teen in April, according to police.
Fred Magondu, 36, a Kenyan national living on King Arthur Road in Philadelphia, was taken into custody at a Philadelphia nursing home Thursday afternoon and later arraigned on charges of molesting a child who was in his care.
Police said they learned of the rape April 30. The boy receives 24-hour nursing care because he is mentally and physically impaired, unable to speak and blind, police said. According to court records, another individual care nurse, who has been caring for the boy for about nine years, discovered injuries to the boy when she attempted to change his diaper after he arrived at school April 30.
The boy was first examined at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown and then transferred to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Doctors at both hospitals told police the boy was bleeding and bruised.
Police learned that Magondu, a Harleysville Pediatrics employee who has been caring for the boy for several months, was working at the victim's home from April 29 to 30. Magondu was allegedly alone with the boy from 5 a.m. to 7:40 a.m. before putting him on the bus to school, police said.
Investigators interviewed Magondu in early May at an unnamed Philadelphia nursing home where he works, according to court records. Magondu said that on April 30 the boy had been bleeding but the nurse believed it was a physical problem and had changed a set of soiled linens. Police collected a sample of Magondu's DNA and the boy's bed linens and sent them to National Medical Services for analysis.
click here
In a report to police June 6, the laboratory said the linens tested positive for semen that matched Magondu's DNA and that the possibility of it being from another unrelated person was 1 in 7 trillion, according to court records.
Magondu was arraigned on multiple charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with minors and sent to Bucks County prison on $250,000 bail. If he is released, the judge ordered that Magondu have no contact with the child and surrender his passport to authorities.
Magondu has been a practical nurse since June 2006 and had renewed his license earlier this month, according to Department of State records. Those records list no prior disciplinary action. He also has an expired graduate permit that lists a prior address in Falls. During his arraignment Magondu told the judge he moved to Philadelphia from Fairless Hills with his wife and three children in January. He has no prior criminal record in Pennsylvania, according to state records.
The newspaper is withholding information about the teen to protect his identity.
Monday, June 16, 2008
DNA test on fugitive ‘Kabuga’
By Cyrus Ombati
Police have conducted DNA tests on a Rwandese believed to be genocide suspect Felician Kabuga.
The man was arrested from a house in Nairobi on Friday night following a tip off from his former aides, said detectives.
He was trailed from Kawangware area before he was arrested and held at the Gigiri Police Station overnight and later moved to CID headquarters, yesterday.
Felicien Kabuga
Earlier, the detectives drove the man resembling Kabuga to a city hospital and took samples from him for a DNA test.
Sources said they took saliva and hair from the suspect to compare them with others from Arusha and Rwanda.
Other officers were given his pictures to compare with the suspect’s appearance.
The man in custody reportedly told investigators he is a Hutu and a lecturer at an institution in Kigali. He, however, but could not explain his mission in Kenya.
"We have a Rwandese suspect in our custody, but we do not know him for now. We are still profiling him in efforts to know his identity," said deputy police spokesman Charles Owino.
"If it is Felician Kabuga it will be honour for us to make it known and if it is negative we will make it public," he said.
Owino said the Kabuga issue was an international one and that local detectives were handling it with caution.
The arrest was made by detectives from the Special Crimes Prevention Unit.
"You never know because this man can pay someone to impose himself as him. We are very cautious," said one of the detectives.
The team trailed the suspect from Mombasa before arresting him in Nairobi.
The Tanzanian-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda believes Kabuga is hiding Kenya.
And following persistence claims, sources said, a special team was assembled to trace the runway suspect.
The team was established two months ago and has been moving between Nairobi and Mombasa.
Kabuga is the most wanted man in Africa. He is accused of financing the 1994 murder of close to a million Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus, in one of the worst genocides in human history.
In 1999, the tribunal issued an international arrest warrant for Kabuga, charging him with 11 counts, including genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and complicity in genocide.
The tribunal said the Rwandan tycoon was "the main supporter and financier of the Interhamwe militia", which carried out most of the killings.
Charges against Kabuga indicated he made "massive purchases" of machetes, hoes and other agricultural tools to arm the militia.
Kabuga was also a co-owner of the Mille Collines radio station used to broadcast a hate campaign against Tutsis in the run-up to the genocide.
The station was described by the Human Rights Watch as "the voice of genocide." And despite having Sh100 million bounty on his head, the fugitive tycoon has evaded authorities for more than a decade.
Two previous attempts to capture Kabuga, a Rwandan Hutu who amassed a vast fortune through smuggling coffee, failed. In one instance, an informer died mysteriously.
That was five years ago when a bungled operation by American FBI to snare Kabuga led to the death of their key informer, Kenyan businessman William Munuhe.
It started on January 15, 2003 when American investigators asked Kenyan detectives to stake out Munuhe’s house in Karen, and wait for Kabuga.
But the stakeout was called off after seven hours when Kabuga failed to show up.
Two days later, the detectives broke into Munuhe’s house and found him dead.
Six years earlier, Kabuga came close to arrest but his close associates tipped him of the planned sting operation.
Kabuga has for long been suspected to be hiding in Kenya, sheltered by corrupt senior Government officials, after his expulsion from Switzerland.
Police spokesman Mr Eric Kiraithe called The Sunday Standard last night saying preliminary finding had shown the man in their custody was not Kabuga.
"Our early investigations show he is not the one," he said.
Police have conducted DNA tests on a Rwandese believed to be genocide suspect Felician Kabuga.
The man was arrested from a house in Nairobi on Friday night following a tip off from his former aides, said detectives.
He was trailed from Kawangware area before he was arrested and held at the Gigiri Police Station overnight and later moved to CID headquarters, yesterday.
Felicien Kabuga
Earlier, the detectives drove the man resembling Kabuga to a city hospital and took samples from him for a DNA test.
Sources said they took saliva and hair from the suspect to compare them with others from Arusha and Rwanda.
Other officers were given his pictures to compare with the suspect’s appearance.
The man in custody reportedly told investigators he is a Hutu and a lecturer at an institution in Kigali. He, however, but could not explain his mission in Kenya.
"We have a Rwandese suspect in our custody, but we do not know him for now. We are still profiling him in efforts to know his identity," said deputy police spokesman Charles Owino.
"If it is Felician Kabuga it will be honour for us to make it known and if it is negative we will make it public," he said.
Owino said the Kabuga issue was an international one and that local detectives were handling it with caution.
The arrest was made by detectives from the Special Crimes Prevention Unit.
"You never know because this man can pay someone to impose himself as him. We are very cautious," said one of the detectives.
The team trailed the suspect from Mombasa before arresting him in Nairobi.
The Tanzanian-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda believes Kabuga is hiding Kenya.
And following persistence claims, sources said, a special team was assembled to trace the runway suspect.
The team was established two months ago and has been moving between Nairobi and Mombasa.
Kabuga is the most wanted man in Africa. He is accused of financing the 1994 murder of close to a million Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus, in one of the worst genocides in human history.
In 1999, the tribunal issued an international arrest warrant for Kabuga, charging him with 11 counts, including genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and complicity in genocide.
The tribunal said the Rwandan tycoon was "the main supporter and financier of the Interhamwe militia", which carried out most of the killings.
Charges against Kabuga indicated he made "massive purchases" of machetes, hoes and other agricultural tools to arm the militia.
Kabuga was also a co-owner of the Mille Collines radio station used to broadcast a hate campaign against Tutsis in the run-up to the genocide.
The station was described by the Human Rights Watch as "the voice of genocide." And despite having Sh100 million bounty on his head, the fugitive tycoon has evaded authorities for more than a decade.
Two previous attempts to capture Kabuga, a Rwandan Hutu who amassed a vast fortune through smuggling coffee, failed. In one instance, an informer died mysteriously.
That was five years ago when a bungled operation by American FBI to snare Kabuga led to the death of their key informer, Kenyan businessman William Munuhe.
It started on January 15, 2003 when American investigators asked Kenyan detectives to stake out Munuhe’s house in Karen, and wait for Kabuga.
But the stakeout was called off after seven hours when Kabuga failed to show up.
Two days later, the detectives broke into Munuhe’s house and found him dead.
Six years earlier, Kabuga came close to arrest but his close associates tipped him of the planned sting operation.
Kabuga has for long been suspected to be hiding in Kenya, sheltered by corrupt senior Government officials, after his expulsion from Switzerland.
Police spokesman Mr Eric Kiraithe called The Sunday Standard last night saying preliminary finding had shown the man in their custody was not Kabuga.
"Our early investigations show he is not the one," he said.
So close, yet so far
By Maryanne Waweru
A few months ago, the world was shocked to learn that an Austrian man had locked his daughter in a cellar for 24 years — and fathered seven children with her! How could that have happened? Many people wondered how a father could make a ‘wife’ out of his daughter, right in their basement, and manage to keep his wife and neighbours in the dark.
Most of us believe such an incident cannot pass unnoticed in our neighbourhoods. Although life is changing, many rural folk still live in close-knit neighbourhoods where the entire community is regarded as one big family. With urbanisation, however, many people no longer know who their neighbours are? Especially in urban (or urbanised) neighbourhoods, would anyone notice if anything untoward happened?
Stephen Kariuki and Margaret Wambua
Stephen Kariuki, a resident of Eastleigh in Nairobi, says that in urban centres, an incident like that which took place in Austria can happen without neighbours even being aware of it. This, he says, is due to the individualistic nature of urbanites, who tend to be too absorbed in their own lives to care about neighbours.
Kariuki, a driver with a local NGO, recalls an incident a few years ago when one of his neighbours died in his house. It took about four days for people to notice that the person was missing. And this was only because of the stench emanating from the dead man’s house.
Kariuki lives in a compound that accommodates a block of 30 housing units that are closely huddled together. Of the 30 houses, he is only acquainted with two families — who hail from his rural village. He recognises the other residents only by appearance and nothing more.
But he insists that this lack of knowledge of neighbours is not out of his lack for concern. Having been born and raised in Murang’a, Kariuki extols the virtues of good neighbourliness. When he moved to Nairobi 14 years ago, he carried this attitude with him, only to be disappointed at everyone’s attitude. He claims urban dwellers are too snobbish.
"They hate any form of intrusion and do not like being bothered," he says.
During his first days in town, he attempted to make friends with his neighbours, but every time he knocked on their door for a visit, the host never welcomed him in. Instead, the person stepped out and talked to him at the doorstep.
"I always felt as if my friendly gestures to neighbours were a bother," Kaiuki says. He thinks people are not too welcoming to ‘strangers’ because they fear they might be robbed or harmed in some other way. Today, he can only moan the loss of sociability in urban towns. "In the village, you do not need an invitation to walk into someone’s home. You just stroll in and you will be readily served with food. There, people know everything about each other, what they ate last night, what time they slept, who sneezed, or who has a running stomach. That is not so in Nairobi where you can die in your house and remain there for weeks before anyone ever discovers you."
Who is this familiar stranger?
According to Victor Onsase, the culture in metropolitan areas is a one of "Me, me, me". He observes: "The neighbourhood principle is completely lost on these people, who seem to abide by some unwritten rule that says ‘stay out of my businesses’." An accountant, Onsase lives in Umoja estate, Nairobi, with his family. They live in a block of flats with dozens of other tenants, but he has no idea about the number of houses in it or who lives where.
"I live on the ground floor and, honestly, I have never bothered to look up. Maybe there are three or four floors: I don’t really know."
Onsase, who has lived in this flat for the past two years, does not know any of his neighbours, but is only vaguely familiar with some faces. Recently, he and a peculiarly recognisable man met at a bar. "We both looked familiar to each other, but just couldn’t figure out where we knew each other from," he says. After interacting a little, it dawned on them that they lived in the same flat.
Asked what this friend’s name is, Onsase scratches his head in thought, guessing: he hasn’t a clue! On account of their frequently meeting at the bar, their friendship has flourished. Still, they do not visit each other at home and do not even bother to learn each other's names.
"I do not know where to find time for neighbours," says Onsase. "I leave for work early in the morning and return late in the evening. My weekends are also full."
He adds: "In Nairobi, you can live with your neighbour for years on end without ever exchanging a ‘hello’. Many times, I want to say ‘hello’, but the stern look on the face of the other person stops me."
After sharing a greeting for a while, he says, neighbours should naturally progress from acquaintanceship to some degree of friendship. "But once you ask the person where he works or what he does for a living, he thinks you are prying and will start avoiding you." People in the city, he says, do not trust each other and are afraid of each other. "Innocent, friendly gestures are interpreted as intrusiveness. With time, you learn to mind your own business too."
Onsase believes that the urbanites are so stuck-up that one can live next to a most-wanted criminal and not even be aware of it.
Today, many young parents are too busy to even find out who their children interact with in the neighbourhood. Mary Auma, a mother of two who lives in South C, Nairobi, says modern technology has contributed to the decline of friendly relations between neighbours. "While long ago children from different families would bring their parents together, nowadays children are more interested in making friends via the Internet, playing computer games and watching 24-hour TV," she says.
A businesswoman, Auma says it is difficult to know what goes on in people’s homes because of the high fences and high gates people have erected around their houses. "These gates only open and close when a car is being driven in or out," she observes. Previously, fences were low and you could easily converse with your neighbour. We also left our gates open."
Neighbours in town
In spite of the indifference among neighbours, a few sociable people are intent on preserving good ties. Apparently, Margaret Wambua and family are acquainted with all their neighbours.
"At least we know their names, their telephone numbers, and a few things about them," says Margaret.
"We have even shared dinner at our houses with some of them, because we believe there is a lot to gain from the social capital of neighbours."
She wonders when and why society stopped caring about their neighbours. Growing up in Jericho estate in Nairobi, she says she knew all the names (first, middle and last) of all the people who lived next to them, and even those in the next court.
"Together with our parents, we talked to them and visited them frequently. People followed the principle that the village raises the child, and that neighbours disciplined each others’ children."
Margaret says that many people are afraid of reprimanding a neighbour's child for fear of consequences. She believes there are benefits to tight-knit neighbourhoods, especially during emergencies. "An emergency can occur any time and you may need the help of your neighbours," she says. A major source of the erosion of good neighbourliness, she says, is cell phones and Internet connections in homes. "During an emergency, people simply call for help using their phones, or use the Internet to look up information without having to step out of their house."
The fact that many people own cars today has also contributed to this loss. "Long ago, neighbours would walk to the bus stop together, chatting and bonding."
Japheth Nyambane, a sociologist, says modernity, which is quickly being adopted by many African communities, is characterised by individualism and exclusionism, meaning that rules of communal responsibility and accountability do not hold. "Everyone is responsible for themselves, with the forces of modernity pushing people into steadfast competition. People are preoccupied with the rush to meet basic needs and accumulate wealth, such that the person is left with no time to socialise."
He says people temporarily change their attitude when circumstances dictate it, for instance following a robbery, murder or during an impending disaster. People who live close by, he says, should build "neighbourhood watches".
Close neighbours, he adds, are also able to socialise their children, develop institutions such as day-care centres, support their youth and engage in environmental conservation.
A few months ago, the world was shocked to learn that an Austrian man had locked his daughter in a cellar for 24 years — and fathered seven children with her! How could that have happened? Many people wondered how a father could make a ‘wife’ out of his daughter, right in their basement, and manage to keep his wife and neighbours in the dark.
Most of us believe such an incident cannot pass unnoticed in our neighbourhoods. Although life is changing, many rural folk still live in close-knit neighbourhoods where the entire community is regarded as one big family. With urbanisation, however, many people no longer know who their neighbours are? Especially in urban (or urbanised) neighbourhoods, would anyone notice if anything untoward happened?
Stephen Kariuki and Margaret Wambua
Stephen Kariuki, a resident of Eastleigh in Nairobi, says that in urban centres, an incident like that which took place in Austria can happen without neighbours even being aware of it. This, he says, is due to the individualistic nature of urbanites, who tend to be too absorbed in their own lives to care about neighbours.
Kariuki, a driver with a local NGO, recalls an incident a few years ago when one of his neighbours died in his house. It took about four days for people to notice that the person was missing. And this was only because of the stench emanating from the dead man’s house.
Kariuki lives in a compound that accommodates a block of 30 housing units that are closely huddled together. Of the 30 houses, he is only acquainted with two families — who hail from his rural village. He recognises the other residents only by appearance and nothing more.
But he insists that this lack of knowledge of neighbours is not out of his lack for concern. Having been born and raised in Murang’a, Kariuki extols the virtues of good neighbourliness. When he moved to Nairobi 14 years ago, he carried this attitude with him, only to be disappointed at everyone’s attitude. He claims urban dwellers are too snobbish.
"They hate any form of intrusion and do not like being bothered," he says.
During his first days in town, he attempted to make friends with his neighbours, but every time he knocked on their door for a visit, the host never welcomed him in. Instead, the person stepped out and talked to him at the doorstep.
"I always felt as if my friendly gestures to neighbours were a bother," Kaiuki says. He thinks people are not too welcoming to ‘strangers’ because they fear they might be robbed or harmed in some other way. Today, he can only moan the loss of sociability in urban towns. "In the village, you do not need an invitation to walk into someone’s home. You just stroll in and you will be readily served with food. There, people know everything about each other, what they ate last night, what time they slept, who sneezed, or who has a running stomach. That is not so in Nairobi where you can die in your house and remain there for weeks before anyone ever discovers you."
Who is this familiar stranger?
According to Victor Onsase, the culture in metropolitan areas is a one of "Me, me, me". He observes: "The neighbourhood principle is completely lost on these people, who seem to abide by some unwritten rule that says ‘stay out of my businesses’." An accountant, Onsase lives in Umoja estate, Nairobi, with his family. They live in a block of flats with dozens of other tenants, but he has no idea about the number of houses in it or who lives where.
"I live on the ground floor and, honestly, I have never bothered to look up. Maybe there are three or four floors: I don’t really know."
Onsase, who has lived in this flat for the past two years, does not know any of his neighbours, but is only vaguely familiar with some faces. Recently, he and a peculiarly recognisable man met at a bar. "We both looked familiar to each other, but just couldn’t figure out where we knew each other from," he says. After interacting a little, it dawned on them that they lived in the same flat.
Asked what this friend’s name is, Onsase scratches his head in thought, guessing: he hasn’t a clue! On account of their frequently meeting at the bar, their friendship has flourished. Still, they do not visit each other at home and do not even bother to learn each other's names.
"I do not know where to find time for neighbours," says Onsase. "I leave for work early in the morning and return late in the evening. My weekends are also full."
He adds: "In Nairobi, you can live with your neighbour for years on end without ever exchanging a ‘hello’. Many times, I want to say ‘hello’, but the stern look on the face of the other person stops me."
After sharing a greeting for a while, he says, neighbours should naturally progress from acquaintanceship to some degree of friendship. "But once you ask the person where he works or what he does for a living, he thinks you are prying and will start avoiding you." People in the city, he says, do not trust each other and are afraid of each other. "Innocent, friendly gestures are interpreted as intrusiveness. With time, you learn to mind your own business too."
Onsase believes that the urbanites are so stuck-up that one can live next to a most-wanted criminal and not even be aware of it.
Today, many young parents are too busy to even find out who their children interact with in the neighbourhood. Mary Auma, a mother of two who lives in South C, Nairobi, says modern technology has contributed to the decline of friendly relations between neighbours. "While long ago children from different families would bring their parents together, nowadays children are more interested in making friends via the Internet, playing computer games and watching 24-hour TV," she says.
A businesswoman, Auma says it is difficult to know what goes on in people’s homes because of the high fences and high gates people have erected around their houses. "These gates only open and close when a car is being driven in or out," she observes. Previously, fences were low and you could easily converse with your neighbour. We also left our gates open."
Neighbours in town
In spite of the indifference among neighbours, a few sociable people are intent on preserving good ties. Apparently, Margaret Wambua and family are acquainted with all their neighbours.
"At least we know their names, their telephone numbers, and a few things about them," says Margaret.
"We have even shared dinner at our houses with some of them, because we believe there is a lot to gain from the social capital of neighbours."
She wonders when and why society stopped caring about their neighbours. Growing up in Jericho estate in Nairobi, she says she knew all the names (first, middle and last) of all the people who lived next to them, and even those in the next court.
"Together with our parents, we talked to them and visited them frequently. People followed the principle that the village raises the child, and that neighbours disciplined each others’ children."
Margaret says that many people are afraid of reprimanding a neighbour's child for fear of consequences. She believes there are benefits to tight-knit neighbourhoods, especially during emergencies. "An emergency can occur any time and you may need the help of your neighbours," she says. A major source of the erosion of good neighbourliness, she says, is cell phones and Internet connections in homes. "During an emergency, people simply call for help using their phones, or use the Internet to look up information without having to step out of their house."
The fact that many people own cars today has also contributed to this loss. "Long ago, neighbours would walk to the bus stop together, chatting and bonding."
Japheth Nyambane, a sociologist, says modernity, which is quickly being adopted by many African communities, is characterised by individualism and exclusionism, meaning that rules of communal responsibility and accountability do not hold. "Everyone is responsible for themselves, with the forces of modernity pushing people into steadfast competition. People are preoccupied with the rush to meet basic needs and accumulate wealth, such that the person is left with no time to socialise."
He says people temporarily change their attitude when circumstances dictate it, for instance following a robbery, murder or during an impending disaster. People who live close by, he says, should build "neighbourhood watches".
Close neighbours, he adds, are also able to socialise their children, develop institutions such as day-care centres, support their youth and engage in environmental conservation.
When cool drink turns into dregs of death
By Mwangi Muiruri
Recently Gerald Karega went to a pub at 6pm and took a number of beers. The wags say that beauty lies in the eyes of the beer-holder, and as time went by all the women in the bar were looking very appealing to him.
So when a woman approached him with the request for a soda he readily obliged. With time, she switched to beer and then Karega lost track of developments.
He woke up in a room behind the bar at noon the following day and discovered he had lost Sh15,000, a mobile phone and other valuables.
"The manager told me I was careless to trust a stranger in a bar, and that I had been drugged," he recalls.
The sleep inducing potions are put into beer or food causing a deep slumber.
Karega is one of the many men — and quite a few women — who daily fall afoul of confidence tricksters who prowl the bars in Kenya’s major towns armed with drugs that they use to put their victims to sleep before robbing them.
These conmen and women are the latter-day version of the criminals who once travelled in long-distance buses armed with snacks and sweets laced with drugs that quickly put their victims to sleep.
Inquiries by Crazy Monday have revealed that the substances mostly used range from hard drugs to sleeping pills, anaesthetics and antidepressants that should only be used to treat mental illness.
Some are so lethal that if administered in excess, or in combination, they can cause death.
In the case of male victims, the sleep-inducing potions are put into beer or food and the unsuspecting victim drifts into a long slumber that gives the predatory women all the time to clean him up. Doctors warn that some these potions are so powerful they can put an adult horse to sleep – and can also be fatal.
Ashamed
A lot of the victims are too ashamed to even talk about what happened to them. Asked whether he ever reported the theft to police, Karega says: "I’m a married man, working and with decent friends. Such publicity is no good."
Karega got off lightly though. In Karatina, Nyeri District, Paul Wanjau was found dead in a lodging room in 2006 after a woman he had taken for the night administered to him the sleep-inducing drugs in excess.
These drugs can be bought from barmaids, sex workers and even over the counter from chemists.
According to his brother, the dead man was last seen in the company of a twilight girl with whom he rented a room.
"He is said to have taken a number of beers with a certain prostitute in the town. She is also said to be behind the racket of selling the sleep-inducing pills as well as administering them to victims before stealing from them," he says.
When these substances are administered, the victim slips into deep sleep and wakes up many hours later minus his cash and valuables.
According to experts, someone who has taken such a drug lies prostrate with a foaming mouth, moans in a forced manner, wets his pants and his eyes roll.
But often women are also victims. Mostly, the women who fall into this trap are either raped or robbed.
In their case chloroform, which affects the central nervous system when inhaled, is used.
It is sprayed on a handkerchief, which is then pressed on the victim’s nose and mouth.
Last year, a woman was found dead in a lodging in River Road. The woman had checked in earlier with a man and they had looked quite familiar with each other. They also looked drunk.
An attendant says that late at night, she heard some moans coming from the room the two had booked like those made by a person being strangled. She became suspicious when she saw the man leave in a hurry.
Under normal circumstances, lodging staff are only supposed to check the rooms when it is time to check out. So even with all her suspicions, she abided by the regulations and did not try to investigate.
When the woman was eventually found dead, police investigations uncovered a handkerchief in the room that contained chloroform fumes. It was also ascertained that she had been raped.
Seduction
It was later established that the woman was a well-known worker at a nearby cafÈ and was in the company of an equally known customer at the cafÈ. The man had plied her with alcohol to win her sexual favours. It appears that once in the room, she resisted his advances and he drugged her.
A barmaid who sought anonymity told Crazy Monday that the chloroform can even be sprayed on clothes and just a hug is enough to put the victim into a deep sleep.
These drugs are easily bought from barmaids, commercial sex workers as well as street families.
They can also be bought over the counter from chemists’ shops. The most commonly used drug is Stilnox, known by its street name mchele due to its resemblance to rice grains.
Doctors say that the immediate first aid for such a case is a sugarless gum or candy in order to increase the flow of saliva and induce temporary relief.
Enquiries among waiters in various bars reveal that potential victims of drugging are identified when they make sexual advances to a commercial sexual worker and are often they subjects of conspiracy between prostitutes and waiters. One of the women who talked to this writer revealed that a man can be betrayed by his very own friends.
Caleb Ouma recalls the day he got his salary and he and his three friends made a round of the bars to celebrate 30 days of hard labour. He says he can only remember seeing the three friends conferring with a woman at a corner of the bar.
Then he woke up late in the night without a penny — and his friends were nowhere to be seen.
"The waiters in the bar told me not to look far for the thieves. I had been right there with them," Ouma says. When he confronted his friends they denied any involvement in the drugging but when he threatened to go to the police, they refunded his Sh20,000.
There are also instances when the prostitute plots to rob you without involving anyone else. This happens might happen in the pub, in a lodging room or — mostly in the case of bachelors — in the man’s own house.
"This is very common in crowded pubs," a barmaid told us. "Always patronise bars where you can create your own space, especially in bars with balconies. Crowded places are risky."
When the drugging is done in a bar, there are many to share the spoils since the security people, some waiters and sometimes even the manager must be involved. In case the victim reports the theft to the police, the waiters and the manager will deny ever seeing you in the pub.
Conspiracy
And if it happens in lodging rooms, there is likely to be a conspiracy between the guard at the gate or the receptionist. This is because at most lodgings, it is the man who is required to surrender the room’s key either to the security guard or the receptionist.
If the woman wants to be the first to leave, the guard is supposed to get clearance from the man.
If you are drugged, and the woman you were with was cleared by the guard to leave without clearance from you, read conspiracy. The first suspect if you cannot recall the face of the woman is the guard, a source who is privy to the drugging racket revealed.
Ben Mwangi says he lost his cash and a phone in a lodging room. After enjoying drinks with a woman he had just met, the two decided to take their friendship to the next level. They hired a room in the lodgings above the bar.
"I woke up to find myself not in the room, but on the pub’s floor," he says. When he tried explaining to the management that he had got drunk in that very bar in the company of a woman and hired a room upstairs, he was treated like a man person or as if he was weak in the head. "They said I was either an idler or even a thief," he says.
The waiter who had served them later whispered to him that he was wasting his time. He was complaining to the very people who had organised the drugging.
"She even confided to me that my phone was sold to the manager at the pub."
According to interviews with men who have been drugged in their own homes, the woman is very thorough. She will steal all the electronics and anything else of value. In this case, the conspirator is a taxi driver somewhere who comes to spirit the goods and the robber away from your house.
That is how it happened to Michael Mugwanja. He says he took a woman he had picked up in a pub to his house.
"I only remember feeling dizzy after just a few moments on the bed. I woke up to find all of my electronics, good clothes and a gas cooker missing. The woman was nowhere to be seen," he says.
Recently Gerald Karega went to a pub at 6pm and took a number of beers. The wags say that beauty lies in the eyes of the beer-holder, and as time went by all the women in the bar were looking very appealing to him.
So when a woman approached him with the request for a soda he readily obliged. With time, she switched to beer and then Karega lost track of developments.
He woke up in a room behind the bar at noon the following day and discovered he had lost Sh15,000, a mobile phone and other valuables.
"The manager told me I was careless to trust a stranger in a bar, and that I had been drugged," he recalls.
The sleep inducing potions are put into beer or food causing a deep slumber.
Karega is one of the many men — and quite a few women — who daily fall afoul of confidence tricksters who prowl the bars in Kenya’s major towns armed with drugs that they use to put their victims to sleep before robbing them.
These conmen and women are the latter-day version of the criminals who once travelled in long-distance buses armed with snacks and sweets laced with drugs that quickly put their victims to sleep.
Inquiries by Crazy Monday have revealed that the substances mostly used range from hard drugs to sleeping pills, anaesthetics and antidepressants that should only be used to treat mental illness.
Some are so lethal that if administered in excess, or in combination, they can cause death.
In the case of male victims, the sleep-inducing potions are put into beer or food and the unsuspecting victim drifts into a long slumber that gives the predatory women all the time to clean him up. Doctors warn that some these potions are so powerful they can put an adult horse to sleep – and can also be fatal.
Ashamed
A lot of the victims are too ashamed to even talk about what happened to them. Asked whether he ever reported the theft to police, Karega says: "I’m a married man, working and with decent friends. Such publicity is no good."
Karega got off lightly though. In Karatina, Nyeri District, Paul Wanjau was found dead in a lodging room in 2006 after a woman he had taken for the night administered to him the sleep-inducing drugs in excess.
These drugs can be bought from barmaids, sex workers and even over the counter from chemists.
According to his brother, the dead man was last seen in the company of a twilight girl with whom he rented a room.
"He is said to have taken a number of beers with a certain prostitute in the town. She is also said to be behind the racket of selling the sleep-inducing pills as well as administering them to victims before stealing from them," he says.
When these substances are administered, the victim slips into deep sleep and wakes up many hours later minus his cash and valuables.
According to experts, someone who has taken such a drug lies prostrate with a foaming mouth, moans in a forced manner, wets his pants and his eyes roll.
But often women are also victims. Mostly, the women who fall into this trap are either raped or robbed.
In their case chloroform, which affects the central nervous system when inhaled, is used.
It is sprayed on a handkerchief, which is then pressed on the victim’s nose and mouth.
Last year, a woman was found dead in a lodging in River Road. The woman had checked in earlier with a man and they had looked quite familiar with each other. They also looked drunk.
An attendant says that late at night, she heard some moans coming from the room the two had booked like those made by a person being strangled. She became suspicious when she saw the man leave in a hurry.
Under normal circumstances, lodging staff are only supposed to check the rooms when it is time to check out. So even with all her suspicions, she abided by the regulations and did not try to investigate.
When the woman was eventually found dead, police investigations uncovered a handkerchief in the room that contained chloroform fumes. It was also ascertained that she had been raped.
Seduction
It was later established that the woman was a well-known worker at a nearby cafÈ and was in the company of an equally known customer at the cafÈ. The man had plied her with alcohol to win her sexual favours. It appears that once in the room, she resisted his advances and he drugged her.
A barmaid who sought anonymity told Crazy Monday that the chloroform can even be sprayed on clothes and just a hug is enough to put the victim into a deep sleep.
These drugs are easily bought from barmaids, commercial sex workers as well as street families.
They can also be bought over the counter from chemists’ shops. The most commonly used drug is Stilnox, known by its street name mchele due to its resemblance to rice grains.
Doctors say that the immediate first aid for such a case is a sugarless gum or candy in order to increase the flow of saliva and induce temporary relief.
Enquiries among waiters in various bars reveal that potential victims of drugging are identified when they make sexual advances to a commercial sexual worker and are often they subjects of conspiracy between prostitutes and waiters. One of the women who talked to this writer revealed that a man can be betrayed by his very own friends.
Caleb Ouma recalls the day he got his salary and he and his three friends made a round of the bars to celebrate 30 days of hard labour. He says he can only remember seeing the three friends conferring with a woman at a corner of the bar.
Then he woke up late in the night without a penny — and his friends were nowhere to be seen.
"The waiters in the bar told me not to look far for the thieves. I had been right there with them," Ouma says. When he confronted his friends they denied any involvement in the drugging but when he threatened to go to the police, they refunded his Sh20,000.
There are also instances when the prostitute plots to rob you without involving anyone else. This happens might happen in the pub, in a lodging room or — mostly in the case of bachelors — in the man’s own house.
"This is very common in crowded pubs," a barmaid told us. "Always patronise bars where you can create your own space, especially in bars with balconies. Crowded places are risky."
When the drugging is done in a bar, there are many to share the spoils since the security people, some waiters and sometimes even the manager must be involved. In case the victim reports the theft to the police, the waiters and the manager will deny ever seeing you in the pub.
Conspiracy
And if it happens in lodging rooms, there is likely to be a conspiracy between the guard at the gate or the receptionist. This is because at most lodgings, it is the man who is required to surrender the room’s key either to the security guard or the receptionist.
If the woman wants to be the first to leave, the guard is supposed to get clearance from the man.
If you are drugged, and the woman you were with was cleared by the guard to leave without clearance from you, read conspiracy. The first suspect if you cannot recall the face of the woman is the guard, a source who is privy to the drugging racket revealed.
Ben Mwangi says he lost his cash and a phone in a lodging room. After enjoying drinks with a woman he had just met, the two decided to take their friendship to the next level. They hired a room in the lodgings above the bar.
"I woke up to find myself not in the room, but on the pub’s floor," he says. When he tried explaining to the management that he had got drunk in that very bar in the company of a woman and hired a room upstairs, he was treated like a man person or as if he was weak in the head. "They said I was either an idler or even a thief," he says.
The waiter who had served them later whispered to him that he was wasting his time. He was complaining to the very people who had organised the drugging.
"She even confided to me that my phone was sold to the manager at the pub."
According to interviews with men who have been drugged in their own homes, the woman is very thorough. She will steal all the electronics and anything else of value. In this case, the conspirator is a taxi driver somewhere who comes to spirit the goods and the robber away from your house.
That is how it happened to Michael Mugwanja. He says he took a woman he had picked up in a pub to his house.
"I only remember feeling dizzy after just a few moments on the bed. I woke up to find all of my electronics, good clothes and a gas cooker missing. The woman was nowhere to be seen," he says.
Kenyan arrested over drugs
By James Ratemo and Cyrus Ombati
A Kenyan woman has been arrested in Mauritius in connection with a Sh111.6 million drug syndicate.
The woman, who travelled to Mauritius on Tuesday, was held with six members of a Tanzanian delegation.
The group was in the country to attend the Second African Nations Boxing competition.
According to African Press Agency, Ms Pilisila Wanga Ndiritu and the six Tanzanians were arrested on Thursday night in a hotel in Quatre Bornes, 15km from the capital, Port Louis.
A police superintendent in Mauritius, Mr Dev Ramasawmy, indicated that the suspects were in custody for importing four kilogrammes of heroine in pellet form to the island.
Ramasawmy said the police Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit conducted the operation and that the drugs had a street value of $1.8 million (Sh110 million).
Ramasawmy said local police were tipped that a large quantity of drugs would be brought to Mauritius during the boxing competition.
However, nothing was found on the Tanzanian delegation when it arrived from Nairobi on Tuesday evening.
But the group, which was under surveillance, failed to leave the hotel rooms, leading to suspicion that they had swallowed drug pellets.
On Thursday evening, two members of the delegation emerged with a large bag, which they left behind the hotel.
Ndiritu, who had travelled on the same flight with the Tanzanians, then went to collect it.
Meanwhile, eighteen Kenyans are in police custody in Tanzania for alleged lack of work permits.
According to their relatives in Kenya, Mr Samuel Muriithi, the victims were arrested in a swoop at the weekend.
Muriithi said they would be charged in court today. He appealed to the Kenyan High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Boaz Baya, to intervene.
He said his relatives had left Kenya last week on a temporary assignment on behalf of a Chinese company.
A Kenyan woman has been arrested in Mauritius in connection with a Sh111.6 million drug syndicate.
The woman, who travelled to Mauritius on Tuesday, was held with six members of a Tanzanian delegation.
The group was in the country to attend the Second African Nations Boxing competition.
According to African Press Agency, Ms Pilisila Wanga Ndiritu and the six Tanzanians were arrested on Thursday night in a hotel in Quatre Bornes, 15km from the capital, Port Louis.
A police superintendent in Mauritius, Mr Dev Ramasawmy, indicated that the suspects were in custody for importing four kilogrammes of heroine in pellet form to the island.
Ramasawmy said the police Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit conducted the operation and that the drugs had a street value of $1.8 million (Sh110 million).
Ramasawmy said local police were tipped that a large quantity of drugs would be brought to Mauritius during the boxing competition.
However, nothing was found on the Tanzanian delegation when it arrived from Nairobi on Tuesday evening.
But the group, which was under surveillance, failed to leave the hotel rooms, leading to suspicion that they had swallowed drug pellets.
On Thursday evening, two members of the delegation emerged with a large bag, which they left behind the hotel.
Ndiritu, who had travelled on the same flight with the Tanzanians, then went to collect it.
Meanwhile, eighteen Kenyans are in police custody in Tanzania for alleged lack of work permits.
According to their relatives in Kenya, Mr Samuel Muriithi, the victims were arrested in a swoop at the weekend.
Muriithi said they would be charged in court today. He appealed to the Kenyan High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Boaz Baya, to intervene.
He said his relatives had left Kenya last week on a temporary assignment on behalf of a Chinese company.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
How to Keep Your License after a DUI Citation
Even though a simple decision to refrain from driving when intoxicated can keep you out of DUI entanglements, a lot of people find themselves wishing they knew more about DUI laws when they are pulled over and arrested for drinking and driving.
Being arrested doesn't necessarily mean you have to be convicted of the crime though. After all, in our justice system, every person is innocent until proven guilty. Unfortunately, you usually only have a couple days after your citation to appeal for a court hearing. If that grace period passed without an appeal, no amount of complaining will get you a trial date or prevent your license from being suspended.
If you do appeal for a hearing in time, the next step is to locate an experienced DUI lawyer. You will want a lawyer on your side not only because they are more familiar with litigation than the average person on the street, but also because they should know DUI laws inside out. And, since those laws can be confusing and different from state to state, that will be a valuable asset.
A DUI lawyer will also know the best ways to create reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors. No matter what kind of evidence is brought against you, a good lawyer should be able to find areas where your defense can be built.
For example, there are four kinds of evidence that prosecutors usually bring to the fore in DUI cases and a lawyer can combat each type of evidence. The four categories of evidence are physical appearance, driving behavior, the alcohol content in your body and your performance on sobriety tests. A DUI lawyer may point out that fatigue, allergies, or exposure to smoke were the factors that created your red-rimmed watery eyes instead of alcohol. Or he might argue that you swerved a little on the road because you were dodging an animal in the road or fiddling with the radio. He may even contend with the results of a breath or blood test by pointing to equipment and human inaccuracies that could have skewed the results.
No matter which method you lawyer chooses to build your defense, he will be a useful resource in a U.S. court. When you are looking for a good DUI lawyer, you should remember that DUI laws are called by several different names across the country. Consequently, a DWI, OUI, and an OWI lawyer is the same thing as a DUI lawyer. They just go by different names.
Being arrested doesn't necessarily mean you have to be convicted of the crime though. After all, in our justice system, every person is innocent until proven guilty. Unfortunately, you usually only have a couple days after your citation to appeal for a court hearing. If that grace period passed without an appeal, no amount of complaining will get you a trial date or prevent your license from being suspended.
If you do appeal for a hearing in time, the next step is to locate an experienced DUI lawyer. You will want a lawyer on your side not only because they are more familiar with litigation than the average person on the street, but also because they should know DUI laws inside out. And, since those laws can be confusing and different from state to state, that will be a valuable asset.
A DUI lawyer will also know the best ways to create reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors. No matter what kind of evidence is brought against you, a good lawyer should be able to find areas where your defense can be built.
For example, there are four kinds of evidence that prosecutors usually bring to the fore in DUI cases and a lawyer can combat each type of evidence. The four categories of evidence are physical appearance, driving behavior, the alcohol content in your body and your performance on sobriety tests. A DUI lawyer may point out that fatigue, allergies, or exposure to smoke were the factors that created your red-rimmed watery eyes instead of alcohol. Or he might argue that you swerved a little on the road because you were dodging an animal in the road or fiddling with the radio. He may even contend with the results of a breath or blood test by pointing to equipment and human inaccuracies that could have skewed the results.
No matter which method you lawyer chooses to build your defense, he will be a useful resource in a U.S. court. When you are looking for a good DUI lawyer, you should remember that DUI laws are called by several different names across the country. Consequently, a DWI, OUI, and an OWI lawyer is the same thing as a DUI lawyer. They just go by different names.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Personal Injury Accidents In Supermarkets
Have you been the victim of an accident at a supermarket? Have you been offered a couple hundred pounds for compensation? Or, did they offer you a bunch of flowers and some vouchers to exchange for items in their own store?
This practice is more common than you think. And a lot of the victims are older people of pension age. They are on their pension and usually have no resources to instruct solicitors. Or if they do they are worried that this will deplete their life savings. So they settle for what the insurance company offer to them which in a number of cases amounts to an apology, a bunch of flowers and some vouchers.
These are in most cases loyal customers at the store who have spent thousands of pounds over the years which contributed to the huge profits recorded by some supermarkets. If you are reading this article and you recognize this scenario as happening to you or a relative then you should take steps to prevent this type of victimization.
For a start you are entitled to proper and adequate compensation from the supermarket for your injuries. If they wish to give you roses and apologize then this should be in addition to adequate compensation in the first place.
You are probably being given the run-around following your accident. Make sure full details of the accident are recorded in the 'Accident Book'. Obtain the names and addresses of any other customer to your accident.Write a formal letter of claim to the Manager at the supermarket and keep copies of all your correspondence.
Visit your GP and report your injury so that there are medical records of the nature and extent of your injuries. Take photographs of any bruises which usually show up a few days after the accident. If you receive physiotherapy treatment keep receipts for each session of treatment to reclaim these expenses.
If you visit the hospital keep receipts of travel expenses. As for the amount of compensation to expect for your injuries that will depend on the nature and extent of the injuries you sustained. The level of compensation will increase where there are any fractures. Usually these take some time to heal and sometimes the injury can be very serious such as a hip fracture or fracture of the coccyx. The latter injury can be very painful and occurs in slipping accidents where you fall on your bottom.
Your claim could arise from an accident in the supermarket car park. You will be able to establish liability if there is a tripping hazard such as potholes and if you can establish that there has been a failure to maintain the car park.
However, most accidents will involve slipping on wet floors within the supermarket itself. This usually results from spillages such as water or liquids on the floor. Again, the supermarket should be able to show they have a system of cleaning and maintenance to avoid liability.
Your claim for personal injury compensation should be handled by the supermarket's public liability insurers. You are entitled to obtain details of their insurer to make your claim. Don't settle for flowers and vouchers for your injuries from the supermarket.
If you need more information on how to set-up and progress your personal injury claim you are recommended to take a look at my book "The Personal Injury Claims Guide for DIY Claimants" at www.personalinjuryclaimsguide.com
This practice is more common than you think. And a lot of the victims are older people of pension age. They are on their pension and usually have no resources to instruct solicitors. Or if they do they are worried that this will deplete their life savings. So they settle for what the insurance company offer to them which in a number of cases amounts to an apology, a bunch of flowers and some vouchers.
These are in most cases loyal customers at the store who have spent thousands of pounds over the years which contributed to the huge profits recorded by some supermarkets. If you are reading this article and you recognize this scenario as happening to you or a relative then you should take steps to prevent this type of victimization.
For a start you are entitled to proper and adequate compensation from the supermarket for your injuries. If they wish to give you roses and apologize then this should be in addition to adequate compensation in the first place.
You are probably being given the run-around following your accident. Make sure full details of the accident are recorded in the 'Accident Book'. Obtain the names and addresses of any other customer to your accident.Write a formal letter of claim to the Manager at the supermarket and keep copies of all your correspondence.
Visit your GP and report your injury so that there are medical records of the nature and extent of your injuries. Take photographs of any bruises which usually show up a few days after the accident. If you receive physiotherapy treatment keep receipts for each session of treatment to reclaim these expenses.
If you visit the hospital keep receipts of travel expenses. As for the amount of compensation to expect for your injuries that will depend on the nature and extent of the injuries you sustained. The level of compensation will increase where there are any fractures. Usually these take some time to heal and sometimes the injury can be very serious such as a hip fracture or fracture of the coccyx. The latter injury can be very painful and occurs in slipping accidents where you fall on your bottom.
Your claim could arise from an accident in the supermarket car park. You will be able to establish liability if there is a tripping hazard such as potholes and if you can establish that there has been a failure to maintain the car park.
However, most accidents will involve slipping on wet floors within the supermarket itself. This usually results from spillages such as water or liquids on the floor. Again, the supermarket should be able to show they have a system of cleaning and maintenance to avoid liability.
Your claim for personal injury compensation should be handled by the supermarket's public liability insurers. You are entitled to obtain details of their insurer to make your claim. Don't settle for flowers and vouchers for your injuries from the supermarket.
If you need more information on how to set-up and progress your personal injury claim you are recommended to take a look at my book "The Personal Injury Claims Guide for DIY Claimants" at www.personalinjuryclaimsguide.com
What is a Hate Crime
Our society is truly a melting pot of various people with different ideas, religions, cultures, races,tribes and many unique attributes that makes for a very dynamic society. Some believe that this very diversity is what makes the U.S. great, some believe the opposite. What is true is that this diversity creates many challenges and often great conflict. As result over time laws have been enacted to discourage unreasonable behaviors. California has enacted not only anti discrimination laws, but also hate crime laws. Other others states have done likewise.
During the last few years there has also been a very strong anti immigrant sentiment that often leads to not only discrimination against individuals because of their perceived ethnicity or nationality, but often the strong anti-immigrant sentiment leads to crimes perpetrated against these individuals. These types of crimes are considered to be of a greater magnitude and the punishment is much more severe than punishment for other crimes. Essentially a crime becomes more severe when the victim is a member of protected class. These types of crimes are classified as hate crimes.
A hate crime is defined as a criminal act that is committed because of the perpetrators perceived characteristics in the victim, when the perceived characteristics are from one of the following categories: (1) disability, (2) gender, (3) nationality, (4) race or ethnicity, (5) religion, (6) sexual orientation or association with any person or group that any one of these characteristics. It is also a hate crime when the act involves damaging property or using force or threats of violence to interfere with someone else's rights because of the perceived characteristics. It does not matter if the victim actually has the perceived characteristics or not. After 911 for example anyone that dressed in an unusual manner was a target for acts of violence. This included not only Arabs, but also Indians and just about anyone that wears religious attire commonly associated with Muslims. An act of violence perpetrated against someone that is a Muslim is not a hate crime in itself, but perpetrating a crime against a Muslim on the grounds that the person is a Muslim would be a hate crime.
Hate crimes include physical assault, attempted physical assault, and the threat of assault. Crimes motivated by the bias towards a member of the protected class are also considered hate crimes.
Threatening violence and including specific terms that identify the person as a member of the protected class would be sufficient to constitute a hate crime.
The civil penalty for hate crimes may be as much as $25,000 in addition to other personal injury remedies. The perpetrator of a hate crime can be jailed and fined. If the crime is a felony the judge has the discretion to add an additional 2 year sentence to the jail term. The court also has the power to order restitution for actual damages and losses including medical bills.
The victim does not have to let the acts escalate to the point of actual physical harm and has the right to request a restraining order, once there have been threats of injury or property damage that is motivated by the perpetrators bias. The victim does not have to be a member of the protected class for the crime to occur. The perpetrator only has to perceive that the victim is a member of the protected class. If the perpetrator yells slurs of homosexuality to the victim because the perpetrator perceives the victim to be homosexual, but in fact the victim is not homosexual the crime has taken place.
During the last few years there has also been a very strong anti immigrant sentiment that often leads to not only discrimination against individuals because of their perceived ethnicity or nationality, but often the strong anti-immigrant sentiment leads to crimes perpetrated against these individuals. These types of crimes are considered to be of a greater magnitude and the punishment is much more severe than punishment for other crimes. Essentially a crime becomes more severe when the victim is a member of protected class. These types of crimes are classified as hate crimes.
A hate crime is defined as a criminal act that is committed because of the perpetrators perceived characteristics in the victim, when the perceived characteristics are from one of the following categories: (1) disability, (2) gender, (3) nationality, (4) race or ethnicity, (5) religion, (6) sexual orientation or association with any person or group that any one of these characteristics. It is also a hate crime when the act involves damaging property or using force or threats of violence to interfere with someone else's rights because of the perceived characteristics. It does not matter if the victim actually has the perceived characteristics or not. After 911 for example anyone that dressed in an unusual manner was a target for acts of violence. This included not only Arabs, but also Indians and just about anyone that wears religious attire commonly associated with Muslims. An act of violence perpetrated against someone that is a Muslim is not a hate crime in itself, but perpetrating a crime against a Muslim on the grounds that the person is a Muslim would be a hate crime.
Hate crimes include physical assault, attempted physical assault, and the threat of assault. Crimes motivated by the bias towards a member of the protected class are also considered hate crimes.
Threatening violence and including specific terms that identify the person as a member of the protected class would be sufficient to constitute a hate crime.
The civil penalty for hate crimes may be as much as $25,000 in addition to other personal injury remedies. The perpetrator of a hate crime can be jailed and fined. If the crime is a felony the judge has the discretion to add an additional 2 year sentence to the jail term. The court also has the power to order restitution for actual damages and losses including medical bills.
The victim does not have to let the acts escalate to the point of actual physical harm and has the right to request a restraining order, once there have been threats of injury or property damage that is motivated by the perpetrators bias. The victim does not have to be a member of the protected class for the crime to occur. The perpetrator only has to perceive that the victim is a member of the protected class. If the perpetrator yells slurs of homosexuality to the victim because the perpetrator perceives the victim to be homosexual, but in fact the victim is not homosexual the crime has taken place.
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