Photo courtesy of Stripeyblue

Rule NUMBER ONE when it comes to protecting yourself when using internet banking services: Never log into your account via a third-party link. Repeat after me 3 times-

Once: Never log into my online banking account via a third party link!

Twice: Never log into my online banking account via a third party link!

Thrice: Never log into my online banking account via a third party link!

If you cannot adhere to this Number One rule, don’t use Internet Banking and stop reading this article.

Rule NUMBER TWO, don’t reveal your entire transaction details to anyone. Simple rule but apparently it’s not so easy to follow. Many scammers take advantage of your greed and make up stories of you winning a prize or qualifying you for a lucky draw. No, they don’t ask you for your ancestors’ names or your entire family tree history. They just need a few magic numbers from you and you instantly elevates your status to ‘God of Fortune‘.

After clicking on these bogus links, visitors are usually brought to a site that looks exactly like the bank's internet banking site, since the information are copy-pasted or linked directly from the actual sources.

Rule NUMBER THREE, don’t access your account from a public terminal (computer). Well, sometimes you really can’t help it, especially during an emergency, and the closest ‘ATM’ is the cybercafe down the road. There are many smart software such as key-logging software that runs on public computers which you might not be aware of. These key-logging software will then keep track of every single alphabets and numbers you have typed, and once you leave your seat, rest assure whatever secret love letters you’ve sent through the keyboard will be used against you!

Rule NUMBER FOUR, don’t save your passwords in the terminal. Never click on ‘Remember my password’, if there’s ever such a feature in your Internet Banking services provider. By the way, if there’s such a feature in your Internet Banking services provider, take out all your money right now and put it in a bank that doesn’t.

Photo courtesy of ul_Marga

If possible, only save your login details between your ears. It’s not as easy as it sounds. With so many accounts and profiles we have these days, it’s impossible to remember every passwords. My solution is that you use the same email for all your important accounts, and in the event you forgot the password, at the very least, you can still retrieve it from your email. Also, avoid storing banking information on your mobile phone or laptops, as it is very prone to theft and you wouldn’t want to know what these thieves do with your devices (remember Edison Chen?).

Rule NUMBER FIVE, change your passwords regularly. I don’t expect you to change your password with the same frequency you change your underwears, but try to do it at least once every quarter (3 months). It’s good for your brain cells.

Rule NUMBER SIX, use strong passwords. No, I don’t mean passwords like ‘muscular’, ‘powerful’, ‘terror’, ‘incredible’, ‘kuat-kuat’ or ‘tahan’. Strong passwords are combinations of lower caps, uppercaps, numbers and symbols. uK31L&@d%U^, now that’s a STRONG password!

Try not to generate password from a password generator for obvious reasons. Avoid using your personal numbers such as car number plates, birthdays, anniversary dates and the date you broke up with your girlfriend.

If you are using ABC123, God help you!

Rule NUMBER SEVEN, set a limit to your Internet Banking daily transaction. This can be easily done by going to the ATM or to any of the bank’s branches. A limit of RM1,000 should be sufficient for most personal internet banking activities. For bigger limit transactions, it’s worth taking a trip to the front counter.

Rule NUMBER EIGHT, log-in to your Internet Banking account at least once a week and keep track of every transactions made. You pay the price for your own complacency.

Been cleaning and battling the irritating IFRAME virus on a few blogs for the past few days. If you have been trying to access Meshio.com and was warned by your anti-virus program that Meshio.com is trying to infect your computer with a virus, the bad news is that it’s a valid threat, but rest assure that I am once again being sucked into the role of a system administrator doing my best to get rid of the virus.

Photo by Hello Naomi

For the record, I have cleaned the virus for the 2nd time on Meshio.com and for other blogs I’m running, up to as many as 5 times. So, do not be surprise to find Meshio.com compromised again. Sigh…the more doors you have, the higher the risk. Just when I thought I have closed up all the ‘doors’, the malware programs seems to be able to discover a new one and start creating a mess in the system once again. From the discussion with other webmasters, it seems that the most attractive entry points were the FTP client, a tool which is used to transfer files from your computer into the hosting server. If you think that your site has been compromised, here are some very relevant advice from Adrian on how you can up your defense against these malwares.

Change all FTP pwd immediately.

Download the whole site to hdd. do a scan using a special written files, remove it all infected files. replace it.

Do another scan on your website using this:… Read More

http://unmaskparasites.com/

Make sure all those who has FTP access to it, they are equipped with antivirus and updated virus db. Then only give them the new FTP pwd.

PS: if want the file i can ask my team engineer to email to you, we write in php.

And here’s another short anti-malware guide from Pin…

You might also like to take the following preventive measures to protect your website from malware:

1. Upgrade your Adobe Reader to the latest version
2. Install anti-virus software like Malwarebytes and Comodo
3. Use SFTP instead of FTP
4. Remove all malicious coding from your website
5. Upgrade to latest WordPress if you have a self-hosted Blog
6. Change your FTP password

I just cannot think of a really good reason why would anyone spend their leisure time engineering malicious programs to cut down the productivity of people they don’t even know, except for some boost to their ego.

Maybe there is really something sinister going on behind all these virus attacks after all.

There’s just so much similarity between these online viruses and the real-life ones (e.g. H1N1), all the anti-viral companies makes a huge profits from these ‘engineered’ outbreaks! The fear that was created by real-life viral pandemics would have easily justified policymakers all around the world to start mass vaccination on their citizens, in the name of containing the spread of the disease. Similarly, in the virtual world, anti-virus companies are laughing their ways to the banks each time an effective virus was set loose and infected millions of people’s computers worldwide.

Just think about it, why do the car manufacturers continue to churn out automobiles fueled by cartel-controlled petrol? There are already so many other alternatives available to replace petrol. Also, look at the disaster created by corporations that provided genetically-modified crops to Indian farmers, where the farmers are resorting to suicide due to their failing crops and their inability to pay the debts owing to these corporations which promised them lucrative yields. It’s a vicious and very profitable business model, a prevalent feature in any capitalistic economies.

I am all for businesses that are out to make profit. That’s the whole reason businesses are for anyway, but a business should never make profit by taking advantage of others.

Photo courtesy of Norberto Lauria

1) Enticement
Sweetening & softening process to reduce your defense against them.

2) Enticement Booster 1
Once your guard is down, they will drill their messages across and also giving you more freebies and hopeful promises and tell you more about their future plans.

3) Enticement Booster 2
Once you have no more issues with the Company, this is the next jab they will introduce into your belief system. They will start to build your trust to a level where you will not question any of their motives anymore. This is somewhat like rearing the chicken to the maximum size just right before the slaughter.

4) Entrapment
This is when they will ask you to part with something very precious to you- your hard-earned money, in exchange with something that they tell you is really worthy of your money. Of course, after so many boosters, you can hardly tell facts from myths. And snap! You’re few thousands ringgit poorer, and in possession of some worthless, unmarketable products/services.

5) Solution
Now, they’re not finished with you yet. At your most emotional moment (imagine losing all your savings overnight), they tell you to look on the ‘bright side’ of things. Get your friends and families in the fray.

And if their boosters still works, you probably had an ‘Eureka’ moment there. And their victimisation continues until it reaches a point where the top guys decided the market is saturated with victims like you and your friends, and move on to a new strategy.

Just stay alert, and always keep these words in mind: ‘There’s no free lunch.’

This time, the raid was jointly carried out by BNM and SSM. A reader previously notified me about Dinari Capital back in April 2009, where he was contemplating about whether should he join the program which claimed to be able to help him get back 70% of his car value through PCT CAR REIMBURSEMENT PROGRAM. My only concern back then was that they are collecting a rather hefty deposit (up to RM1,200) for the programs, and whenever it comes to deposit collections, it’s always a good idea to check with the authorities first- in monetary cases, it’s the FMB and the BNM people.

The website of the company is still here: www.dinariintl.com

On 26 May 2009, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM) jointly raided AK United Sdn Bhd., Dinari Capital Sdn. Bhd, myDNA International Sdn. Bhd. and E-Eagle Sdn. Bhd pursuant to the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA) 1989 and Companies Act (CA) 1965. These raids were simultaneously conducted at the companies’ premises in four different locations in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

Raids were conducted on these companies following complaints received from members of the public alleging the said companies were engaging in illegal deposit taking activities and illegal investment schemes which may be in contravention of section 25 of the BAFIA and section 366(3) of the CA respectively.

Members of the public are reminded to be cautious of illegal deposit taking and illegal investment schemes promoted through various channels such as the internet, phone calls, or seminars conducted by individuals or companies that are not licensed, approved or authorized by the relevant authorities.

Members of the public may refer to the list of licensed institutions authorized to accept deposits which is available at the Bank Negara Malaysia website (www.bnm.gov.my). The list of licensed intermediaries authorised to conduct regulated activities by Suruhanjaya Sekuriti Malaysia is available at Suruhanjaya Sekuriti Malaysia’s website (www.sc.com.my).

For further enquiries, members of the public can contact Bank Negara Malaysia and the Companies Commission of Malaysia at the following contact points:

Bank Negara Malaysia
BNMTELELINK (Customer Service Call Centre)
Tel: 1-300-88-5465
Fax: 03-21741515
Email: bnmtelelink@bnm.gov.my

BNMLINK (Customer Service Walk-In-Centre)
Block D, Bank Negara Malaysia,
Jalan Dato’ Onn, 50480, Kuala Lumpur
(Business hours: Monday-Friday, 9.00 am – 5.00 pm)

Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia
Hotline: 03-40476111/6222/6101/6202
Email: enquiry@ssm.com.my

Bank Negara Malaysia
Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia
26 May 2009

This is an interesting collection of scams from a forumer in LowYat- Stopscam007.

He highlighted a few common scams that are constantly victimizing the innocent out there, but you can rest assure that these are just the tip of the iceberg. Some ‘legit’ pyramid schemes are even allowed to list on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, so what do you say to that?

Anyway, if you think you would like to protect the money in your wallet and to prevent those hard-earned ringgit from evaporating in schemes like these, the following compilation by Stopscam007 will be a good read.

1) The Cafe Scams – Island Red Cafe & Stevens Corner(strange, both in Pandan Indah) – Island Red Cafe collects members RM6,000 each and promised 5% return every month and even give you a name in the ROC as a shareholder but what’s the point when they run away ? Stevens Corner, the famous indian coffee shop follows due to drop of business since their renovation. They collect RM3,000 per member and promise return of RM150 monthly and plans to open nice fanchisee cafe called StevensTeaGarden. Someone mentioned they will make you sign an agreement that give them the rights NOT to pay you anything in future. If you really wish to join, ask for a copy of their agreement and consult your lawyer BEFORE paying them. Bet you will NOT get a copy. Both collect monies from new members with MLM recruitment schemes and pay the old members like Sunshine Empire. You never know when they will run away.

2) Sunshine Empire – This licensed and legal Company has an impressive office at the ground level of KUB building along Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, near Menara Public Bank and AmBank Building. They also have a showroom office at the ground level in the next building. 2 or 3 months ago, Singapore’s Straits Times and The Paper published big news reminding their people to be careful and NOT to believe in them. Hope someone can put up the link or google for it.(As expected, they STOPPED paying back members now and all investors LOST their money).

Someone below has put a link to the Singapore news. In fact there are more to it. Although Singapore is investigating them, they did not stop their business as the business is legal and so far, no Singaporean have failed to receive their commissions as promised. Thus, the government cannot stop them yet.

The news published that the founder, director and group president is someone named James Phang but he is NOT the owner. Isn’t this quite strange ? At the end of the game, James Phang can just disappear from the Company easily and claimed that he was just “employed”. Such trick always happened in scam businesses.

Now, the Company has STOPPED paying commissions and interests to members with the excuse that the Singapore government has freezed their bank account while under investigation. Do you think their boss will be so stupid to keep much monies in the bank to be freezed ? They are all transfered away. It’s just an excuses not to pay back to members and members are only paid “e-bonus-points” which is cashless. If they wish to convert to cash, they have to recruit new members to pay them cash and the recruiter less out trom the amount. So victims act like Vampires and “forced” to victimise other victims if they wish to get their monies back. And their victims will later transform to vampires and the scam carries on…..

3) MOBILEWALLET – This Company owned by 2 young men, Stanley & Rey Gan, office in Queens Avenue Park has collect multi-millions the last 2 years. Claimed that they tied up with Telekoms, Utility Board payment like Water & Electricity bills, even Maybank got fooled by them. Advertisement Billboards everywhere. They STOPPED paying back their members few months ago and the members cannot do anything because they are made to sign an agreement unaware that they have to claims if the company stopped paying them by CHANGING terms and policies.

4) Water businesses - Oxygenated and alkaline water products – Some of these are bottled water and some are filters or equipment that claimed the trick. One of the better known Company that sold “oxygen” water is SITO(supposed to stand for Selangor International Trading Organiszation and claimed Selangor State Government owned some share in it). The key person and founder is a Dato Robert Ong from Rawang but his name is no longer in the business now. Their products are sold for RM2 to RM3 for a 350ml bottle and now concentrating mostly in the Indian market. Their Chinese and Malays market are long gone since a year or 2 ago. Their customers are made to believe that their water has more oxygen and able to give miraculous effects for the body. Water is H2O, how to put more O into it ? Anyone knows how much oxygen do we breathe into our body everyday at FOC ? Latest news is that this SITO Company is going to create new label to market under a new Company since the SITO name has already gone bad. Someone informed that this Company is owing alot of money(due to refunds) to ex-stockists but just refuse to pay them.
(Latest news, SITO shifted to another place and their MLM business has closed but planning to start again with a different name, beware !!)

Alkaline Products – Can anyone explain how it can work for the body ? The stomach’s gastric liquid is so acidic that water of any pH that goes through it will not make any difference.

5) Car Fuel Booster – K-Link, the famous scam MLM Company that sold the footpatch TAKARA, later the “cock-ring” and energy-card launched the patrol-saving pills last year. Got so hot that even grocery shops are selling for them. Recently many of these cars that used the pills are rushing to the workshops to clean the residual. Few months ago, another MLM Company launched a fuel booster gadget, claimed that saves up to 20% fuel, that is attached to the cigarette lighter. Started off well using binary plan but businese begin to fade now and most users find it NOT effective.

6) Perfumery Products(eg. Lampe Berger & Bel Air)(more details later). Lampe Berger is not so hot now in the neighbouring countries but there are still new victims every month in Malaysia. Must thanks to those who have contributed and kept the thread alive here in Kopitiam. Bel-Air have closed in Malaysia. LB is almost zero in Singapore. This perfumery product from France with over 100 years history is just bottles and fragrance(check the factory’s website) but the Company marketing them in Asia claimed “aromatheraphy” products. Hong Kong TVB aired a program that exposed their scam but their members claimed that HK’s TVB already apologised to them. Note that the biggest strenght in a MLM Scam is their members will go all way out to lie in order to defend for their Company. The reason is simple; these members fear that they will not be able to make their money back if the Company collapsed. Knowing that the Lampe Berger products are moving slow, they add a line of skincare products named Estebel, also claime to have over 100 years history in France.(Hardly anymore Chinese newcomers, they are now tapping the Malays in Malaysia)

7) Energy Products(eg. stone pendants, bracelets, mattress and pillows). They use all sorts of gimmicks and demonstration to make you into believing them. They will do some tricks and demo to prove that these products really produce energy BUT is there any tricks in their demo ? So what if there really produce energy; is it good or strong enough to help the body ? The effect is actually PLACEBO which I will elaborate in a new thread soon.(more details later)

8) Hi-Tech products(names like bio-tech, nano-tech that claimed millions of dollars of research involved, eg Bio-Young and XKL few years ago). Most of these will claimed a professor behind them(even with name and picture of a person) or used words like “U.S.A. formula”, “German Technology” or “Nanotechnology” and no further details(more details later). If you ask for more details like the professor or factory’s address, the answer will be “trade secrets”.

9) Investment Schemes - SWISSCASH is the King of all. Swisscash is nearly over now but there are many similar and smaller ones that are still on.(Now, it’s closed or stopped paying back members)

10) GoldQuest – This Company that claimed to be HK-based started with some non-value gold-plated coins that are sold for over RM2,000 have several names and changed products several times. QuestVacation, QuestNet, etc. They have several offices in Amcorp Mall, PJ and their key person(in fact, the owner), a Malaysian Indian was arrested last year in Indonesia for having involved in a very big Phillipines scam. Most of their overseas offices are closed or inactive but their Malaysia business is still hot, with some “energy” products.(Can someone please provide a link which showed the news that their boss was involved in a big scam in Philippines and was arrested in last year ?)

11) Numerology & Fortune telling – A Company named Visiber is using MLM to sell fortune telling classes using your birthday based on Numerology fortune telling. Prospects will be told that they need to buy a certain “number” between 1 to 9 in the form of pendants or bracelets made of stainless steel and sold from RM600 to RM20,000. Customers, or rather victims are mostly females from rural areas. Very hot in Penang now and a number of spin-off Companies have started.

12) MJ-Life – This Company boost of a very big background with many many years of history which is NOT true. Their people or associates may be long in business but nothing to do with their MLM launched recently. Why do I consider it a scam or bad ? New members are told to pay a sum of money(up to RM1000) and you get NOTHING for it. You only get a membership can entitle you to enjoy all sorts of special price and discounts when you have medical check-ups in their centres. They will claim all those check-ups cost more if done elsewhere. It’s not true. Only the naive and those new to medical check-ups will fall victims to them. Most members who paid the money ended up with nothing.

13) Seaweed Venture Scams – 1 such Company is located in Taman Maluri, Cheras. They will ask you to invest a few thousands ringgits for their venture of growing seaweeds in East Malaysia and you are guaranteed returns. To gain your confidence further, they will tell you your investment money is secured by “insurance” or “unit trusts” & “trustees”. When you ask for further documents to prove, they will give all sorts of excuses or just ignore you because they know they cannot get you. These Seaweed scam is one of the hottest now, warn all your friends about it before they are victimised.

14) MXM(previously MGM) – This is a master scam among the younger group, very successful 2 or 3 years ago but since there moved to their big 10-storey office at Phileo Damansara and changed name to MXM, their business dropped. They collect members RM3,000 to RM4,000 with credit card monthly easy payment and in return you get a hospital benefits insurance from Pacific Insurance worth only a few hundred RMs together with some you-don’t-need medical check-ups from their associate Company Pathlab. Also talk about fitness, lifestyles bullshit that is all worthless.

15) Gano Excel – This company from the north, a copycat of DXN selling Lingzhi capsules created a new Company called Gano iTouch to cash-in on the internet like e-Cosway after their Company went down the drain since the last 2 years, selling Linzhi and some no-value energy pendants and alkaline water gadgets. They provide free transport every weekend from KL to visit their Alor Star office.

16) NuLife(HK) - This Company started by some HK people has been in Malaysia for more than 10 years but they have flopped in HK and Malaysia due to bad management and a product scam making use of a prosecuted American named Dr Jeffrey Bland, found guilty of false products claim. Since this case in the US leaked out and many Malaysians found out that the real boss in HK is a Steven Tang(he cheated many Malaysians in another scheme about 20 years ago) their business went down all the way. Now they claim Malaysian partners cheated them and start a new Company in Malaysia. Watch out, this new Company will come out with some investment scheme idea that will get many to lose their money.

17) Arowana Fish Breeding, Oora from Germany, Biofuel(Kompleks Maluri) etc – These are some newer scams. Arowana fish venture ask you to invest some money and give you fixed return. Biofuel will tell you their Indonesia connections(just like Sunshine Empire before using Taiwan) & Oora from Germany(I never trust those cruel Germans) that market some bio-chips and a gadget that claims to give energy and therapeutic effects of accupunture, tai-chi, yoga, etc depending how you set the toy-like gadget, wear it on your body and you get the effect later. They could not explain or provide any demonstration to prove their effectiveness. Only doctors and papers claim that I will never trust. The health effect is actually PLACEBO, which I will elaborate in a different thread.

Lastly but not least, thank you for reading to the end and I hope you can come back for more details and updates or help to contribute for me to update. I hope to receive information of any scams so that I can share them here to protect others. Although most of those above-mentioned are marketed through direct-selling or MLM schemes, I will soon add non-MLM scams. Please contribute.

If you wish to send me any new information confidentially, you may email them to me at:

stopscams007@gmail.com

Good Luck.

PS. Please pass this link to your friends if you find it helpful and thank you to those who contributed or e-mailed me with informations.

The full thread is available here.

Major dailies reported a surge of fake voice and sms directed on the unsuspecting public, claiming that their bank accounts has been illegally hacked.

Bank Negara cautions public over false SMS, calls

AmBank cautions about scams via SMS, voicemail

Always keep your banking activities to yourself.