A Possible Solution to Nuisance Calls
A couple of days ago, I was plagued by a boiler room scam, that decided to ring me every minute. I reported it in this post.
It is now three days later and they are still trying occasionally, but I might have found the solution to criminals like these.
It is called trueCall and effectively screens every call that it doesn’t recognise. All those Unavailable and International calls that are just a waste of your time are challenged and the caller is asked to identify themselves with their name before they are put through. Obviously, the time wasters don’t do this, so the system hangs up on them and asks them to leave a message. I suspect they never will!
The system did cost £99.99 including VAT, but it was just a plug-in to install, as this picture shows.
trueCall Installation
But it was ever so easy to install and it comes with all sorts of features to be valued.
- It simply learns who your friends and enemies are, if you follow a few set of simple rules.
- It has a fully-functioning built-in answering machine.
- You can look at all your incoming and outcoming calls on the Internet.
I shall certainly keep it in place to innoculate me from scammers and time-wasters.
Why Not a Wayne Rooney Foundation Scam?
Now that footballers earn a lot of money, I’m surprised some of our friends in the 419 scam business haven’t been creating things like the Wayne Rooney Foundation, which chooses to give people at random large amounts of money. After all, judging by the recent press reports, he might actually be stupid enough to do something like this off his own bat! Some would argue, he should after his abismal performance in South Africa!
Perhaps because something like this hasn’t turned up, it just shows that the scammers are even more stupid, than your average footballer.
Do We Need Libraries?
I rarely use a library and I haven’t borrowed a book in perhaps forty years. I’ve still actually got it as my mother-in-law’s dachsund chewed it and as I had to pay for it, they let me keep it.
I only use a library for reference. I was in Cambridge a few months ago and I needed to answer a question, so I looked it up in an old directory of the city. At home, I would have used the Internet and usually on the move, I’d find an Internet cafe.
So to me libraries only have one point and that is as a place to look up facts or perhaps get ideas.
To me books are something to buy and cherish. Perhaps, this is because my father was a printer, but also because most books I read regularly, are the sort of reference books or histories, you don’t find on the web or in libraries. I suppose now, I probably buy more books on the Internet than anywhere else too.
Books too, are a recyclable resource. When I move, a lot of my fully-read histories and references will go to Oxfam. but why can’t they go down the pub or the local cafe. The rules should be as they are in many hotels; you can take the book, if you add another one to the collection. Many pubs and cafes could and some already do, provide a quiet room, where customers could read, whilst they are having a coffee or a glass of something stronger.
So I very much feel that libraries as we know it are past their sell-by date. Perhaps, though, we do need quiet reading rooms in very much the old Victorian tradition, where knowledge can be passed on, books can be recycled etc.
The trouble is though the Middle Classes won’t like it. But in these times of austerity, they’d actually support more jobs, by buying the book they want to borrow in the first place and then recycling it creatively. They might even get more pleasure, if they then swapped it in the local cafe for something they would have never thought about reading in the first place.
So before you criticise me, just think when was the last time you borrowed a book from a library!
Remember too, that before public libraries were as common as they are now, companies like Boots used to run them.
Are Scammers Getting Better?
I received this e-mail this morning.
HM Revenue & Customs
Crownhill Court
Tailyour Road
Plymouth
PL6 5BZThis is to officially inform you that we have thoroughly completed an investigation with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that your packaged ATM CARD that was received from the Headquarters 1 (HQ1) of the International Monetary Fund, 700 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431 was forwarded to the ATM Issuing Institution for proper verification on the authenticity and it has been confirmed that your ATM CARD is good and ready to be used.
You are advised to forward to our office or via email the following:
1. Identification
2. Electricity bill as proof of address
3. 65GBP for handling and delivery cost.
Joe Amond
For: HM Revenue & Customs
It’s obviously a scam, as it has all the usual elements of a free ATM card, that you really have no right to.
It was also addressed to undisclosed-recipients, which usually means it’s spam. Has anybody ever received an e-mail to undisclosed-recipients, that wasn’t crap?
But :-
- Where are the spelling mistakes?
- There is no expensive phone number.
- The address is genuine, but it’s the Customs Seizure Unit, where you make a claim if they’ve seized your goods.
- They have put a reasonable fee in to the e-mail. But that of course is only the start.
- The e-mail address it was sent for seems OK on a first look. I think it actually came from Russia.
So I believe this e-mail might be good enough to fool some vulnerable or gullible people. Perhaps the Russian education system is better than that of Nigeria?
I must say I’m very tempted to send a cheque for £65 payable to HM Revenue and Customs to Joe Amond in Plymouth and see what happens. THe trouble is I don’t have a cheque book, as I always transfer money directly.
Beware the Copycat Websites
There would appear to have been a rise in the number of copycat websites that get you to pay for things that should be free or cost a lot less. The story is here on MoneySavingExpert, which is always a good place to check on financial misbehaviour.
So be careful, you are actually getting the right site and not one that doesn’t just have the first paid-for position in Google!
This practice may not exactly be fraud, but surely there is an element of dishonesty here?
Fake Facebook and www.feetspicy.com
I’ve no idea what this scam is about. I get masses of messages saying that someone on Facebook has sent me a message. As I always check links before I click them, I don’t follow them as they point to www.feetspicy.com.
This web site is registered and hosted in China, so I suppose it’s up to no good.
I just don’t have the time to follow it through, but I suspect it’s some sort of scam to collect Facebook logins.
Travel, Hotel Web Sites
This is just a general observation really, as I’ve just booked an evening in Crewe to see Ipswich play.
I have a feeling that the general shenanikins I have with my left hand has put my computer into some sort of alien mode, as the mouse sometimes doesn’t seem to response in the way I want it to! Anyway I sometimes seem to select the wrong thing and have to restart. This happened on the excellent Virgin Trains web site, when I was booking for Crewe and I got the wrong train back. No problem, as I was able to just select another, but on the hotel web site for some reason I ended up with two rooms and had to change my reservation. I suspect it was my problem, but there was no way on the site to remove one after I’d booked without going through a full change procedure. Not too annoying, but web designers should impose more validity checks.
Two things often annoy me.
- Sites which don’t allow me to select my address by entering a post code and then choosing from a list. Virgin does this address lookup and it makes things so much easier, as I usually make at least two miswtakes, when I type my full address.
- Why can’t sites ask you simple questions, when you do things like forget to check the “Do I accept the Terms and Conditions?” box. Often forgetting this means that tou have to retype a lot of information. All they need to do is bring up a check dialog.
Religous Spam
I hate spam with a vengeance, but if it has a fake religous bent, it really gets my goat. Does anybody know why we use goats in this context?
Look at this loan spam from someone called Margaret Nicholas.
We are Christian Organization formed to help people in need.So if you are in financial difficulty or you need a loan,contact us today via email holytrinityfinancialhome2009@gmail.com for the bible says””Luke 11:10 Everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened”.So do not let these opportunity pass you by because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever more.Please these is for serious minded and God fearing People.
* Refinance
* Personal Loans (Secure and Unsecured)
* Business Loans (Secure and Unsecured)
* Consolidation Loan
* Combination Loan
* Individuals Loans
* Companies LoanBORROWER’S INFORMATION
I have treated it with the utter contempt it deserves and applied the Delete key.
The stupid woman, who supposedly sent the e-mail, couldn’t even spell her name the same twice.
WiFi on East Coast
It seems to be working fine and was a very easy connection.
Follow Me On Twitter
For the next few days, I shall not be posting too much, as I’m travelling without a laptop. You can follow me on Twitter. My ID is VagueShot.
The Anonymous Widower 