Scammers targeting classifieds customers

One more message about scamming. Be aware, read below!

Avallon Gregg noticed a suspect $93 debit charge to PCS Inmate Calling Service on her fiancé’s online bank statement Monday and knew something was amiss.

“I was thinking, ‘He doesn’t have any buddies in prison,’” Gregg said.

Scott Wilson, the fiancé, said the only thing he had used the debit card for recently was to help a classified advertising representative who called Sunday to fix some billing problems – or so he thought.

“At first, I didn’t think it was legitimate, because it was a Sunday. But I thought maybe they’re working for the Monday paper. … I just didn’t know what to think,” Wilson said.

The couple pieced together that the caller, who sounded like a young man and identified himself as Malcolm, used the bogus pretense and gleaned a few pieces of information from a classified ad selling Wilson’s truck to scam them. Wilson said his called ID said the number was withheld.

The Juneau Empire’s classifieds desk received four calls from their customers Monday reporting similar suspicious calls and two more Tuesday. So far, only Wilson and Gregg said they’d divulged sensitive information.

They were fortunate in realizing their account had been compromised within 24 hours and after a single fraudulent charge.

“This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to us,” Gregg said.

They froze the account are working through paperwork with their bank, Wells Fargo, to have the fraudulent charge expunged.

“What I should’ve done if a guy calls, said there’s an issue with my account, I should’ve just said, ‘That’s fine, I work right down the road, and I’ll swing by and handle it personally,’” Wilson said.

The inmate phone charge with Los Angeles-based PCS Inc. suggests Wilson’s scammer was from out-of-state or had out-of-state ties. The Alaska Department of Corrections contracts with Dallas-based Securus Technologies for inmate phone services, corrections spokesman Richard Schmitz said.

Are Phone Cards Really A Good Choice?

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08.20.2009 – The introduction of phone cards has resulted in a sizable reduction in the usage of other types of phone services and this has happened due to a number of reasons. Earlier people used only the standard phone connection for making calls but the arrival of phone cards presented to them an option which not only economized the cost of calling but also offered flexibility in terms of place and the time of making a call.

Phone Cards are preferable to the standard telephone service due to the following reasons:

They are more user-friendly because of which they can be used by everyone to make local as well as international calls. The high comfort level in usage has been achieved after years of experimentation and although the first generation of phone card users faced a number of problems things have been streamlined over a period of time and thus have reached a stage in which a phone card can be easily operated by an uneducated individual as well.
The advancements made in the field of technology has a direct bearing on the system of phone cards and more breakthroughs on the technological front would make the use of phone cards more widespread and comfortable thus gradually overthrowing the channels of standard telephone calling system.
Most of the phone card companies charge a maintenance fee on a monthly or a fortnightly basis which works out to be cheaper in the long run because these fees are not dependent on the number of calls made or the talk time which is utilized.
Different individuals have different requirements as regards the types of calls which they usually make and a standard phone service usually does not cater to the individual needs of the customers. As a result, more often than not customers end up with a phone deal which either falls short of their requirements or has much more scope than what is actually needed. On the other hand, phone cards come under a variety of schemes and the buyer can decide which scheme suits his needs the best and then buy the appropriate card.
Phone cards do not have any expiry dates and can be used even after a very long time like a couple of years. All that is required is the pin number and balance in terms of money and the card can be used from anywhere at any time.
Phone cards save one the trouble as well as the expenditure involved in international calls as these calls if made from the standard phone service can prove to be a big drain on the financial resources. Comparatively the phone card offers a reasonably cheap mode of making international calls without incurring any connectivity problems or the phone bill sky rocketing upwards.

Phone cards are a better option also due to the fact that while traveling it is not always advisable to use credit cards at pay phones every time you wish to communicate. This would not only jeopardize your financial security but also levy exorbitant charges on each of the calls. Using a phone card, on the other hand, would ensure calling at a local rate and without any threat to personal security.

African nations push rural mobile and Internet connectivity

Hey! Some news that may interest you! As for me I enjoyed them a lot. Hope you will like them.

Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya and Nigeria are among the countries in Africa that say they are making a determined push for rural mobile-phone and Internet connectivity.

After years of failed promises, African countries now seem poised to heavily invest and ensure that in rural areas more people will be able to use mobile and Internet services.

For more than 10 years, mobile-phone and Internet communication in Africa has been concentrated in urban areas. But because the mobile and Internet markets in towns have become saturated, operators in Africa and governments are moving to rural areas, where millions of people are still not connected to mobile and Internet services.

It is also expected that the rural business community will now be able to get market information on mobile phones and sell products online.

The Zambian government has said it has set aside more than US$10 million for cell phone connectivity throughout the country, while the federal government in Nigeria has directed operators to invest in the National Rural Telephone Project. The government is expected to spend more than $150 million on the program.

Zambian Vice President George Kunda said the Zambian government is now determined to facilitate the existence of a mobile network throughout the country.

Kunda said the Zambian government wants to give priority to cell-phone accessibility in rural areas to allow people to communicate everywhere at anytime. The Zambian government has acknowledged for the first time that many people in rural areas are not able to access mobile-phone services that service providers in the country are offering.

“There is need for people in rural areas to start using mobile phones to access other services, such as the Internet, to enable them to obtain vital information as well as get connected to the rest of the world,” said Zambian Minister of Communications and Transport Geoffrey Lungwangwa on Aug. 12.

The Rwandan government has also said it has secured information and communication technology (ICT) buses for the ongoing e-Rwanda project that is aimed at taking Internet connectivity to people in rural areas. In a more publicized move to take ICT to people in rural areas, the Rwanda Development Board in charge of ICT (RDB/IT) introduced ICT buses with telecenters.

The Rwandan government said the move is aimed at bridging the digital gap between the rural and urban areas and comes into force as one of the backbones of the ongoing e-Rwanda project that will see Internet taken closer to people in rural areas.

The ICT buses are also meant to provide additional ICT services that include printing, photocopying, scanning and basic ICT training for people in rural areas. The Rwandan government said this is a pilot phase, which will last for a year — after which the services will spread to all rural areas throughout the country and provide Internet services to rural schools.

As many rural areas in Africa are not connected to the national grid, the ICT buses have generators to power them. Rwanda’s vision is to become the ICT hub in the East African region. The ICT bus innovation comes as an addition to the introduction of 30 telecenters around the country.

Three-quarters funded by the World Bank, the e-Rwanda project has also seen the country introduce telemedicine and e-treatment.

Amos Manyarara, bank communications officer for Southern Africa mobile communications, said providing mobile connectivity to rural areas will increase the revenue base for mobile service providers.

No Damage or Injuries in Bulgaria from Black Sea Earthquake

Hi people. Today I was just surfing the Internet to find something interesting for you and have found this article. I would like to know your point of view on this situation. What do you think it is necessary to do in this case and what is required to know about this.

There is no damage or injuries currently reported from the relatively strong earthquake that shook Bulgaria Wednesday morning.

According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center, the earthquake was of the magnitude of 4,7 on the Richter scale with an epicenter 61 km east of Varna, 24 km east of Kavarna and 20 km southeast of Shabla.

The shocks have been felt the strongest in northern and northeastern Bulgaria as well as in taller buildings in the capital Sofia.

The data about the registered quake is still being processed.

Eyewitnesses reported for Darik radio that some older houses in the Black sea town of Shabla and the hospital in another coastal town- Blachik have been very slightly damaged.

The Civil Defense in the Black Sea capital Varna announced they currently do not have any information about damage in the region. The shock, however, triggered interruptions in the internet, cell and stationary phone services in the city. The same problem has been reported from the city of Razgrad.

The head of the Crisis Headquarters in the Danube city of Ruse also informed that there has not been any registered damage or injuries.

The earthquake did, however, cause moderate panic and made people leave their offices and upper level apartments.

The tremor has been registered in the so-called Shabla epicenter known with some strong earthquakes in the past.

The Wednesday earthquake in northern Bulgaria brought memories of March 4, 1977 when a strong earthquake caused mass destruction in northern Bulgaria.

The epicenter was in Romania’s mountainous area of Vrancea, home to a major fault line that has seen dozens of quakes in recent years.

The 1977 7.6-magnitude quake killed more than 1,000 people in the Vrancea area when dozens of buildings collapsed.

In Bulgaria, the Danube town of Svishtov suffered the most damage when two apartment buildings collapsed, killing 120 people. Buildings in may other northern cities and towns also suffered significant damage.