I know that this blog is mainly about revealing any scams that I find on the net, with a smattering of other interesting tidbits that I may find interesting or amusing, but I have found out that there are times when major corporations may be ripping you off unintentionally. I am talking about the major banks and although these errors may be completely unintentional, if not found they can be costing you thousands of dollars!

I only found out about this the other day when I happened to be watching Today Tonight, a current affairs program, on Channel 7. It was during this program that I learned of how some really smart blokes developed a program that could literally save people with a mortgage a whole heap of money. Now although I don’t have a mortgage the story piqued my interest, mainly because it revolved around banks overcharging their customers, and I hate the thought of anyone getting ripped off.  The thing that even though it may be a small amount, if not picked up then over the term of the loan it could amount to a considerable amount.

Only recently a major Australian bank discovered they had overcharged fees on 55,000 customer accounts! In total they had overcharged their customers a staggering $52,000,000! That was from only one bank!

The reason that many people don’t pick up on these errors is because many bank statements can be difficult to read causing the errors to be missed. A program was developed, Mortgage Watchdog, and the developers of this program are so sure that you will find an error in your statements that they promise a money back guarantee if you don’t find one. Not only that, they will also offer the;

$250 Success Guarantee”. Find errors in your bank statements or we refund your money AND give you an additional $250 for wasting your time.

So how can you lose? If that wasn’t a good enough deal you also get the following with the Mortgage Watchdog  Deluxe Bundle.

Mortgage Watchdog software Bonus #1 How to Pay Off Your Home Loan in No Time Flat Bonus #2 Equity Magic - $100 Gift Certificate. Bonus #3 Becoming Your Own Banker Bonus #4 Selling Your Home Made Easy Bonus #5 Real Estate With No Money Down Bonus #6 Fixer Upper Fortunes	$198.00 $ 59.00 $100.00 $ 25.00 $ 25.00 $ 25.00 $ 25.00
TOTAL	$457.00 Your Price: $198

So you see, as far as I know this software only works in Australia but if I find out that it may work in other countries I will let you know. Now, don’t you believe for a second that banks don’t make mistakes. I’ve heard of many a news broadcasts where they’ve actually admitted to making errors, the question is not if they have or not but how much is it costing you? The thing to remember is that it’s really a win win situation, because even if you are lucky enough to find your statements are error free, not only do you get your money back but an extra $250. Man, what a great way to start 2009!

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I'd love a beer, & that's no bull!

Just so you know I don’t have anything against Lawyers but the fact remains that those in that particular profession do carry a bit of a bad name at times and there are quite a bit of jokes flying around poking fun at them. This is one of those typical Lawyer jokes that I found to be especially funny. I hope you like it.

It all happened one bright sunny day when an obviously successful lawyer parked his brand-new Ferrari in front of his office. He was so excited at the prospect of showing it off to his colleagues that he wasn’t really paying attention to what was happening around him. As he opened the door, a truck passed too close and completely took the door right off the driver’s side. The lawyer immediately spoke into his blue tooth enabled cell phone saying ‘911′, and within minutes a policeman pulled up.

Before the officer had a chance to ask any questions, the lawyer started screaming hysterically. His Ferrari, which he had just picked up the day before, was now completely ruined and would never be the same, not to mention he had nothing to show his colleagues as the accident had wrecked his anticipated moment of glory.

When the lawyer finally wound down from his ranting and raving, the officer shook his head in disgust and disbelief. “I can’t believe how materialistic you lawyers are,” he said. “You are so focused on your possessions that you don’t notice anything else.”

“How can you say such a thing?” asked the lawyer.

The cop replied, “Don’t you know that your left arm is missing from the elbow down? It must have been torn off when the truck hit you.”

The lawyer then completely loses it screaming, “Oh No! My Rolex, where’s my bloody Rolex!

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I'd love a beer, & that's no bull!

WOW! I must be on a roll because I’ve just won $500,000.00US in a Nokia phone competition and I don’t even own a Nokia phone. How lucky is that?

CONGRATULATIONS!

ATTN: Winner,

Date: 29th of December, 2008.

This is to inform you that you indeed one of the lucky winners of the ongoi ng Nokia promotion and your mobile phone number has been selected among the mobile phone users around the globe.

Each winner is entitled to US $500,000.00 USD and you happened to be one of the Nokia phone promotion winners for this year.

We hereby advice you to forward the following information to enable us process your winning and payment from the Nokia account with the PAYMENT CENTRE IN BANGKOK, THAILAND.

1. Your full name as it will appear on your won prize cheque

2. Your mailing address for your cheque delivery by Courier Company

3. Your age :

4. Nationality

5. Sex:

6. Occupation:

7. Marital Status:

8. Mobile Number:

Yours faithfully,

MR. PETER MOORE

Co-ordinator.

UK NOKIA PROMOTER

Phone: +66 860 717325

Fax: +66 860 717326

CONGRATULATION FROM NOKIA UNITED KINGDOM PROMOTION UNIT.

THANKS FOR BEING PART OF THIS PROMO.

MANAGEMENT.

MR. PETER MOORE.

The funny thing about this email, apart from me not owning a Nokia, is that it’s a United Kingdom promotion, the check will be from a PAYMENT CENTRE IN BANGKOK, THAILAND and the money will be in US Dollars? Not very consistent if you ask me.

It’s obviously a generic email sent out to hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting people in the hope that some of them actually own a Nokia and will fall for this scam. DON’T LET IT BE YOU!

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I'd love a beer, & that's no bull!

Man, it seems that scammers and phishing protagonists have pulled out all the plugs in an effort to score some dollars before years end. Maybe these lowlifes have a big New Years Party planned and need a little cash to fund it. I just got this one this morning. Apparently my email address won over 475,000 Euros and an Acer laptop, but unfortunately I have to pay for my own courier service delivery.

Here is the email.

MICROWORD CORPORATIONS:

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

ZARAGOZA ESPAÑA.

REFERENCE NUMBER: MSFT-2008-X54-BX

BATCH NUMBER: MSFT-2008- GM-0001

YOUR MSFT WORD RESOURCE LINK: www.microword.com

OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION.

Welcome to Microword Corporation end of year promotions. We are pleased to

inform you of the released results of Sweepstakes Promotion organized by

Microword Corporations,

in conjunction with the foundation for the promotion of software products,

held this December 27th 2008, here in Zaragoza - Spain.

Where in, your email address emerged as one of the on-line Winning emails, in

the 1st category and therefore attracted a cash award of four hundred and

seven five thousand

Euros (?475,000.00) and Acer laptop.

Your Acer laptop, Certificate of winnings and your cheque of ?475,000.00,

Will

be sent to your contact address, as soon as all necessary verification as

been

made, to confirmed

your winnings.

Consequently, lucky winners are to pay for their courier services delivery.

(Microword corporation only provides lucky winners with Acer laptop and the

sum of ?475,000.00 only).

To begin your claims, do file for the release of your winnings by contacting

our MSFT Word Resource Foreign Transfer Manager via mail or by telephone.

Mr. Maurice Pascal

Email: mauricepas01@gmail.com

This Email Lottery is sponsored by Microword Corporation, And all the members

of Spanish MSFT Word Resource Consortium Software Promotion Companies.

This Internet E-mail draw is held periodically, And is organized to encourage

the Internet users, And to promote computer literacy worldwide.

Congratulations!!

Sincerely,

Sr. Femin Eloy Bermúdez.

Promotions Manager.

Msft Word Resource Zaragosa.

After doing a search I have found that there are versions of this email from as far back as 2005. It seems that the scam artists merely edit it to suit their own needs. The English in this particular version is, if I must say, a little poor. The link in the email appears legit although it’s not unreasonable that the site was developed just to lend credence to the scam although I wouldn’t put it past these vermin to use an honest site to front their scam.

Anyway, it’s an obvious phishing attempt and should be completely disregarded.

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I'd love a beer, & that's no bull!

I got this email today and I must admit that it almost had me fooled for a couple of minutes. My first thought was that my wife must have gotten hold of my PayPal password but then I thought she would have bought some shoes before she’d by a Nokia Mobile phone. Then I thought that perhaps someone else may have gotten my password, something that is not entirely unheard of. This is the email I received.

Dear PayPal Member,

This email confirms that you have paid LWP ELECTRONICS (sales@lwpelectronics.com) $374.99 USD using PayPal.

This credit card transaction will appear on your bill as “PAYPAL LWPELECTRONICS*”.

——————————————————————————–

PayPal Shopping Cart Contents

Item Name: BRAND NEW NOKIA 3250 CELL PHONE

Quantity: 1

Total: $374.99 USD

Cart Subtotal: $254.99 USD

Shipping Charge: $20.00 USD

Cart Total: $374.99 USD

——————————————————————————–

Shipping Information

Shipping Info: Bill Chang

202 N Magnolia Dr.

Saco, ME 04072

United States

Address Status: Unconfirmed

——————————————————————————–

If you haven’t authorized this charge, click the link below to cancel the payment and get a full refund.

Dispute Transaction

——————————————————————————–

Thank you for using PayPal!

The PayPal Team

Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the “Help” link in the footer of any page.

PayPal Email ID PP924

What I didn’t do is click on the link within the email. I’m not that dumb. What I did do was to log onto my PayPal account to see if any money was missing. Naturally everything was as it should be and so I can safely say that the email was another lame phishing attempt.

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I'd love a beer, & that's no bull!

All through my life there is one thing that I love above everything else, apart from sex that is, and that is a good joke. The one you are about to read may be a bit long winded but it is definitely worth persevering right to the end. This one has to be one of those typical Aussie jokes; As you would expect it happens at a pub and the action really starts after the two mates have downed a few beers.

Two builders (Phil and Eric) are seated either side of a table in a

rough pub when a well-dressed man enters, orders a beer and sits on a

stool at the bar. The two builders start to speculate about the

occupation of the suit.

Phil: - I reckon he’s an accountant.

Eric: - No way - he’s a stockbroker.

Phil: - He ain’t no stockbroker! A stockbroker wouldn’t come in here!

The argument repeats itself for some time until the volume of beer

gets the better of Phil and he makes for the toilet. On entering the toilet

he sees that the suit is standing at a urinal. Curiosity and the several

beers get the better of the builder.

Phil: - ‘Scuse me.. no offense meant, but me and me mate were

wondering what you do for a living?

Suit: - No offense taken! I’m a Logical Scientist by profession.

Phil: - Oh! What’s that then?

Suit: - I’ll try to explain by example… Do you have a goldfish at

home?

Phil: - Er… mmm . well yeah, I do as it happens!

Suit: - Well, it’s logical to follow that you keep it in a bowl or in

a pond. Which is it?

Phil: - It’s in a pond!

Suit: - Well then it’s reasonable to suppose that you have a large

garden then?

Phil: - As it happens, yes I have got a big garden!

Suit: - Well then it’s logical to assume that in this town if you have a

large garden then you have a large house?

Phil: - As it happens I’ve got a five-bedroom house…built it myself!

Suit: - Well given that you’ve built a five-bedroom house it is

logical to assume that you haven’t built it just for yourself and that you

are

quite probably married?

Phil: - Yes I am married, I live with my wife and three children.

Suit: - Well then it is logical to assume that you are sexually

active with your wife on a regular basis?

Phil:- Yep! Four nights a week!

Suit: - Well then it is logical to suggest that you do not masturbate

very often?

Phil: - Me? Never.

Suit: - Well there you are! That’s logical science at work!

Phil: - How’s that then?

Suit: - Well from finding out that you had a goldfish, I’ve told you

about your sex life!

Phil: - I see! That’s pretty impressive…thanks mate!

Both leave the toilet and Phil returns to his mate.

Eric: - I see the suit was in there. Did you ask him what he does?

Phil: - Yep! He’s a logical scientist!

Eric: - What’s that then?

Phil: - I’ll try and explain. Do you have a goldfish?

Eric: - Nope.

Phil: - Well then, you’re a wanker.

FYI: A wanker is a person who slaps the old salami, plays with himself, a person who masturbates. Also, in case you are wondering, that photo was taken inside some English pub.

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I'd love a beer, & that's no bull!

I spent last week in Sydney with the family and whilst there I made a lot of interesting discoveries. The first was in our hotel room. I want you to check out this photo of me sitting on the dunny, loo, toilet.

Sell photos on photrade | By Sire

Yep, you may not want to know but I am actually watching myself take a crap. Now what perverted person would want to put mirrors right in front of the toilet seat? I can understand mirrors on the ceiling above the bed but not in the room where a bloke really doesn’t want to see himself straining trying to get the crap out for the day. I mean really!

Another thing I discovered while in Sydney is that women just don’t know when to stop when it comes to shopping. The thing is as much as we, as the male of the species, hate shopping we are forced to tag along while they get their shopping fix. It was really quite funny watching all the men in tow with a look of total boredom on their faces, as they followed closely behind their partners, who were so busy shopping that they failed to notice how bored their loved ones were.

Even on the last very last day when we had two hours to kill before we caught the plane, they had to do some more shopping. Thankfully we were allowed to have breakfast before setting out. Imagine my shock and horror when they dragged my son, who by now had totally accepted his fate, and I into David Jones where I came face to face with a hand bag designed by some guy called Jimmy Choo.

Sell photos on photrade | By Sire

The bag itself was OK, as far as handbags go, after all it’s just another handbag right? What got me was the price tag, $2800! I looked at my wife and daughter with what must have been a look of utter incredulity that my daughter said it was a Jimmy Choo. The way she said ‘Jimmy Choo’ was as if she was saying it was a Ferrari! Shit I could understand if it was a Ferrari but it was just a bloody handbag. I picked it up and had a good look at it. Nope, no solid clasps or diamond studs. There wasn’t even any Swarovski crystal embedded into the leather. Yep, at least it was leather, but you can buy leather for a whole lot less than that.

I could understand if it would increase in value over time, but I doubt that very much. It will probable just end up in the wardrobe with the myriad of other handbags and shoes. I reckon the shopkeepers were rubbing their hands with glee when women came into being.

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I'd love a beer, & that's no bull!

A tour bus driver, JIM, is driving with a bus load of seniors down a highway when he is tapped on his shoulder by a little old lady. She offers him a handful of peanuts, which he gratefully munches up.

After about 15 minutes, she taps him on his shoulder again and she hands him another handful of peanuts. She repeats this gesture about five more times.

When she is about to hand him another batch again ….JIM asks the little old lady, ‘Why don’t you eat the peanuts yourself?’.

‘We can’t chew them because we’ve no teeth’, she replied.

The puzzled driver asks, ‘Why do you buy them then?’

The old lady replied, ‘We just love the chocolate around them.’

Moral of the story…..Beware old women bearing gifts!

I'd love a beer, & that's no bull!

It’s true, there aren’t all that many ’sleeps’ before Christmas and that being the case is no reason why you should relax your guard when it concerns scams. Scammers and rip off merchants don’t really care what time of year it is and are just as liable, if not more so, to rip people off during the Christmas season as any other time of year. So I implore everyone to be just as vigilant now as you would any other time of year.

In case I forget to do so later I want to wish everyone a joyful Christmas and a Happy New year.

Sell photos on photrade | By Sire

I'd love a beer, & that's no bull!