Filed under: Consumer experience, Marketing and advertising, Scandals, Personal finance

A few days after I opened an investment account for an elderly couple, I started receiving important messages from the husband. I called him back as soon as I could, and he excitedly told me that he was about to receive a substantial sum of money. This seemed very strange because I had reviewed his financial situation only two days earlier, and I knew that he wasn’t anticipating any kind of inheritance or windfall. When I asked some further questions, the old man told me that he’d just received a letter saying that he’d won a South African lottery worth $2 million. All he needed to do was give the sender of the letter his ID number, address, birth date and bank information within 72 hours, and the money would be his.

This immediately aroused my suspicions, and I asked him if he had ever purchased a lottery ticket for the South African lottery. When he replied that he’d not, I asked him if he thought it strange that he’d won a lottery that he never even entered. My client persisted, and he asked if he could show me the letter. After reading the letter, it became even more obvious that this was some kind of scam. After doing some on the web searching, I even found the exact same letter that he received, with a warning that this was a famous identity theft scam. Thankfully, I convinced the man not to send in any information, averting what could have been a disaster.

While he was saved many people fall victim. In fact I was prompted to write this because I just got off the phone with someone who had already lost $1,000 and worse yet, he’d also given his bank details.

Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees

My client is not an uneducated man. Yet even he, a retired physician, had almost been fooled by this letter. And he’s not the only one. There are several unsuspecting people who end up being taken advantage of by such frauds. Many of us could use a few extra dollars and in our naivete, do not comprehend the criminal mind, are also at risk from these predators. Sometimes, they have been persuaded to join certain real estate schemes that promised large returns and left unsuspecting investors bereft of their savings without any legal recourse to try and reclaim their money.

How to Know

Here are some of the things to look for if you’re offered a prize in a lottery or the opportunity to win something that sounds too good to be true:

First of all, organizers of a genuine lottery or competition wouldn’t require the winners to supply their private banking information or pay fees to collect the prize. Legitimate sweepstakes don’t require that you make an advance payment of “taxes” or “shipping and handling charges” of hundreds or thousands of dollars to receive a prize. Legitimate promotions also provide contact information where individuals can ask that their names be removed from their mailing or calling list. Remember: If you give out your basic personal information, you could fall prey to an identity theft.

Second, if you receive one of these emails, immediately google all the names mentioned and you can determine swiftly if it’s legit.

In the case of property deals, be wary of advertisements pitching various real estate opportunities full of seductive claims, promising minimal investment and returns over 200% for three years, or a “guarantee” of some unlikely return. For this reason, it is important to know that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And even if something does sound worthwhile, you should always read the fine print. Often, the small print at the end of the advertisement makes it very clear that the “guarantee” comes with many strings attached, and in fact you can even end up losing money.

It is also vitally important to ask pointed and specific questions to get a superior understanding of the investment. Never forget to ask about any risks. If you’re told, “There are no risks,” or lip-service is paid to explaining them, there’s a good chance that you are not getting the full information about the investment, and you should think twice about investing.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer’s fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 3/14/08.

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Filed under: Consumer experience, Marketing and advertising, Scandals, Personal finance

A few days after I opened an investment account for an elderly couple, I started receiving important messages from the husband. I called him back as soon as I could, and he excitedly told me that he was about to receive a substantial sum of money. This seemed very strange because I had reviewed his financial situation only two days earlier, and I knew that he wasn’t expecting any kind of inheritance or windfall. When I asked some further questions, the old man told me that he had just received a letter saying that he’d won a South African lottery worth $2 million. All he needed to do was give the sender of the letter his ID number, address, birth date and bank information within 72 hours, and the money would be his.

This immediately aroused my suspicions, and I asked him if he had ever bought a lottery ticket for the South African lottery. When he replied that he had not, I asked him if he thought it strange that he’d won a lottery that he never even entered. My client persisted, and he asked if he could show me the letter. After reading the letter, it became even more obvious that this was some kind of scam. After doing some on the web searching, I even found the exact same letter that he received, with a warning that this was a famous identity theft scam. Thankfully, I convinced the man not to send in any information, averting what could have been a disaster.

While he was saved many people fall victim. In fact I was prompted to write this because I just got off the phone with someone who had already lost $1,000 and worse yet, he had also given his bank details.

Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees

My client is not an uneducated man. Yet even he, a retired physician, had almost been fooled by this letter. And he is not the only one. There are several unsuspecting people who end up being taken advantage of by such frauds. Many of us could use a few extra dollars and in our naivete, do not comprehend the criminal mind, are also at risk from these predators. Sometimes, they’ve been persuaded to join certain real estate schemes that promised huge returns and left unsuspecting investors bereft of their savings without any legal recourse to try and reclaim their money.

How to Know

Here are some of the things to look for if you are offered a prize in a lottery or the chance to win something that sounds too good to be true:

First of all, organizers of a genuine lottery or competition wouldn’t require the winners to supply their private banking information or pay fees to collect the prize. Legitimate sweepstakes don’t require that you make an advance payment of “taxes” or “shipping and handling charges” of hundreds or thousands of dollars to receive a prize. Legitimate promotions also provide contact information where individuals can ask that their names be removed from their mailing or calling list. Remember: If you give out your basic personal information, you could fall prey to an identity theft.

Second, if you receive one of these emails, immediately google all the names mentioned and you can determine swiftly if it’s legit.

In the case of property deals, be wary of advertisements pitching various real estate opportunities full of seductive claims, promising minimal investment and returns over 200% for three years, or a “guarantee” of some unlikely return. For this reason, it is important to know that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And even if something does sound worthwhile, you should always read the fine print. Often, the small print at the end of the advertisement makes it very clear that the “guarantee” comes with many strings attached, and in fact you can even end up losing money.

It is also vitally important to ask pointed and specific questions to get a superior understanding of the investment. Never forget to ask about any risks. If you’re told, “There are no risks,” or lip-service is paid to explaining them, there’s a good chance that you are not getting the full information about the investment, and you should think twice about investing.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer’s fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 3/14/08.

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Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Marketing and advertising

Until recently, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) stores have been remarkably similar no matter where you’re. The Wal-Mart in my Cape Cod hometown was stacked with western books by writers like Louis L’amour — none of the local bookstores carried them, presumably because the stores that were stocking their shelves based on what customers actually wanted knew there was little demand for westerns in our seaside tourist town.

But now that’s changing. A new Dearborn, Michigan store now stocks 550 items targeted at the town’s 30,000 strong Arab-American community. Dearborn is also home to the Arab American National Museum. The store also sells Arab music, Muslim greeting cards, and has 35 Arabic-speaking employees, and has hired someone to train employees in cultural sensitivity. This stands in nice contrast to the store where a shopper was insulted by a cashier because of her veil.

Competing retailers better look out. For decades, Wal-Mart has been the master of low prices, but other stores have been able to compete with superior service and a better shopping experience. Now Wal-Mart is turning that laser focus to improving the experience and providing more community-focused stores.

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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Office, Productivity, Microsoft, Freeware

Like any normal human being with a personal, you probably use your USB jacks, and according to OS market-share statistics, you’re machine is probably some flavor of Windows. So you’re probably familiar with having to click that annoying little icon to bring up the SRH (Safely Remove Hardware) dialog box when you need to disconnect a USB device, but it’s possible to make the disconnect process a tiny easier.

In order to create a shortcut/hotkey combo to pull up the SRH box, right click anywhere on the desktop and go to “New” then “Shortcut”. Paste the text below into the box asking you, “what item you would like to create a shortcut for?”

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

That shortcut will open the SRH box. At this point, you can place the shortcut anywhere — including the quick-launch bar.

Continue reading How to create shortcut/hotkey combo for safely remove hardware box

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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Office, Productivity, Microsoft, Freeware

Like any normal human being with a computer, you probably use your USB jacks, and according to OS market-share statistics, you’re machine is probably some flavor of Windows. So you’re probably familiar with having to click that annoying tiny icon to bring up the SRH (Safely Remove Hardware) dialog box when you need to disconnect a USB device, but it’s possible to make the disconnect process a little easier.

In order to create a shortcut/hotkey combo to pull up the SRH box, right click anywhere on the desktop and go to “New” then “Shortcut”. Paste the text below into the box asking you, “what item you would like to create a shortcut for?”

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

That shortcut will open the SRH box. At this point, you can place the shortcut anywhere — including the quick-launch bar.

Continue reading How to create shortcut/hotkey combo for safely remove hardware box

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Filed under: Productivity, Web services, Social Software, Beta, web 2.0

Twiddla is an on the internet whiteboard that lets you start collaboratively marking up practically anything: a blank page, your own images, or a website. It was created to solve the hassle of e-mailing design proofs back and forth for comments. With Twiddla, you can do real-time markup in a matter of minutes, without even signing up.

Twiddla does have accounts - it’s in public beta, so you can sign up now - but you can start a new meeting without one, and edit your user details on the fly. Once you’re in a meeting, you’ve got all the basic markup tools you would expect: pen, text box, some basic shapes. You can also upload images or browse to a site and begin marking it up. Communication during the meeting is supported by a text chat box and an audio chat button.

It might not be as full-featured as some of the more established whiteboard services out there, but it definitely scores points for swift setup and ease of use. There’s even a bookmarklet for your browser, so you can “twiddle” any page with one click. Sure, we could find a couple things to complain about — an eraser and a tool for drawing neat arrows would be nice, for starters — but we’re in a good mood because we just used a functional web service without having to sign up.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

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Filed under: Productivity, Web services, Social Software, Beta, web 2.0

Twiddla is an online whiteboard that lets you begin collaboratively marking up practically anything: a blank page, your own images, or a website. It was created to solve the hassle of e-mailing design proofs back and forth for comments. With Twiddla, you can do real-time markup in a matter of minutes, without even signing up.

Twiddla does have accounts - it’s in public beta, so you can sign up now - but you can start a new meeting without one, and edit your user details on the fly. Once you’re in a meeting, you’ve got all the basic markup tools you would expect: pen, text box, some basic shapes. You can also upload images or browse to a site and begin marking it up. Communication during the meeting is supported by a text chat box and an audio chat button.

It might not be as full-featured as some of the more established whiteboard services out there, but it definitely scores points for quick setup and ease of use. There’s even a bookmarklet for your browser, so you can “twiddle” any page with one click. Sure, we could find a couple things to complain about — an eraser and a tool for drawing neat arrows would be nice, for starters — but we’re in a good mood because we just used a functional web service without having to sign up.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

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Filed under: Productivity, Web services, Google, web 2.0

It looks like Google is preparing to add offline functionality to Google Calendar. A few days ago the folks at the Digital Streets blog noticed that Google seemed to have added some code to the Google Calendar page that would bring up a prompt to install Google Gears for access to 3 months worth of calendar data while you’re offline. But once you install Google Gears, nothing happens.

The plot thickened on Thursday when Googlified noticed a new option in the settings section of Google Calendar. Go ahead and check, odds are you’ll see an “Offline” tab in your own calendar settings. When you click the tab, you’re told to download Google Gears. Unfortunately, once you install Google Gears, nothing seems to happen. Visiting Google Calendar with Gears installed just brings up the plain old Google Calendar with no option to save your data for offline viewing. But we get the feeling that Google wouldn’t be adding features to the Google Calendar settings menu if the company didn’t plan to activate those features soon.

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Filed under: Management, General Electric (GE), Marketing and advertising

Several media outlets have reported that GE’s (NYSE: GE) CEO Jeff Immelt used a webcast to try to reach the company’s two million smaller shareholders. The project included Immelt being questioned by Carl Quintanilla of CNBC, and Chrystia Freedland of The Financial Times.

The webcast drew 6,000 questions over the web, but Immelt could only answer a little fraction of those. According to The New York Times, Mr. Immelt had one message: “We ought to be trading at a premium to the S.& P.”

GE is missing the boat. Whether it is through webcasts or meetings with large investors, Wall Street does not believe in the conglomerate’s strategy. At this point, the growth at GE comes from its infrastructure and financial operations. Divisions like NBC Universal, the company’s medical group, and its industrial operations are a drag on the company’s overall results.

GE trades near a 52-week low. PR won’t solve that problem. The company needs to restructure and dump the dogs.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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