Friday, February 25, 2011

Working freelance

One of the best things in town is to work freelance at your own pace and time, just as how Blogging for Money and MLM. However, of late, I have seen the stream of fraudsters targeting EBAY work. This is really a staggering cause for concern since many have been conned. I got conned back in 2005 and I did time at HMP Belmarsh for that. A customer paid me with dodgy checks which are guaranteed with a guarantee card and verified. It’s a nightmare.

 

How can you prevent yourself from being conned?

 

One of the key concern is KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER which is commonly said to identify them using normal KYC standards and as such you commit to a due diligence. If they ask you to post for them advertising, ask yourself, will you get stuck with the fees etc if the deal goes sour?  EBAY FEES are about US$5 onwards, as a rule of thumb, 2% of the gross sale.

 

ASK FOR SECURITY DEPOSIT. If they are LEGIT, they will pay you by PAYPAL, and make sure the email address matches the one they are using to communicate with you. The name must match, otherwise you can lose money. I typically ask from $100 to $2000 depending on the size of the deal and with your best bet is MONEYBOOKERS since they can’t claw back.

 

ASK FOR PROOF OF IDENTITY. ASK FOR COLOR COPY OF PASSPORT + LOCAL IDENTITY such as Driver’s License. CHECK THE PASSPORT. Make sure it is not PHOTO SHOPPED! Compare the details to your own passport. The CHEVRONS MUST MATCH, no blanks in between. The photo must face you directly, not at 45* angle as it’s only used for Green Card.

Comparable Identification are:

UK DRIVERS LICENSE (ask for counterpart..will show he got speeding tickets or not) , NOT IDP (GREY BOOK)

MALAYSIAN MYKAD (ask for License or bank passbook/Maybank Savings statement to confirm)

SINGAPORE NRIC *PINK COLOR (FRONT AND BACK, ask for a CLEAR THUMB PRINT or SINGPASS verification such as CPF statement or Voters roll)

UK VAT  Registration Certificate, Singapore or Malaysia Company Registration Certificate. Verify from SSM or ACRA (fee apply)

 

ASK FOR PHONE NUMBER, NOT JUST A MOBILE # so you can call him. Use SKYPE to make a quick call. Talk to the person. Google the phone number if you feel it’s not real.

 

I’m just poofed now..so I will add more after I move my systems to port my blogs in.

 

 

 

 

Saturday, February 12, 2011

WHOOPS!

I really mess it up this time when I modified the data path files to my SQL SERVER, and yikes, I am in deep trouble.

WHAT DID I DO? Well, as a start, I had issues with some applications writing data to the MySQL Server and I have 2 instances , one MYSQL and MS SQL 2008 installed on the same frigging machine. It’s bad enough with no MOD REWRITE_RULES installed on my Windows Server 2008 R2 (LornHorn??) which is a pain in the backside. I am trying to understand where in the entire devil is the APACHE MSI files for MSWINx64.

 

Oh Well, my Outlook 2007 is also giving me pain..what the hell. Bear with it

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Chinese New Year

It's been quite a quiet Chinese New Year for me in Kuala Pilah and it's been a tiresome few weeks since the non stop rain in the South Malaysia caused many inconvenience to many.

For some unfortunate families, it's been a very drenching experience as non stop heavy downpour for the past week caused the local rivers to overflow despite the deep rivers which are spanning 10 meters across.

Here at downtown Kuala Pilah, many homes were swept off the banks with chest high flood waters to be waded out causing landslides and damage to crops, farms and alike. Not to mention the lack of telecommunication services where Maxis was totally knocked off the grid for many days. Celcom and Telekom Malaysia had many poles tumbled down along with communication ducts and risers submerged in muddy water.

If it's not bad enough, the support from the emergency services, Social Services (Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat) was not quick enough and not to mention that the fire department don't have equipment to tackle flood situations.

The Water Company (SAINS WATER) was ill managed, knowing heavy downpour, did not do anything until it was too late, causing severe outages at the water treatment plants in the whole state. Many homes were without water for almost 3 days and those living in the outskirts and high up in the hills had no supply for days at end.

In all, what do we learn from the Kota Tinggi , Segamat and Labis floods previously? Nothing. The money was ill spent again and this time, the people see what is going on. Political bickering must be set aside for the sake of the people. It's for the People, With the people, By the People.

Like it or not, this is the offside of living in Malaysia and I always say, insure your home!

To all, Happy Chinese New Year! may this be a more prosperous one for everyone!

GONG XI FA CAI