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September 2008 - Posts
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Nowadays we can see a lot of advertisements like the above title. Haven't you seen it? Oh! I am really sorry; I forgot to tell that they will be in a different form. Ok have you ever come across any advertisement like, “Congratulations, you have eligible to get 10 tons of Aluminium for free!”. If yes, this advertisement is the disguised way of telling that “you are going to loose your money, click here to do that”.
Please understand that, “There is no such thing as something for nothing”. You are probably dealing with a scam if
• You receive uninvited gifts or goods from any source
• An offer from overseas
• A request to pay a fee for more benefits.
• Pay a fee and collect the prize.
• A huge offer on purchase which is hard to believe.
Another way to loose money is through the purchase scams. Assume that you have junk cars for sale. And you have published it in the Internet. What happens is you get an immediate response for your advertisement. The only mistake that happens is that the buyer sends a cheque that is more than the value that you have quoted for your car. What you will do is, you will call up the buyer and inform him that he had sent some extra
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NIGERIAN SCAM- ADVANCE FEE FRAUD:
This Nigerian scam escalates rapidly once you show the interest in it. Let us make it clear with an example.
Assume that you have received a purchase order for your company's product. However, intentionally, the initial order won't be large; the scammers will usually start off with a sample order which will be paid with a bogus credit card or a draft. These fake importers will lure you, saying that they will be placing a big order soon. Aiming at the big order, you will send the sample to them. After some days, you will receive an email stating that your sample has been approved for sale and all you have to do is to send 500 U.S. dollars (sometimes even more) to get you registered to trade your products in their country. Falling into temptation you will send the cash for registration also. However, you won't receive any bulk order thereafter, and you won't be able to contact the importers also. Simply, your money is gone!
However, this Nigerian scam can be avoided easily. Credit cards and demand drafts from Nigeria, Togo, Cameroon, Benin, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Ghana can be avoided. Ship the goods only after receiving the money in your account, which you can withdraw. In addition, keep in mind that it takes up to three weeks to clear an International deposit. Even your bank should confirm it in writing.
Moreover, this Nigerian scam is often dangerous physically too. Wondering how? In some cases you will be asked to travel to Nigeria to complete a transaction. You will also be told that no visa is required to enter the country. “Entering Nigeria without a valid visa is a serious offense.” So how do the scammers get benefited in this? These cunning scammers bribe the airport officials and tell them to allow the marketer to pass the immigration and customs. Hence the victim's illegal entry into the country will be used by the scammers as leverage to coerce the victim into releasing funds. If the victims don't obey to what the scammers say, then the will be killed!
To protect yourself, say no any offer if you feel something fishy. Never provide any personal details if you are not sure about the genuineness of the importer. The main thing is to report the abuse if found so that thousands of people will be saved from it.
WESTERN UNION SCAM:
“Exiting offer! Aluminium for sale-just 883.19 USD. Hurry, limited offer! Select your transaction method!” Please don't search for the location where you can get it. We are not gonna mention it, as it is simply impossible, as everyone knows, and this is an example for scam advertisement.
A Western Union scam is any scam that uses Western Union method of payment. If anyone sees an advertisement as the one above, they will be anxious in getting Aluminium for just 883.19 USD which will actually cost 2883.19 USD and you will straight away agree to send the money through a transfer service. Anyway the money will be sent, but you will not receive even a gram of Aluminium. Unfortunately the money will be already picked up. It means that you've been a victim of online auction fraud. If you are lucky enough you will atleast receive one kg of Aluminium.
About western Union:
The Western Union money transfer service is the great way to sent money to the people you know and trust. And Western Union recommends not using western union money transfer service to pay for online auction purchases as they do not offer any types of purchase protections or escrow service. To make it simple, once the money is sent, there is no protection on it, and no way to get it back.
TIPS TO AVOID WESTERN UNION SCAM:
• Be cautious if the online seller will accept only one type of money transfer. Most legitimate sellers will accept more than one form of payment.
• Make sure that you check out any seller references or feedback before making a purchase. However, often this method won't work because the seller can himself create the feedback or reference and may be bogus.
• Western union money transfer is the 100% preferred payment method of scammers. Because the moment the scammer gets the MTCN number or the money transfer number he can get the money and disappear into cyberspace, leaving you with an empty box, damaged pride and a hole in your pocket. So even if sellers say that there paypal accounts are down, don't pay them through western union.
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The success of any business depends on the knowledge of the businessperson and advertising. Before starting a scrap metal trade, one should know the position of the scrap market worldwide. I am sure one cannot travel cross the globe to seek the information about the market. All say that Internet is the world's largest library. Yes Internet is definitely the world's largest library. Nowadays there are many websites that provide bundles of information regarding the market.
And the very important use of the Internet is the International access. Without the Internet it is very much difficult trading outside the country or virtually impossible. However Internet breaks all the barriers and opens the door for the international market. “National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway”.
The most important parameter in a successful business is advertising. “Doing a business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does.” Probably there are many advertising media such as radios, newspapers, television and the Internet. So of these four modes of advertising why should one choose Internet? The answer is simple. Think that you have a small scrap metal business. If you have a Website for that business, the Website makes your small business look big. By using Internet your business will become really big! The marketer's and consumers dream is the World Wide Web. It is the best of mass advertising and the best of target making.
ONLINE SCRAP TRADE PORTALS TO THE RESCUE OF NOVICES
If you do it right, the Internet can enhance your company's image, build customer loyalty, and get information to customers quickly and cheaply. According to a journalist, Neil Chase, “The net users are the cream of the crop in terms of income”. One of the Internet's greatest strengths is its ability to help the consumers find the right needle in a digital haystack of data.
However, for people who are unaware of building a website for business, there are other alternatives too. Nowadays there are many websites that help the company's to sell their scrap in the International market and helping them to connect to the right customers they wish to deal with. Scrap portals like reycleinme.com act as meeting grounds for scrap traders and buyers. Traders can also list their sell offers and buy offers in these portals. These websites helps scrap traders in getting International exposure to their business.
AVOIDING SCAMS- THE LATEST APPROACH:
Lot’s of preventive measures has been taken to prevent online scams these days. For example, Recycleinme.com is checking every member to filter out the frauds. They cross check the ip address of the registration location with the information that the user provides. Incase those two parameters doesn’t match, their registration with Recycleinme.com will be cancelled. Hence it is becoming safer to do the trade through these kinda portals.
CONCLUSION:
So the conclusion is Internet is the best medium to expand the business. Many websites even provide information about the scrap metal prices updated every second. They also provide the facility of selling your products to the right customers without the need of roaming all around, looking for business. Though most of these services are free of cost, if anyone feels it so good, they can pay for the service and get more benefits. However the benefits will overweigh the money one spends on the Internet.
Finding information about the scrap metal trade in the Internet is simple. Just Google in the keyword scrap, you can find about 38,000,000 websites. So why settle for less when you can get more? Hooked up to Internet? The trade is just a “CLICK AWAY”.
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Between January and December 2005 (latest available record), Consumer Sentinel, the complaint database developed and maintained by the FTC, received over 685,000 consumer fraud and identity theft complaints. Consumers reported losses from fraud of more than $680 million.
The representation shown above is the data based on the total number of Sentinel complaints (686,683) received between January 1 and December 31, 2005. Things haven’t changed a lot today. According to ‘The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC)’, the data breach count in the year 2008 is about 69% greater than that of 2007.
This ill fact regarding identity theft is that most of the victims didn’t contact any Law enforcement regarding the dispute. This is based on the survey done by the federal trade commission. This ignorance by the victims has made identity theft, the fastest growing crime in the US. It was also noted that people aged between 18-29 has complained about the Identity theft than others. This may be because people aged 18-49 involved in lot of trade transactions makes them more prone to Identity theft.
IDENTITY THEFT AT PRESENT (2008)
According to The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the above said crime has reached its peak through the year 2007- 2008. Between January 1st 2008 and June 27th 2008, the total number of data breaches (Identity theft) recorded by the ITRC is 342, more than 69% greater than the same time period in 2007. The actual number victims will certainly be more than what is mentioned here because most of the cases are not reported by the victims. It can be noted that the worst hit field is general business. And to say, scrap business is more likely prone to identity theft.
INCREASE OF IDENTITY THEFT IN BUSINESS FIELD:
General business only has found increase in Identity thefts. This increase in identity theft in general business is reflected in the scrap business too. This is caused due to the lack of awareness of people regarding the usage of internet and other modern payment methods. If the victims of identity theft still remain ignorant, there is no way to stop the sky rocketing identity theft.
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While most people don’t have a clue to how to protect themselves, Identity theft has become one of the fast growing crimes in the planet. Everyone into the scrap trade may be aware that Identity theft is a term used to refer to fraud that involves stealing money or getting other benefits by pretending to be someone else. In scrap trade, local traders disguise their company as some other renowned scrap trading firm to increase their business or to swindle the money of the customers. Identity theft is sub-divided into four categories by the Identity theft resource center:
1. Business/commercial identity theft (using another's business name to obtain customers)
2. Criminal identity theft (posing as another when apprehended for a crime)
3. Identity cloning (using another's information to assume his or her identity in daily life)
4. Financial identity theft (using another's identity to obtain goods and services).
IDENTITY THEFT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE OR ANY BUSINESS
Out of the 4 categories of identity theft, the Business/ Commercial identity theft is more common in the scrap trade. Though the business identity theft is done for many reasons, one common use of business identity theft is to get to the customers of the victim company. For example, if you own a well reputed scrap trading company, the ‘Identity thief’ after getting the names and addresses of your customers, may impersonate your business in e-mails, postal mail or other means to gain the customer's confidence that the correspondence is, indeed, from you and exploit that trust. This act will not only harm the customer but also destroys your business because the customer won’t be ware that it’s not you or your company that is involved in the deal. Most of the identity thief’s get the advance cash for the delivery of the goods in your name (that you will not be aware of) and then vanish. In that case, you will be forced to pay the compensation to the customer.
HOW DO IDENTITY THIEVES GAIN ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Now you may be wondering how these identity thieves gain access to our highly secured personal information or company data. Shown below are some holes through which your personal information may be leaking.
• Information from businesses or other institutions by:
Stealing records or information while they're on the job
Bribing an employee who has access to these records
Hacking these records
Conning information out of employees
• They may steal your mail, including bank and credit card statements, credit card offers, new checks, and tax information. In case of scrap business make sure that all the mails forwarded to you gets delivered. Mails such as request for quote of scrap materials will be stolen by thieves. Once they steal it, the deal becomes there’s but under your name.
• They may rummage through your trash, the trash of businesses, or public trash dumps in a practice known as "dumpster diving." Make sure that you shred the important documents like invoices and bills before you dispose them
• They may get your credit reports by abusing their employer's authorized access to them, or by posing as a landlord, employer, or someone else who may have a legal right to access your report.
• They may steal your credit or debit card numbers by capturing the information in a data storage device in a practice known as "skimming." They may swipe your card for an actual purchase, or attach the device to an ATM machine where you may enter or swipe your card.
• They may complete a "change of address form" to divert your mail to another location. This act makes you loose your customers due to the misrouted mails.
• They may steal personal information from you through email or phone by posing as legitimate companies and claiming that you have a problem with your account. This practice is known as "phishing" online, or pretexting by phone.
WHAT TO DO IF THE IDENTITY IS STOLEN?
Identity theft is bad both for the customers and the original company. The genuine company will loose the credibility among customers if they don’t act fast once they become a victim of identity theft. If a breach does occur, you need to act quickly to inform affected customers. If the situations are not handled well, the damage to your company will be staggering and permanent. Timing is critical, as prompt notification might help prevent identity theft or mitigate the damage it causes.
Report the crime to your local police or sheriff's department right away. You might also need to report it to police department(s) where the crime occurred if it's somewhere other than where you live. Give them as much documented evidence as possible. Make sure the police report lists the fraudulent accounts. Get a copy of the report, which is called an "identity theft report" under the FCRA. Keep the phone number of your investigator handy and give it to creditors and others who require verification of your case. Report the crime to the Federal Trade commission (FTC). Include your police report number. However, FTC does not itself investigate identity theft cases; they share such information with investigators nationwide who are fighting identity theft. You can also call the FTC's Identity Theft Hotline 877-438-4338 or use its online identity theft complaint form. To use the online complaint form, visit www.consumer.gov/idtheft.
PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE:
Identity theft can happen to anyone, and can often go unnoticed until the point where the victim’s good name or his companies credibility has been completely destroyed. While recovering from identity theft can be a long and hard road to recovery, there are steps that someone can take to narrow the possibilities of becoming an identity theft victim. To avoid becoming a victim of identity theft, it is important to secure your data at every possible level. If you use computers, they should be adequately protected by security software and hardware, including firewalls and port blockers if they have internet access. Be careful when and where you use business credit cards. Always ensure that websites are up to date on their encryption systems and never give your information to strangers over the phone. Shred all documents thoroughly before throwing them away. Additionally, create some system for the customer to confirm the messages that they receive was send by you, before they take any action.
It will take ages to recover from an Identity theft. So always remember “Prevenion is better than cure”
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- The glass which is disposed in the rubbish bin will reach the landfills along with all other waste.
- Glass is recycled in all the glass banks around the globe.
- Many supermarkets have glass-recycling banks, enabling you to recycle glass on your weekly shop.
- Most home recycle bins, provided by your local council, usually accept glass.
- Glass collected at the curbside is usually color separated on the vehicle or is sold as mixed glass for color separation or for use in alternative markets.
- Glass from pubs and clubs is usually collected color separated in wheeled bins, but often it is collected in mixed bins due to lack of space.
- Glass is usually separated into three colors. Brown, green and clear.
- Recycled glass contains contaminants which must be removed before it is used to make new containers. Metal, paper, plastic, organics, ceramic and pyro-ceramic must all be removed. This is done using manual inspection and high-tech equipment utilizing metal detectors, vacuums, crushers, screens, lasers, digital cameras and even x-rays to detect and remove contamination.
- Once the recycled glass has been cleaned and prepared it is mixed with raw materials and the whole process of glass product manufacturing begins again.
- Recycling glass mainly constitutes of 6 major steps:
Ø Dumping Glass
Ø Glass Collection
Ø Commercial collection
Ø Removing contaminants
Ø Container making
Ø Alternative uses.
FACTS
![*]() Currently we landfill around 1,400,000 tonnes of glass each year. This is a real lost opportunity!
![*]() 100% of recycled glass can be used to make new glass bottles and jars, without any loss in quality.
![*]() Green bottles are made with up to 90% recycled glass content.
![*]() Can you believe that glass recycling in 2003 saved enough energy to launch 10 space shuttle missions?
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· The aluminium cans thrown into recycle-bins by the consumer are collected and transported to the treatment plant.
· In the treatment plant, aluminium is sorted, cleaned and made ready for reprocessing.
· They are then turned into molten aluminium through a re-melt process. This is done to remove the unwanted coatings and paintings present in the can.
· After that, the large blocks of aluminium, called the ingots are made. It is estimated that it takes 1.6 million aluminium cans to make an ingot.
· To give aluminium great strength and flexibility, these ingots are taken to the mills and are rolled into sheets.
· These rolled sheets are then used to make aluminium products such as cans, wrappers etc.
· The interesting fact is that it takes mere 6 weeks to complete all these processes and the aluminium cans will be back in the shelves.
FACTS:
- Recycling one kilogram of aluminium can save up to 8 kilograms of bauxite, four kilograms of chemical products and 14 kilowatt hours of electricity.
- Anything made of aluminium can be recycled repeatedly: not only cans, but aluminium foil, plates and pie molds, window frames, garden furniture and automotive components are melted down and used to make the same products again. Used aluminium cans can be recycled to make new aluminium cans, aluminium windows can be recycled to make new aluminium windows and old aluminium engine blocks to make new ones. The recycling rate for aluminium cans is already above 70% in some countries.
- Aluminium beverage cans can be profitably recycled by individuals and groups and most countries have a national can recycling association which offers advice, support, and can put collectors in touch with purchasing organizations.
- Aluminium is the only packaging material that more than covers the cost of its own collection and processing at recycling centers.
Aluminium will never loose its properties no matter the number of times it has been recycled. This means that aluminium can be recycled forever.
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