Scoopon fined AUD one million and community service for misleading consumers -

How many of us have in one way or another been "cheated" by brokers pushing for sales to raise their commission. Some are either too kind or concerned of the trouble to complain of about false information passed off to consumers.

Prayers finally answered - there is some justice after all. Authorities have not overlooked wrongdoing. ACCC has caught up with Scoopon and the courts are supportive. Tough action to protect consumers is long overdue.
Scoopon hit with fine!

There are some genuinely great deals.

The most common is "Fine dining" at a song.

"Promotional  specials that will never happen again if you miss this once in a lifetime opportunity"

or similar headlines screaming and luring bargain seekers.

However, going by conventional wisdom, when something is too good to be true, it is often untrue or has a catch attached to it.

Hopefully, it will alert consumers to be more cautious and questioning and not be afraid to name and shame unscrupulous and shady businesses.

Hopefully this will be a landmark leading to more uncovering and punishment of similar practices.  It is high time and pertinent for ASIC to follow ACCC's lead.

Free Ads : too good to be true likely to be a scam - restaurants learns the hard and expensive way

A sophisticated scam with a business plan which sounded convincing. Where is the contract which will nail down the two conmen who are nowhere to be found now after taking more than tens of thousands from restauranteurs?  It's too good to be true. The cheats have played on human greed and desperation, at a time when businesses are confronting an economic slowdown.

http://m.smh.com.au/nsw/restaurateurs-find-theres-no-such-thing-as-a-free-ad-20111226-1pajo.html

Another tactic is to make the ad appear officious and mandatory like an entry in the business directory asking for confirmation. I and some fellow business associates had fallen prey to such pseudo scams with an attached fine print of the prices and fees if the information was valid to be published. It was eventually published on an online directory which no customers would be able to check as it is not on the top of google listing.

It's not really a Not a scam? Becoming a spammer, hacker, scammer yourself - easy home income despicable and brain dead

Modern man and women gradually drift and deviate from moral norms and compromise on integrity in order to survive materially and get ahead the easy way.

You don't have to a computer whiz to see through the ploy to enslave desperate working mums to spam others' websites. It's bordering on illegality, spamming and making a nuisance of yourselves if you fall for it.

Many websites have installed anti-spam protection or manually remove nonsensical posts of links to the advertiser. It is an unproductive deployment of labour both on the part of the spammer and the anti-spam worker.

It's easy money working from home, but not something one could be proud of earning.

Such sneaky schemes would not go on forever without being detected or redressed. Harsher retaliation may result in reduction of income by spamming others' websites with links.

It is not a type of skill that will help to develop one's career. Imagine putting this on your resume! Get a real job that helps you to grow even if it pays less.

A sample of laid back income churning scheme :

http://web-news-weekly.com/aus-biz/

People are fed up of the scams out there and now is the time people can take advantage of making money from home, or anywhere in the world'

Working online has been a financial windfall for Melissa, who struggled for months to find a decent job but kept hitting dead ends. "I lost my job shortly after the recession hit, I needed reliable income, I was not interested in the "get rich quick" scams you see all over the internet. Those are all pyramid scams or stuff where you have to sell to your friends and family. I just needed a legitimate way to earn a living for me and my family. The best part of working online is that I am always home with the kids, I save a lot of money.

"Follow the instructions at Home Income Cash System and set up your account. Then they will give you the website links to post. Start posting those links. Everything gets tracked.

How the hell is bloody Macbeth relevant to modern daily living? The price to pay for freebies.

“I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (Act III Scene 4, 135–137; Macbeth)

Shocking! Yes, it's just an exaggeration. A appropriate way to explain it would be to describe the difficulty of sustaining momentum after being forced by circumstances. The analogy of having to continue with the process of shampoo and wash of hair once you have inadvertently or accidently wet the hair seem to fit the bill. In other words, there is no going back and too late to change one's mind.

In today's competitive e commercial world, there are heaps of alluring offers. It is FREE! Or so we believed. But think again and smarten up! There is no free lunch or free ride, perhaps, just temporarily, but not forever. The must be a catch - once the target has been hooked, they will have to be committed, because there is too much to lose by withdrawing. It would be gullible to believe that people are not profit driven, it is only a matter of degree.

It is hard to imagine yourself or your friends who are normally street wise could somehow one day land in such as predicament. Is there any sense of continuing when it is unsustainable. Should we just bite the bullet and lose 2,000 days of hard work, time and resources now than to drag and risk losing more later? Maybe it is time to write off the investments, suffer the short term pain, erase it from memory, than to pour good effort after bad? It is a dilemma that cropped up for more than a year and has yet to be resolved. I pray in search for a clear cut answer.

Be careful of phising by hackers of bank accounts

I believe this is an attempt at phising to hack into customer accounts. Previous attempts by hackers who claim to be writing on behalf of a Big Four bank have been reported. They keep trying and hope that some day, someone unsuspectingly fall into the trap. Be very careful before you divulge information on the internet. Note that banks do not send email to verify account details and passwords.

Below is a sample email some hotmail users have received in the inbox - not filtered as spam. Nice try. Hope that such tricks and scams will fail.

Dear Customer
We're making some exciting changes that will make your online banking experience even better, We therefore request you to verify your location.
ANZ Online Access Verification Please note that Your Online Banking has been flagged by our system and all flagged account required verification for Online Banking to remain active due to recent changes we have made to our online banking system.
This verification will allow us to activate new features for your account on our system and to protect your account fully against ID Theft. We have made these changes to ensure only You have access and use your ANZ Account's.
Please click the link below to proceed with verification process.http://www.anz.com.au/verification It is all about your security.Best wishesMark BanksHead of Online

Scammers are getting more sophisticated in their ruse. The most recent tricks take the form of offers to return overpaid bank fees, insurance premiums or other entitlements that appear legitimate at first sight.

To learn more about scams and how to avoid being conned, check out the Australian government website for details :

http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/693900