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Introduction

The producer of Gluta Raise in their website stated and I quote “ Gluta Raise - a breakthrough weight loss supplement that is helping thousands of people to balance hormones, reduce stress and anxiety, eliminate stress belly, and give them the restorative sleep they deserve, and helping affiliates make an absolute fortune.”unquote

Usually when people talk about weight loss, they will talk about hormone, thyroid function and food intake.

However for Gluta Raise, as you can notice in their website, they take a different approach in their effort to see results in weight loss.

They talk about igniter molecule, a molecule in our fat cells.

Gluta Raise target this molecule which is important for fat burning but this molecule diminishes with age.

New research from Baylor College of Medicine says your body can’t start melting fat off without the help of this molecule called GSH.

As we age, our body’s ability to produce GSH drastically decreases, and we store all the food we eat.

Gluta Raise is supposed to be able to rejuvenate the fat burning cell and get it work as we age.

In other words to give the body a boost it needs to burn fat.

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Which group is suitable to use this supplement?

This supplement is for those men and women who want to balance their hormone, reduce stress and anxiety.

It can also eliminates stress belly, and restore the sleep the men and women deserve.

Scientists from Baylor College of Medicine just discovered the “Volcanic Slim Secret” of effortlessly skinny women.

Strangely enough, new studies reveal that as we age, a specific fat burning “igniter” molecule in your body starts to decrease.

We can find this molecule inside every fat cell – which explains why it becomes harder and harder to lose weight the older you get.

In order to find out whether this Gluta Raise is the right supplement for your weight loss, you may want to try out.

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If you have any comments and feedback, please leave your input in the comment section below.

Introduction:

Quantum Millionaire is an intriguing program that can revolutionize your financial situation through its unique two-cup manifestation method.

In this review, we delve into the program's claims, techniques, and potential to help you attract wealth.

If you're seeking a solution to your financial worries, you may want to try out Quantum Millionaire , it might turn out to be the program which can help you to achieve financial freedom.

Captivating Narrative:

The video captivates viewers by sharing the personal story of Jason Henry, a regular father who went from financial distress to financial freedom with good wealth using the Quantum Millionaire program.

Henry's relatable journey, including the loss of his mother and the desperation to afford her funeral, establishes a connection with readers facing similar challenges.

This personal touch adds credibility to the program's claims and sets the stage for a life-changing experience.

Scientific Foundations:

Quantum Millionaire is said to be based on the research of renowned physicist Niels Bohr and his observations of electrons shifting orbits.

By tapping into the principles of quantum physics, the program claims to help you raise your vibrational level and attract financial abundance.

While the connection between quantum physics and wealth manifestation may raise some eyebrows, the video assures that Bohr's work provides a solid foundation for the program.

The Two-Cup Method:

At the heart of Quantum Millionaire lies the two-cup method, a simple yet powerful technique that can be easily performed at home.

The video  explains that by following the audio guide and using two cups, users can activate their millionaire vibration and manifest money effortlessly.

The inclusion of alpha wave music and a calming voice further enhances the experience, creating an optimal environment for success.

Success Stories and Testimonials:

To reinforce the program's efficacy, the video shares several success stories and testimonials from individuals who have experienced financial transformations using Quantum Millionaire.

These firsthand accounts showcase the program's potential to bring about positive change and instill confidence in prospective users.

Conclusion:

Quantum Millionaire presents an alluring opportunity to transform your financial situation using the two-cup method and the principles of quantum physics.

While some skepticism is warranted when it comes to wealth manifestation programs.

The personal narrative, scientific references, and testimonials in this article work together to create an intriguing and compelling case for giving Quantum Millionaire a try.

If you're ready to take control of your financial future, Quantum Millionaire may be the solution you've been searching.

If you have any comments and feedback, please put it in the comment section below.

Introduction

In the first part of this, I talked about what are types of Facebook Scams.

Now we want to focus on how to avoid Facebook scams.

This may not be fool proof, but at least we need to develop best practice as much as possible.

Normally we get scammed because of our casual and don't care attitude, which may cause us dearly eventually.

some things we can do while using Facebook

1. Set your privacy setting correctly.

I will not go into details of this, all you have to do is to go to the privacy setting and set the privacy setting which suit you.

2. Enable two steps authentication,

some may find this tedious, well, normally if you do not want to suffer this pain, you may suffer a more serious pain later.

3. Check carefully before accepting friends request.

Sometimes this may be a bit difficult to deal with, especially for those who are using Facebook Page for their businesses.

If that is the case, then you may have to exercise your discretion and intelligent to determine whether to accept the friends' request. you may want to carry out a due diligent online to have some ideas of the so called friends' requests.

4. Do not click on any link you come across in any FaceBook post you are reading.

Normally when we are surfing some Facebook posts, they are some links in the posts.

It is advisable not to click on the link unless you know the pages and posts you are reading are from reliable sources.

Sometimes, we may surf some news posts posted and try to understand and learn more about certain subjects, then you may have to be extra careful about the links in the posts you are reading.

5. Change your passwords every few months.

It is advisable to change the password of your login now and then, preferably after a few months.

This is quite a good practice, as it keeps you on alert and not easy for others to hack into your password.

More so if you have a very strong password involving lower case, upper case, character and number and preferably more than 8 characters long.

6. Check your login history and review any irregular visits.

sometimes if we review the history of our login, if we discover some irregularity, we need to take step to rectify, perhaps report to Facebook immediately.

7. Do not do your online shopping in Facebook if possible.

I normally do not do my shopping online, as I like to support the provision shop near my place.

Shopping on shopping platform may be good but on Facebook? I would not do that.

Why can't you do it on the Merchant's website? why must it be done in Facebook?

these are some steps you may want to consider.

Now we talk about what we can do off Facebook to avoid the scam.

1. Ensure your computer or any device you used to login Facebook is properly protected.

when using your computer or laptop or mobile phone to login to Facebook, ensure you have a good operating system which is updated.

you may also want to ensure you shield your device from public eyes when you are doing the login.

2. Report any irregularity or emails from "Facebook".

Most of the time, we tend to just click on the inbox of our email when we see it is from Facebook, without checking clearly the email domain whether it is from Facebook.

If we do come across this fictitious emails, we need to report to Facebook directly.

3. Have a good anti virus program in your device.

It goes without saying that a good anti virus software help to eliminate the threat and harm.

4. Use your common sense and logic.

Sometimes common sense is still the best control we have to avoid the scam.

If we can apply common sense and come to our senses, we will detect the scam easily.

What happen if you have been scammed, what can you do to minimize the damages?

1. Report to Facebook immediately.

If you think your Facebook account has been compromised, you need to report to Facebook immediately,

Hopefully they will take action and recover your account for you.

To me, Facebook should be doing the due diligence when one wants to open an account with them,

2. Change the login password.

as mentioned earlier, it is good that you have some complex password and change your password now and then.

3. Freeze the credit.

once you know your account has been hacked, you should call the banks and credit cards companies to freeze your account immediately.

4. Inform banks and credit cards companies to stop the credit cards.

the timing of informing the banks and credit cards companies will minimize your losses due to the hacking of your accounts.

prompt reporting may also help you to recover your losses.

5. Check your device and re-set if need be.

checking device if you discover there is some irregularity in the way your device is operating, it is best you can re-set your device, as for mobile phone, go back to factory setting, while for laptop, reinstall the operation system.

These are some ways we can do to detect and avoid Facebook scam.

Conclusion

Hope this can help you to be aware of the scams going on so that you will be more alert.

If you have been scammed before or aware of any scam, do share your experience in the comments section below.

First, let me say that I do not endorse the use of crash diets. Some can be very dangerous. Nor do I have anything against diet pills. Used appropriately, they are usually safe.

However, I would like to talk about what I believe is the most effective weight loss method I've ever used.

It's called the Paleo Diet.

Basically, it's based around eating what our ancestors ate. Food that was available when man first evolved. So, it's mostly meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds.

Animal protein is considered to be very nutrient dense. It's high in vitamin B12, as well as vitamins E, D, and K2.

Therefore Animal fat is very satisfying. It has nine calories per gram, as compared to only four for carbohydrate and protein.

Animal fat, as well as animal protein, is also very satiating. That means, it's filling. In fact, one study showed that overweight people who ate a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet lost more body fat than people who ate a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet.

However, that's not all. The Paleo Diet is also easy on your joints. For example, the Arthritis Foundation has found that people who are overweight (and especially obese), often suffer arthritis.

So, while the Paleo Diet will definitely help you lose weight, it's also a great way to keep arthritis from coming back.

The Paleo Diet is also very economical. After all, meat is cheap. Eggs are cheap. So are vegetables. Fruit is a bit more expensive, but in the Paleo Diet, fruit is eaten as a special treat. And nuts are expensive. So, while nuts are not absolutely necessary, they do make a good snack.

Finally, the Paleo Diet is good for your health. It is low in carbohydrates, and studies have shown that carbs can be bad for your body. In fact, carbs are a major cause of diseases like cancer, stroke, and heart attack.

So, for all of the above reasons, I have switched to the Paleo Diet.

Just to share some extract from Paleo Diet website - quote

What Actually is Paleo Diet?

The Paleo diet is really simple.

‘Paleo’ just means real food. It’s the food from nature that our bodies were designed to eat. This is food we digest and extract nutrients from the most easily.

On the flip side of the coin, Paleo also means cutting out all the unnatural and processed food that gets churned out in factories…

…And, some food that seems healthy, but is actually very poor in nutrients and hard for our body to digest.

Assuming you often feel brain fog, sluggishness, bloating, and low energy, these types of food may be responsible. Our bodies were not evolved to easily digest these foods, because they were refined and created only in recent times.

 If you cut all that stuff out of your diet for just one month, you will be amazed at how much better you already feel.

And, when you only eat Paleo-friendly natural food… You will notice- like many have- that your energy goes through the roof, and your body starts to burn off the extra fat. unquote

Again, I do not endorse the use of crash diets. But, if you want to lose weight, the Paleo Diet is definitely a safe way to do it.

That is why I do not endorse the use of crash diets. Some can be very dangerous. Nor do I have anything against diet pills. However, do keep in mind that diet pills can have serious side effects.

Instead, I would recommend regular exercise. The benefits of exercise are many. First of all, exercise can be enjoyable.

For example, I like playing tennis. And, for me, it is a great way to exercise. Of course, tennis is not the only game that is enjoyable. You can also go for a walk. Or, you could run. Or, you could go to the gym. Or, you could ride a bike. Or, you could play basketball. Or, you could go hiking. Or, you could play softball. Or, you could join an aerobics class. Or, you could lift weights. Or, you could swim. Or, you could do Yoga. Or, you could do Pilates.

To learn more about Paleo Diet, you can click HERE.

How to boost metabolism and lose weight

Metabolism is a term we always associate with our body.

Every thing we do using our body, we will talk about metabolism.

What is metabolism?

Metabolism is the process in your body which takes place in converting the food and drink which you take into energy.

The process will take calorie and oxygen in the food and drink and convert into energy by going through a chemical or metabolic process in your body, and so that your body has the energy to carry out the functions.

Why is metabolism important?

Metabolism is continuously providing energy for our body functions even when we are resting.

The basic functions required for metabolism are:

Breathing.

Circulating blood.

Digesting food.

Growing and repairing cells.

Managing hormone levels.

Regulating body temperature.

BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate, is the term we always come across.

Have we ever wondered what is this BMR, other than the physician and people in health and medical fields care about it, normal people will not bother to find out what BMR is.

In simple term, it is the minimum calories required in our bodies to function when we are resting.

However this varies from person to person.

Our body usually use about one tenth of the energy to process the food into fuel for our use, the rest of the energy is for our bodies movement and so on.

We have to bear in mind that metabolism is not equate to losing weight, a fast metabolism does not mean you will have a slim body and having ideal weight as compared to your height.

Do we know what factors affect metabolism or metabolic rate?

Many factors can affect how your metabolism functions.

People tend to focus on burning calorie, as the more calories they burn, the better it will be.

Therefore for some the factors which affect metabolism functions are such as:

Age: As we get older, our metabolism tends to slow down because we are losing muscle.

Genes: The genes you inherit from your parents play a role in your muscle size and ability to build muscle mass.

Muscle mass: People who have more muscle mass have faster metabolism as they need to burn more calories. It takes more energy (calories) to build and maintain muscle than fat.

Physical activity: We all know more exercise we do, we burn more calories, thus, even Walking, running and chasing after your kids, playing tennis and other forms of exercise cause your body to burn more calories.

Sex: Males tend to have faster metabolisms than females. They have more muscle mass, larger bones and less body fat.

Smoking: Nicotine speeds up your metabolism, so you burn more calories. This is one reason people who quit smoking may put on weight.

So smokers will tell you they rather continue their smoking habits than gaining weight after quitting smoking.

But they seem to have forgotten that the health consequences of smoking.

What are the health consequences of smoking?

 — cancer, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease —

All the above seem to far outweigh any benefit you might get from burning a few extra calories.

The next question is how to boost metabolism?

Coffee Ignite seem to be the answer if one is willing to have a go at this, especially in the morning.

As stated in their website, this is The world’s first and only 100% safe and natural proprietary, patent-pending formula, that when combined with coffee, can increase both the speed and efficiency of metabolism...

This product seems to be working very well and have the following “

Electrifying metabolism...

Releasing and burning fat...

Enjoying incredible all-day-energy...

Reducing hunger...

And improving our health...

And to clear people doubt about this Coffee Ignite, I will reproduce the FAQs in the website below:

Coffee Ignite FAQs

How many Coffee Ignite should I order?

Research shows it’s best to take Coffee Ignite consistently for at least 90 - 180 days to experience optimal results. The longer and more consistently you take Coffee Ignite the more you will benefit. Therefore, we strongly recommend you take advantage of our best deal 180 day supply package, or our almost just-as-popular 90 day deep-discount package. We’re only able to guarantee this special pricing for today or until our limited inventory runs out, and we’re selling out of our current stock fast. This is another important reason why picking up at least 90 -180 days worth is definitely a smart option.

Is Coffee Ignite safe?

Coffee Ignite is absolutely 100% natural, safe and effective. Many thousands of women enjoy taking Coffee Ignite every day and there have been absolutely zero side effects reported. Every packet of Coffee Ignite is manufactured here in the USA in our state of the art FDA approved and GMP (good manufacturing practices) certified facility under the most sterile, strict and precise standards. Coffee Ignite is 100% all natural, vegetarian, gluten-free and non-GMO. As always, if you have a medical condition it's recommended to consult with your doctor.

What is the best way to take Coffee Ignite?

For best results, simply mix a single packet of Coffee Ignite into your coffee each morning. Then enjoy your coffee as normal with or without food. Coffee Ignite is tasteless and dissolves instantly into your coffee. Coffee Ignite will not affect the taste or consistency of your coffee, no matter what kind of coffee you drink or what else you put into it.

Do I have to take Coffee Ignite in the morning?

No you do not. You can enjoy and benefit from Coffee Ignite at any time of the day. However, for best results, it is recommended to take 1 packet of Coffee Ignite with your morning coffee to maximize its effectiveness throughout the day.

Does Coffee Ignite work with other beverages?

The individual nutrients in Coffee Ignite may offer health benefits when taken with other beverages. However, Coffee Ignite contains a proprietary formula of 100% natural ingredients that are designed to work synergistically with coffee to ignite metabolism and to create the most ideal environment for fat-burning.

What are the ingredients in Coffee Ignite?

Click here to see the full list of the ingredients in Coffee Ignite.

How will Coffee Ignite be shipped to me and how quickly?

We will ship your order directly to your home or office using a premium carrier such as FedEx or UPS, and if you’re in the US you can expect your order within 5 to 7 business days. International orders typically take 8 – 15 business days (plus customs clearance time).

Will I be billed anything else after I order?

Absolutely not! Rest assured this is a one-time payment only. This is not an auto-ship program of any kind. There are no hidden charges or subscription fees whatsoever. I’ve always hated that stuff as much as you do!

Is Coffee Ignite guaranteed?

Coffee Ignite is backed by a 60 day, no questions asked, 100% money back guarantee to make getting started an absolute no-brainer for you. If Coffee Ignite doesn’t turn out to be the best decision you’ve ever made, or if you change your mind for any reason whatsoever, just email us at support@yoga-burn.net anytime in the next 60 days and we’ll refund you the purchase price right away. My team and I are extremely easy to get a hold of. There’s simply no risk to you. It’s time to get started!

I drink coffee and I can't think of any reason not to use Coffee Ignite. Am I missing something!?

Nope, absolutely not. Allowing Coffee Ignite to enhance your health, energy and metabolism can be a total no-brainer 🙂

So if you want to improve your health and reduce weight, have a try of Coffee Ignite.

 

Nowadays people like to use platform to do their trading or investment.

do we do investment or trading?

for some, there are not able to differentiate the different between the two.

What is investment?

What is trading?

For those who like to be involved and watch the market such as NYSE, SI, Hang Seng, and so on, some will like to their hand in it, be it investment or trading.

normally people tend to use the two terms interchangeably , however there is a distinct different between the two terms

When one is in stock market and do Day Trading, as it is the easiest and fastest way to make money, this is TRADING.

if playing stock market with a long term view, then it is knowns as investment.

Normally investment is to take a position in a certain stock with the view of holding that stock for long term, and most of the time is for the high dividend yield of the stock which attract investors to hold long term for the stock.

There is a software which can assist investor in determine which counter to enter for - be it for day trading or long term investment, the software is known as Homily Chart.

This software or app is very useful and informative and can assist investors in making a calculated decision on which counter to buy and when to exit .

What are the main salient points of this app.

As stated in their own website, and I quote”

“Homily software has the function of stock selection, buying point analysis decision, stock holding analysis decision, and currency holding analysis decision.”

To find out more about this software, you can go to their website at

http://www.homilychart.org/

What I like most about this is their online Homily Chart Class which they organize almost every day, in English and Mandarin.

Some of the sample charts are as follows:

(as extracted from their website)

They have the software which you can either use it on your laptop or using your mobile.

Homily encouraged people to use their mobile app version as you can use it on the go and check your portfolio as you go.

I will not go in details on the software, you can do so by going to their website to learn about it.

Conclusion

However, if you really feel a need to get in contact and find out more, you can contact me , I can help you to link up with one of their staffs who are more than willing to help.

6


You only live once but if you do it right once enough

This is the quote we always hear now and then, especially when we were young and the elders lectured us.

Life is very challenging at times, and we can not expect to have an easy life.

It sometimes throws some curve balls and hit us without us knowing it.

The only definite thing is we only live this life once, and we have to make full of it.

In order not to regret later, we need to live our life the way we want to, and accept whatever challenges life throw at us.

The most important thing is to enjoy our life while we can, after all we only live once.

 

What are the challenges in life?

1. With all this uncertainty going on in life, we have to be sure of one thing, that is to enjoy life.

2. to avoid being disappointed in life.

3. Do not fall into scam in our life if we can.

1. To enjoy life

A lot of people have miserable life, they think too much and fall into the myth of over analysis become paralysis.

If we worry too much about our life, it will manifest into the negative things we are most worried about.

People always come across the warning - be careful of what you wish for, it may just become reality.

So we need to go out and enjoy our life, not to partying away but to do something valuable and useful, so that at the later years, we can tell ourselves, we have a very successful life.

2. To avoid being disappointed in life.

When we reach the silver lining age, we may reflect on our life, and what could have we done better and so on.

Well, there is no point in doing so if we have enjoyed our life to the maximum.

The what Ifs are not just the cup of tea we are having.

However, if we are to avoid being disappointed in life, we need to set out and do ourselves a big favor, plan our life and live the life the way we want to live,

After all, You Know You Only Live Once.

3. Do not fall into scams in our life

Scams are very rampant nowadays.

There are so many types of scams going on in this high technology era.

Some scams are:

  1. Job scams
  2. crypto scams
  3. email scams
  4. love scams
  5. short messaging scams

So since we only live once, we have to make sure we do not fall into the scams, and ruin our life, worse, lost all our savings to all these scams.

It already happened quite often since towards the end of 2021 and things do not seem to improve at all. Even in this 2022, almost one third of the year has passed, however every now and then, we still read some people have fallen victims to scams and lost their life savings.

 

ScamAlert - Bringing you the latest scam info

to learn more about the scam going on instead of going to watch some videos which do not seem to add any value.

With the pandemic since two years ago, a lot of people have been affected one way or the other, some having their savings draining, some lost their job and created some financial problem.

Definitely people will be desperate, this is the time the scammers will take advantage and strike, so do be careful and be more alert.

Crypto Scams – How to Avoid and Detect The Scam

Cryptocurrency is very common nowadays and everyone especially the young one is very keen to invest this instrument.

What Is Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency is a virtual digital currency, no physical mean is transacted, it only works in virtual world.

If you send cryptocurrency to someone else, it is done through online transactions and it is not reversible.

Why do people nowadays like to use cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency transaction is online and fast. It does not work like banking transaction whereby the bank charge a transaction fee and need to verify your authenticity of the fund and purpose of the transactions.

Crypto transaction offers anonymity and the value of cryptocurrency varies and moves very fast, hence it is a very attractive item for investment.

A lot of people like to enter cryptocurrency as investment as they think it is another get rich fast investment with lucrative return within a short time.

As more and more people are jumping into the bandwagon of cryptocurrency, without really understand how it works, they are only after the high return cryptocurrency can give to them, and thinking this is the investment to go to.

What does this tell us with this hot potato?

Every time when there is some lucrative instrument which can help people to make money fast, the vulture will sure lurk around to prey on its victim.

The vulture is the scammers here, they will find ways and means to lure unsuspecting victims to invest in the scheme they design.

waiting for its prey
photo from 4vultures.org

Then the main question is – how do you know it is a cryptocurrency scam?

Scammers always look for new ways go for investors’ money, they can come up with so many methods and tricks to draw the investors to give up their money.

What are the signals you can detect in spotting the scams?

  1. If someone offer you some good investment opportunities and business deals.
  2. They even offer you to double your investment return and
  3. Achieving financial freedom you are looking for.
  4. That you can get you investment in double quick time.
  5. Telling you that you can pay in cryptocurrency if you can recruit others into their scheme.
  6. Offering you help that they can help you to grow your money.
  7. Asking you to login into certain trading platform.
  8. Once you have done that, you realize you are not able to withdraw your money without paying a fee.
  9. There are scammers who will post some scam jobs on job websites and they promise you a job if you pay a fee.
  10. Some scammers even have videos made saying how lucrative is the scheme they have.
  11. They even have celebrity to endorse their success and testimonials to show the track records.
  12. A lot of people do not realize all the videos and testimonials are fake.

What are the common scams in cryptocurrency?

  1. Phishing scams.
  2. ICO scams
  3. Malware scams
  4. Crypto mining scams
  5. Fake crypto exchanges scams

If you want to learn more about the common scams in cryptocurrency, you may want to read up this in https://mainstreetcrypto.com/articles/common-crypto-scams/. In here, it is more in-depth and informative.

What can you do if you think you have been scammed?

If you think you have been scammed, try to do the following as soon as possible.

  1. Make a police report
  2. Gather all the evidences.
  3. Document all the evidence in chronological orders.

You can also report to the following organizations:

for those who want to know which organizations are on the blacklists, you may want to check out the following:

https://authentic-review.com/2022/01/29/crypto-scam-list-2022-update/

https://tradersofcrypto.com/guides/crypto-scams/

Stay vigilant whenever you want to deal with cryptocurrency.

Some pointers for you to avoid falling into the scams

  1. Always check the addresses and domains of the site you are surfing.
  2. Never share your private information with any one else.
  3. Be wary of easy money and fast returns on investment.
  4. High risk high return, so do you believe it is good?
  5. If you are in cryptocurrency, use a cold wallet.
  6. Always use a new account to test out something new.
  7. Leave as little in the wallets.
  8. Use a 2FA verification method to login to your account.
  9. Always check the rating of a platform.
  10. Carry out due diligence before you embark on your cryptocurrency trading.

Conclusion

Do you still want to invest in cryptocurrency?

Despite all these reports about scams involving cryptocurrency, still we have a lot of people diving into this, this is typical human greed.

A greed to have more money in the shortest time possible and at all cost.

Some people have the mindset that this will not happen to them, and maybe they need to pay some school fees to learn a hard lesson.

At the end of the day, unless and until the government start regulating the cryptocurrency transactions, and unless you have done enough researches and learn more about the mechanism of cryptocurrency transaction.

Final Advice

The simple advice is to stay out of it.

4


With the recent rampant scam in the banking industries, especially towards the end of last year 2021, more people are alert to the scamming going on.

However, despite all this news about the scams in the banking industries, there are still a lot of bank customers fell into the trap of the scammers.

News report stated among those who fell victims to the scammers are professional and females.

One would have thought only elderly who are less savvy with information technology will fall prey to the scams.

the number showed otherwise, even as reported, IT engineer also one of the many victims.

The other group is the females, be it the professional, housewife or some who are emotionally disturbed. Scammers will look for those vulnerable.

What can we do to safeguard ourselves ?

to safeguard ourselves from falling victims to the scammers, and lose our lifelong savings, it is about time more people are to aware of this and take necessary steps to keep ourselves happy.

the age-old saying - do not talk to strangers, still hold true in this virtual world of advance technology.

most people seem to have forgotten this adage when come to online world, especially the young ones who like to communicate through virtual world.

We can at least do the following to safeguard ourselves.

1. Carry out due diligence on the other parties.

how many people online check on the background of the other parties they are dealing with?

when a person comes across some offers online, tendency is for the person to click on it and see the offer and like it, will purchase, without checking whether it is real or not.

Before you come to conclusion whether to deal with the person, do the following:

a. we should at least check the legitimacy of the website.

b. Read comments and review about the company,

c. Search online to see whether there is any about the person or company.

d. check whether the person whom you are supposed to deal with have any other social media accounts.

e. If the does, what did the posts and share in his account,

f. Carry out a check on anti scam website and see whether the name is listed in it or not.

2. Insist on a physical meeting.

One of the best way is to have a physical meeting, if the person on the other side refused to do so, then we can more or less about dealing with him.

well, the may say under the current circumstance, it is quite difficult to travel and meet up, then we can suggest a video call since the technology enable this virtual meeting a possibility.

3. Do not commit any decision instantly.

people tend to make instant decision nowadays, and scammers are taking full advantage of this.

nowadays people are impatient, especially when dealing with transactions online, they want it fast, so fast that until they do not bother to check clearly and carefully what they are clicking on.

4. Check for telltale sign that it is a fake website.

a lot of people when they receive a message, email or notices, they do not bother to check carefully to look for telltale sign of fake messages.

most people will just look at the headline and the sender name, and believe it is from the legitimate sender.

In Singapore, there are a lot of senders who like to use the following corporation or website names to send malware and phishing link.

1. DBS.

2. DHL.

3. LinkedIn.

5. Microsoft.com

6. MOH

7. POSB

these are just some example, if you check the domain names of the websites, it is not the original organization domain name, the email domain also look very different.

Are the measures announced by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) effective?

MAS has since the phishing SMSes scam in December 2021, announced a few measures to further improve and strengthen the internet banking industry security.

1. Removing of clickable links in SMSes sent to customers.

last time banks used to send SMSes to customers with clickable links, this as explained by banks, it is to enable the customers to click on the link and get access to the website faster.

Scammers took advantage of this, especially when the banks used the shorten form of domain link, so it is quite difficult to check on the real domain name of the banks.

2. Delay the changes and updating of information of customers.

to make life easy for customers, banks used to say customers could now update their information online without making a trip to the branch.

with this scammer, after phishing the login particulars of the customers, happily do the changes and take control of the operation of the accounts of the customers.


now MAS want any changes and updating of personal particular such as phone number, login password and so on, be processed and be effective only after 12 hours.

you can read more about that in the following two links:

a. Singapore Government Media Statement.

b. Monetary Authority of Singapore announcement

4


Banks are pushing their customers to use online banking.

They claimed to encourage the customers to use online banking as much as possible.

Why do banks insist on customers using online internet banking?

Banks claimed with the advancement of technology, and more and more people are internet savvy, it is about time online internet banking be the focus and future of banking.

Even government is encouraging all business entities to go online and do things online, so the banks are taking the cue to do so.

The banks claim by doing business online, they can reap the following benefits:

1. Cost savings.

The banks claim it is the most cost savings invention for the banking industry.

With online banking, the banks require less physical branches, which mean hiring less bank staffs to man the branches.

So there will be huge saving on staffs cost, rental of branches, utility, and other cost incidental to operating a branch

2. More efficient

With internet banking, the operation of the bank is more efficient, as more transactions can be done at anyone time, no like physical banking, a teller can only serve a customer at one time and it may take longer to complete the transactions,

3. Saving the hazard of long queue in the branches of the banks.

With physical branches, sometimes there are long queue as people wait to be served by the counters, especially when one customer has a lot of transactions, or need to seek more clarification, it will take up longer time.

Also, queue theory applies and management has to decide whether single line or lining up at each counter.

With the pandemic ravaging, physical present may not be a good idea.

4. Paperless, save the environment.

Online banking tend to use fewer papers, as customers do their banking requirement online and documents are saved in soft copy file and file away in their respective devices.

Less paper work supposedly will use fewer papers and to certain extent, less cutting of trees. And no need to send out monthly paper statements.

5. Easier for the customers to check their bank balances and banking need.

Customers can check their bank status any time with internet online banking, they are not able to do so if it is a physical banks, as there will be subject to banking hours.

If the customers want to do any banking transactions, they can do so even at mid night if the needs arise.

However, this is something which he can not do with physical banking system, and he has to wait for the next day.

6. no need for the customer to make a trip to the bank as it can be done online.

Making a trip to the bank is a headache, when you consider the traffic and the need to look for parking space.

Somehow, where there is a bank branch, the parking slots are not readily available.

Making trip to bank is always a hazard, and inconvenient for some people, especially when you think of the need to queue up for your turn to see the teller.

7. More convenient for the customers!!

Frankly speaking, online banking is quite convenient if you are tech savvy and can not live without accessing to internet.

You can do it at home in your cosy home environment, it looks very good and efficient.

8. Banking transactions can be done anytime, even at night, no need to rush to bank in day time.

With internet banking, if you need to do an urgent banking transaction at night, you can do so easily, no need to wait until the next day for the bank to open.

Likewise, you can do it globally wherever you are, even you are not in the home country, you can still carry out the necessary transactions.

Despite all these so called benefits and advantages of having online internet banking, what are the cons of it?

1. Lack of human approach.

This is the main complaint about online banking, no more human touch.

Lacking of human interaction, mean you do not have a banking relationship manager to deal with, and you can not build up a good rapport with the bank officers at all.

2. Can not do cash deposit of money.

If you have hard cash to be deposited, you can not do so with internet banking, still you need to go to the nearest ATM or the bank branch to do so.

3. Safety of the internet.

Is it safe to use online banking? safety and security of it is questionable, as it involved two parts.

One is whether your device, be it your mobile phone, is safe, the other issue is whether the bank online system is safe and secure.

Nowadays no one dares to say their computer systems are safe and 100% secured.

The moment one company claims its computer system and network is safe, the hackers will treat it as a challenge to hack the system.

Some hackers like to do it just to satisfy their urge to hack and prove how good they are in breaking into a system.

Of course there are some who hack in order to scam other people's money.

4. Not every one is tech savvy especially the elderly.

Older generations are having problem to understand how to use the mobile phone for its simple function like sending messages and making phone calls.

with the smart phones nowadays, majority of the phone are touch screen based, not like last time button, more difficult for senior citizens to use.

And you expect the older generations to know how to do banking transaction online?

They do not even know how to surf the net for information.

Some may be able to learn, but do they know what they can click and what they can not click?

Do they know whether the site they enter is genuine or fictitious site?

After listing the pros and cons of internet banking above

Let's discuss the topic - Are the banks doing the right things to push for digital banking?

With the recent cases of scams involving one of the banks in Singapore.

In which about 470 customers lost more than SGD $ 9 million in the month of December alone.

Now people have second thought whether the banks are doing the right things to push for digital banking,  and totally discard physical banking transactions.

It was reported that the scams happened when the customers of the bank received SMSes.

Purportedly from the bank informing customers of illegal transactions, customers need to verify by clicking the links provided in the same SMSes.

Once the customer clicked on the link, that is the end of their money in the bank.

Without knowing the links which are fraudulent and linked to a fake banking website, the unsuspecting customers click on the link.

The scammers easily secure the requirement login particulars of the customers, and they will then go to the real bank website to carry out the necessary transactions such as:

  • changing the login password.
  • amend the withdrawing limit per transaction.
  • change the requirement of one time password via SMS,
  • direct the notification to their own phones or devices.

So is it the right move?

What have the banks done in order to make internet banking a smooth and trouble free procedure and system?

1. Hot line number

Has anyone tried to call the bank on its hot line and get to speak with a human straight away?

One bank in Singapore use some so called latest technology, the same as the one used in APPLE phone on the siri robots.

And it was so frustrating especially when you can not even get pass this stage,  as the machine does not seem to understand what you said.

I encountered another occasion when you call the bank, it starts with - for English, please press 1, so you do.

Then it starts giving you all the options but not in numerical orders.

So after you press the number, before it gives you more option, it starts selling you and encouraging you to use their app and telling you how efficient is their app.

After listening to the advantages of using the app, then it tells you the option.

You then press the option, once again, you have to listen to how great is their app and so on.

After that it says all our operators are engaged at the moment, you can call back some other time or go to our website and perform the transaction you want to do!!!!.

So when you feel that you have been scammed and you want to contact the bank immediately, facing with the machine talking all the times and not able to speak with a human, how to contact the bank?

as reported in the news, in the recent cases, the bank advised its customers to contact the bank immediately.

I wonder they know how hard it is to talk to the human in the bank by calling the hot line they have.

2. Token

At one time, Banks wanted to do away with the physical tokens and pushing customers to use the app.

With the recent cases in December 2021, banks have decided to allow the customers to continue using the token.

3. OTP or One Time Password.

The bank at one time wanted to do away with this One Time Password, and pushing bank customers to use the app for the access to the banking requirement. However, with the recent frequent cases of scams, they have decided to stick to this OTP for the time being.

However, does this solve the scam problem?

Customers now are not that confident to receive any SMSes from the banks, as they are not sure the messages they received are genuine or not.

What have the banks advised the customers?

1. Do not click on any links in the short messages .

Banks claimed the short messages they sent do not have any links attached at all.

So in other words, if you receive any short messages from the banks with link attached, it is a fake message, though it may look like the messages are from the banks.

2. Do not give any information about your details on banking to anyone.

This instruction is rather difficult to comprehend, when you login to the bank website, do you provide the information? as you are being prompted to do so.

Are you sure the website you access is the real website of the bank?

how do you differentiate the real and the fake website?

Perhaps you may want to use the tools available to check on any fake website or do some checks in the internet.

The best way to do so is to key in the URL of the bank directly, instead of just click on the link provided.

3. Call the bank hot lines to verify.

As I mentioned earlier, some hot lines provided by the banks are not that easily accessible.

Unless you have the patient and in good mood to listen to all the sales pitches or talking to robot, it is better you just make a trip to the bank and talk to the human directly.

Even that again may not be possible as the staff may direct you to go online, it seems that is about the job function of the staffs of the banks nowadays, to tell customers to go online to do banking transactions.

Now what can the banks and authority do? or should do?

1. Bank domain.

It is about time all the governments in the world work together to regulate the registration of domain names in world of internet.

Currently, you can register a domain quite similar to the one you want to scam.

For example, ABC Bank.com once you register as the bank domain, another person can register one almost similar to it such as ABC. Bank.com

for those who are not cautious and alert, they will think it is the same.

The relevant parties may have to agree in order to stop this type of scam.

Those people who are trying to do some fraudulent thing with ill intention, will definitely make use of this.

Therefore, it is important that certain domain can not have similar name at all, regardless of you put in a coma, a hyphen, or whatever.

2. Tracing of the transactions.

There should be electronic trails of the transactions, the money trails from the bank where the victim's money was transferred from, to the bank where the money was transferred.

If the money was then further moved to another bank account, and so on, sometimes, it could be moving to multiples destinations so as to avoid detection.

Or making it difficult for authorities to trace the eventual destination of the fund, especially when the scammers move the funds all over the world.

And unless the investigators are very patient to follow the money trails, the recovery of the fund is almost equal to zero.

The recovery of the fund is more difficult when it is going through some offshore heaven, or countries which have very lax monitoring and anti money laundering enforcement.

3. Real Hotline

it is about time the government through its central bank ensure all the banks really have some human manning the hot line instead of trying to automate the phone answering system and saving cost.

The response time of answering the phone and the frustration of the customers calling the banks at time of emergency, will determine whether the scammed money can be recovered or not.

4. Timing of transfer

Anyone noticed whenever your transfer money to your account, the bank will tell you it will take a day or two to clear?

Meaning, you can not use the money immediately.

However, when you transfer the money out of your account, it seems to deduct from your account immediately!!.

Therefore, actually the recent cases of the phishing scams can be easily thwarted if the bank has the system in place.

Such as when money is transferred out of the bank, it will take one day or two or wait for the account owner to confirm whether he did the transfer.

The bank can ask the customer to go down to the bank to verify since nowadays, we can not trust the phone on the other end of the line is really from the bank or not.

In Summary

In the meantime, those who want to learn more how to know more about phishing SMS, you may want to go HERE to learn more about it.

You may also want to do more research on this.

Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Association of Banks have just announced some measures to curb the SMS phishing scams.

You can read more about that HERE

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