Scam Alert: International Who's Who Historical Society

I was so excited after getting a phone call from the US. It is about an inclusion into a Society called below.  Before this, I never knew the society or what they did?  But after performing an interview than a google search I came across the website with the thesis below. 

I didn't like it when at first they said we do not have to pay anything and after that they insist on us calling our friends with international cards to make payment for our membership fee which is like USD$800 (Regular) and USD$900 (Premium).  Duuh!!!

 

INTERNATIONAL WHO'S WHO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

 

From: Name hidden

Subject: Appointment Reminder

 

This is a reminder of your appointment with the director, Interviewer who will be contacting you (your local time) for your 20 to 25 minute teleconference.

This appointment is the final step in our membership selection process and will determine your eligibility for inclusion into this year's edition of the International Who's Who of Professionals.

If for any reason you will not be available at your scheduled appointment time, please contact me as soon as possible at phone number or via email

For more information regarding the Society, you can visit our website at www.internationalwhoswho.com. We look forward to speaking with you.

Executive Assistant

International Who's Who Headquarters

Phone Number

Friday, 16 May 2008

Scam Warning - Whos Who of Professionals

I've had quite a few responses recently to this post on the WHO'S WHO of Professionals recently, so obviously our friends are at it again...just wanted to to draw your attention to some of the comments I've received - tells it all really:

Comment 1

Good work, Nicole (ok, so they got my name wrong, hey ho). I wish I could say that I hadn't fallen for it in 2004, but I did. At that time they claimed more than fifty thousand members world-wide, but the invitation letter was about the same. I joined and became active. IN FACT I ended up running a club free of charge and of benefit to these people while paying a huge sum of money to them for the honours.Of course, at the time, the supposed book in which entries would appear was constantly "fastly approaching the editorial deadline",... year after year. I never received it and after showing patience began to speak legalese, after which part of my money was promptly refunded. The book still had not come out when I checked in 2006.After visiting the website:http://www.internationalwhoswho.de/and getting a strong "deja vu" feeling, I looked these people up in the Better Business Bureau databases and lo and behold I found a wealth of info on Gibralter Publishing (at the time, the core persona) and the about fifteen other names these people use.Not long after quiting IWWHS, I was approached by a new "networking" society (apparently they had shared my details) and when I asked who their executives in charge were I found several of the same North Carolina-based names from IWWHS!Unfortunately, those vane enough to list this "merit" not only advertise a questionable enterprise, but many times will have their OWN integrity questioned by those in the know! Beware!

Comment 2

Hi all,I (in France) received this e-mail a couple of weeks. And last tuesday, a woman who claimed to be in Washington proposed to me an interview with her "director" for "the final step of selection".The day after, "the director" called me and our "interview" was interesting ... he sounds actualy like a professional interviewer, but he ended the call when I choose a $800 registration option but never give him may credit card details.I hope it's for free!!!Thank you all for your information.

Comment 3



WARNING: “WHO IS WHO”/ internationalwhoswho IS quite probably SCAM !!!I have exactly the same experience: "deadline was "fastly approaching" - this time in March 2008, and one day, when I was busy ,I gave them my information and my credit card number (we ARE busy, and this is what they take advantage of). They immediately withdrew $800 for a book and some pins & stuff I had orally been coaxed into saying "yes" to. I understood the same afternoon that this might be scam and cancelled the 'order'. Got a letter back from them, which said "We will be more than happy to assist you with your membership cancellation as soon as the proper information is pulled. An Account Manager will get back to you as soon as possible and thank you in advance for your patience." Signed Sabrina Fuentes. Many days later the letter from the "account manager", Sandy Garcia, came. According to Sandy Garcia, who would from now on be my contact, the "cancellation policy" of "whoswho" was to retain 358$. I protested immediately in an e-mail to Sandy Garcia, only to receive a bounce-back e-mail that I was "not authorized to contact" Ms (Mr?) Garcia. This is no doubt SCAM, and probably
plain fraud. The method is: 1. Appeal to /boost people's vanity, or other things which may make them feel good (for some time). Promise people something good and cheap (here: for free).2. Give the poor fool an opportunity to buy something expensive, but valuable, in addition to the free stuff.3. Be sure you have a huge "cancellation fee" - more or less hidden underneath the offer.4. Ask for the credit card numberof the stupid fool you are fooling5. Withdraw the money immediately6. When the stupid/ victim realizes that he is about to be fooled, promise your "account manager" will contact you "soon": However, that will take so many days, that the fool/ victim will give up, or the deadline of complaint is running out.

We must warn the world against these crooks ... I was one of the fools. I have learnt, and will do what I can to warn others. I will also try to sue them (very unpleasant, but - if necessary -I will grin and bear it).ViVaComment 4

hello, just had an interesting interview with these people too - you can learn a lot from their interviewing style and the gaps in their so called research - the fact that my business is not yet registered or trading, and that the relevant website is not yet active, did not seem to deter them. They also suggested that I would be able to make use of the informal social networking down the road at a local pub (450 miles away in London) and never once gave any indication of understanding what sector I might actually be in. VERY smooth interview style, very much about stroking the old ego. I swear I heard the file being deleted when I said I'd be in touch as soon as I thought such a membership
would be appropriate (ie, no thanks) - in fact I thought I was very pleasant given that someone had just asked me for $950 for what we all do through Facebook anyway.cheers (see you down the pub!), Sarah, Edinburgh

So, learning from these experience, don't even bother to speak to these people (unless you want your ego massaged for free, then tell them you're not interested :-)

Posted by Helen Nicol at 16:05



4 comments:

Subhankar said...

I too received the same kind of "deadline is quickly approaching" message from the organization. Thanks for posting the above comments because they helped me not to give away my personal details.
Best regards,
Subhankar Tue Aug 11, 11:59:00 AM GMT
Gautam said...

Few months back I got the same posting about membership and deadline closing on.. I somehow posted my credentials.. Few days back I got a call from USA[probably.. since my caller identification can't be detected on my phone due to some reason]. So the lady briefed me about an interview with director which she scheduled for next day.. I was somehow excited thinking the name will be selected for free and than membership if I wish.. I couldn't find any details about the membership from site..

Very next day at exact time I got a call from a guy and he asked me about my profession and company..After which he asked a final question how I think I justify my talent in this industry..

So after this suddenly he started to describe about WHO'S WHO and such a honor being part of such an organization..Than membership fees 600$ and 800$ and there on every year 220$..

I am not sure how I was pretty convinced by his professional approach and he suddenly started asking all my credit card credential along with CVV no. in back side..

To my astonishment I gave all this information with a little hesitation thinking I am going to be part of a really big thing..

Than he transferred the call to quality department where a lady started verifying credit card information ..

Than all of a sudden it seems the transaction didn't occur successfully for some reason and she was asking for other card.. At that time I somehow said I don't have other card and next day I will approach the bank to credit it..

I also asked why there is no online payment from site to which she said this is the only mode of payment..

After this I found this blog and came to know truth.. But they never called me back surprisingly..

Later on I found that due to insufficient fund in my credit card the transaction became unsuccessful.. Also these days there is a master card secure code which needs to be provided before transaction..

There are the two reasons why I turned out to be a lucky guy.. I immediately called my bank and blocked my card...

I am not sure what kind of organization is this and they are running a proper website..

How to take action against this organization.. Mon Oct 12, 08:24:00 AM GMT
Anonymous said...

Wow ! I am really thankful to this Blog..I would have been one of the vicims if i wouldn't have been a recruiter ( Headhunter ) myself..I am thankful to one of my friend who sent me this link. Wed Oct 21, 02:31:00 PM GMT
Anonymous said...

Thanks for the blog. While I trying to fill the registration form for 'International Who's who', I have noticed your blog by browsing. The information in your blog really helped me to open my eyes and not being a victim of this scam. Wed Jul 28, 04:57:00 AM GMT

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Whistleblowing Wikileaks

What is Wikileaks?

In July 2010 Wikileaks released confidential documents that shed light on the war in Afghanistan. Now Wikileaks has posted online almost 400,000 similar documents detailing events in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. How has Wikileaks become one of the most important whistle-blowing sites on the web?

By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor
Published: 10:33AM BST 23 Oct 2010

Julian Assange is the founder of Wikileaks, one of the biggest whistle-blowing sites on the web

The news that the largest leak in American military history came via the website Wikileaks will not surprise long-term watchers of the controversial, multi-award-winning site. Despite a recent period of near-bankruptcy, it has consistently released information that major corporations and governments wanted to conceal – the Abu Ghraib “torture manual”, footage from American jets allegedly committing war crimes, the secrets of Scientology and even Sarah Palin’s private emails have all been published by the site.

Founded by secretive Australian Julian Assange, Wikileaks was originally based in Sweden and garnered 1.2 million leaked documents in time for its launch in January 2007. It taps in to the world’s web users’ desire either for justice or revenge on former employers or acquaintances, but its most significant stories have been held up as largely in the public interest. The Abu Ghraib revelations resulted in international condemnation of American methods and arguably contributed to political commitments from Barack Obama to close down the detention centre. Assange claims that by using the global community of internet users, his site is able to promote accuracy, scrutiny and discussion of sensitive information.

Anybody with web access can submit a story to Wikileaks. The site, however, states that its "primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, sub-saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behaviour in their governments and corporations." Wikileaks has now evolved an editorial policy by which only documents "of political, diplomatic, historical or ethical interest" are in fact published, and it has recently ceased to permit users to comment directly on stories. Earlier this year, Assange said that submissions are vetted by five reviewers, and that the background of the “leaker” is also checked.

A number of countries and companies, notably Australia, China and Bank Julius Baer have tried to censor the site or have it taken offline, but its complex method of web-hosting has ensured that it is very difficult for its servers to be identified. Wikileaks has also used a Swedish company called PRQ, which specialises in “bulletproof hosting”, asking no questions and maintaining few records of its clients so that it cannot be accused of promoting material that could be illegal.

The site has been heavily criticised in the past for endangering the lives of individuals, just as American and Pakistani representatives have said this latest leak of American military logs will too. But only last weak Assange told America’s Wired magazine that Wikileaks was "getting an enormous quantity of whistle-blower disclosures of high calibre". The only reason more has not been released was a lack of volunteer journalists to verify the submissions, he said, adding that BP was set to be one of his site’s future subjects.

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Wastewater Treatment Plant for Sarawak River

‘Wastewater management system ready in 2012’

Borneo Post

by Peter Sibon. Posted on October 24, 2010, Sunday


KUCHING: The RM530 million Phase I of the Kuching City Wastewater Management System is expected to be completed by end of 2012, disclosed its project director Tai Lee Yoon.

ARTIST’S IMPRESSION: The proposed wastewater treatment plant located near Zecon Toll Plaza, Kuching.


He said once completed, the wastewater treatment plant near Zecon Toll Plaza would be able to process both the black and grey water from the city’s main centre.


(Black water refers to waste water from septic tanks while grey water refers to water discharge from kitchens, bathrooms and wash areas).


“It is hoped that after the phase I project is completed, many ‘environmentally dead’ rivers like Sg Padungan, Sg Bintangor and Sg Maong would be rehabilitated and would be able to support marine life,” Tai said at a briefing on Kuching Wastewater Management System at the project site near Zeacon Toll Plaza here yesterday. He said currently the project is “half way completed”.


Tai said once completed, the massive underground tunnel would have a total length of 64.4 km with a depth of between 6 and 27 metres (at the intake point where the waste treatment will be treated at the wastewater treatment plant).


“The whole project will be able to cater for 100, 000 population equivalent (PE) and is designed to last until 2030,” he said, adding that the project needs to be expanded once the population increases in future.


Under Phase I, only the densely populated areas of Kuching city are covered, from Satok, Wisma Saberkas right up to Padungan area. It will include housing areas, commercial centres and hotels.


“While our black water is partially treated in our septic tanks, our grey water is discharged directly to our drains without any treatment. In fact our grey water is more harmful to the rivers than the black water,” stressed Tai.


Tai explained that the conventional septic tank only partially treats black water from the toilets as it primarily serves as a sedimentary tank.


The treatment removes only about 40 per cent of the pollutants.


“It does not remove any nutrient or bacteria which are commonly found in black water,” he said.


Tai said if the Kuching city wastewater treatment system is not undertaken now, Sarawak River would be environmentally dead by 2020.


He stressed that once Phase I is completed, the project would be continued to include other parts of the city.


“We must protect our water resources against pollution. Our rivers must not be polluted because they are the precious source of our drinking water. Rivers are also places for recreation,” added Tai.


The Centralised Sewerage System will collect and treat both black and grey water to standard A, which could be treated for drinking water.


However, the solidified wastes would be treated at the Mambong Waste Management Landfill.


The massive project is undertaken by Nishimatsu of Japan and a local diversified group Hock Seng Lee.


Tai disclosed that each Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) cost between RM5 million to RM10 million per unit. Some 100 Swinburne engineering students also attended the briefing.

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Cyber-Tyranny or Cyber Stupidity?

from themalaysianinsider.com

Anti-tower Facebook page block is own fault, not censorship

 
By Zurairi Abd Rahman
October 21, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — Facebook has been accused of censorship by the owners of a Facebook page dedicated against the proposed 100-storey skyscraper by Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNB).

“While new media offers room for social movements, the authoritarian governance by the Internet giants like Facebook has sunk to a new form of censorship,” bursts one of the creators in a report earlier by Malaysiakini, setting off incendiary reactions from the Malaysian Twitter community.

Despite allegations of “cyber-tyranny”, the block may have less to do with censorship but more to do with its meteoric rise.

Started the day after the Budget 2011 speech by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the fan page now sports 36,843 fans of likeminded Malaysians at the time of writing, and swelling still.

The page administrators have been barred from posting new content yesterday — a pop-up states “Your publishing rights have been blocked due to a violation of the Pages Terms of Use”.

Facebook users can still “like” the fan page, and access to it has not been obstructed in any way.

The owners claim to be victimised, but a quick look at the Terms & Conditions page for Facebook Fan Page reveals that “Pages are special profiles that may only be used to promote a business or other commercial, political, or charitable organisation or endeavour”.

Put simply, a fan page may only represent a specific brand or organisation, none of which is represented by the “1M Malaysians Reject 100-storey Mega Tower” page.

A look at the help page on “Warnings” also suggests that the owners might be blocked from posting any contents since they might have sent messages “at a rate that is likely to be abusive”, or spamming.

Lately, Facebook also has gone on an exercise to convert generic and unofficial fan pages that rakes up thousands of fans to community pages. Community pages concentrate on topics which are discussed by a lot of people, and won’t be maintained by a single author.

If this is why the fan page was blocked, the solution to the block would be as simple as verifying themselves as legitimate owner of the page to Facebook, thus making it “official”.

In any case, Facebook states that a block will be temporary, and lasts between a few hours to a few days. Any attempts to use the blocked feature will only result in a longer block.

The 100-storey tower protesters would do best to keep their calm, and be patient.

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Tasmanians Impressed with Sarawakians Logging Practice

The logjam incident caused a bad name to the Sarawak timber industry.  'They' claimed that we are not ethical in managing our resources especially the logging activity. 

 

Here we have the Tasmanian coming up to see for themselves if we managed our forest badly.  

To my surprise, they were impressed with our forest management and logging practice.  Below is the report published in the local newspapers.

 

Tasmanian govt on mission to Sarawak
Utusan Borneo
by Zoee Hillson. Posted on October 19, 2010, Tuesday

KUCHING: The Tasmanian government is on a fact-finding mission as part of an effort to refute allegations by environmentalist against Ta Ann Holdings Berhad’s operations in the Tasmania, Australia.

FACT FINDING: Harriss (right) in a discussion with Awang Tengah (centre) and Len Talif after the courtesy call at Wisma Sumber Alam.

Member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council Andrew Paul Harriss said yesterday that allegations by some environmental groups against Ta Ann were scathing and unreasonable.

He also said the allegations were damaging to Ta Ann and the state’s timber industry as a whole.

“It’s fair to say that some environmental groups in Tasmania have been unreasonable and too critical of Ta Ann and they have tried to bring that back to forest practices in Sarawak.

“We seek to rebut that allegation based on proper information gathering and proper technical assessment,” he said when met by reporters after paying a courtesy call on Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan at Wisma Sumber Alam here.

Harriss added that this was his third visit to the state to gain an insight intoTa Ann’s credibility and performance.

“So, we have a delegation here to understand exactly what Ta Ann logging practices are like in Sarawak and also the broader operation industry in Sarawak,” Harriss said.

“Ta Ann is a credible organisation and an organisation of integrity. I’m satisfied with that and this trip is just an upgrading of knowledge on the ongoing operations.

“We are satisfied with Ta Ann’s operations in the past and the information we gather this time confirms that satisfaction.”

He said they were very impressed with Ta Ann’s operations in Tasmania and added that the forest industry was the state’s fundamental economic driver.

“They’re employing many Tasmanians in the local community and 10 per cent of our total workforce in Tasmania is employed in the forest industry operations,” Harriss said.

He also said Tasmania was opening a wide opportunity for the forest industry operators from around the world, including from Sarawak.

VicForests director Robert Patrick Smith, Ta Ann Tasmania director David Riley and Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) chief executive officer Datu Len Talif Salleh were also present during the courtesy call.

 

 

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iPad Get Extra Solid Touch

SolidMicro’s New iPad Battery/Case

SolidMicro Co have announced a new large-capacity iPad case-cum-external battery to be available for preorder starting today. It’s a full cover that protects the iPad from scratches and some drops, has a 6000mAh battery (2.4 times the size of the one onboard the iPad!), and has as miniscule a profile as possible in order to preserve the sleek look of your Apple device.

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Hackers Threat Growing in Britain

Terrorism and cyber attacks are key threats to Britain, 
Britain faces an increased threat from terrorism, cyber attack and small-scale wars, a National Security Strategy will say.

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Published: 7:00AM BST 18 Oct 2010

The document will also highlight the threat from cyber attacks on government infrastructure Photo: CLARE KENDALL


The security and intelligence services and counter-terrorism police are to escape major cuts in this week’s public spending review due to the threats.


The strategy is a key precursor for the Strategic Defence and Security Review, to be published tomorrow, which will explain how Britain will defend itself against such attacks.

It will also form the basis for spending decisions to be announced this week, including a £500 million boost to cyber defence, sources told The Daily Telegraph.

“The security strategy will look at the issues we are going to face in coming years and the spending review will look at how to deliver that,” one source said. The security strategy is expected to outline four key threats to Britain.

The primary threat remains al-Qaeda in Pakistan and its associates in Somalia, Yemen and North Africa, who continue to plan attacks against targets in Britain, the security strategy will say.

That is likely to mean that MI5, MI6, GCHQ and the Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism command will escape the worst of the cuts. But the document will also highlight the threat from cyber attacks on government infrastructure.

While not naming individual states, GCHQ, which is responsible for cyber defence, has been concerned for some time that states such as China and Russia are unlikely to use conventional or nuclear weapons in an attack on Britain and are more likely to attempt to shut down essential systems used to run the country.

Similar attacks have been seen when Russia has been in disputes with Estonia and Georgia, leading to problems with their internet and even cash machines.

A third risk that will be highlighted is the threat of small-scale wars in foreign countries that may escalate out of control, drawing in neighbouring countries and creating havens for terrorists.

That threat is likely to have a major bearing on the defence review tomorrow, which is likely to emphasise the need for mobile forces involving a combination of aircraft carriers and special forces.

The fourth element will be the risk from natural disasters such as pandemic flu, where strategies have been developed over recent years.

Iain Lobban, the head of GCHQ, said in a speech last week that the Government was receiving 20,000 malicious emails a month, of which 1,000 were deliberate attacks.

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