Mayor4Unley

Each week I receive multiple phone calls from scammers. And they get an earful of abuse before I hang up. They are absolute scum; modern day thieves. The banks are concerned and regularly send out warnings. Here's an extract of a recent communication from a bank ... ... The scam involves a caller posing as an employee of a large telco, utility provider or computer company. The caller will usually advise they are calling you because your PC has malicious software, help is needed to catch a criminal, or to recover an outstanding debt owed to a government body. Callers may become quite aggressive, or threaten you with prosecution, if you do not comply with their request. We strongly recommend you simply hang up if you receive this type of call. If you believe the call was legitimate, we recommend you return the call to the company on a trusted number found in the yellow pages or on the company's website. How this type of scam works: The caller will gene...

Never buy supermarket honey. Buy it straight from the farm or from a roadside stall or from a farmers market. If you want crap honey, then go to the supermarket where you'll likely be deceived by labels claiming Australian Certified Organic. It's nonsense and deceiving as has been revealed by testing of Capilano's subsidiary Allowrie brand. It's a horror story about imported honey, probably from China where bees don't forage on flowers; rather, they are fed corn syrup and sugar. If you care, and most people do, don't risk it by buying supermarket honey. Buy Aussie honey, preferably from a local supplier. My favourite is Leatherwood honey from Tasmania. Click here for more information

Don't eat Krispy Kremes! They taste so wonderful, but they are almost 100% sugar; just totally bad for you. They're not a real donut; just a huge sugar hit. They're so bad, you can get busted by the cops for eating them. Read the story ...

I know that it's theft, but this is an enjoyable story with an artistic twist. In fact, it's a fork'n good story. A man working at a high end restaurant in Melbourne collected forks used by visiting VIPs eg. Hillary Clinton, Prince Harry, James Packer, Richard Branson, ... He stole the forks over a period of 15 years and stored them unwashed with food and saliva intact. Now he has catalogued and displayed them just like a museum exhibit. Next time you are eating out (and you think that you are special, important, a VIP) then your eating utensil may be stolen by the waiter and later be exhibited in the name of art. Read the story ...

It's Christmas present buying season and people are buying more online these days. But, be warned - the online scammers at hard at it. Be vigilant in your online purchases. Here's a cution from Scamwatch ... Scamwatch is warning Christmas shoppers to be cautious when looking online for gifts. During and after Christmas Scamwatch experiences an increase in reports of fake online sellers looking to cash in on the festive season shopping spree. This year, scammers are using labels like Pandora and Michael Kors to trick consumers who are looking online to find designer items at a cheaper price. Scammers set up fake websites that look just like genuine online stores. They copy websites of legitimate companies and designer labels and may even pretend to be Australian-based by using a ‘.com.au’ domain. The biggest tip-off that a website is a scam is the way they ask for payment. Scammers often ask you to pay by wire transfer, pre-loaded debit cards or even bitcoins. These ...

The notorious hacker group called Anonymous is planning revenge against ISIS and its supporters for the murderous assault on the innocent citizens of Paris. They have started with hacking 5,500 Twitter accounts and changing #tags and publishing personal details of the account. Twitter accounts are being shut down. They have declared a cyber war on ISIS. As Anonymous says, they doesn’t have to act within the constraints of the law. Normally I would frown on hackers, but in this case I applaud their effort in a just cause; to avenge the death of innocents in Paris. Click here for more information Tip: be careful with the #tags or Anonymous may target you.

Be wary, very wary, of winning or receiving anything free. Without due care, you could become the loser. An acquaintance got sucked in and paid dearly. I am posting a copy of a warning from a consumer protection group called Scamwatch. Beware of fake lottery and competition ‘wins’ on social networking platforms Scamwatch is warning consumers to beware of fake lotteries or competitions on social networking platforms, with scammers using popular platforms to pedal these empty wins. Scammers have been sending messages through social media platforms advising recipients that they have won a lottery, draw or competition. They will often pretend that they are affiliated with the social networking platform or another reputable company to make it seem legitimate. The scammer will then request personal information to confirm your identity as the winner and then claim that, in order to receive the ‘win’, you first need to transfer them money for taxes, fees or other reasons. Rec...

Australians lose $45 million to scams in 2015 !!! It is amazing that this year (and so far only over 6 months) Australians have been conned and scammed to the tune of $45 million. That’ll probably grow to $90 million over 12 months. How can people be so stupid? Easily, if they believe in getting a huge reward for nothing. Beware of that person in Nigeria who needs help to transfer funds and if you’re into Internet dating and your new love gets into financial difficulty, then send nothing except an introduction to the scammer in Nigeria. According to The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) … ‘Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attempts to get your money or personal details. Scams succeed because they look like the real thing and catch you off guard when you’re not expecting it. Our new Scamwatch website , which is being launched today, has all the latest news and tips to help you identify and avoid scams. By following the advice ...

Identity theft is a growing problem … and people are not helping themselves. In fact, they are making it easier for thieves to steal/acquire identities. One of the key items that is often freely available is a person’s date of birth. It is freely provided in competition entries and online in social media and forms. If a thief has the date of birth and some details about a bank account there is a good chance of gaining access to the ban k account and draining funds. For many many years I have never been 100% honest in surveys I have done (except for the Census). My age is never exact and some other personal details are almost right, but not quite. People (doing surveys) don’t need an exact profile on me. Well, actually they would like that because it is usually on-sold. Be careful about the details you give-away about yourself. Have a read of this story

This week (18 – 24 May) is Fraud Week . Fraud Week is an initiative of the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce (ACFT) and is a national campaign aimed at raising awareness of consumer fraud. There are in excess of 100 government and industry bodies which work side by side to promote consumer protection. The theme for the 2015 campaign is get smarter with your data and will focus on the importance of protecting your personal information. The campaign seeks to help Australians understand how valuable their personal information is to scammers, and provide them with some practical guidance on how to minimise the risk of becoming a victim of identity crime. To leave scammers out in the cold, follow SCAMwatch’s Top 6 Protect Yourself tips: Keep your personal details secure Think twice about what you say and do in an online environment Keep your mobile devices and computers secure Choose your passwords carefully Beware of any request for your details or money Get a copy of your c...

A friend is having a problem with a private parking firm at a shopping centre. It is claimed that he overstayed the free 2 hours parking and was sent an expiation fee. He didn't pay it and was then sent an additional late payment fee. It seems (according to my friend) that the parking firm has no legal right to issue and collect expiation fees. He's not going to pay. That's his choice. Anyway, he asked me for advice. I said that it might be time to send the spider (and a cheque for $3 as a sign of good faith). Here is the link to the spider that I sent him. It's an interesting email exchange, not dissimilar to my friend's situation. Enjoy. Click on this link to get the spider tale

SAPOL has just released a high level report on the crime trend in Unley over the five years, 2008-2012. The downward trend is comforting. There is a 16.3% reduction from the previous year. 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Total offences 3,578 3,436 3,067 3,089 2,584 Further information is available via this link … http://www.ocsar.sa.gov.au/region_files/LGA%20Unley%20(C).html A personal note: Given that all of the information is readily available in a SAPOL database, why does it take almost 1.5 years to publish the information? The information made available is dated June 2013.