Rip off a Chinese arm Business Spectator China's growing missile, air and naval forces will extend their reach to play a much stronger role in Australia's 'immediate surrounds' during the next 20 years. The paper draws on four closed workshops with "senior leaders in the Australian national ... and more » |
March 02, 2011
Rip off a Chinese arm - Business Spectator
Rip off a Chinese arm - Business Spectator: "
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The great Valentine's Day ripoff - Sydney Morning Herald
The great Valentine's Day ripoff - Sydney Morning Herald: "
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The great Valentine's Day ripoff Sydney Morning Herald This day, in 1966, was the very nearly the worst day of our young lives; the day we lost all trust and belief in all things Australian. This was the day when the seeds of our interminable grumpiness were sown. This was the day Australia changed over to ... and more » |
Man defrauds employer of $600000 - Courier Mail
Man defrauds employer of $600000 - Courier Mail: "
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Man defrauds employer of $600000 Courier Mail A GAMBLING addict recruited a Victorian based friend to help with a false invoice scam to rip off nearly $600000 from his Brisbane based employer, a court heard yesterday. Prosecutor Julie Aylward told the District Court in Brisbane that Leslie Jones ... |
In brief: Industry schedules iiTrial briefings - Computerworld Australia
In brief: Industry schedules iiTrial briefings - Computerworld Australia: "
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In brief: Industry schedules iiTrial briefings Computerworld Australia As iTunes showed, people *do* want to pay for data...so long as it is not clearly rip-off prices and it has a decent range. Folks don't like dealing with criminals, which is what the current industry incumbents are! If the movie industry was serious ... and more » |
Diary of a teenage eBay fraudster - Stuff.co.nz
Diary of a teenage eBay fraudster - Stuff.co.nz: "
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Diary of a teenage eBay fraudster Stuff.co.nz An Australian teenage fraudster who masterminded an elaborate eBay rip-off while at high school kept a journal detailing his illegal activities. Philip John Heggie, 19, was jailed for three years today after pleading guilty to more than 100 charges ... and more » |
Phuket Jet-Ski Scammers 'Rip Off 150000 Baht' - Phuketwan
Phuket Jet-Ski Scammers 'Rip Off 150000 Baht' - Phuketwan: "
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Phuket Jet-Ski Scammers 'Rip Off 150000 Baht' Phuketwan Mr Cunningham said a recent article on the front page of an Australian newspaper telling of jet-ski scams brought 150 responses online within hours, many of the comments from people who had been ripped off on Phuket. ''The Australian Ambassador has ... and more » |
Monthly Metcard a rip-off: survey - The Age
Monthly Metcard a rip-off: survey - The Age: "
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Monthly Metcard a rip-off: survey The Age He said cheaper monthly tickets was the ''way forward for encouraging more regular usage and cutting some of the problems with myki''. Canberra was the only other Australian city that had comparable fare types, Mr Bowen said, and its monthly ticket ... and more » |
Monthly Metcard a rip-off: survey - The Age
Monthly Metcard a rip-off: survey - The Age: "
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Monthly Metcard a rip-off: survey The Age He said cheaper monthly tickets was the ''way forward for encouraging more regular usage and cutting some of the problems with myki''. Canberra was the only other Australian city that had comparable fare types, Mr Bowen said, and its monthly ticket ... and more » |
Did Tropfest Winner Animal Beatbox Seem Kinda Familiar? - PopSugar Australia
Did Tropfest Winner Animal Beatbox Seem Kinda Familiar? - PopSugar Australia: "
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 Sydney Morning Herald | Did Tropfest Winner Animal Beatbox Seem Kinda Familiar? PopSugar Australia YouTube member Eustus Comedy commented under the video, “is this a rip off of my video????” in regards to his Dog Cat video that was posted back in September. Tropfest founder and judge John Polson defended Damon and addressed the originality issues, ... Film fans complain about Tropfest winnerDigital Spy all 168 news articles » |
Petrol prices are a 'rip-off' - Sunshine Coast Daily
Petrol prices are a 'rip-off' - Sunshine Coast Daily: "
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Petrol prices are a 'rip-off' Sunshine Coast Daily As much as I also dislike the monopoly of Coles & Woolies, this increase in fuel price is caused by events outside of Australia. Apart from the unrest in oil producing Countries, oil reserves are depleting world wide and many experts are forecasting ... |
Spanish scam traps Australian businesses - Sydney Morning Herald
Spanish scam traps Australian businesses - Sydney Morning Herald: "
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Spanish scam traps Australian businesses Sydney Morning Herald TRUE, the form addressed to small businesses, asking them to update their business details, did have the Australian flag printed on it. And there was reference to a registry held by ''Industry and Commerce''. But surely, the Federal Court heard ... and more » |
Another scam in the post - Fraser Coast Chronicle
Another scam in the post - Fraser Coast Chronicle: "
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Another scam in the post Fraser Coast Chronicle “In particular, we've had a couple of notifications about a scam email going around claiming to be from the Australian Tax Office and offering a $125 tax refund,” Snr Const Meyers said. She said the scammers used American terminology, which was one of ... |
Pressure builds for a rate rise - Sydney Morning Herald
Pressure builds for a rate rise - Sydney Morning Herald: "
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Pressure builds for a rate rise Sydney Morning Herald Remember the Reserve Bank is independent of the Australian Government. Media commentators are not allowed to tell you this. Alternative media is blowing the lid of humanities millennial long scam of the money lenders. When you answer this question much ... and more » |
CBI searches Kalmadi's bank lockers; FIR likely - NDTV.com
CBI searches Kalmadi's bank lockers; FIR likely - NDTV.com: "
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CBI searches Kalmadi's bank lockers; FIR likely NDTV.com The Comptroller and Auditor General's scrutiny of the catering contract executed by Australian firm Delaware North has found that Kalmadi cancelled the company's initial tender overruling a specific warning note from the OC. An internal note from the ... and more » |
ZeuS circulates in ATO spam - iT News
ZeuS circulates in ATO spam - iT News: "
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ZeuS circulates in ATO spam iT News Cybercriminals are circulating a variant of the ZeuS Trojan via a spam campaign that claims to offer tax refunds, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has warned. The scam emails claimed to be from ... and more » |
Australians warned about fake credit card email scam - Which4U Aus
Australians warned about fake credit card email scam - Which4U Aus: "
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 Which4U Aus | Australians warned about fake credit card email scam Which4U Aus Individuals have been warned to look out for a fake Aussie credit card email scam doing the rounds, the tax commissioner has stated. Michael D'Ascenzo revealed a message, which claims to be from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), has been sent to a ... |
Police warning on phone scam - ABC Online
Police warning on phone scam - ABC Online: "
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Police warning on phone scam ABC Online Police say several residents have been contacted by people claiming to be from the Australian Taxation Office. They are being told they are eligible for tax refunds providing they forward cash for legal costs. Anyone with information is asked to ... and more » |
Phishing E-mails Targeting ACTRO Being Warned - SPAMfighter News
Phishing E-mails Targeting ACTRO Being Warned - SPAMfighter News: "
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Phishing E-mails Targeting ACTRO Being Warned SPAMfighter News Incidentally, ACTRO provides the administrative services for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government's tax earnings. States the scam electronic mail, after an upgrading exercise of the ACT computers as also an examination of ACT's records, ... |
Editor's view: Smash "smishing" scams - Herald Sun
Editor's view: Smash "smishing" scams - Herald Sun: "
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Editor's view: Smash "smishing" scams Herald Sun That scam still exists, in letter and email form, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission says about one billion of these letters get sent worldwide each year. More recently we've seen "phishing", where emails pretending to be from our ... and more » |
February 10, 2011
Queensland Flood Crisis: Heartless Foxtel does nothing to help flood victims
Take the case of one southeast Queensland flood victim who lost everything on 11 January including their satellite Foxtel connection and service.
After waiting patiently for two weeks at their temporary accommodation - only to be told their order had been lost - Foxtel connected them to the basic package ($44) and the sports package ($16), a total of $60 a month for the equivalent package they had previously.
But the subscriber - who has been with Foxtel for 8 years - asked what had happened to the UK TV channel which they had been receiving for years as part of their monthly $60 package.
One Foxtel superstar at Telstra lied to the customer and said it was not possible to have had the UK TV Channel as part of their basic $60 package.
Another staffer, Agent D601825 Stacey, did Telstra proud by digging deeper for the customer with Foxtel to find out the customer was right!
Foxtel advised that the customer had been on an "old" package which could not be transferred and if they wanted UK TV, they would have to buy another entertainment package for the princely sum of $16 a month!
This customer has lost everything in the 2011 flood and, through no fault of their own, has been forced to relocate their Foxtel package to new premises.
Despite being a loyal customer for almost a decade, Foxtel wants to gouge them an extra $16 a month - an increase of 27% every 4 weeks.
All the customer wanted was the continuation of the same package they had been on for years.
But the greedy, faceless Foxtel bureaucrats sitting in their ivory towers in downtown Sydney couldn't give two hoots about the people of flood-devastated Queensland.
Foxtel is a disgrace to the people of Australia.
While other companies around the nation are showing compassion and understanding in this time of crisis, Foxtel is excelling as the Pay TV company where the almighty dollar ranks above the Aussie tradition of fair play and common decency.
Foxtel have just elevated themselves to be in line for the Australian National Award for Corporate Bastardry for 2011.
February 07, 2011
Mad bureaucrats at it again: States urged to impose total ban on mobile phone use in cars
Costly call ... there has been a
50% increase in phone offences
since 2004-05.
TOUGH new laws to ban all mobile phone use in vehicles are being considered by transport ministers after a landmark report found that even hands-free devices dramatically increased the risk of crashing.
The report by state transport heads reflects the growing concern about distraction to drivers involved in accidents.
It found: ''Mobile phone use produces a significant increase in casualty crash risk, regardless of whether the phone is hand-held or hands-free.''
The draft national road safety report comes amid a dramatic rise in the number of people fined for using a phone when behind the wheel, which has become one of the fastest-growing driving offences in the state.
Last financial year almost 50,000 drivers were fined more than $11 million for calling, texting, reaching, even touching their phone while driving - more than double the number fined six years ago.
The aim is to reduce annual road deaths by 30 per cent during the next decade.
The draft, which federal and state ministers are reviewing, stated: ''There is evidence to support bans on all mobile phone use while driving.'' The federal parliamentary secretary for infrastructure and transport, Catherine King, said on average 1500 people died on Australian roads each year.
''We've come to the conclusion that we are going to have to do things differently if we are going to get that road toll lower,'' she said.
Ms King acknowledged it would be difficult for many people to stop using hands-free phones so the first step of the strategy would be to encourage drivers of heavy vehicles, buses, taxis and government cars to stop using the phone hands-free voluntarily.
NSW Police supported a ban. ''In my view it is as dangerous as speed and drink driving,'' said Superintendent Max Mitchell, the acting assistant commissioner, traffic services branch. During the past decade research has clearly demonstrated that drivers using mobile phones are at least four times more likely to have an accident.
In 2006 US researchers found that being distracted by a mobile phone was the equivalent of having a blood-alcohol level of 0.08, which is considered over the limit in every Australian state.
In NSW, being caught handling a mobile phone will earn a driver a $258 fine and three demerit points.
But many believe this does not go far enough. In US state of Utah, a driver caught texting can receive a three-month jail sentence and a $US750 fine. If they injure or kill someone they could go to jail for 15 years.
Mark Stevenson, an epidemiologist who studies driving distractions, said allowing hands-free phone use to remain legal sent the wrong message.
Several of his studies, including one examining the number of people admitted to hospital after a mobile phone-related crash, had shown using a phone hands-free carried almost the same
crash risk as using it hand held. ''We are very aware of the risks associated with using your phone,'' said Professor Stevenson, from the Monash University accident research centre.
He called for more drastic intervention and tougher penalties. ''Vehicles could be manufactured with in-built blockers so drivers cannot receive phone reception when the car is turned on.''
In cases of emergency, drivers could switch off the engine to make a phone call, he said.
An online survey of Victorian drivers found almost 60 per cent of people who owned a mobile phone admit using it while driving. The leader of the research, Kristie Young, said most people recognised that using a phone while driving was dangerous.
''But drivers seem to have this optimistic bias where they don't think it will happen to them, or they are better than the average driver,'' said Dr Young, a research fellow at the accident research centre.
''Drivers have this really low perception that they are going to be caught,'' she said.
January 08, 2011
Australian Government SCAMwatch itself scammed with fake emails
SCAMwatch Update:
Fake SCAMwatch and Consumer Affairs Victoria emails
SCAMwatch, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) are warning consumers to be alert following reports that fake emails are being sent claiming to be from SCAMwatch and CAV representatives.
Email correspondence from official Government agencies can be identified by the inclusion of ".gov.au" in the address, e.g. officer@accc.gov.au or officer@justice.vic.gov.au
SCAMwatch, the ACCC and CAV will not use a public email provider to contact you. We will only contact you via email to respond to an enquiry you have lodged with us or to provide you with information you have requested to receive through an ongoing subscription service.
Some of the fake emails have reportedly requested payments.
SCAMwatch, the ACCC and CAV are free Government services and along with other consumer protection agencies will never ask you for your personal bank account details or request payments from you when you did not initiate the contact.
Warning signs
• An email comes unexpectedly after a consumer responds to a lottery scratch-card offer received in the mail.
• The email claims to be from CAV, sent on behalf of SCAMwatch. The email is sent from a non-government address.
• Emails appear genuine as they contain a replica of a real CAV email signature block with genuine phone numbers, website, email and physical addresses.
• Some of these fake emails can be recognised by the address scamwatchaus@xxxx.com.
Protect yourself
If you receive an unexpected email that appears to be from the ACCC, CAV or SCAMwatch:
• do not respond. Do not open or reply to suspicious or unsolicited emails (spam) even to unsubscribe – delete them.
• Do not click on any links in a spam email, or open any files attached to them.
• Never send money or give personal, credit card or online account details to an organisation you don't trust.
• If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately. If you are unsure if the email is legitimate contact SCAMwatch or CAV on the details below.
Contact SCAMwatchContact SCAMwatch on 1300 795 995.
You can report scams to the ACCC via the report a scam page on SCAMwatch.
Contact Consumer Affairs Victoria
Contact the Consumer Affairs Helpline on 1300 55 81 81. You can also dob in a scam via the CAV website.
Stay one step ahead of the scammers.
Explore SCAMwatch for more tips on how to recognise and protect yourself from scams.
December 10, 2010
Woman who lost job sues labour hire firm over written exam
ONE of Australia's largest labour hire companies is being sued for racial discrimination, with claims that it demanded that a young Thai migrant with limited English complete a written health and safety exam, and then in effect dismissed her when she failed it.
Wan Phen Promlee says she was looking forward to returning to casual work as a warehouse picker and packer this year after time off with a wrist injury.
But, according to a claim she has filed in the Federal Magistrates Court, her employer, the labour hire firm Integrated, had other ideas.
Ms Promlee says that when she returned she was initially told there was no work for her.
Then, some weeks later, she received a call. The management of the warehouse company she had been sent to, Ceva Logistics, had been wondering where she was and asked Integrated to send her specifically.
But instead of returning to her duties, Ms Promlee, 26, was told to sit a written exam.
''I went there and the woman said, 'You sit and watch the CD and answer the questions','' Ms Promlee said.
''I couldn't understand. I just gave the paper back.''
Ms Promlee says she was not allowed to have someone with her to read out questions and was not offered any translation assistance. She was not offered any more work.
Integrated said Ms Promlee had the questions read to her and was given the chance to answer them verbally. It said the health and safety test is mandatory for all employees when they register with the company.
But Ms Promlee was not required to sit the exam until six months later. She had already been given a safety orientation by Ceva Logistics, including instruction by a young woman who spoke her language.
''I learnt about how to lift a box without hurting yourself and what boxes are too heavy so you need to ask for help,'' Ms Promlee said. ''I know how to be safe.''
This was confirmed by employees at the Lidcombe factory.
Integrated refused to comment yesterday.
Ms Promlee's lawyer, Giri Sivaraman, said the case was one of the more blatant examples of racial discrimination he had come across.
"I just fail to understand how in modern Australia someone can be forced to sit a written test in English," Mr Sivaraman, from law firm Maurice Blackburn, said.
"I was really surprised at the lack of assistance for someone who really needed it. Taking into account the type of work - they should have done better. I think labour hire firms are scared of injured workers. Over the last 10 years I've repeatedly advised people who couldn't get work with labour hire companies because they were injured."
Ms Promlee is also suing Integrated for breaching the Disability Discrimination Act on the grounds that it had refused her request to undertake limited duties while she was recovering from her injury.
September 09, 2010
Woolworths under fire for anti-consumer action on shopping trolleys
Australian Consumer Watch
- Woolworths slammed after trolley coin lock removal starts in Ipswich -
Australian supermarket giant Woolworths with over 700 stores across the nation is under fire for phasing out its coin-operated shopping trolleys.
The scheme was introduced voluntarily in 2009 as an environmental initiative to minimise theft and reduce abandoned trolleys in local parks and waterways.
In Queensland, it was extended to more than a dozen Woolworths stores across Greater Brisbane.
A one or two dollar coin is required to free a trolley which is automatically refunded to the shopper when the trolley is returned.
At the 2009 Local Government Conference in Bundaberg, councils from across Queensland voted to enforce coin operated trolleys for major supermarket chains.
Councils subsequently reported a massive reduction in abandoned trolleys in parks and creeks after Woolworths joined Aldi in the coin-operated scheme.
Yesterday without warning, the coin mechanisms were removed from 150 trolleys at the Woolworths store in the Ipswich suburb of Brassall under the direction of new store manager Steve Gothard.
Queensland Consumer Watch spokesman Ipswich Councillor Paul Tully said Mr Gothard had undergone a radical change of heart on shopping trolleys since his days as store manager at Woolworths' Buranda.
On 20 May 2009, in front of television cameras and Brisbane's Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, Mr Gothard proudly commented on abandoned trolleys: "This causes not only environmental issues but safety issues too with trolleys sometimes left in the middle of streets. Although we have many systems in place to retrieve abandoned trolleys the situation was such that we have consulted the community and coin locks were seen as good way forward to reduce the number dumped."
See: http://tinyurl.com/WooliesBuranda
Cr Tully said Steve Gothard appeared to be no longer worried about environmental or safety issues after arriving in Ipswich a few weeks ago.
Cr Tully slammed Woolworths for its "un-Australian, anti-environment" decision which he said would lead to increased visual pollution, clogged waterways and more runaway trolleys in shopping centre carparks.
"You rarely see an abandoned Aldi trolley because if the shopper doesn't return the trolley the local kids soon will, to boost their pocket money."
Cr Tully called for shoppers to boycott Woolworths until it abandoned its latest "environmental insanity".
"Woolworths obviously cares more about profits than protecting the Australian environment."
Cr Tully said Woolworths were in for a major shock in Ipswich with plans already underway to amend the city's local laws to force all major supermarkets to have coin-operated locks on their shopping trolleys.
"They will have to put the coin locks back on their trolleys.
"The corporate knuckle heads running Woolworths stand condemned for their decision to phase-out coin-operated trolleys which have significantly reduced abandoned trolleys across the suburbs."
Cr Tully said he had been tipped off the Woolworths Collingwood Park store at the corner of Eagle St and Collingwood Drive would also soon have its 100 trolley coin locks removed followed by other stores.
"Woolworths have acted with more secrecy on this issue than a criminal trial in Communist China," Cr Tully said.
September 07, 2010
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