Fraud facts and tips to help you

You can save yourself time, trouble and money if you know how to recognize-and avoid-some of the more common scams. Here's a look at one that could happen to you. The Scam You place an ad for your collectible, motorcycle or electronic equipment on a specialty Web site. КYou're contacted by a buyer. Everything appears legitimate. You even receive a cashier's check overnight. The only problem is the check is written for $5,000 over the sale price. The buyer says it was an error and asks you to deposit the check and refund the overpayment using a money transfer service. A week later, your bank informs you the check was fraudulent. No funds have been deposited into your account. Unfortunately, the item has already been sent, along with $5,000 in cash. When the payment is found to be a fraud, the funds are withdrawn from your account. In this type of scam, you could lose both the amount of the overpayment and the item you were selling. Because some banks allow funds to be drawn before an item has cleared, you might not learn of the fraud until it is too late. The Solution Before sending a money transfer transaction, consider these suggestions: 1. Don't use a money transfer service to send funds to someone you don't know. 2. Be wary of a buyer who is anxious to complete a transaction immediately. Most genuine buyers spend time asking questions and negotiating the price. 3. Check with your bank to find out how long it will take the check to clear. Just because the bank has given you access to the funds, that doesn't mean the check has fully cleared. 4. Wait until the check has cleared before sending the amount of the overpayment. 5. Remember the old adage: If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Money transfer companies such as Western Union want to create a greater awareness of the various types of consumer fraud. If you feel you've been the victim of fraud, contact the Attorney General, other local law enforcement officials and your bank.

What to do if you have credit problems

The current mess that the United States is in due to the sub-prime lending fiasco has many people scrambling for ways to repair their credit. There is no set answer as every person has to assess their own financial situation and come up with a solution. Solutions can vary from debt consolidation to adhering to a strict budget to filing for bankruptcy. There are many choices and each choice is up to the individual. If you are having trouble paying your bills, you should first attempt to work out a budget that details your income and expenses. After you have identified where your money is going, identify your spending priorities. Your public library has information on how to draw up a sound budget. Many local community organizations sponsor counseling programs as well. You should immediately contact creditors if you are having trouble making payments. Many creditors will try to work out a more suitable payment schedule if they believe you are acting in good faith. If you are still having serious problems after attempting these steps, another option is to contact a credit counseling services to create a debt repayment plan. In these plans, you work out a payment agreement with a counselor, and the service distributes your payments to the creditors. Other methods of dealing with debt include consolidating debt through loans and bankruptcy. These are steps with serious consequences, and should be taken only after consultation with an attorney. If you are unable to obtain credit on your own, you can try to obtain a credit card or consolidated loan with a low credit limit from a local bank. If you pay promptly and that creditor reports this to a credit reporting agency, this information could improve your credit record. Another option is to obtain a secured credit card. With this type of card, you place a certain amount of money in a bank to guarantee your credit, and the credit grantor gives you a small credit line. There is no quick solution to rebuilding or repairing your credit. You just have to work out a solution that fits your current situation. Regardless of the solution, it will take time to get back on your feet and establish good credit again. It can be done with perseverance and persistence. Hang in there, stick to a budget, and pay off those bills. Soon you will be back to normal and able to lead a life where creditors don’t hound you day and night.

Domain forwarding versus domain masking

Even though a lot of people now realize that the word domain refers to the address of a website, some do not understand other words or tech-jargon associated with the term domain. So here is a quick look at two popular terms that are associated with domains, in case you or someone you know could use some help. Domain Forwarding & Masking Domain forwarding helps with the directing of your site link to the address of another website. And domain forwarding is very helpful for websites that may have longer, more complex addresses as well as for advertising purposes; for example, to use a new domain like MarchSale2007(dot)com for directing traffic to a special sales web page. The forwarding process is pretty simple. Begin by registering the new domain name of your choice that’s available. Next log into the domain area where you purchased your domain and click on the option to forward this new domain. A space should become available then where you simply insert the URL or domain name of the site where you want your visitors to be directed when they click the link. Domain masking allows you to hide or protect the address of your website while still continuing to allow your prospects and clients to visit your site and access the contents there. Domain masking works in this manner: - Register your domain name first. For example, register the domain name, TinyURL(dot)com or the domain of your choice. Then set up a forward as mentioned above and add masking to it by clicking the masking box in the control area and add masked description meta tag and masked keyword meta tag words to help direct search engines your way when people key in these terms for searches. - Although TinyURL(dot)com will be the visual address for people who click on the link, it will not be the main Internet address of the website because the main address is too long with too many letters to list in print ads, for example, like MyDomainNameIsTooLong(dot) Therefore the masked domain address TinyURL(dot)com will be listed in emails, ads and other communications to direct Internet visitors to the site. And your website visitors need only key in the address TinyURL(dot)com to discover all the content of the main address at: MyDomainNameIsTooLong(dot)com on their computers. Note that the main difference between domain forwarding and domain masking is that with domain forwarding, your site visitors will still see the original or actual domain name in their browser after they click the new domain link and get directed to the site. In other words, the new domain link does not hide the long original name. So when people click: TinyURL(dot)com, they are directed to the site, yet once they arrive at the site, the domain that appears in their browsers will read: MyDomainNameIsTooLong(dot) Why would you prefer to place a mask over the original address rather than simply forward traffic to the site? In cases like this: Some website addresses are very long, full of coding with numbers and letters that often may or may not make sense like: ThisIsYourAffiliateLinkabczyx12379_JohnSmith(dot)com . So to make the link easier to read and to look more professional, an Internet marketer may mask a short domain like JohnSmithNews(dot)com for two reasons (1) to hide the fact that it’s an affiliate link, causing some to be uneasy and leave the site right away and get in touch with the main seller instead and (2) to make the site appear more professional and memorable with a recognizable name as the address. For more information, visit movingaheadcommunications/service 24/7. Put an end to your (dot)com confusion.

Your world can revolve around internet marketing home business

If you are knowledgeable at internet marketing, home business opportunities abound for you and if not, there are at least a dozen experts who can help you out. Of course, their expert advice often contradicts one another, but with most service-related activities, you try them out until you find one that works for you. In today’s global market, just about everyone has a website and are in need of marketing. A website without a marketing plan is a hobby and few people can make any money and be successful with their hobby. It really involves a simple formula that shows that zero marketing will equal zero customers and everyone knows that zero customers equals going out of business. Bringing customers to their site is every business’s goal and a well executed internet marketing plan can do just that. You can have a good home business doing internet marketing for many customers and you can start with your own home business. When companies see your advertisements and contact you, they want to know how good you are. The short answer is that they were able to find you through an unsolicited means. Before you get started you have to understand that old style marketing involved getting your name in front of people who were in need of your services. In this case, it is just about everyone with a website. The old saying of not caring what they say, as long as they get the name right, was focused on the shotgun approach to marketing. Also considered playing the odds. Sending information to everyone you could think of and hoping for return percentage large enough to justify the expense. This approach rarely works with an internet-based business as surfers have so many companies to choose from that inundating them with information often turns them away. A targeted approach often can get their attention and get you noticed. While some believe that a one percent return on 10,000 ads is good, that is still only 100 expressing an interest and if you close on 10 percent that comes to 10 sales out of 10,000 contacts. By focusing your effort on only the 1,000 businesses that actually use your service, a one percent return still equals 100 and a 10 percent sales rate still equals 10 sales, but you saved the money for 9,000, which would have otherwise been wasted. Another form of marketing, guerilla marketing talked about in 1984 in the book Guerilla Marketing reveals how to achieve marketing on a limited budget. This type of marketing is ideal for small businesses and it extols the virtue of customer service and quality. The company uses personal contact and sales the person, not the product, and delivers a product or service on time that performs the function that it was promised to perform. Word of mouth takes over from there.

Online credit card use on the up

Internet commerce and shopping online have become extremely popular in recent yearspanies such as Amazon have revolutionised the way we buy books and CD’s. Also, booking travel arrangements such as airplane tickets, car rentals, hotels and other accommodation is no increasingly carried out online, by customers themselves, who are thus avoiding the costs of going through a travel agent or other middle man, and keep the savings for themselves. This area has been augmented by the growth in low cost airlines and the increasing popularity of taking short trips abroad more frequently. As well as these purchases, more and more services are becoming available online, from online banking, financial services, applying for loans and mortgages, and a whole host of online business dealings, have made the internet probably far more important than the high street for many shopping needs. And this trend is only set to increase. Already stores like Tesco and Asda offer online shopping services, where you select the items you want to purchase, add them to your electronic shopping basket, pay for them online, and then have them delivered to your door. The growth of online retailing is seeping into every area of the market and you can now even rent videos online. And what, you may be asking yourself, is the most popular form of online payment? Well, despite the huge growth in popularity of debit cards, it is still credit cards that are the most important means of paying for things online. Debit cards will generally only be available from companies that operate in your own country, which means if you want to buy from a company that operates outside of the UK. Then you will not be able to use your debit card and will have to use a credit card. And since, taking advantage of suppliers from all over the world is what the internet is all about, you will not wish to be limiting yourself to UK sellers by relying on a debit card. Almost all internet website that are selling something will be accepting credit card payments. However, this is becoming more flexible and accessible through the use of such payment intermediaries as pay pal and egold. A new credit card is being brought out in the near future that you will be able to use over the internet using your unique personal identification number (PIN) the number is entered into a keypad supplied by the credit card company. The next step to make online shopping much easier and safer. A word of caution however, if you are shopping using your credit card online. Beware of identity theft, which is a growing problem. Only ever do business with a company that you have heard of before and know you can trust and never give out your credit card details unless it is on a secure website. Identity theft can easily be avoided. Always destroy unwanted credit card statements. Whenever you stop using a credit card you should cancel it in writing immediately. If you decide to just leave an old credit card stored in your home, you leave yourself open to credit card fraud. Be aware!

Home improvement contract tips

Many a soul has hired a contractor to do repairs or improvements on a home only to find something is fishy. Here are some tips to avoid problems. Home Improvement Contract Tips Hiring a contractor to do work on your home is not always as easy as it sounds. Many people call themselves contractors, but really are not. The first step to avoiding problems is to make sure you hire someone with who is actually licensed as a contractor. If you subsequently have problems, you can contact the licensing board to raise a dispute. Most contractors are ethical, honest people and businesses. There are, however, others who are not. These individuals assume you do not really know what is involved in the construction process. This provides them with an opening to make substantially more profit. While you might think this means they will overbid the project, it does not. Most contractors believe you will pick the lowest price, so they rarely run up their estimate. There are, however, two other ways to boost profit. The first thing unethical contractors will do is use low quality supplies. As with anything you buy, there is a high quality and lower quality version. While you may want the high quality version, you may have a hard time determining if you received it. The difference between high and low quality is often how long something lasts, not how it appears. The way to beat this problem is to specify the exact brand, size and part number [if possible] in your contract. Doing so accomplishes two things. First, it puts the contractor on notice that you know how the process works. Second, you can always resort to legal action if you later find the correct materials were not used. Since you have everything in writing, the contractor has little defense. A second unethical tactic is the bait and switch. In this process, the contractor gives you a bid price that can’t possibly cover the project. You think you are getting a deal, but the contractor starts coming to you after the project has started requesting more money. The contractor refuses to continue work if you do not pony up. In this situation, the best defense is again to have everything in writing in the project contract. Make sure to include an attorney’s fee clause in it. If the contractor tries this tactic, you should contact an attorney. The attorney will set the contractor straight. If the contract refuses to finish the job, you will probably be told by the attorney to hire a new contractor while he sues the unethical one. Since an attorney’s fee clause is included in the agreement, you should end up paying no legal fees. This is not the best situation, but it beats getting scammed. In general, the best way to find a contractor is to ask for referrals from trusted friends. Next, get everything in writing. With these two steps, you should avoid any major problems.

My running fitness programme

If anyone has decided to embark on a diet and fitness programme, please read my article on my personal experiences in this area and feel free to use this in any other articles. Modern life results in many factors which can cause depression and anxiety in the normal person, life pressures, work, relationships, image and general well being all come into context. Today we are barraged within the media by articles and glossy altered images of beautiful people designed at making us buy products or by into a certain lifestyle manipulated by marketing corporates. Everyone to some effect are manipulated by advertising in the media, if not we would all buy the same products and look the same. I myself embarked on a diet and fitness programme many years ago and now run my life by this programme with the odd day off for good behavior. A few years ago I decided to take fitness seriously as the benefits included relieving stress and anxiety which at the time was becoming an issue in my personal life. I firstly took up running, at first this was extremely hard going only being able to run for about five minutes at any one time. I decided the best route to take was to write down my distances and time and log these for reference; a routine then developed in my running and before long I was up to twenty minutes in a session. I then made significant progress in the following months as part of a personal goal objective and quickly made an average of forty minutes running in a session. What I found as a result of this exercise was that I felt so much better in myself, my stress levels reduced and my anxiety dropped considerably. I also found that running first thing in the morning made me feel good for the rest of the day, it is documented that that early morning runs are the best time to burn fat as you run on an empty stomach and the body uses fat as fuel. When I run in the morning I find this clears my head for the rest of the day, any bad feelings are gone by the end of the session giving me a positive outlook. I also run in a local royal park which the early mornings holds many beautiful sites such as wild animals and birds sharing the same environment of me virtually undisturbed. I always ensure that I complete a full stretch exercise before running paying particular attention to the legs and thigh muscles, if you do not stretch then this could result in soreness and could tear important muscles as they have not had the time to get a good blood flow within the muscle groups. I would recommend stretching everyday even on the days when you don’t run as this will prevent fatigue and soreness which is very important. It also very important to refuel the body with good quality carbohydrates in within the hour after the exercise as this will give the body the required nutrients and energy. I would strongly recommend running as an exercise which benefits the body aswell as the mind.