Internet scams galore

By Herbert Vego

INTERNET scammers have turned to Facebook (FB) as an outlet for announcing their services and products.  The more “successful” ones have even upgraded to paid ads for bigger patronage. Beware! If they promise big income, on the contrary you could lose hard-earned money to them.

The familiar ones include “insertions” in the comment section of FB posts, but which have no relevance on the posted materials. For example, when a post announces a birthday, watch out for too-good-to-be-true, irrelevant reactions, such as this:

“You can be a millionaire with a thousand-peso investment.  Contact [name withheld] through her FB page.”

You can also receive an e-mailed invitation to a “business masterclass” that could earn you quick bucks kuno.

I once responded to an FB ad for a “free seminar” in a big hotel on how to engage in foreign exchange trading (“forex” for short). It was indeed free for one hour, but we “seminarians” would have to pay a fortune for the succeeding seminars. I refused to go on.

Forex traders may either profit or lose from the fluctuations of currency values. For example, a trader who anticipates the US dollar to strengthen in value against the Philippine peso will exchange his pesos for the dollars, or vice versa.

I wonder whether the organization behind the forex seminar is doing better in actual forex trading than in teaching it.

With due respect to the late American author Napoleon Hill who wrote the inspirational book Think and Grow Rich in 1937, he “taught and grew rich”.

Get-rich-quick schemes, ironically, tend to make the schemers, not the responders, richer.

Not all of them are illegal though.  There are legitimate corporations behind multi-level marketing (MLM) that grant commissions to registered salesmen not just from product sales but from recruitment of “downlines”.  If the downlines sell and recruit as well, they also earn added commission.

Producers of health products that could not be found in drug stores employ distinct strategies to lure customers and distributors. One that is well promoted online is a soft-gel capsule containing “oral stem cells from deer placenta,” targeting the affluent prospects who want to grow “younger” than their age. It would take an investment of P140,000 to consume the complete regimen of seven bottles with 60 capsules each.

Finding no perceptible effect after my third bottle, I quit. I was to prove myself right.

Just recently, you see, I read the news that the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) of Singapore had prosecuted the product dealer for falsely claiming that processed stem cells from dear placenta could cure diseases or conditions such as cancer and diabetes. A Singapore Court convicted and fined the distributor $3,000 in local currency.

In contrast, why has the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) looked the other way?  What gives?

Our manufacturers and distributors of over-the-counter medicines and food supplements, sad to say, often resort to hiring doctors to advertise their products on social and mainstream media.

Under Article III, Section 5 of the Code of Ethics of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), however, “A physician shall not commercially endorse any medical or health product.”

-oOo-

ELECTRICITY SAFETY IN RAINY SEASON

HAVE you heard and read the “yellow warning” on your cellular phone? That mode of alarm from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) is mandated to provide protection against heavy rainfall that could cause flooding in low-lying areas.

Water is a quick conductor of electricity. Hence, it is important to observe electrical safety during the rainy season.

For the benefit of Iloilo City power consumers, this writer gathered safety tips from the personnel of MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power). Here are the essential ones:

Here are some electricity safety tips you may need for the rainy season:

1. Stay away from downed power lines; they could still be live and dangerous. Immediately contact MORE Power to resolve the issue.
2. Ensure your home is properly grounded. Electrical grounding is a backup pathway for the current to flow back to the ground if there is a fault in the wiring.
3. Avoid flooded places where contact with electrical outlets, appliances or cords is possible.
4. Never handle, or step on, electrical items that have been exposed to water.