I read the following article published in the malaysian Star paper:- Is this what the Africans and Nigerians doing now in Malaysia?

KUALA LUMPUR: The Black Money scam, also known as the Nigerian 419 scam, was reported by Interpol to have surfaced in Malaysia in 1998.

(419 refers to a section of a Nigerian law that deals with fraud.)

Most of these con artists enter the country on a social visit pass which allows them to stay up to 30 days.

They tend to enrol in local colleges, some even reputable ones, just to obtain student visas so that they could extend their stay here.

These so-called students are believed to pay off college staff to mark their attendance.

They would then send out random emails and SMS, promising huge piles of money. Usually a “processing fee” is required in advance from their targets.

In some of the cases, the victim lost big amounts of money without realising it until the fraudster goes missing.

They are such smooth operators that a number of victims took loans from Ah Longs to pay them.

In the Black Money scam, victims are told about a stash of bank notes which had been dyed black to avoid Customs detection. The money was supposedly kept in a safe somewhere and the victim should purchase a type of chemical to wash off the dye which would then unveil “genuine” US dollars.

The victim would be promised a share of the money.

The supposed origin of the riches varied with each new victim. The most popular version is that the money is the lost fortunes of former Nigerian dictator General Abacha which need to be transported out of Nigeria without the Customs knowing it.

Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Koh Hong Sun said the con men, upon meeting their target, would produce a small vial of washing liquid called “Universal Automatic Washer” and ask the victim to select any black bank note at random.

The black banknote would be washed but with a sleight of hand,the con man would substitute it with a real note.

Victims are given the “washed” bank notes and are encouraged to verify their authenticity at a money changer.

“They would ask the victim to buy the chemical in order to process more money and that the costs of the chemicals are very high,” he said.

These con artists modus operandi of “layering,” where a different person is sent to each meeting with the victim.

According to sources, places like Puchong Prima, a hotel in Ampang and several areas in Kepong are regular meeting spots for such transactions.

Using laptops along with a special software, the con men are also able to forge government documents.

Comm Koh, who confirmed this, said that raids on the “students’ residence” found no textbooks but merely computers and laptops.

In a raid conducted by the police recently, police arrested 29 Nigerians at their office at Metro Prima in Kepong.

All those arrested claimed that they were undergraduates in the Klang Valley, showing their student cards instead of passports. A check by The Star showed that some colleges here had about 70% African students.

These places provide hassle-free enrolment for foreign students who pay application fees ranging from US$170 to US$330.

Investigations also revealed that these so- called students did not have a clear financial source, yet they had no problems paying tuition fees and sending money home to their countries.

In fact, some of them live in posh condominiums and drive luxury cars like the BMW X5.

They are also known to use local women to carry out their deception, targeting single mothers or college students and using their bank accounts to conduct their shady business.

Some of them, when caught by police, would falsely claim to be Muslims and recite verses from the Quran to gain sympathy, said sources.

Most of these con artists are deported to their home countries as authorities usually lack evidence to charge them.

However, a number of them would return to Malaysia under different passports.

Comm Koh said the authorities were using biometric systems as a measure against such the conmen to prevent them from returning.

“But as long as there are Malaysians who are fuelled by greed, there will be someone to take advantage of them,” he said.

So, I have a crazy family. I have been emotionally and physically abused all my life by my mom and dad. I get everything I want, but sometimes its just not enough. For once, I’d love to have parents that don’t threaten me with a belt or call me names like dirt or useless. Anyway, I have a 13 year-old brother who constantly puts me down by saying that I don’t have any friends or that everyone hates me and wishes i would die, and that he wishes i would commit suicide. He also hits me…and I’m a girl. It’s not a slap on the wrist. It’s more like punching me and kicking me, and tackling me. he says that he does this because I’m annoying. He needs anger management. He got in trouble once becomes he threatened to kill a girl at his school because he got in a fight with her. No matter how many times i tell my parents that he needs help, they seem to brush it off….and they say that i need help too. (wish doesn’t make any sense because i’m a fairly good kid, and i follow all the rules and and do my best at school, and i certainly don’t hit people, or threaten them) I’m getting so tired of the abuse i get everyday….like yesterday I drank out of a gallon bottle of water, and my dad got so mad at me, he made me sit down in his closet for an hour…and everytime i talked, he threatened me with this belt) It really takes its toll on me mentally, and i feel like everybody hates me. I don’t know what to do?

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10 years ago my other Aunt died, so my Aunt was left alone in a city 70 miles away from me. I started to take care of her then, especially when she lost most of her eye sight. Taking her to doctors, going to buy her groceries, and later ordering her groceries, and medication on line. Picking her up on all holidays, and have her to my house for 4 or 5 days at a time, with little help from my family, or my mother. She doesn’t take any of the tasks to do herself with out me.

Over the years I have had to take days off from work, while my mother is retired, and my sister doesn’t work. My older sister has done the minimum, and my younger sister has done nothing!

Two and a half years ago my Aunt ended up in the hospital almost dying. I had her brought to my city, to a nursing home, and than on to assisted living, a very nice luxury one. I pay all her bills, handle her money ,take her to all her appointments, Visit her once or twice a week, pick her up, and cook her home cooked meals at my house, and have her spend the night. I do all her shopping, and buy her what she needs. I am 100% in charge, because I wanted to do it, and because nobody else volunteered.

At the beginning I thought I would have help from certain family members, but they are all too busy with there own lives. I get no thanks from anyone, not even my Aunt.

As I was growing up, we visited my Aunts, and Deceased grandmother, every holiday. My Aunt always had birthday presents, and made a cake, and Xmas presents for us. My 2 aunts andgrandmothe were really our only extended family, as my Dads family lived 4 states away!

I want to take care of her, and make the remaining part of her life as good as it can be, but I am feeling really bitter towards my mother, and sisters. I am also feeling greedy, because my Aunt has left all her money to my mother, and than when my mother is gone it goes to me and my sisters. I never wanted her money, but I feel after giving her all these years, it would me nice for her or my mother to acknowledge it, buy at least leaving me something, and I cringe to think of my sisters getting any of it. I know it sounds greedy, that’s why I am telling you, because I could never tell any family members how I feel. It just seems strange that I am doing all this, and the family members are just going about there lives, and letting me do it all!

Well I gotta go to pick up my Aunt to bring her to the doctor today, so let me know what you think!

I would like to know if any one has ever had trouble with the SPCA? Not where you are in the wong and where abusing animals. But long story short i adopted a dog there and in about 3 weeks was received a call from the SPCA and was tolled that my pup perhaps had Distemper because some of its brother and sis where taken back and had to be pu down, When my husband took him back i was crushed especially mi kids. So just out of te blue my husband went it to there sight and there he was up for adopting again. So we went and called him out and he came straight to us. The seed it was not him the people from the spca but what he has the sae siblings same birth day and all. let me know please.

Hi everyone,

I’m new to the used car industry and I have no idea on how I can choose the best used car for me.
I go to school and plan on having a car for me for a couple or more years as long as I can just drive home or to work and a few long trips. I have a few long trips in mind.

My buddy is a car dealer and has promised to help me out to buy a car. But what I really wanna know is,
Whether to go for an American Car or a Japanese Car or a European one?

Personally, these are my choices
JETTA - 1997 model (Priority due to gas , heard it gives upto 35 mpg)
Nissan Altima - same reason, GAS !
Honda Accord/Camry - not so sure on this choice.

I like American Cars as I have tried them . I work as a Valet parking guy and true, some American Cars are really nice!
My buddy suggests me to buy an American Car as he has tried American Cars for a long time, maybe 5 years.
I do like American cars, but I don’t wana risk the fact of any repairs.
The brands my buddy suggested me were
- FORD, CHEVROLET, MERCURY, JEEP , FORD TAURUS and he says that these are better cars which gives you a better insurance price and are luxury cars which are reliable too.
I need a RELIABLE , a car which gives good on gas, and a no problem car , which is a less maintenance car, I don’t wanna spend money on my car as I’m a Student.

Could you all please suggest me the brand to go for?
Is my buddy being Frank enough or is he selling me something?

Can AMERICAN Cars be the right ones for me?

Young, rich, self made 25 year old multi-millionaire. He always works, does a lot of traveling. His only friends are his business partners. He’s lost all contact with college friends because he concentrates on business as his most important priority. Has his own $2+ million home, he can afford the best trips, the best luxury cars like a Bentley, he barely talks to his family. He’s a major showoff too. Very into his career and in love with making money, very street smart, very smart when it comes to business deals, always knows what to say, brilliant in that respect, knows how to make money. This guy is going to have a family but see his kids barely grow up because of work. You don’t know if you can trust him at times because he’s so money oriented. Though he knows how to party he goes to the best night clubs parties with celebrity type people, always V.I.P type of person.

Another guy, living a normal life struggling 25 years old, has a steady job, barely able to support himself. But people love him, he’s got hundreds of freinds, a real sociable person, life of the party type of person. Struggling to pay his bills, He knows how to party, he’s a fun-lovable person. Makes $50,000 a year at his job. He’s going to be the type of person who’ll be able to come home after work and see his kids, he’s going to see them grow up, he’s always going to live the middle class life with a lot of friends. Trustable guy who’s the perfect friend.

In your opinion who has the better life style? Who do you think is happier? who’d you choose to be friends with?
(i know these two people very well, they’re both family member)

I had always thought my friend was from a poor family - I never met her family before, she said they lived far away and she’s alone here. She’s 28 years old and works as a secretary in the day and has a second part time job at night as a store cashier. I had seen her at her part time job but she never took me around to her secretary job. Anyway on those days she works both jobs she gets little sleep. She always eats at home and always plain basic food, she even skips breakfast sometimes saying she needs to keep the money. Her home is also plain. She also never uses air con, doesn’t have a tv, etc. She does have a computer, and but she had said that’s the only luxury she’s been able to afford besides she has her company work on it. I had been concerned but she’s been living like this for several years and she’s always been healthy. But I thought that’s what she had to do.

Well the other day, I saw her with a group of richer people (well they wore fancy clothing unlike my friend) but I ignored greeting her because it was across the street and she was busy talking so I didn’t want to disturb anything and would ask her later.

Well I mentioned I saw her there next time we met, she then said it was her family visiting her. I was surprised, asking how come her family dressed so richly when she said she was from a poor family. Well she admitted that she doesn’t work as a secretary, but is actually a manager in that company with a lot of income, but no one but her family knows about it. She says that she donates most of her income to charities and lives like a poor person.

Well, I really admire that a lot. But now that I think back, the extent she’s doing - I don’t mind she doesnt have a tv or wear fancy clothing (well she says she only wears it at her management job because they expect her too) or eat plain food etc. But she skips meals, skips sleep and works a second job to get extra money because she gives the rest of it away. Isn’t that really going a little far? I had told her that, and she says it’s nothing and she prefers it that way, in fact she also says that maybe she isn’t going far enough and would reduce her living style even further to donate even more money. She says as long as she’s not dead, she’ll keep working an income to give to the poor. I’m worried and I think she’s just lucky she hasn’t had any health problems so far.
Yeah, it’s charities, she doesn’t have an organisation. She has donated large amounts to over 20 charities so far.

What made her do this? She says she prefers to give the money to people who need it more than her, especially like those who are starving - lots wouldn’t even be able to have a life at all without the money she gives.

My teacher said it was NOT a summary of the whole paper.
So what exactly is it?

This is my research paper right now:
Everyone around the world has a different definition of happiness, but the media seems to be pushing happiness to be what is known as the “Nuclear Family” or “The American Dream”. The media is pushing us to think that happiness is a family that has at least two kids, in a middle-class suburban home, with a mother and a father, and a large car to drive in. This, is a false pretense. To be happy is not to fuel yourself with the thought of “The Nuclear Family” or “The American Dream”, it is to strive for your own dream. With that said, it is not necessary to have a happy marriage, to be happy. You can be happy being divorced, as long as you’re still reaching for your dreams.
If you live in in an urban setting, you must be a ghetto dweller. If you live in a manufactured home, you must be trailer trash. No, only the middle-class count, everyone else, just seems to be invisible. Single parents, are invisible. People who don’t have, or want kids, are invisible. Single people in general, are invisible, even elders are invisible. Is “The American Dream” really something that is realistic? The “Middle-Class” has completely disappeared, leaving home ownership today, to only the richest of people. The fifties-era is over, the family with the wage earner dad, the stay at home mom , and Dick and Jane, is completely rare. It is quite obvious that people today still strive to have “The Nuclear Family” just to reach what is known
Moran 2
today as happiness, but in reality, “The Nuclear Family” is not happiness, but reaching for your own definition of happiness, not this media invoked nonsense, is (Johnson).
The American Dream, of owning a car, a house, being able to maintain a family of at least two kids, and having a stay at home mom, is almost impossible in today’s economy. There are a growing number of high-wage knowledge jobs and low-wage service jobs, but fewer middle-class manufacturing and office jobs. The American Dream, is indeed continuing to wither away, but we continue to believe it is how we should define happiness (Atkinson). The United States is becoming less of a meritocracy, and becoming more of a class-bound society where economic background matters more than anything else, giving a declining number of people the chance to actually maintain a “Nuclear Family” (Francis).
In the case of divorce, there are some marriages that are completely unhappy, boring, and in some cases, abusive (Rosenblum). To stand the abuse, and the unhappiness, just to try to be happy reaching for the “Nuclear Family” title, is not worth it, people get more hurt then anything in cases like this. Children have to watch parents fight, and in turn, they are stressed out because of the fear of losing their mom or dad. The fear, is sometimes worse then dealing with the parents actually splitting, even though both cases are extremely stressful, one keeps the child or children in a hostile environment, while the other doesn’t. Even though children may feel “torn” from their parents, they are not forced, to live in a belligerent environment, which in the long run could actually help the child (Zinsmeister). Parents who choose the path of the “Good” Divorce manage their own
divorce, and make their own decisions after appropriate advice and counsel. They realize that they are the only true experts on what is best for their family. They seek guidance and direction in order to make informed decisions without relinquishing their control over the process or their responsibility for the actions of their legal representatives and family agents. In this slow process, children learn to cope by getting used to things. The Nuclear Family, would have to deal with the abusive and belligerent environment of a couple who was leaning towards divorce, but chose not to, because of what the media provokes to be “The American Dream” (Wilson).
In what is known to be the “Nuclear Family” a woman who has a desire to have children is compelled to marry and almost certainly lose her job. She sinks to a much lower level of comfort than to which she has been accustomed, since her husband’s income is very likely no larger than that which she was previously earning and has to provide for a family, instead of only a single woman. In this case, many of the luxuries are taken away from the woman, who has to wait on her husband hand and foot (Russel 147).

By the way, I am a 10th grade Pre-AP student. (:

My source: http://www.cnsnew.com/news/article/56572
Read it for yourself. Now, allow me to clarify.

This is yet another case where your government thinks it knows better than you. You don’t have the capability to act smartly or to make decisions on your own. So instead, the government is going to HELP you. You don’t have the common sense to know that a bag of chips has salt, so the government is goind to HELP you.

Vending machine owners, according to the proposed health care bill, will now be required to post nutritional information about each product in their vending machines. Isn’t this wonderful! you say. This can only be good for America, because now we know what we are eating.

Really? You didn’t know what you were eating already? How many times have you actually looked at the nutritional information on the back of a freaking Ding Dong? You mean to tell me that you are REALLY going to walk up to a vending machine with the hankering for a pop-tart, walk up, read that is has nothing healthy in it, and then you are going to walk away? You have to be kidding me!!??

My dear sheep do not be blinded by what is being sold to you as good intentions only to help you.

HERE IS THE CATCH: If you own less than 20 machines, you don’t have to do this. REALLY?! So you mean that if I only own 10 machines, then the Ding-Dongs in my machine are healthier than the Ding Dongs in a maching owned by someone who owns 50? Of course not? They both are just as unhealthy. BUT WAIT A MINUTE?! I thought the purpose of this new rule in the health bill was to SAVE ME from my own destruction! I thought mommey, I mean my government, was going to help me. So why are they letting owners with less than 20 machines get away with this?….

Here’s why….because if you own more than 20 machines, then that implies that you are probably a business owner, which means of course that you are ecil and must be stopped? How dare you waork hard to proved for your family and creat jobs so that others may do the same. Shame on you evil business owner. I bet you have money too evil business ocer. Money to buy fancy boats so the fancy boat makers can feed their families, money to buy a fancy car so the luxury car builders can feed their families. Evil rich buisiness owners. By the way, how many poor people out there create jobs? How many poor people have buisnesses that provide a service? How many of your family members and other loved ones work for a poor person? NOW YOU GET IT? We need rich people! That is the reality. They are the ones that hire us so we can proved a better standard of living for our families. So we can send our children to college! So we can provide a safe home over their heads. I tthank god everyday for rich people.

Back to the vending machines: this rule is an attempt to extors, steal, money from business. This is yet another ATTEMPT BY THE GOVERNMENT TO TAX PEOPLE!! And they are doing it under the DISGUISE OF PROTECTING YOU/ You see, they set the fines just at the right amount so that it is cheaper to pay the fine, then it is to comply with the law. So guess what? The business owners would rather pay the fine then change all of their machines. SO NOW, the government has found another wat to steal money from YOU and ME. Yes, YOU and ME. Because the cost of these fines will be passed down on you and I in the form of highrt prices.If the government was really doing this for YOUR HEALTH, it would make the fine so HIGH that ALL the businesses would want to comple. But the government knows that if all the businesses comply, THEN THE GOVERNMENT GETS NO EXTRA MONEY from fines. So instead, let’s make it an annual requirement to pay the fine, then we’ll have a constant flow of money.

Don’t believe me? Look at cigarettes.

This rule is an outright attack on free enterprise and the American dream.
My novel? Wow…all of that detailed information on our government and that is all you can say. I honestly believe that more of the questions on this webpage should be like this; extremely detailed and informational to the public about current issues. It is questions like these that allow people to become aware and think for themselves. The majority of the questions through here kill me. It is so sad to see what kind of people we have running our nation, voting for our leaders. It is so sick. Kudos to those of you who take this information seriously!
Okkay Happy Kid, good points. Now, my question to you is, If the people just want to see what they are eating is healthy or not, why is our government making it easier for vending machine owners to go with the fine option then the spending more money on posting nutritional information option? Why? Because the government knows that if the owners go with the option of posting nutritional information, the government gets no revenue. By the way the government is not fining the owners for breakiing the law they are giving the owners 2 options. 1) pay the fine or 2) post the nutritional information. Take your pick! But the posting the nutritional information is a lot more expensive…soooo go with paying the fine….its cheaper for you AND I, the government, get $$$$$$$$ out of it.