K D.

Laptop Screen started badly on Sitejabber – they spammed the site in April 2011 with dozens of fake reviews and that annoyed quite a few reviewers. They also had problems with a handful of customers who had less than satisfactory service by the company and made their feelings known.

On the plus side, since this review was originally posted, they have revamped the company systems, organised to deal with negative customer feedback in more supportive way, and have garnered a whole host of (hopefully genuine) positive reviews.

Let's look on this as a win for Sitejabber, but also a win for Laptopscreen.com who have ended up with a better business and a much higher percentage of happy customers. I wish them success.

The lesson to all businesses is – don't spam review sites – the sh*t will hit the fan and take a long time to clear up!

Dubious Online Fashion Clothing - BE CAREFUL!

http://www.efashionclothing.com

Thought I'd wait for a couple of days after the removal of all those fake positive reviews, and give the site owner some time for all those 'minor problems' on this website to be sorted out. Surely that will take just a day or two?
Checked it out today (12th April).

Verisign Secured Logo STILL UP, STILL FAKE
PayPal Verified Logo STILL UP, STILL FAKE
Street Address NOTHING
'Live Support' OFFLINE (Please leave a message, blah, blah blah)
Contact telephone? NONE

If anyone wants to try and find them, this is some of their background info:

Registration Service Provided By: TMDHOSTING
Contact: *******635

Domain Name: EFASHIONCLOTHING.COM

Registrant:
eFashionClothing.Com
Moolchand Tanwar ()
146 Grace Street Apt No 5
Jersey City
New Jersey, *******
US
Tel. *******983

Creation Date: 17-Jun-2010
Expiration Date: 17-Jun-2014

Domain servers in listed order:
ns1.tmdhosting610.com
ns2.tmdhosting610.com

Administrative Contact:
eFashionClothing.Com
Moolchand Tanwar ()
146 Grace Street Apt No 5
Jersey City
New Jersey, *******
US
Tel. *******983

Technical Contact:
eFashionClothing.Com
Moolchand Tanwar ()
146 Grace Street Apt No 5
Jersey City
New Jersey, *******
US
Tel. *******983

Billing Contact:
eFashionClothing.Com
Moolchand Tanwar ()
146 Grace Street Apt No 5
Jersey City
New Jersey, *******
US
Tel. *******983

There is an email contact: *******@gmail.com

Meanwhile, my personal opinion is that you'd have to be crazy to send any money to these guys a wise old farmer said ' If it smells like sh*t, looks like sh*t, and sticks to your boot like sh*t, well boy, chances are it's sh*t.' Agreed.

Action Fraud (http://www.actionfraud.org.uk) is the UK's national fraud reporting centre. The service is run by the National Fraud Authority the UK government agency that helps to co-ordinate the fight against fraud in the UK.

It provides a central point of contact for information about fraud.

The online fraud reporting service is available 24 hours a day, enabling you to report a fraud and find help and support. Action Fraud can also provide help and advice over the phone through the Action Fraud contact centre. You can talk to our fraud specialists by calling *******040.

The web page offers fraud and scam victims
A) A place to report the offence
B) Support, information and links
C) Advice on protection in the future
D) News and warnings about current scams in the UK

This website is the second place to go, immediately after your bank and credit card companies, if you are based in the UK and have been scammed.

Help chase the scammers down make your complaint official!

The Skeptics Dictionary (http://www.skepdic.com) is a fine site giving a rightly sceptical, science based look at a whole host of snake oil merchants, panacea peddlers, bogus 'alternative medicines', dodgy pseudo-scientists, suspect 'religions' and the weird beliefs and claims that plague people on and off the internet, generally with the aim of relieving the victim of their hard-earned cash.

Well worth a look, amusing and thought provoking, it is definitely on the side of the (scientifically unproven) angels in the fight against scumbag scammers.

You don't need to agree with all the conclusions (I personally have had good experiences with acupuncture) but it is worth considering the points (sorry for the acupuncture pun) raised.

18th and 19th Century military equipment and replicas.

Their home page strapline is "Home of the Discriminating General." I doubt if very many real life generals visit the site, but for people who are involved in re-enactments, theatre groups, getting costumes and equipment for films, teaching military history, or who just have a burning desire to find out the actual French commands to load and fire a musket at the battle of Waterloo, this is the place to go. No doubt some people just like dressing up in the privacy of their own rooms ('Not tonight, Josephine…'), but we won't go there.

For your musket, fife and drum, check out www.militaryheritage.com

If you really ARE interested in French musket drill (!) go to:

http://www.militaryheritage.com/loading1777frenchmusket.htm

They will even sell you the musket for a mere $499 (bayonets extra). Equipping a new Imperial army for another march on Moscow will be a pricey enterprise.

Check out the credit card fraud article!

Why I'm recommending it is they have put up an article about an American credit card thief and scammer who was caught then did a deal to work for the U S Secret Service fighting against his former associates.

Link to the article:

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/secrets-former-credit-card-thief-dan-defelippi-1282.php

If you or your family use credit cards it's worth a read.

Creditcards.com is a credit card comparison site if you need a credit card it's worth a look, but if you're in the UK I'd also go to moneysavingexpert.com for a second opinion. Maybe someone could recommend the best US consumer finance comparison site?

BE CAREFUL another reviewer (Sarah P) says this site passed on her address to spammers. It might be wise not to put in personal details.

If you are looking for credit card comparisons, skim the site for information and then go direct to the best provider and ask for the same deal.

International Anti Internet Fraud Group - Four Stars

Good forums, good news feeds, good advice pages – very interesting. Also has an international team, working with different languages, attacking internet fraud and scammers around the world. They look like good people... Worth checking out.

http://www.fraudwatchers.org

This is the USA equivalent of the UK national Action Fraud organization. If you are based in the USA and have been scammed online contact these guys (http://www.ic3.gov) after contacting your bank and credit card company. Chase the scammers down good luck!

The site explains how to file a complaint, preserve evidence and gives advice on future protection.

Their own explanation of ic3 follows:

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) was established as a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) to serve as a means to receive Internet related criminal complaints and to further research, develop, and refer the criminal complaints to federal, state, local, or international law enforcement and/or regulatory agencies for any investigation they deem to be appropriate. The IC3 was intended, and continues to emphasize, serving the broader law enforcement community to include federal, as well as state, local, and international agencies, which are combating Internet crime and, in many cases, participating in Cyber Crime Task Forces.
Since its inception, the IC3 has received complaints crossing the spectrum of cyber crime matters, to include online fraud in its many forms including Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) matters, Computer Intrusions (hacking), Economic Espionage (Theft of Trade Secrets), Online Extortion, International Money Laundering, Identity Theft, and a growing list of Internet facilitated crimes. Since June 2000, it has become increasingly evident that, regardless of the label placed on a cyber crime matter, the potential for it to overlap with another referred matter is substantial. Therefore, the IC3, formerly known as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (Internet Fraud Complaint Center), was renamed in October 2003 to better reflect the broad character of such matters having an Internet, or cyber, nexus referred to the IC3, and to minimize the need for one to distinguish "Internet Fraud" from other potentially overlapping cyber crimes.
IC3 Mission Statement
IC3's mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local, and international level, IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes.
Significant and supplemental to partnering with law enforcement and regulatory agencies, it will remain a priority objective of the IC3 to establish effective alliances with industry. Such alliances will enable the IC3 to leverage both intelligence and subject matter expert resources, pivotal in identifying and in crafting an aggressive, proactive approach to combating cyber crime.

In the UK, for similar support, contact http://www.actionfraud.org.uk

If the letters 'CIA' give you a frisson of excitement, a shiver of guilt, a glow of pride, or make you just plain curious as to what the American taxpayers have spent billions of dollars to achieve, try visiting the CIA website.

For international students, academics and business people the World Factbook pages provide succinct country surveys - a very decent briefing on the history, geography, economy and politics of where you are planning to go.

For historians of spookology there is a write up of the history of Langley – I would guess at just a little whitewash being added? There are lists of unclassified / declassified documents and a variety of 'studies in intelligence' papers. The CIA Museum tour is only available online. For some reason they don't let the public into the actual building (!)

For those American citizens who feel that the world will only be safe if they step into the breach and give a hand to save civilisation, apple pie and the American Way, there are contact details of how to apply for a job. Fascinating.

Easy to use book catalogue site http://www.librarything.com that matches your collection and interests against those of another 1.2 million book lovers. Great site for getting recommendations and checking out feedback on new books before you buy. If you admit to being one of those people like me who eye up the books on other people's shelves at parties, this will be irresistible. Also can get you in touch with real experts in their fields if you are researching anything in depth. Lots of forums on areas of interest. Great idea and well laid out. Basic membership free (list up to 200 titles). Annual membership $10 or lifetime for $25. I joined as a life member and after two years feel it's worth the money.

If you know the name / city / or other details of someone and they are listed on any of the main directories or social network sites www.pipl.com will be one of your best search resources for finding them. Check what Pipl has on you - it can be a bit scary! It might help suggest to people they should be a bit more cautious on what information they put out on the net.

Scambuster Weekly Newsletter Free!

Set up by two dedicated American anti-scammers, Audri and Jim Lanford, www.scambusters.org issues a weekly newsletter on internet fraud and other scams targeting modern consumers. At the time of writing (March 2011) they are on issue number 140. Subscription is FREE. It is more general information and advice than Site Jabber, which obviously focuses on individual websites. However, I think most Site Jabber readers would be interested.

Scambuster.org gives links to various news stories on consumer fraud, rundowns on how frauds are set up, updates and advice on common scams and frauds.
The website is pretty well laid out and the links are clear and easy to find.
Run by a very small team, it is funded by click through ads, special offers and donations - can't blame them for that – it's expensive to run a big site and even a small team costs money to work full time. (Site Jabber has a cleaner, better designed website in my opinion – but does not have the clutter of ads as it has external funding.)

Scambusters have been featured in a whole host of media. (See http://www.scambusters.org/press.html)

Like Site Jabber, Scambusters shows how just a team of a few good people can help make a difference in the fight against internet crime and other frauds. Kudos.

Four stars.

Auto Used Car PLC SCAM CAR TRADER WARNING

http://autousedcar.co.uk
Bad smell? Something fishy on the Isle of Man? Maybe it's Auto Used Car PLC?

Quick web search:

Trustworthiness rank is -1 (minus 1) In comparison, Site Jabber is plus 90. Big warning!

Domain name:
autousedcar.co.uk

Registrant:
Jane denyer

Registrant type:
Unknown

Registrant's address:
Cirencester road
Cheltenham
GL53 8DB
United Kingdom

Registered through:
GoDaddy.com, Inc.
URL: http://www.godaddy.com

Registrar:
Key-Systems GmbH [Tag = KEY-SYSTEMS-DE]
URL: http://www.Key-Systems.net

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 23-Feb-2011
Renewal date: 23-Feb-2013
Last updated: 23-Feb-2011

Registration status:
Registered until renewal date.

Name servers:
ns67.domaincontrol.com
ns68.domaincontrol.com

www.autousedcar.co.uk seems to be almost identical to scam car sales website Ioofmausedcar.com which was identified by many Site Jabber reviews and has since been removed. (Check the Site Jabber reviews on ioofmausedcar.com)

Same hype, same explanation of how they buy and sell 'reposessed'cars at amazing prices. Same reluctance to allow you to inspect the vehicles. Same demand that you transfer cash direct…

Also, here, they are claiming to be a PLC (Publicly Limited Company). Now, getting PLC status is quite difficult – and I suspect falsely claiming PLC status may be breaking even more trading laws than just stealing money from gullible customers.

Hopefully the police and trading standards will take an even closer interest in these people.

Now, can I find any reference to a PLC called 'Auto Used Car PLC'? No? How odd!
Google their address – only one hit – which comes back to their brand new website. Strange.

Google map the address – go to satellite – no sign of a large used car operation. Stranger.

Look at Site Jabber reviews – an onslaught of fantastic reviews – mostly on the same day, and just a couple of weeks since the website domain was purchased. Truly amazing! (They have someone working for them who knows how to work Google SEO ranking system so they are not all dummies)

Just for fun I took a paragraph from their 'about us' page and flew it through www.plagium.com What a surprise – six hits, ALL FROM SCAM AUTO TRADERS. Now, isn't that a coincidence?

People, the smell of bad fish from this bunch is so strong, I'd gag if I got any closer.

Best advice – avoid like the plague. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Yahoo Email Problem Feb 2011

Actually I'm just reviewing yahoo email not the whole of Yahoo... Suddenly (Feb 2011) my contact list does not auto insert on my email address lines and it is VERY frustrating.

Have been a happy Yahoo user (don't like the Gmail layout and there was too much spam on Hotmail) for many years but this glitch has now happened a couple of times and each time is taking longer and longer to sort out. Once it was out for two days – this time it's been five days. From searching on the internet the problem has hit many users.

Some people have guessed it was Yahoo trying to drive people to the 'New Yahoo Mail', (which for me is much slower than the current version) but the auto address insert doesn't work on that, either. Yahoo 'Classic' doesn't work, either. Grrr.

It does seem churlish to rant about a service that is free, but decent email is available from many sources and I fear Yahoo are going to lose a lot of customers unless they sort this out quickly.

Are you or your kids studying languages? This is a free-of-charge major language learning site supported by Collins (the dictionary company) and POM, a large academic text book publisher. The Busuu website (http://www.busuu.com) is well organised and you can sign up to study English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian. From the drop down list it appears that they will soon offer other languages as well. At the free site you can sign up for one or more languages and get access to free online lessons at a selection of levels from beginners to advanced with audio and video support.

Different free areas offer vocabulary, general learning, meet people, join discussion groups, carry out writing exercises, test your pronunciation and test your skills.
The site also offers a contact / friends facility where native speakers can mark and comment on your exercises you can do the same in return for your native language. Being internet cautious I would advise against (especially kids) giving out any personal details (full name, location, address, email, phone, school, etc) but it does genuinely seem to be able to match up language students with each other as mutual support.

They also offer a premium package (Euro 65 / US$ 90 for 12 months) which gives you more audio, more video, preferential marking on writing exercises, access to grammar support etc. Compared to the cost of personal tutoring this seems like a bargain, as long as you use the facilities it offers.

Meanwhile the free site by itself is a great facility, especially for students who like to work alone and go at their own pace. Two thumbs up!

Military Equipment Recognition Defence Information Database

For frontline serving men and women in the armed forces recognition of enemy equipment as well as friendly kit is an essential skill are those enemy vehicles (if so, what type, what armament, how many, what direction) or are they 'friendly'? Correct identification and reporting can save lives yours and those of 'friendly' units.

During the first Gulf War gung-ho American A10 pilots managed to kill 11 US Marines and and 9 British soldiers in two separate 'blue on blue / friendly fire' incidents. Sadly, similar incidents have continued to occur in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite improved IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) electronics and communication networks. Better basic recognition skills might have helped prevent all these tragedies.

www.armyrecognition.com offers an extensive database of all the main NATO, Russian / Soviet and Chinese kit that most armed forces personnel are likely to come across. There are data sheets and descriptions on each piece of equipment, and a good selection of photos.

The website covers recent defence equipment news, trade shows and has up to date information on the defence forces and equipment of most countries. A lot of the African information is in French, but the NATO codes are usually standard and it is fairly easy to decipher even if your French isn't fluent.

Good for recognition training purposes and for information briefings.

Interesting website if you need this sort of stuff.

http://www.armyrecognition.com

Free UK Telephone Cold Call Opt Out Service

If you are in the UK contact the Telephone Preference Service, a free of charge government supported service (http://www.tpsonline.org.uk) and list your landline and mobile numbers for free. It takes up to a couple of weeks to work but is then usually very effective. All UK telephone marketing companies including charities and political parties have to adhere to the TPS database requirements or they will be heavily fined.

It might not stop calls coming in from overseas (not too sure what you can do about those), and it doesn't stop text messages to your mobile/cell phone – contact your service provider direct to stop those.

Good system, works well – don't get conned into paying any money for a rip-off site that just forward your details to the TPS. The TPS is FREE

Ouch! My wife has hurt her back. The doctor says it's not quite a slipped disk, but if she isn't careful it could get worse. She can't sit down on an ordinary chair, and she can't stay in one position for more than about five minutes. Laying flat on her back on the floor gets boring and eating meals standing up is no fun.

We tried a 'kneeling chair' and that helped a little. Then the physiotherapist lent her a 'saddle chair' which is even better. Apparently they are much loved by dentists, hair dressers and beauty therapists. Basic ones are available on Amazon from about £50 / $75.

Bambach (www.bambach.co.uk) offer the Rolls-Royce version of the saddle chairs with a variety of specially tailored features depending on the type of back problem you have. Downside is that they cost ten times as much as the basic ones on Amazon.

However, if you are facing a life time of back problems, and the investment could help you continue to work, it might be worth a look.

Laptop Screen aka Screencountry started badly on Sitejabber – they spammed the site in April 2011 with dozens of fake reviews and that annoyed quite a few reviewers. They also had problems with a handful of customers who had less than satisfactory service by the company and made their feelings known.

On the plus side, since this review was originally posted, they have revamped the company systems, organised to deal with negative customer feedback in more supportive way, and have garnered a whole host of (hopefully genuine) positive reviews.

Let's look on this as a win for Sitejabber, but also a win for Laptopscreen.com / Screencountry who have ended up with a better business and a much higher percentage of happy customers. I wish them success.

The lesson to all businesses is – don't spam review sites – the sh*t will hit the fan and take a long time to clear up!

UK Book Club – Remainders / Bargains

If you are addicted to books, you've probably subscribed to various book clubs at some point in your life. They hook you in with a great deal and then you have to spend the next several years choosing at least one book a month or one book a quarter from a list that soon starts to get less and less appetising. Eventually, you summon up the energy to write and cancel your account, but they then pursue you until you die with junk mail letters trying to suck you back in - argh!

PSBooks (aka Post Script Books) has no contract. They simply sell overstocked books and remainders. Most of their prices are pretty good – and you pay just one shipping charge of £2.95 per order (in the UK). They also ship worldwide but charge a per volume rate.

Sometimes you can equal their prices for new books on Amazon, but that usually means multiple shipping charges from different booksellers, so PSBooks is often the cheapest solution if you are buying more than one title. That's dependent of course, of you wanting to buy the titles on their list.

They obviously cannot compete with the fabulous prices you can get on Amazon for second hand books in good condition.

Their list is wide and eclectic – history, art, music, natural history, science, travel, reference, crafts, hobbies, religion – usually something of interest at a price that is tempting.

www.psbooks.co.uk

Worth a look.