An Eclectic Mind

A few maintenance tasks completed.

If you’re a subscriber to one or more of the RSS feeds available for this site — including e-mail subscriptions via FeedBurner — you should be aware of a few changes I just made.

• Blog Name and Description. I finally figured out how to update the blog name and subscription for my main feed. For as long as I can remember, it was using the old “The official Web site…” name and tag, which I dumped over a year ago. I tweaked a FeedBurner setting to customize it. You should now see the blog name, An Eclectic Mind, and current tagline.
• Deleted feeds. I just deleted to category-based feeds from my FeedBurner setup. Maria Langer | Flying and Maria on Blogging have been removed. There were very few subscribers to each of those feeds and I didn’t think they were worth keeping on my FeedBurner account. I’m trying to simplify many aspects of my life these days and that’s just some of the minutia involved. Category feeds are still available, although I won’t be emphasizing them much in upcoming changes to my blog.
• Deleted e-mail subscribers. If you attempted to subscribe to my feed via e-mail but never got an e-mail message with content, it’s probably because you never responded to the confirmation message that was sent to you from FeedBurner. There were a bunch of you in the list. Since I maintain a “no spam” policy, I didn’t think it was appropriate to send an e-mail message to remind you. If you subscribe to this blog’s content via e-mail, please remember to complete the verification process. Again, e-mail subscriptions are guaranteed spam free and are the most convenient way to get new content delivered to you when it’s available with no more than one message a day. Want to subscribe by e-mail? Click here. You can always unsubscribe when you get tired of reading me.

If you have absolutely no clue what I’m talking about, you need to read this: Feed 101.

BLog Technicalities, Call Me a Geek e-mail, FeedBurner, RSS

Will it ever end?

I need to start by mentioning that I have so much spam protection set up for my e-mail accounts that I get a total of less than 30 unsolicited e-mail messages a day — on 10 e-mail accounts. I think that’s pretty damn good, considering what’s going on out there.

Yet today, I got TWO scam messages before I started my day’s work. I want to take a moment to mention them because I want to help educate people about how scammers are trying to separate unsuspecting people from their money.

I’ll pay you $8000 with my credit card and you give me $4,820 in cash.

The first was a repeat of a scam that I first experienced in May 2007. I wrote about it here. This is a twist on the old scam where you’re selling something and a buyer wants to use a certified check to overpay you and get the excess cash to “an agent” for some other purpose. In my case, what I was selling was helicopter tour services. The “client” was from Germany, planning a vacation in the area, and wanted to prepay for tours around the area for his family. The first time I saw this scam, I got sucked in a bit — until the prepay part, which included money forwarded to a “logistic agent.” Alarm bells went off. You can read all the messages and my accompanying thoughts in the post I linked to above. I highly recommend this post for anyone selling any high-ticket items — goods or services — on the Web.

Today’s message sounded familiar when I read it. A search through my blog using the word “scam” brought it up to refresh my memory. A comparison between today’s e-mail message and the May 2007 message resulted in many identical words and phrases — even the 95-lb weight of the 16-year-old son.

I replied with a link to the post, using TinyURL to mask the URL:

You might want to read the following for more information about how we handle reservations like this:

http://tinyurl.com/5tcryd

Busted!

For security reasons we have sent you this message as an attachment file.

If that doesn’t send off bells and whistles, you deserve to be scammed. The e-mail message in question was supposedly from Barclay’s Bank. I don’t have an account there, so there was no chance that I was going to open the attachment.

The attachment was an innocent-looking HTML file. It could have contained any kind of malicious code or links to a site that would install malware. It could have simply prompted me to enter my Barclay’s account information, which it would then forward to the scammers so they could suck money out of my account.

This might seem simple to everyone — don’t open an attachment. But if you have a Barclay’s account, and the message says the attachment is part of a new security program, and you’re gullible, you might just open it.

Don’t. Open. Any. Attachments. In. Messages. Unless. You. Know. They’re. Safe.

Days in My Life advice, e-mail, fraud

Today’s crop of e-mail messages illustrate how bothersome people can be.

I get about 10-20 unsolicited non-spam e-mail messages today. These are e-mail messages from people I don’t know.

One of the reasons that number is so low is because I actively discourage people from contacting me for help. While this may turn some people off, it’s the only way I can limit e-mail so I get work done.

But today’s inbox included three examples of e-mail messages I try to avoid. They’re either nasty or they’re trying to pull me into a discussion I’m not interested in being a part of.

Mass Times?

The first e-mail came from the reader of a web site I maintain with information about my town. The site’s called wickenburg-az.com and it’s full of content submitted by contributors to the site. It’s not funded by anyone, although we occasionally do get a donation to help cover hosting costs. It’s also not designed to provide every piece of information anyone could want to know about the town. The town is small, but it would take a full time staff of at least 20 people to manage that kind of information.

I’m not sure, but I think person who sent the e-mail message read a post I’d written back in 2006 about St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. It’s a beautiful little church in downtown Wickenburg. I’m not a religious person, but I do appreciate good architecture and the main gist of this short piece was to show a nice photo of the church.

Or he may have read another post called “Churches in Wickenburg,” also from 2006, that the Webmaster used to list the names and phone numbers of all the churches in town.

In any case, his nasty message was as follows:

I’ll bet many Wickenburg visitors are forced to phone you to find out the mass times. Why should this be so?

It is NOT difficult to put this info on your home page and it would certainly be a service to visitors.

If you want to use the internet, use it to your advantage.

First of all, no one phones me about Wickenburg, mostly because my phone number is not listed online or in the phone book. And besides, wouldn’t it be easier to call the church in question than to call me? And does he really think I’m going to put church service times on my site’s home page?

Also, many — but not all — people who use the Contact Us link to contact us can read where it clearly says:

All of the information we have about Wickenburg, its businesses, and its events are included on this Web site. We do not have any additional information that we can send out to site visitors.

The people who can read and comprehend this realize that they’d be wasting their time asking me for more information. The ones who can’t read or comprehend it really do waste their time because I simply delete their messages without a response.

But the ones who are nasty to me, get a nasty response. Here’s what this jerk got today:

What are you talking about? No one calls me for “mass times.” I don’t even know what you’re referring to.

And if YOU want to use the Internet, I suggest you stop being so rude to people providing FREE services.

He may think that for some reason I care whether he visits the site. If so, he’s wrong. I really don’t care. The site’s a labor of love and it’s not for people who don’t appreciate the effort that goes into it — people like him.

And is it me or is this just another example of the hypocrisy of these “Christian” types? If they’re so good, then why are they so nasty? What would Jesus say?

Premiere Operator?

The next guy wasn’t so bad, but there was something in the tone of his message that got under my skin. Maybe I was already revved up by the churchgoer referred to above.

This was in reference to the Robbie book I’m distributing in North America for its Australia-based author. I did a mass mailing of postcards to Robinson owners that has resulted in a few orders and general interest in the book.

I received a postcard offering for sale your book “Robbie” which I’d like to order. I reviewed your web site for companies you photographed and noticed the premier remote Robinson R44 flying company, “XXX Aviation”, wasn’t on the list. Is that the case or is it actually part of the book?

I XXXed out the name of the company here because I didn’t want to embarrass anyone. I’d never heard of the company and have no clue where it’s based. I know that the author of the book tried to visit as many Robinson operators as he could but many operators simply told him they weren’t interested in being included.

I think it was the word “premier” that hit a sore spot with me. It was almost as if he were saying, your book can’t be very good if you left out the best company out there.

I responded as follows:

First of all, the book isn’t ours. It’s a publication of Eye in the Sky Productions in Australia. Flying M Productions is the North American distributor and has no control over content.

To my knowledge, the only companies included in the book are the ones listed on our site. They’re the same ones listed on the author’s and publisher’s sites.

I know from discussions with Jon Davison that there were MANY Robinson operators that turned down his offer to be included in the book. Perhaps XXX was one of them? This is something Jon could answer for you, if you need to know. He can be contacted through his Web site, http://eyeinthesky.com.au/

Hope that didn’t come off as nasty.

Loved Your Book; Can You Help Me?

The next message followed the tried-and-true formula so many readers use to contact me for help and advice. The first sentence or paragraph tells me how much they liked one of my books. The next sentence or paragraph is their plea for help.

Here’s today’s catch:

First, I have read your great book on Wordpress, and I just want to thank you for a job well done.

My question: I was thinking about creating a site similar to yours for my town in NY where I live. I would like to know your opinion about it, and whether it’s possible to make money out of it.

In defense of this person, he used the contact form on wickenburg-az.com instead of the one on this site. The one on this site basically tells people that I don’t provide support or advice via e-mail or any other method. Instead, I provide Q&A posts for each book that’s still in print and ask them to comment there. This way, their question and my response can be read by others who might have the same question.

In this case, the book in question is 2-1/2 years old and covers WordPress 2.0. I’m pretty sure it’s out of print, since we decided not to revise it for WordPress 2.5. WordPress is now up to version 2.6, with 2.7 due out shortly. Since 2.5, I’ve been doing video courses about WordPress for Lynda.com.

To be fair, his question wasn’t about WordPress. He wanted to know if I make money on wickenburg-az.com. While I realize that’s not exactly what he asked, reading between the lines results in that question.

First of all, I don’t. Second, it’s none of his business. Third, I know from experience that a response would only start a dialog that I have no desire to participate in.

But I responded anyway:

Thanks for the kind words about my book. In answer to your question, no.

I’m a Bitch and I Know It

I know I can really be a bitch sometimes. It’s one of my shortcomings. It has to do with my complete lack of patience. That’s likely because I was born and raised in the New York City area, where we learn from a young age not to tolerate bullshit.

In fact, during a job performance review, I was once complemented on my failure to tolerate bullshit — using that exact word. My boss said something like, “What I like about you is that you don’t take bullshit from anyone. That’s good.” In the real world business of finance, accounting, and auditing, it is a good trait to have.

Elsewhere, it’s kind of limiting.

I do like to help people, but it irks me to no end when you provide a service for free and people have the nerve to complain about it — especially in a nasty way. This is something that bloggers deal with all too often. It just reminds me that there are people out there who would look a gift horse in the mouth (so to speak) and still complain bitterly if the horse’s teeth had gold fillings but one tooth was missing.

People also need to realize that I simply don’t have time to enter into one-on-one e-mail advice sessions with anyone who happens to have read one of my 72 books. Let’s be real, folks. The purchase of one of my books does not entitle anyone to free, unlimited advice and support for the rest of my life. I’ve written about readers who just don’t get it here and here. And I’ll likely write about it again in the future.

Comments? Keep it civil.

Days in My Life e-mail, religion, support

Another foreigner attempts to separate me from large sums of money.

It’s unfortunate but true that the Internet is being used by con artists. Here’s my most recent experience.

The Hook

It started with a query using the form on the Flying M Air web site:

My name is [omitted], I want to book for an Helicopter /flight charter for my family because,during our stays in your your state,we will be going on tours around the town.

These are information for our Booking,
Preferred Date of Tour: 10th,11th,12th, and 13th July 2007 (4days)
Time: 1hr in a day.
Passengers: 4
1. MR. MR. [omitted] ——-weigh 130pounds
2.MRS [omitted]{My Wife} weigh 120pounds
3.[omitted] 16 yrs}weigh 95pounds
4.[omitted] 13yrs } 80pounds
Mode of Payment: Credit Card(Visa Card).

I want you to give me the total expensis for the 4days tour at 1hr per day.
I hope that you accept credit card payment.

It looked legitimate enough. The English was dismal, but that’s to be expected from someone whose first language isn’t English.

I didn’t read the message very closely because my helicopter seats only 3 passengers so I couldn’t accommodate his party. (If I had read closely, I would have wondered a bit about his 16-year old son weighing only 95 lbs.)

I replied as follows:

Unfortunately, we can take a maximum of only 3 passengers. You can try the following other companies, which both have larger helicopters:

Gold Coast: 623-935-3388
WestCor: 480-991-6558

If you call either one, please tell them Maria sent you.

Good luck!

I figured that would be the end of our exchange. But I was wrong. The next day, I got this message:

I want you to indicate the price for the 3 pers. one of us will be staying back each day.

This was a bit weird, almost as if he was willing to leave a member of his family behind just to use my services. But I reasoned it out. He may have contacted the other companies (or planned to) and wanted to work up pricing to be better informed about his options.

I replied:

For flights out of the Phoenix area, our rate is $795 for the first hour and $450 for each additional hour that same day. That covers up to three people with a maximum passenger weight of 650 pounds (290 kilos). There is a one hour minimum flight time for all flights out of the Phoenix area. The Phoenix area includes departures from Scottsdale, Deer Valley, Glendale, and Sky Harbor Airports.

We can fly throughout the Phoenix area and to places like the Grand Canyon, Sedona, etc. We cannot fly OVER the Grand Canyon — we do not have a permit to do that — but we can make arrangements with a company at the Grand Canyon for you to do that flight if you like. Prices start at about $175/person for canyon overflights. There are also a few restricted areas within Arizona where we can’t fly, mostly to the south.

We need at least 48 hours advance notice for all flights booked during the summer months. We accept payment by cash, MasterCard, or Visa, but we must have a credit card deposit to book flights.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

The Line

His response came almost immediately:

Thanks for your kind response, i would like to inform you that i have concluded arrangement with hotel/logistic agent that will book hotel and other take care of other service that will be requested from my family during the stay in the state.

I will send you credit card to deduct the total charges of your service and my logistic agent, because i don’t want to share the details with a third party,beside the agent runs a private and does not have a credit card facilities to runs his full payment.

So once you are in receipt of credit card,you will charge the amount of ($8000) then you deduct the cost of your service ($3180(for four days) and send the balance of ($4820) to my logistic agent whose information will be forwarded to you once you charge the credit card.

I am also aware that there will be charges for the credit card, i want you to mention the figure so that i will include it on the total amount that will be charged from my credit card.

I want you to confirm this and get back to me with your name, mobile number and address for my personal documentation.

The alarm bells went off in my head. Back in 2004, when I sold my old helicopter, someone had tried a similar scam. They’d offer to pay you more than they owed you for an item you had for sale (in my case, an R22 helicopter listed for $110,000) using a certified check. The additional amount was to be forwarded in cash to an “agent” somewhere in the U.S. (In my case, it was $12,000 for shipping fees.) Once the agent had the money, the check would somehow bounce and you’d be out the extra cash. Of course, all correspondence would be via e-mail and fax. I’m not quite sure how the cash was to be handed over because it never got that far.

In my case, I insisted on using an escrow agent, which would cost me an additional $500. (Worth every penny.) The R22 “buyer” — who was willing to pay $105K for the ship, sight unseen — kept ignoring my requests to contact the escrow agent. He finally stopped our correspondence and I knew a scam had been attempted.

Someone else I knew fell for a similar scam when selling an RV and lost $2,000.

The Sinker

I knew this was a scam. How many people tell you to charge their credit card for a trip when all you asked for was a deposit? We hadn’t booked anything, I hadn’t given him any total prices, I hadn’t even asked for a deposit. But he was telling me to charge his credit card for $8,000.

But I had to play it cool, just on the off chance that it wasn’t a scam. So I replied:

I didn’t mention anything about prepayment. All I need is a deposit. And I don’t take deposits until I have reservations booked. You did not make any reservations.

I don’t charge credit cards for more than the amount of my services. And I don’t pay “agents” from money collected by check or credit card. That’s a popular internet con that I’ve seen in the past. (I didn’t fall for it then, either.)

If you want to book a flight, let me know the details so I can draw up a contract. I will fax it to you for your signature and credit card information for the deposit. You can then mail or fax it back to me with the address I provide on the contract form.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

And, as you can imagine, I never heard from this character again.

Don’t Be Conned

If someone contacts you via e-mail to offer you something that’s too good to be true, it just isn’t true.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t sell any large ticket item to someone you haven’t met personally without using an escrow agent.

Days in My Life, Flying e-mail, Flying, fraud