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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / March 2007NEW WARNING FOR CAT-OWNERS (not! -> JOKE)
I want to alert you all to atpotential terrible scam I have come across (along with a disturbing revelation about Ketzl.) Today Ketzl got an e-mail (seriously! It was addressed to him) from Chase Bank alerting him to the probability that his account at Chase had been compromised! (I didn't even know he had an account at Chase.) It instructed him to follow a web link and having done so, to reenter all his personal information: his Name, ID, PIN, Account number and Password; otherwise they would have to "freeze his account" and he wouldn't have access to his money. This is very disturbing. I knew about his account at Charles Schwab, but not his Chase account. Do you think he's holding out on me? Beware: your charming fuzzy felines may be doing the same!!  SignatureJoey DoWop Dee Remember: It is To Laugh >I want to alert you all to atpotential terrible scam I have come across >(along with a disturbing revelation about Ketzl.) >Today Ketzl got an e-mail (seriously! It was addressed to him) from Chase >Bank alerting him to the probability that his account at Chase had been >compromised! >(I didn't even know he had an account at Chase.) >It instructed him to follow a web link and having done so, to reenter all his >personal information: his Name, ID, PIN, Account number and Password; >otherwise they would have to "freeze his account" and he wouldn't have access >to his money. >This is very disturbing. >I knew about his account at Charles Schwab, but not his Chase account. >Do you think he's holding out on me? >Beware: your charming fuzzy felines may be doing the same!! Top Ten Signs Your Cat Has Learned Your Internet Password 10. E-Mail flames from some guy named "Fluffy." 9. Traces of kitty litter in your keyboard. 8. You find you've been subscribed to strange newsgroups like alt.drugs.recreational.catnip. 7. Your web browser has a new home page: http://www.feline.com/. 6. Your mouse has teeth marks in it ... and a strange aroma of tuna. 5. Hate-mail messages to Apple Computer Corp. about their release of "CyberDog." 4. Your new ergonomic keyboard has a strange territorial scent to it. 3. You keep finding new software around your house like CatinTax and WarCat II. 2. On IRC you're known as the IronMouser. ... and the Number 1 sign that Your Cat Has Learned Your Internet Password ... 1. There are little kitty carpal-tunnel braces near the scratching post. In rec.pets.cats.anecdotes AZ Nomad <aznomad.2@premoveobthisox.com> wrote: > Top Ten Signs Your Cat Has > Learned Your Internet Password This cracks me up. Internet password?? :) > 9. Traces of kitty litter in your keyboard. Hey, it has every other kind of substance in there, including plenty of cat hair and probably kitty litter, too. Joyce >In rec.pets.cats.anecdotes AZ Nomad <aznomad.2@premoveobthisox.com> wrote: > > Top Ten Signs Your Cat Has > > Learned Your Internet Password >This cracks me up. Internet password?? :) It was written back in the days before fulltime connections when people typically entered a password to dial in and connect to the internet. > > 9. Traces of kitty litter in your keyboard. >Hey, it has every other kind of substance in there, including plenty of >cat hair and probably kitty litter, too. There should be something in there about swating at screensavers. >> I want to alert you all to atpotential terrible scam I have come across >> (along with a disturbing revelation about Ketzl.) [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > > 1. There are little kitty carpal-tunnel braces near the scratching post. LOL! I wish I had seen these earlier. SignatureJoey DoWop Dee Remember: It is To Laugh > I want to alert you all to atpotential terrible scam I have come across > (along with a disturbing revelation about Ketzl.) > Today Ketzl got an e-mail (seriously! It was addressed to him) from Chase > Bank alerting him to the probability that his account at Chase had been > compromised! > (I didn't even know he had an account at Chase.) > It instructed him to follow a web link and having done so, to reenter all his > personal information: his Name, ID, PIN, Account number and Password; > otherwise they would have to "freeze his account" and he wouldn't have > access to his money. > This is very disturbing. That is disturbing, and not because Ketzl might be up to something! :-/ Hey, did anyone (in the US) hear the Fresh Air program yesterday on NPR, about how credit card companies try to get extra money from people by doing stuff like deliberately shifting your due date around to confuse you so you'll be late paying, and have to pay late fees? Not to mention totally incomprehensible contract agreements that completely mislead customers. The woman being interviewed was saying that in one of her classes (at Harvard Law School), everyone in the room spent a full hour trying (together - a collective effort here) to decipher the contract agreements for a typical credit card, and they weren't sure about most of it. There's no hope for the average person to understand it! So they offer you this great deal with low interest rates, but you don't really get it because of this clause and that penalty, which is all right there in the fine print if only you'd read it. Also, credit card companies *love* people who maintain a balance and pay the minimum due. (I already knew that.) But they also love people who are chronically late for payments - that, I didn't realize. I've always had bad habits around bill organization and timely payments. (This has changed now because I have everything on autopay.) Anyway, I always thought this history would make it hard for me to get cards, when in fact, I'm the ideal customer. No wonder I get solicitations almost every day. This also explains why, on one of my cards, you only get two choices for the amount to have deducted on autopay: I can have them deduct the entire amount due each month, or I can have them deduct the minimun due. I can't afford to pay off the entire amount (this is back debt - I'm not charging anything new on that card), so I have to pay the minimum. Paying the minimum is *terrible*. Ever look at your statement? It'll say something like Finance charge: $37.00 Minumum due: $46.00 (Note: these two pieces of information are *never* near each other.) So if you pay the $46, you've just paid off a whopping $9 on the balance! Anyway, I asked them why I couldn't just pick an amount I wanted them to deduct, say, $200 a month? "We just don't do it that way, that's not our policy." Now I understand why. Like me, most people can't afford to pay off the entire balance, so they pick the only other available option, which is the horrible minimun due. Another thing the woman on the program said was that if you charged $5000 on your card, and then just paid the minimum due every month and didn't charge anything else, it would take *thirty four years* to pay it off!! (And you would have paid a lot more than $5000.) This might be old news to some of you, but I've always been a bit challenged around money issues. It's weird, because I have a math degree with honors, but I'm not great at simple arithmetic, and money calculations just confound me. So this radio program was a bit of a revelation to me. I always thought it was completely my fault that my bills were always so screwed up. And I do admit it was at least partly my fault, because I've always been so disorganized about it. Now I realize that the credit card companies were all too happy to exploit my bad habits and help me stumble over them so they could collect extra late fees and interest. GRRR! Joyce > That is disturbing, and not because Ketzl might be up to something! :-/ > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > totally incomprehensible contract agreements that completely mislead > customers. Charlie and I have been around a few times arguing about this. We ended up with a Discover Card because of his tendency to say "sure" when someone calls on the phone. Wouldn't want to be rude or anything. It got past my usual put that crap into the trash routine. I found out rather quickly that they mailed the statement so far past the cutoff date and so close the due date that you had precious little time to get any payment to them by return mail. Quit using that one pretty quick and instructed him again on how to hang up the phone. Told him it was in the bill of rights that you are allowed to hang up on people you don't know that you don't want to talk to. As for automatic pay, I don't like to give the companies I do business with the right to take money out of my bank account. I do like automatic payments but I use my banks bill pay system. I have two credit cards and rather than risk waiting too long to pay the full amount every month, I have the bank scheduled to make a payment that will be more than the minimum well before the due date. Example if MasterCard minimum is $20 a month and due on the 15th, I'll have an automatic payment of $30 set up for the 5th. So if I overshoot the 15th in paying in full, I won't get a late fee. If I'm sick or on vacation the bills will mostly get paid. Jo <snip> > This also explains why, on one of my cards, you only get two choices for > the amount to have deducted on autopay: I can have them deduct the entire [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > off the entire balance, so they pick the only other available option, > which is the horrible minimun due. Thats rubbish. Well, at least here in Australia anyway. You can opt to transfer just as much money as you like to the card. *You* might have to set up the direct payment, rather than *them* setting up a direct deduction, but they can't refuse the extra money. We have two numbers here in Australia that will identify every single banking institution and every single account. There's the BSB, which is the bank and branch number, in the format xxx-xxx, where the first three numbers identify the financial institution (eg "the Commonwealth bank") and the second three, which branch that is (eg "Sydney Central"). An account number will be unique to that particular branch, and be up to 9 numbers long. So, for example, I wanted to transfer money to my sister electronically, I'd need to know the BSB number of her financial institution, and her account number. Then I could just transfer money into her account. I can't take money *out* using those details, but there is no restriction in what goes *in*. To pay my credit card, I could arrange with the credit card company to automatically deduct the minimum payment from my savings account, or I could keep the credit company out of my account and instead use my own bank to transfer what *I* nominate each month usingthe BSB and the account number in exactly the same way as I payed my sister. I refuse to have any auto-decustions from third parties taking out money from my account without me expressly authorising each and every one. Why? Because several years ago one of those autodedctions went wrong with my parent' account, and instead of taking out $273.00 it *tried* to take out $27300. It got the whole of my parent's savings, in the order of $20,000 and then froze up the account with a whopping overdraft of ~$7300, with the interest, fines, and no access to any of their savings. It got sorted out, *eventually*, but that meant they had alot of explaining to do to the bank before all the fines were rescinded, their credit rating will always reflect tha they went $7300 into arrears, and they couldn't access one cent of hteir savings for the 3 hellish months it took to sort it out, and thats *with* the company in question immediately admitting the mistake! So I don't have any automatic *deductions* accessing my account that originated from third parties. Instead, what I've set up is automatic *payments* that *I* have total cotnrol over. Which means that if I decide i don't want to pay my utilities this month, I don't have to, they can't just take the money out regardless. Which means if I am running short one month, I can just pay the bill (plus the late fee) the next month, but won't be stuck with *no* money because I couldn't stop the autodeduction coming out. Hope that makes sense, and helps. Yowie > <snip> > [quoted text clipped - 73 lines] > > Yowie I love banking in Australia. Pay Anyone is the greatest. I've been buying a ton of stuff on ebay (plumbing fixtures for the house) and paying by direct deposit over the internet is really great. Also, I've been selling some Burmese jewelery to friends and they can just put the money right into my account if they don't have cash on them. This set up wasn't available in Canada. I absolutely don't know how I ever got along without it. SignatureBritta Purring is an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness overflow. Check out pictures of Vino at: http://picasaweb.google.com/badwilson > I love banking in Australia. Pay Anyone is the greatest. I've been > buying a ton of stuff on ebay (plumbing fixtures for the house) and [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > This set up wasn't available in Canada. I absolutely don't know how I > ever got along without it. It sounds similar to the system in Finland. It always amazes me when I hear about how Americans still pay their utility bills by sending a check in the mail. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://s120.photobucket.com/albums/o185/frankiennikki/ http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki > It sounds similar to the system in Finland. It always amazes me when I > hear about how Americans still pay their utility bills by sending a check > in the mail. Trust me, not all of us. If I have to send something by mail, it is really hard to remember where I left the stamps. And its been so long since I bought stamps I just use two because I don't even know what the current rate is. Charlie is getting a bit nervous as I think he is starting to realize a lot of the bills don't even come in the mail anymore. Jo > > I love banking in Australia. Pay Anyone is the greatest. I've been > > buying a ton of stuff on ebay (plumbing fixtures for the house) and [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Stories and pics athttp://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ > Pics athttp://s120.photobucket.com/albums/o185/frankiennikki/http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/http://community.webshots.com/use r/frankiennikki Ummm.... that would be me. =o) I don't have automatic bill pay because I'm notoriously scatterbrained. If I have to see the bills, touch them and pay them manually each month, I get a better idea of what's going out. AND I can make sure the bills get paid on time. I only carry a balance on one credit card, and that's to pay off an existing debt. I put it on a credit card that gave me a low interest rate for the life of the balance, and I don't charge anything new on that card. I pay 100.00 a month on that balance, which is what I can afford, but I've already managed to lower the balance by $1,000.00. Once I get finished paying off my car next year, I can send them a bigger monthly payment and retire that debt all the sooner. Other cards, I only charge balances that can be paid off in two payments at most. Ketzl's Dad, you'd better keep a sharp eye on Ketzl. On the other hand, he may be a genius at commodities training. It is troubling that he's not sharing his financial information with you though. =o) Better income leads to more luxuries for him, after all! Check to make sure the titles of your house and/or car are still in YOUR name! Melissa > I don't have automatic bill pay because I'm notoriously scatterbrained. LOL, and I *do* have automatic bill pay because I'm notoriously scatterbrained. :) Before I set up the autodebit, I would just dump all my mail into a pile and not open it. Or I'd open it, but wouldn't get around to paying the bills. It was always such a big production, I would put it off and put it off. Yes, I tried all sorts of "systems" to try to be more organized and timely, but autodebit is by far the best system for me. Now I'm never late for a payment. > I only > carry a balance on one credit card, and that's to pay off an existing [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > finished paying off my car next year, I can send them a bigger monthly > payment and retire that debt all the sooner. I hear ya! Joyce > t sounds similar to the system in Finland. It always amazes me when I > hear about how Americans still pay their utility bills by sending a > check in the mail. I suppose many still do, (these are probably the people who don't use ATMs because they "don't trust them") but I've been paying bills on line for over a decade. Whatever I can pay that way, I do: some are paid through the web sites of the service provider,some are paid through my bank's web site. I can't remember the last time I paid a bill by check. Between that and e-mail, I don't buy stamps any more! SignatureJoey DoWop Dee Remember: It is To Laugh >> t sounds similar to the system in Finland. It always amazes me when I >> hear about how Americans still pay their utility bills by sending a [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > I can't remember the last time I paid a bill by check. Between that and > e-mail, I don't buy stamps any more! I keep wondering what happens if the power goes out for a prolonged period (it has in some places). MLB >>> t sounds similar to the system in Finland. It always amazes me when I >>> hear about how Americans still pay their utility bills by sending a [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > I keep wondering what happens if the power goes out for a prolonged period > (it has in some places). MLB Good point: I suppose I'd be less dependent on it if I were in a place where there were frequent power outages, but it rarely happens here. One problem I *did* encounter more than I like, though, was waiting until the last minute to get a payment in to someone or other, only to find that their web site displayed "We Are Sorry! Our Site is Undergoing Maintenance and Will Not Be Available Until Tomorrow. We apologize blah blah blah." SignatureJoey DoWop Dee Remember: It is To Laugh > Good point: I suppose I'd be less dependent on it if I were in a place where > there were frequent power outages, but it rarely happens here. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > web site displayed "We Are Sorry! Our Site is Undergoing Maintenance and Will > Not Be Available Until Tomorrow. We apologize blah blah blah." I pay all my bills through my bank's site, and they send a bulletin to their customers if they are going to have a maintenance break. They usually do them during nights or weekends so it will interfere as little as possible in their customer service. But sometimes there's an emergency, of course. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://s120.photobucket.com/albums/o185/frankiennikki/ http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki >Hey, did anyone (in the US) hear the Fresh Air program yesterday on NPR, >about how credit card companies try to get extra money from people by >doing stuff like deliberately shifting your due date around to confuse >you so you'll be late paying, and have to pay late fees? Not to mention >totally incomprehensible contract agreements that completely mislead >customers. Over in the UK- the big stink is charges for going overdrawn. Go £5.00 over your limit and it's an automatic £30 charge plus whopping interest. Recently it's been established in court that charges for administering overdrafts are unreasonable since charging someone £30.00 for a form letter is too much! People have started to claim these charges back and in every case where they've been taken to court they've settled before it can go to court. So now they are looking at other ways to claw back the money such as annual fees for credit card holders As one newspaper put it "It's like having been caught on one rip off they are trying to find another rip off to cover the losses" Lesley Slave of the Fabulous Furballs >> Hey, did anyone (in the US) hear the Fresh Air program yesterday on >> NPR, about how credit card companies try to get extra money from [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > So now they are looking at other ways to claw back the money such as > annual fees for credit card holders Annual fees for credit cards seems to be the norm in Australia. Way more than in Canada, where there was only a fee for gold cards or other special cards with benefits. Over here we have only now (after a year) found a card with no fee. SignatureBritta Purring is an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness overflow. Check out pictures of Vino at: http://picasaweb.google.com/badwilson > I want to alert you all to atpotential terrible scam I have come across > (along with a disturbing revelation about Ketzl.) [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Beware: your charming fuzzy felines may be doing the same!! They haven't quite gotten around to sending e-mails to my cats, but I really am astonished to discover how many of my (non-existent) accounts with banks I never even heard of have been accessed by unauthorized people (even some in foreign countries)! On Mar 29, 1:01 am, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" <evgm...@earthlink.net> wrote: > > I want to alert you all to atpotential terrible scam I have come across > > (along with a disturbing revelation about Ketzl.) [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > have been accessed by unauthorized people (even some in > foreign countries)! Boy, and I have not even read the ones that say that I have won a lottery I never even Participated in! Have never opened them. I have no idea what the scam is! > I knew about his account at Charles Schwab, but not his Chase account. > > Do you think he's holding out on me? > > Beware: your charming fuzzy felines may be doing the same!! ROFL! Thanks for the best laugh I've had in ages. Jane - owned and operated by Princess Rita
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