Busting Out Text Scams!

Scammers are everywhere. And one of their newly discovered playground is the world of SMS (short messaging system) or text messaging. Scamming through text is a clever way of stealing money from people. It's so easy and safe (for scammers' part).

Text messaging is not a much secured way of communication. Anyone who knows your number can easily send a scam message to you. And there's no way for you to figure out the real identity of the sender. Because there is no existing law that requires prepaid subscribers to register their SIM (subscriber identification module). Scammers can easily buy SIMs and change their mobile number. In this way, they can trick more people and still hide their identity.

In this article I'll be giving some tips, not how to know the real identity of the scammer, but how to distinguish genuine text messages from scam ones. It is really hard or almost impossible to determine the identity of a text scammer, but it's so easy to verify if a message is scam or not.

We will bust out two of the most common format of text scams. Let's begin!

1. The Promo Scam

"Congratulations! You won $100,000. Your number was luckily drawn in our Monthly promo draw last July 1st. Please call on this number and look for Atty. Smith for details on how to claim your prize."

Promo scam is a classical format of text scams. This is the first type of text scam that circulated in the SMS world. A lot of people were victimized by this scam. It's because of a simple reason; everybody wants to gain instant money. $100,000 is a huge amount of money to pass up. People who received this kind of message got so excited that they forget to verify if it's true.

Promo scam works like this:

1. The victim will call that number to know the details on how to claim the fake prize.

2. The scammer will ask the victim to send the details of his credit card and/or bank account so they can send the fake prize on that account.

3. Instead of sending the prize, the scammer will quickly access the victim's account and steal all the money of the victim.

4. After sweeping the victim's bank account, the scammer will buy a new SIM and change his number so that the victim cannot contact the scammer anymore when the victim realizes that he was scammed!

*Small time scammers will only ask for cell phone load instead of bank account details. When the scammer got enough amount of load from the victim, he will then change his number.

So here are some tips on what to do if you receive this kind of message:

1. Try to remember if you have ever joined any text promos. If you can't remember anything, then the text that you received is a 99% sure text scam.

2. Look for the promo code. All legitimate promo has their own unique code given by the government. Scammers are genius. They knew this fact. That's why they also put fake promo codes in their scam messages. If you see a promo code in a text message of this kind, try to verify it by calling the government department that handle all promos in your country.

3. Investigate the sender's number. Legitimate text promos use special numbers. They can be three to six digit numbers. If the sender's number looks like an ordinary mobile number, then it's 100% scam.

2. The Roaming Scam

"Hello guys! How are you there? I send a package full of stuffs for all of you. Miss you all! By the way, this is my new roaming number. Contact me here if you have any problem."

The roaming scam targets people who have friends or relatives outside the country. This kind of text scam is somewhat a psychological trick. It triggers the emotional weakness of humans. When a person has special someone abroad then he received a text message like this, he tends to be too excited and cheerful that he started to assume that the sender of the message is his love one.

The amount of money that a scammer can get from this kind of scam depends on how quick before the victim realizes that he was being tricked. It ranges from several days up to a couple of months. Scammers usually ask for cell phone loads. They pretend to have a hard time loading up their mobile accounts in their imaginary country. Sometimes they even ask for money or other stuffs. You can't blame people who are victimized by this trick. Because if you're in the same situation, you will also give everything that your love one asked just to make him feel better while living in a lonely country. Scammers who use this trick are also from the same country as the victim. That's why they emphasizes that they are using a roaming number. So that the victim will not wonder why does the sender's number look like an ordinary local cell phone number.

If you receive this kind of text and you really have a friend or relative that is outside the country, these are the things that you must do to avoid being scammed:

1. Never assume that the sender is your love one. Never reply a text message that attempts to guess the name of the sender. Remember, scammers send scam messages to random numbers. So they don't know if you really have relatives abroad. Sending a reply like, "Joe is this you?" is already a big success for the scammer. Aside from confirming that you do have relatives or friends abroad, you also gave them an instant identity. The scammer will now begin to pretend that he is the real "Joe" that you know. You just made the scammer's job easier. Instead of guessing a name, you should ask the sender his name. If he replied a name that you didn't know, then it's a sure scam. Usually, scammers don't reply anymore if you ask them to give a name. Because the probability of picking a right name, is too low.

2. Contact your relative or friend's old number. If the scammer luckily guessed a right name, then you must verify it. You can contact the old number of your friend or relative, or you can send an e-mail to him if he has an e-mail account.

3. Call that number. If your love one doesn’t have an e-mail account or his old number is not working anymore, the only way to verify the sender's identity is by calling him. Listen to his voice. Try to analyze the way he speaks. And check it yourself if he sounds like the real person. If he doesn’t, then he was just trying to scam you. But usually, if it is a scam, the scammer will never try to answer your call.

DotA: Bone Clinkz Perfect Build

(Note: all stats and info are based on DotA 6.67c map)

Bone Clinkz the Bone Fletcher is an agility type hero in the world wide famous game DotA (Warcraft III: Frozen Throne). He looks like a skeleton with a bow and arrow. At first, you will think that this hero is weak. Because he's small with a very low health points. But I tell you, Bone Clinkz can kill any hero 1-on-1.

Bone Clinkz is one my favorite hero in DotA. In fact, he was the first hero that I used in this game. It was in 2006 when I first used him. I find it hard for me to use Bone Clinkz as my hero in DotA. He's HP is too thin to fit my aggressive and careless style of playing. Since then, I always avoided using Clinkz as my hero.

But it was just last year when I discovered his real strength. I picked Clinkz through the all random pick mode of the game. I don't know what I had eaten right that day. But for the first time, I was able to kill a hero 1-on-1 and face to face using Clinkz. I was finally able to build a perfect strategy for Clinkz. I even registered a double kill and beyond godlike status in that game! After that day, I started to use Clinkz in almost every game. Trying to improve and develop a better strategy for Clinkz.

As of today, my unique build on Clinkz has proven to be very effective. I am able to kill heroes in less than three seconds. And I'll be sharing this build to you right now! So let's begin.

Skill Build:

Level 1 - Searing Arrows
Level 2 - Wind Walk
Level 3 - Searing Arrows
Level 4 - Wind Walk
Level 5 - Strafe
Level 6 - Death Pact
Level 7 - Searing Arrows
Level 8 - Searing Arrows
Level 9 - Wind Walk
Level 10 - Strafe
Level 11 - Death Pact
Level 12 - Wind Walk
Level 13 - Strafe
Level 14 - Strafe
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Stats
Level 17 - Stats
Level 18 - Stats
Level 19 - Stats
Level 20 - Stats
Level 21 - Stats
Level 22 - Stats
Level 23 - Stats
Level 24 - Stats
Level 25 - Death Pact

Bone Clinkz' second skill, Searing Arrows, is his primary weapon. It is important to level up this skill as quick as you can. That extra 50 bonus damage is a deadly companion, especially in the early stages of the game when heroes don't have vanguard or other armor and health regenerating items yet. Searing Arrows is also helpful at the start of the game. You can use it to last hit and deny creeps.

Item Build:

Start of the game:

In this guide, I considered that you are playing 5v5 and all pick mode. This scenario will give you 603 golds to begin the game. With this amount of gold, the best items to put on Clinkz are two set of Ancient Tangos (90x2=180golds) and one Sobi Mask (325golds). You can use the Tangos to regenerate your HP when you were severely damaged at the start. Sobi Mask will help you regenerate your mana faster. You will be using your mana for Searing Arrows. You will also use the Sobi Mask to build Oblivion Staff and Orchid of Malevolence later in the game.

After a couple of minutes:

The first item that you should complete is the Oblivion Staff. You need three of these to build Orchid of Malevolence. Just focus on building an Orchid. There's no need to buy boots of speed yet. Bone Clinkz walks fast enough even without boots. And his Windwalk will allow him to walk even faster. So boots of speed is not a necessity for Clinkz. Complete Orchid of Malevolence as fast as you can. It will be the best compliment or combo for your Searing Arrows. When you have the Malevolence, you are now unbeatable 1v1. You can kill any hero you want as long as he don't have nearby allies to help him.

Later:

Or

After having Malevolence, everything will be easy now for Clinkz. You can passively activate his Searing Arrows so you can kill creeps faster and earn gold faster. Malevolence will super boost your mana regen. So you can use all his skills as much as you want. The next item you should build is the Power Treads. It will give Clinkz additional attack speed and movement speed as well as some damage. Faster attack speed means more kills for Clinkz. When you have Malevolence and Treads, the third item that you should buy is either a Divine Rapier or Monkey King Bar (MKB). Divine Rapier will give you additional 250 damage per attack. With this item, Clinkz can kill a high level hero in just three seconds. But there is a risk when you have this item. Divine Rapier will drop when you die. So make sure your talented enough when you choose to put this item on Clinkz. On the other hand, Monkey King Bar will give you less damage but it will allow you to have 100% attack accuracy. Meaning, all your attacks will never be dodged by your opponent hero. MKB is very helpful especially for those AGI type opponents who already have Butterfly.

If there's enough time:

This is the best set of items for Clinkz. Malevolence for silencing your opponent. Treads to speed up your attack and movement. Divine for additional 250 damage. MKB for 100% attack accuracy. Heart of Tarrasque to make Clinkz more durable. And Butterfly, for super attack speed and dodging. You're virtually unstoppable if you could have these items. But it will take a lot of time and golds to complete them. But it's worth it!

Best Ally:

Worst Opponent:

Disabling heroes are like best friend for Clinkz. They are his best friend but they are also his worst enemy. Bone Clinkz is useless if he can't attack or move. And he is too thin. So one second of disability can cause a lot of damage to him. But if Clinkz can disable his opponent, it's a sure kill!

Playing the game:

At the start of the game, pick either the top or the bottom lane. He's a range hero, so he can also play the mid lane. But it’s easier for Clinkz if he has a teammate with him. That's why I like to play the top or bottom lane. It's better if your ally hero is a silencer or stunner. This will allow you to have early kills.

At the beginning, you just have to focus on last hitting and denying creeps. You can easily do this with the help of searing arrows. You could also harass your opponent if it's a melee hero.

When you're level 3, you can now start to attempt killing heroes. Your Searing Arrows must be level 2 at this point. First activate your wind walk. You will become invisible. Now set searing arrows as passive skill (just right click on it). Go behind your target hero. Then your ally hero must stun that opponent. Once stunned, attack the opponent. In just five seconds, both of you and your ally can kill the opponent hero given that there's no one to help him. Just do this technique multiple times to have more hero kills under your stats.

When you have completed the Orchid of Malevolence, you can now kill a hero alone. Clinkz will now have a disabling skill of his own. By this time, your level is high enough to have the Strafe skill. This skill will increase the attack speed of Clinkz. To kill a hero, all you need to do is to activate wind walk, go behind your enemy and make sure that he's alone, then set searing arrows to passive. When all is set, silence your enemy using the Malevolence then activate strafe and start attacking. Within four to five seconds, you will be able to finish off your opponent. Just repeat this trick to kill other heroes.

Aside from killing heroes, Clinkz can also destroy towers quickly. His searing arrows are also working for towers. Just use the combination of Strafe and Searing Arrows.

With his wind walk, Clinkz can be used to spy opponents' farm area and other enemy territory. This is a big asset for your team. Your team can avoid an ambush attack from your enemies. You can also use this skill to check if your opponent is trying to kill Roshan. Clinkz is really a big help for a team. But make sure, that you are still earning some golds while helping your team.

In the latter part of the game, you should have enough gold to buy either Divine or MKB. You can pick which item you want to build first. In my case, I always build Divine first before MKB. As I said, I am an aggressive player. I want blood! I am just being more careful when I already have Divine. I make sure that I always have a disabling ally hero along with me. Or I kill Roshan so I can have Aegis of Immortality. This will give me a second life if I die. And it is a sort of security for my Divine. But if you think you’re not talented enough to hold Divine, then it's better to buy MKB first. If there's enough time, try to buy Tarrasque and Butterfly.

That's all! I hope it helps. Try using Bone Clinkz now! :)

Best Way to Cook your Hotdog: Steam It!

I am a self confessed hotdog lover. I really like its meatiness and juiciness. Uhmm.. Yummy!

As far as I remember, I became addicted to hotdog when I was 6yrs. old. Every time we went to the supermarket, I always request for a pack of delicious hotdogs. Kudos to that mysterious person who invented this delightful food product.

There are a lot of ways to cook hotdogs. You can fry it, grill it or boil it. But the most delicious cooked hotdogs are those that were steamed.

Steaming, in general, is the best way to cook meat products and other non-liquid foods. Steaming preserves the natural juice of foods inside them, making them more flavorful. Steamed foods look great to the eyes. No burned parts, moist and juicy outside appearance, and foods look like very fresh and delicious.

Steamed hotdogs are no different from other steamed foods. They are juicy, flavorful, no burned parts, and look very fresh and delicious. Steaming hotdog is also a healthy way of cooking them. No need to add extra fats and cholesterols unlike when you fry them. Compared to grilling, steaming will not add carcinogens in your hotdogs since there will be no burned meat.

Steaming is also the easiest way of cooking your hotdogs. No need to continously flip your hotdogs unlike when you fry or grill them. All you have to do is to put the hotdog in the steamer and wait for a couple of minutes, then that's it! Fresh and delicious hotdogs ready to serve!

Opera Mini 5: A Must Have Cellphone Application

5230 Home Screen

N70 Home Screen

Opera Mini 5 is a java based mobile web browser developed and published by Opera Software. It is a scaled down, or lite version of the full feature packed Opera Mobile 10 for smart phones. Although it don't have some features that Opera Mobile 10 has, Opera Mini 5 can still bring a smooth, fast and fun web browsing experience from your mobile devices.

For me, Opera Mini 5 is better than Opera Mobile 10. Both of them can display full desktop view web pages. But Opera Mini 5 can load pages faster than Opera Mobile 10 can. Opera Mini 5 has an online server which compresses web pages and converts it to OBML (Opera Binary Markup Language) files. These OBML files are much smaller in terms of file size than the original web pages. Since smaller in file size, OBML pages are loaded faster than the original page. That's why Opera Mini 5 can load web pages faster than Opera Mobile 10. Aside from faster loading time, converting pages into OBML makes web pages to be more suitable on phone's small screen. The only setback of OBML pages on Opera Mini 5 is that it doesn’t display animated images. It only displays a random frame of an animated picture.

Another advantage of Opera Mini 5 is its java based platform. Most of the phones used by the mobile users today are java supported. Meaning, more people can use the services and features offered by Opera Mini 5. On the other hand, Opera Mobile 10 is specifically made for smart phones, like symbian, windows mobile, maemo, android, and iphone. According to a report by Nielsen, smart phones only occupy 18% of the phone market today. And there are smart phones that also support java based applications, like Nokia symbian phones. So somehow, we can say that Opera Mini 5 is the universal mobile web browser.

Opera Mini 5 is a compact application. It is very easy to download and install. It's just about 275kB in file size. And don't eat up a lot of memory (RAM) in your phone while running the application. For low end phones with low memory capacity, Opera Mini 5 is not the perfect browser for them. Since Opera Mini 5 is the latest version of the Opera Mini series and has rich features for a java based browser, it is more compatible for mid-range to high end java supported phones. It is advisable for low end phones to use the previous version of Opera Mini, the Opera Mini 4.2.

Other Features of Opera Mini 5:

1. Stand alone download

- this version of Opera Mini can download files directly without the need to open the native or default web browser of your phone. But there are certain file formats, like .jar, that Opera Mini 5 can not download. The size of the file that you want to download is also limited. I am not able to download files that are more than 30MB in size.

5230 Downloads Menu

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2. Copy text contents

- this is the first official version (there are modded versions of older Opera Minis that can also copy text contents) of the Opera Mini series who can copy text contents of a web page. The browser can paste the copied text to a text box in a web page.

5230 Copying Text

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3. Richer GUI (Graphical User Interface)

- Opera Mini 5 is the first version of Opera Mini who resembles the GUI of the official Opera Browser for PC. It feels like you are really surfing the net using a desktop computer.

5230 Page Overview

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4. Touch supported

- this is the first Opera Mini browser that is touch supported. Meaning, it can be used by touch screen phone users without hassle. The menu for touch screen phones was modified so that its options and other features can easily be accessed with just one touch of your finger. You can also easily scroll pages with a few swipes of your finger. This feature is really important today. Since there is an ongoing "touch screen war" in the market today.

5230 Menu

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If you don't have Opera Mini 5 yet, you can download it in the official website of Opera Mini. It's absolutely free!

Enjoy browsing!

Basic Korean (Hangul) Tutorial

(Note: If your browser can't display Hangul characters 한글, try to install the East Asian Language pack for Windows. Click Here for the instruction.)

(Update: Ready my newly created Basic Korean Words Article.)

Hangul is the official writing system of Korea. After reading this tutorial, I am sure that you will be good enough to read and write Korean words. I made this guide simple and easy to understand. When you finished reading and mastering this tutorial, the next thing you should do is to learn the meaning of some Korean terms and the construction of Korean sentences and paragraphs.

Hangul is a very simple and easy to learn writing system. There are no capital or small letters, and all Korean words begins with a consonant. Every syllable is composed of at least one consonant and one vowel. You can rarely see a Korean syllable with four letters or characters. Korean syllables are usually composed of two or three letters.

To learn the whole Hangul System, I think the most important part is to memorize all its 40 characters. Because when you know how to read Hangul words, everything will be easy.

The Hangul Alphabet:

Consonants

ㄱ

- this character is pronounced as "G" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "K" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Guy, Group, Mark, Park

ㄴ

- this character is always pronounced as "N". Ex. Next, Nun

ㄷ

- this character is pronounced as "D" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "T" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Dance, Dark, Hat, Malt

ㄹ

- this character is pronounced as "R" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "L" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Rumble, Raid, Pal, Sell

ㅁ

- this character is always pronounced as "M". Ex. Men, Mom

ㅂ

- this character is pronounced as "B" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "P" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Bad, Bar, Lap, Heap

ㅅ

- this character is always pronounced as "S". Ex. Some, Scars

ㅇ

- this character is a silent letter when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "NG" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Gang, Hang

ㅈ

- this character is always pronounced as "J". Ex. Jack, Taj

ㅊ

- this character is always pronounced as "CH". Ex. Check, Charm, Patch

ㅋ

- this character is always pronounced as "K". Ex. King, Kite, Seek

ㅌ

- this character is always pronounced as "T". Ex. Time, Thought

ㅍ

- this character is always pronounced as "P". Ex. Play, Map

ㅎ

- this character is always pronounced as "H". Ex. Hand, Huh

ㄲ

- this character is pronounced as a hard "G" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "K" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Gong, Great, Yak

ㄸ

- this character is pronounced as a hard "D" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "T" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Dark, Beat, Doom

ㅃ

- this character is pronounced as a hard "B" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as a hard "P" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Brute, Tapped, Break

ㅆ

- this character is pronounced as a hard "S" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "T" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Sad, Safe, Sat, Dot

ㅉ

- this character is pronounced as a hard "J" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "T" when placed at the end of a word or syllable. Ex. Jeep, Jar, Put, Loot

Vowels

ㅏ

- this character is always pronounced as "A". Ex. Add, Ban

ㅑ

- this character is always pronounced as "YA". Ex. Yacht, Yuck

ㅓ

- this character is always pronounced as "E0". Ex. Hello, Dawn

ㅕ

- this character is always pronounced as "YEO". Ex. Yolk

ㅗ

- this character is always pronounced as "O". Ex. Ton, Born

ㅛ

- this character is always pronounced as "YO". Ex. Mayo, Yoghurt

ㅜ

- this character is always pronounced as "U". Ex. Ruby, Moon

ㅠ

- this character is always pronounced as "YU". Ex. You, Yuri

ㅡ

- this character is always pronounced as "EU". Ex. Good, Hood

ㅣ

- this character is always pronounced as "I". Ex. Eat, Keep

ㅐ

- this character is always pronounced as "AE". Ex. Hey, Way

ㅒ

- this character is always pronounced as "YAE". Ex. Yey

ㅔ

- this character is always pronounced as "E". Ex. Bet, Error

ㅖ

- this character is always pronounced as "YE". Ex. Yellow, Yemen

ㅘ

- this character is always pronounced as "WA". Ex. Want, Warp

ㅙ

- this character is always pronounced as "WAE". Ex. Way

ㅚ

- this character is always pronounced as "OE". Ex. Wet

ㅝ

- this character is always pronounced as "WO". Ex. Woman, Womb

ㅞ

- this character is always pronounced as "WE". Ex. Went, Bowen

ㅟ

- this character is always pronounced as "WI". Ex. Week, With

ㅢ

- this character is pronounced as "UI" when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. And pronounced as "I" when placed after a consonant (except ㅇ). Ex. Cheek, Hit

Construction of Korean words:

A Korean word always begins with a consonant. Korean words are divided into syllables. Each syllable in the word also begins with a consonant. Korean syllables are composed of at least one vowel and one consonant.

When you write a Korean word, you will divide it into blocks. One block equals one syllable. There are six patterns to write each syllable blocks. (C = Consonant, V = Vowel)

As you can see, there are two ways to write a four-letter, three-letter and two-letter syllable. This is because there are two types of regular Korean vowels. The horizontal vowels and vertical vowels.

Vertical vowels: ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅣ, ㅐ, ㅒ, ㅔ, ㅖ

You will use this format for vertical vowels:

Ex. 하, 던, 닭

Horizontal vowels: ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ

You will use this format for horizontal vowels:

Ex. 토, 둘, 흙

Then we have what we call the combinational vowels. These are the vowels formed when we combine a horizontal and vertical vowel.

Combinational vowels: ㅘ, ㅚ, ㅙ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅟ, ㅢ

Ex. 퀀, 봐

Maybe you are wondering how the Koreans write the word "annyong" (Korean term for hi or hello). As stated above, all Korean words begins with a consonant. To write a Korean word that begins with a vowel sound, we will use the consonant ㅇ at the beginning of that word. Like what is stated above, ㅇ is a silent letter when placed at the beginning of a word or syllable. So, annyong is written in Hangul as 안녕

Typing Korean words:

To type Korean characters on your computer (Windows only.) you must install first the East Asian Language pack. It’s already included on your XP, Vista and 7 installers. For older windows OS like 98, 2000, ME, you can download language pack on windows official site. Click Here for the installation instructions.

Below is the layout of Korean keyboards.

Click image to view full size

Typing a Korean word is like typing an ordinary English word. Just type all the letters then press space for the next word. Your computer will automatically arrange the letters into syllable blocks.

Sample Korean words:

하나 - Hana [pronounced as Hana] (means one in English)

고마워 - Gomawo [pronounced as Komawo] (means thanks or thank you in English)

싶다 - Sipda [pronounced as Shipta] (means i want to in English)

사랑해 - Saranghae [pronounced as Saranghae] (means i love you in English)

소원 - Sowon [pronounced as Sowon] (means wish in English)

That's it! We're done! Maybe in the coming weeks I'll be posting an article about basic English to Korean translation. So somehow you can communicate with the Koreans.