hadnt actually planned to post anything today, but was kinda 'inspired' after reading momo's blog and her whole strange ordeal with a china conman who tried to bluff their fam abt her brother being kidnapped. it is normally not easy to fool people with such a cheap plot, but what if ur not able to contact your family member who was supposedly 'kidnapped' at that point in time? and that was what actually happened in her case. makes me wonder how these conmen planned their call with such precision? perhaps its just heng suay.

but momo is probably right in any case - with this huge influx of foreigners coming to work in our country, it is inevitable that the number of scam cases will rise in tandem as well. and to a huge extent, i seriously doubt the police's effectiveness in dealing with such cases. thus, one other alternative would be to consistently remind others to stay vigilant by sharing your own experiences with these scam encounters because you'd never know if it'll help someone else.

Coincidentally, i looked into my mailbox today and found the following email, which i'm almost 100% positive is another piece of creative shitscam. if only these conmen were to spend their creativity on proper work instead of cheating the money outta some sorry ass, our global productivity could be so much higher.

Dear (my name),

I am writing to remind you that the outstanding Student/Undergraduate Travel Loan was due. I would appreciate it if repayment of the loan in one lump sum or by instalment as agreed before by cheque in favour of The Trustees of Chung Chi College could be sent to Dean of Students’ Office, Chung Chi College, The Chinese University of Hong, Shatin, NT not later than June 15, 2008

Please mark your name and write ‘for repayment of student loan’ at the back of the cheque for our easy follow up. I hope you could honor your promise in repaying the loan at the time we lent it to you.

If you have special reasons and is likely that you would not be able to repay the schedule, please contact me at 2609 6991 or evelynchan@cuhk.edu.hk. Thank you for your attention and assistance.

Evelyn Chan
Dean of Students’ Office
Chung Chi College

i'm sure the folks at chung chi college would not be too pleased to learn that their college name has been used for such a purpose. considering that it was probably a chinese drafting this email, i'd say the grammar aint half bad at all. and this much credit i'll give. i'm not gonna bother replying the email, but this is just FYI in case you should ever receive a similar email as well.

it's a bad bad world out there so... take care folks! i'm outz