Things to take note to Prevent E-Auction Fraud

Auction is defined as market mechanism by which buyers make bids and sellers place offers. It is characterized by the competitive and dynamic nature by which the final price is reached. Auctions can rapidly disposal of items that needs liquidation or a quick sale, they offer trading opportunities for both buyers and sellers that are not available in conventional channels and they ensure cautious execution of contracts.

Electronic auction (E-Auction) is auctions conducted online. For example: www.lelong.com.my. www.ebay.com.my

There are several types of e-auction fraud as follow:

• Bid shielding
• Shilling
• Fake photos and misleading descriptions
• Improper grading techniques
• Bid siphoning
• Selling reproductions as originals
• Failure to pay
• Failure to ship merchandise
• Loss and damage claims
• Fake escrow services
• Other frauds

Protecting against E-Auction Fraud

• User identify verification

- Verify IC number, driver’s license number, and data of birth.

• Authentication services

- To determine whether an item is genuine and described appropriately.

• Grading services

- To determine the physical condition of an item.

• Feedback forum

- Allows buyers and sellers to build up their online trading reputations. Buyers and sellers provide comments on their experiences with the other parties.

• Insurance policy

- Some sites provide insurance on auction frauds but extra cost is incurred.

• Escrow services

- Both sellers and buyers in a deal are protected with a independent third party. This third party will also hold onto the money form buyer until confirmation is received from buyer to pay seller (after confirmation of goods received).

• Nonpayment punishment

- Friendly warning for first-time offense, sterner warning for second-time offense, a 30 day suspension for a third offense, an indefinite suspension for a fourth offense.

• Appraisal services

- Expert assessment of authenticity and condition and reviewing what comparable items have sold for in the marketplace.

• Physical inspection

- Can eliminate many problems especially for collectors’ items.

• Item verification

- Neutral third parties will evaluate and identify an item through a variety of means.

• Other security services

- Dispute resolution between a buyer and seller.

E-Government in Malaysia: Its Implementation so far and Citizen’s Adoption Strategies

The Electronic Government initiative in Malaysia was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. It has improved both how the government operates internally as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses; simultaneously, it will improve information lows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.

The vision of Electronic Government is a vision for government, businesses and citizenry working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all of its citizens. The vision focuses on effectively and efficiently delivering services from the government to the people of Malaysia, enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

The 7 pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application are as follows:
1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)
7. E-Syariah



The myGovernment Portal (www.gov.my) acts as the one-stop source of Malaysian government information and services for the citizens.

CITIZEN’S ADOPTION STRATEGIES
E-Government, better to known as E-Services had successfully form an emerging field, which is rapidly gaining attention and importance in Malaysia. Citizens expect and demand governmental services with a high degree of quality, quantity, and availability in a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, and year-round fashion. Governments all over the world are developing information systems and electronic services that have the capacity to meet these emerging service needs and demands of citizens and other clients. The ease of use, compatibility, and trustworthiness are significant predictors of citizens’ intention to use e-Services and that perceived reactive advantage, perceived image, perceived compatibility, perceived usefulness, and relative advantage are significant elements of e-Government adoption. Success in delivering e-services too depends on the capability and self-confidence of citizens when performing e-transactions, in which the situation always require citizens and users to have trust on security of the services provided regarding certain matters such as confidential and private data.

Review a local e-commerce site

The local e-commerce website which I visited is Lelong.com.my. (http://www.lelong.com.my). Lelong.com.my is a pioneer auction website which bringing high standard of quality into homes and business by providing an avenue for on-line trading at a low cost. It starting based on Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) transactions and now is moving to becoming a Business-to-consumer(B2C) relationship.

You may choose to buy the thing you like by the way complete bid with other, or may directly contact with auctioneer and negotiate the price with him/her, purchase directly. There have a lot of functions to make you use their website more convenient, like Categories Search Engine- which provides you searching by category like Beauty and health, book and comic, phone and communication, it is an easy search engine and the searching speed is quite fast, very useful.

The features of product selling at Lelong.com.my included:-
1) computer
2) handphone
3) watch
4) camera
5) categories which included :
a) feng shui
b) clothing and accessories
c) personal care
d) pets and
e) etc

The speed of downloading is depend on the internet speed subscribed by user. The website has presents the layout of the products, price/shipping, state, bids/views and the time left of bidding products. There have different language to choose according to consumers' preferences. In addition, Lelong safetrade provided to manage every aspects of the settlement process and remove risk from online transaction. Therefore, is giving a safenesses to buyer and seller.

Other than that if you find that this auctioneer is very trustful and you hope to have more trade with him/her, you also can visit his/her store and check other item. The design of the website take easy and comfort way, do not have too much complex background.

Most of consumer prefer to use Lelong.com.my as a trade of products and services because it is easy to use and convenient compare to buy things at the shopping mall whereby approximately 70% of all items posted for auction on the site are sold.

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals.Although there are many different types of corporate blogs, most can be categorized as either external or internal.

An internal blog, generally accessed through the corporation's Intranet, is a weblog that any employee can view. Many blogs are also communal, allowing anyone to post to them.

An external blog is a publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services, to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. It also allows a window to the company culture and is often treated more informally than traditional press releases, though a corporate blog often tries to accomplish similar goals as press releases do. In some corporate blogs, all posts go through a review before they're posted.

One of the corporate blog with recently added listing is Coca-Cola Conversations http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/, authored by Phil Mooney, the historian/archivist for The Coca-Cola Company for the last 30 years.

Corporate blogs are not only interesting and useful, they are also helping the companies that author them develop a totally new relationship with their customers. In some cases, the blogs have helped the company move the needle in reputation, likability and thus purchase consideration.

The ADVANTAGES of the corporate blog:

1. Leaders can communicate directly with customers, suppliers and investors, as well as employees, helping disseminate and explain strategy.
2. Blogs give the writer an opportunity to answer critics in a controlled forum.
3. Compared with conference or printed memos to all staff, blogs are highly cost effective.
4. A well written blog can give a human face to an otherwise anonymous corporation.

The DISADVANTAGES of the corporate blog:

1. The best non-corporate blogs are spontaneous and genuine. Poorly written corporate blogs can look fake -- or perhaps worse, they reveal incompetence on he part of the writer.
2. It is difficult for executives to write freely, particularly at listed companies where they are legally required to publish significant information to all investors at the same time.
3. There is a risk that an ill-judged comment could be seized upon by the media or disgruntled investors.

External Link:

http://www.corporateleadersblogs.com/

http://mariosundar.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/top-15-corporate-blogs-ranked-may-2008/

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

The prepaid card is far from a new idea. The concept is basically the same as a prepaid gift card or a mobile phone SIM card. A prepaid cash card looks like a credit or debit card, and gives users the ability to purchase products and services with a card but with a crucial difference which means a person can only spend the balance that has been preloaded onto the card. This means there is no risk of running into debt as it has no credit or overdraft facility.

Prepaid cash cards are plastic cards, which fall under the pay first category of plastic payments. Prepaid cash cards can be used to make payment for goods and services and even to withdraw money. Before use, the user needs to load the card with a sum of money. Prepaid cash cards are designed to be used as a safer alternative as compare to cash.

Here are some of the general applications with prepaid cash cards
~Bills payment – Rent, utilities, insurance, car payment, and cell phone bills.

~Shop anywhere as long as the card using is accepted at different retailers, buys fuel at the pump, pay by phone, and shop on the Internet.

~Money withdrawal from ATM at ease

~Transfer money – certain prepaid cash card provide for this function of money transfer between 2 different cards.



Other than as mentioned above, prepaid cash cards can be used as a replacement for travellers’ cash. Customers buy prepaid debit cards denominated in the currency of destination, and then use them to withdraw cash at ATMs or pay for goods or services. It is indeed a great way to carry prepaid cash card, carry prepaid cash card as we travel is much safer and more secure than carrying around large amounts of cash.

The best thing is, consumers don’t have to worry about extra charges over their card without their knowing. Because the pre-loaded sum of money is the maximum amount that can be charged to the card.

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit card can be considered as plastic money which replaces the hazards of cash in making payments and purchasing transactions. Having this advantage, credit cards are now being misused by the consumers, and even causing bankruptcies.
Unfortunately, a lots of people misuse the credit cards by buying costly foods and grocery purchasing habits. This is where credit card arises where debt accumulates via interest and penalties. There are many reasons that cause credit card debts.

Causes:

1. Poor money management
People also always do not know where their money is spending or keep on spending without plan or budget. They usually spent on unnecessary things and when there is a need of purchasing a required commodity people may short of cash and use a credit card frequently ending up in debt. That may cause the increasing of credit card debt.

2. Free application

Nowadays, credit card no longer holds by the rich or higher income status. The most attractive are free for application and excluded any annual fees and even free for life. It causes more people now are able to hold a credit card, such as students, operators or fresh graduates.

3. Gambling

Many people put not only their own disposable income on the line when gambling, they also borrow loans to gamble. How many come back home with a bag full of cash, very few. The guarantee in this game of chance is that will be definitely paying to the house. Gambling loans are also available which lead to debt. This addictive and very hard to stop game can take away everything people owe.

4. Unemployment
Households are forced to use credit card for groceries, utilities and some expenses purposes to maintain current lifestyle when the main breadwinner of the household has loss his job and could not find a new job during short periods. This may lead to a rise in debt when expenses are not cut down in line with the reduction in income.

Ways to Prevent:

1. For the card holders who always loss of financial control after using credit card, they should get a related education or concept regarding financial control and wisely plan their monthly budgets for expenses. Alternatively, they can also seek for financial consultation to solve their credit card debts problem.

2. As a smart consumer, we should consider twice before applying for a credit card. Is that a need to apply or just blindly follow the trend? Especially those fresh graduates, they should weight their ability for repaying debts on a credit card.

3. The solution is only advise people don’t go to gambling or develop themselves in the health hobbies.

4. The prevention in to decrease the expenses and down the road increase the income by extra hours work or a better job. Adopt debt consolidation, counseling, debt management, debt settlement or any other method and limit the use of credit cards to emergencies only if they actually want to live a debt free life.

Electronic Currency

Electronic currency is also known as e-money, electronic cash, digital money, digital cash or digital currency which refer to money or scrip that is exchanged only electronically.

Typically, this involves the use of computer networks, internet and digital stored value systems. It may only exist in the cyber world, but that is nothing new about it. Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit are examples of electronic currency. EFT refers to the computer-based systems used to perform financial transactions electronically while direct deposit is a banking term used to refer to certain systems used to transfer money.

Electronic currency allows its holder to buy the goods and services that the vastness of the internet offers. An e-currency system may be fully backed by gold (like e-gold and c-gold), non-gold backed, or both gold and non-gold baked (like e-Bullion and Liberty Reserve).

Electronic currency trading can let you to do business and earn only few dollars of investment. In fact, some of the experts will suggest the beginners to start with only a few dollars so that they can first learn the ropes of electronic currency. Besides that, electronic currency trading has a low transaction cost. Unlike other businesses that will eat up your profit with a huge amount of fees, it allows you to do business with minimal fees and give you more profit and money. There are few websites examples that can let people to do e-currency tradings such as MG E-currency, JT GOLD.com.

Related links:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cash

2. http://www.romow.com/business-blog/benefits-of-e-currency-trading/

Evolution Of E-Commerce

Mobile Payment System in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

What is Mobile Payment System?

Mobile payment system (MPS) is a point-of-sale payment made through a mobile device, such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA). Using MPS, a person with a wireless device could pay for items in a store or settle a restaurant bill without interacting with any staff member.

Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd is an example of mobile payment system in Malaysia. Mobile Money (MM) payment system complies with the regulator's stringent requirements. MM Mobile Payment platform allows everyone to pay anyone, at anytime from anywhere with just one SMS. It also allows one to receive money from anyone, from anywhere, at anytime. MM Mobile Payment system is very secure and it is a closed loop payment system. The charter of Mobile Money is to provide Merchants and consumers with a convenient and secure Mobile Payment and Mobile Commerce platform.

Its potential and the consumer’s adopt strategies are as follow: The cost of a payment transaction has an effect on consumer adoption of mobile payment system. As an online shopper is attentive to the price of transaction costs of mobile payments should be low enough to make the total cost of the purchase competitive with physical world prices.

Payment systems security is one of the main barriers to electronic and mobile commerce transactions. The key requirements for secure financial transactions in electronic environment include confidentiality, data integrity. Other security factors important for consumer adoption are anonymity and privacy, which relate to use policies of customers’ personal information and purchase records.

Phishing: Examples and prevention methods

What is phishing?
The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information.

For example, 2003 saw the proliferation of a phishing scam in which users received e-mails supposedly from eBay claiming that the user’s account was about to be suspended unless he clicked on the provided link and updated the credit card information that the genuine eBay already had. Because it is relatively simple to make a Web site look like a legitimate organizations site by mimicking the HTML code, the scam counted on people being tricked into thinking they were actually being contacted by eBay and were subsequently going to eBay’s site to update their account information. By spamming large groups of people, the “phisher” counted on the e-mail being read by a percentage of people who actually had listed credit card numbers with eBay legitimately.
Phishing, also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, is a variation on "fishing," the idea being that bait is thrown out with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting.

Remember, no reputable business would send you an email requesting your personal account information. Any such email you receive asking for this information should be considered phony and brought to the attention of the business being 'phished'. WARNING…REMEMBER!!!

How You Can Prevent Phishing Scams
The Anti-Phishing Working Group has compiled a list of recommendations below that you can use to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.

• Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information
  - unless the email is digitally signed, you can't be sure it wasn't forged or 'spoofed' - phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails to get people to react immediately
  - they typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, date of birth, etc.
  - phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, but they can be. Valid messages from your bank or e-commerce company generally are personalized, but always call to check if you are unsure

• Don't use the links in an email, instant message, or chat to get to any web page if you suspect the message might not be authentic or you don't know the sender or user's handle
  - instead, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web adress in your browser

• Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information
  - you should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone

• Always ensure that you're using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser
  - Phishers are now able to 'spoof,' or forge BOTH the "https://" that you normally see when you're on a secure Web server AND a legitimate-looking address. You may even see both in the link of a scam email. Again, make it a habit to enter the address of any banking, shopping, auction, or financial transaction website yourself and not depend on displayed links.
  - Phishers may also forge the yellow lock you would normally see near the bottom of your screen on a secure site. The lock has usually been considered as another indicator that you are on a 'safe' site. The lock, when double-clicked, displays the security certificate for the site. If you get any warnings displayed that the address of the site you have displayed does NOT match the certificate, do not continue.

• Remember not all scam sites will try to show the "https://" and/or the security lock. Get in the habit of looking at the address line, too. Were you directed to PayPal? Does the address line display something different like "http://www.gotyouscammed.com/paypal/login.htm?" Be aware of where you are going.

• Consider installing a Web browser tool bar to help protect you from known fraudulent websites. These toolbars match where you are going with lists of known phisher Web sites and will alert you.
  - The newer version of Internet Explorer version 7 includes this tool bar as does FireFox version 2
  - EarthLink ScamBlocker is part of a browser toolbar that is free to all Internet users - download at http://www.earthlink.net/earthlinktoolbar

• Regularly log into your online accounts
  - don't leave it for as long as a month before you check each account

• Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card satements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate
  - if anything is suspicious or you don't recognize the transaction, contact your bank and all card issuers

• Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied

• Always report "phishing" or “spoofed” e-mails to the following groups:
  - forward the email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org
  - forward the email to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov
  - forward the email to the "abuse" email address at the company that is being spoofed (e.g. spoof@ebay.com)
  - when forwarding spoofed messages, always include the entire original email with its original header information intact
  - notify The Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint on their website: www.ic3.gov/

For more information, check some of the following sources:For more information about how to protect yourself, see our Fact Sheet 17a Identity Theft: What to do if It Happens to You at http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm. Read the information and tips put out by the Federal Trade Commission about phishing at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/phishingalrt.htm. Read the Department of Justice's recent whitepaper "Special Report on Phishing" at http://www.antiphishing.org/DOJ_Special_Report_On_Phishing_Mar04.pdf

The Application of 3rd Party Certification Program in Malaysia

The programme of third-party certification are to provide a measure of conformity, satisfy customer demands and limit supplier risks without the expense of repeating tests.Most importantly is the assessment to be carried out by an independent, third party organization that is qualified and licensed to issue certification when the assessment is successfully completed.



MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd is the most famous application of 3rd party certification program in Malaysia. MSC Trustgate.com is one of the example that is issuing certified licensing to consumer. It was established in 1999 as a licensed Certification Authority (CA) in Malaysia under the Digital Signature Act 1997. It provides security solutions and trusted services to help companies build a secure network and application infrastructure for the electronic transactions and communications over the network.

The objective of MSC Trustgate is to secure the open network communications from both locally and across the ASEAN region. Trustgate provide digital certification services such as digital certificates, cryptographic products and software development. The products and services of Trustgate are SSL Certificate, Managed PKI, Personal ID, MyTRUST, MyKAD ID, SSL VPN, Managed Security Services, VeriSign Certified Training and Application Development. The vision of Trustgate is to enable organizations to conduct their business securely over the internet, as much as what they have been enjoying in the physical world.



3rd Party Certification is always crucial and needed becuase there are threats of internet security spreading over the net nowadays. One good example is the increase of phishing on the internet. Customers couldn't care less of trustworthiness of party and other sides they dealing business with, and this includes security of their personal and other confidential datas. Thus, the certification from 3rd party is needed to ensure their information traveled over the Internet reaches the intended recipients and is safe.Apart from that,they serve well in providing e-mail protection and validation, secure online shopping carts and more services in order to avoid being spammed, hacked and attacked by the macilious software such as virus, trojan horse and worms.

Bottom line is, there are more safeguard for online shopping and various other aspects of e-commerce and business field with the existence of 3rd Party Certification which enhances the global trend in general.

For more information on MSC Trustgate, visit their website:
http://www.msctrustgate.com/

The threat of online security: how safe is our data?

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that interchange data by packet switching using the standardized Internet Protocol Suite (IP). It is a “network of networks” that consists of million of private and public business, academic and government networks, which carries various information resources and services such as electronic mail, file sharing or file transfer of local to global scope that are linked by wireless connection, copper wires and fiber-optic cables.

What is Internet Security?

What was once a small research network, a home for greybeard researchers and future millionaire geeks is now front-page material? When computer connects to a network and begin communicating with others, it is taking a risk. Internet security involves the protection of a computer’s internet account and files from intrusion of an outside user. Basic security measures involve protection by well selected passwords, change of file permissions and back up of computer’s data.

Programs can be made to help your computer, but there are also some types of Internet Threats that user can create with intentions of destroying the computers data by being deceptive.

(i) Trojan Horses: programs which pretend to do one thing, but in reality snoop out your personal data or damage it. These types conceal their identity and are usually quite hard to detect.

(ii) Viruses: programs which are able to log into the personal files on a computer it has affected and as a result, can end up removing all of them. It can have serious sides that will effects on a computers system.

(iii) Malware: also known as Malicious Software. It is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. Besides, Malware can be classified as Trojans with a limited payload and are often not detected by most antivirus software. They may require the use of other software designed to detect other classes of malware, which including spyware.

(iv) Worms: programs which are able to replicate themselves over a computer network and in turn perform malicious actions. As a result it has the ability to affect other programs on the computer.

Hackers and How to Protect Yourself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TkDB4KK1s8

The latest in Internet Security Threats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x7Lj5sdWPk