Most westerners are shocked to learn that this was a common practice in the subregion, for them, it looks like an unfair deal to the sellers. But no more worries because most of the time, it’s not. Some foreigners just accept the first price stated by a seller and will not bother arguing about it. But in most cases, the first price was worth much more than the regular price. Bargaining is not a confrontation, so there’s no need to be scared of, just smile and ask the seller nicely, and eventually, you’ll find it very interesting to do.

 

 

It will be really nerve-wracking and tiring to visit various locations at once, and then going back to the hotel you’re staying. It would be better to find a place to stay to the place you fell in love with during your travel because it will be easier to discover that particular place and enjoy its surroundings. You can have a flexible schedule if you’re going to do this rather than booking rooms in advance of time, simply because you’ll have more freedom to decide where to stay. But occasionally, booking ahead is recommended if you know you’re going to be exhausted from an extended flight, bus or train ride, or if you’re visiting a place during a major event and you don’t have time to roam about.

 

 

Expect to wait more minutes or hours in the estimated time of the arrival of a bus or train if you’re planning to go somewhere in Southeast Asia. Don’t get frustrated in this situation, but simply believe that this could bring you some favorable impact such as learning to restrain your misery and raise your patience. But there are some cities in the region that have efficient and developed transport systems, and one of which is Singapore.

 

 

Scams could be everywhere and it can occur to you. Unfortunately, tourists becoming victims of various scams is nothing new in this region. Instead of being frightened, you need to be more cautious when traveling to Southeast Asia, or any part of the world. Before you begin your journey, you need to teach yourself with the most frequent kind of scams. If you know what to avoid, you can have a safe journey.

 

 

There are various visa requirements for each country in Southeast Asia, and Bacall Associates needs you to be educated of those. You cannot be accepted to every border by simply showing up your passport.

 

 

Showering two times a day might not be enough for you because Southeast Asia is quite hot during the coolest time of the year. Bacall Associates wants you to stay hydrated all the time because you’re going to sweat like never before, and during the hottest time of the day, find some shady spot and relax there for a bit.

 

 

Some tourists experience having excruciating stomach pain due to food poisoning or eating undercooked food. Target stalls that have a line-up because you can be sure that the food is freshly cooked and not sitting under a heater all day.

 

There’s so much beauty to witness in Southeast Asia, and it’s not just about partying and beaches, the region is also rich in culture, and each of its countries deserves all the synonyms of the word “breathtaking”. Its simplicity and slow pace of life will undoubtedly capture your heart. 

 

Along with other business owners, you want to increase your visibility and reach your target market, right? Then content and execution will be your saving grace. Remember that those are important to make sure that your PR campaign will not fail.

 

To make your PR campaigns effective, you need to consider the following in order to help you achieve success.

 

 

It’s apparent that it should be on the top of the list because without a goal, you can’t score. You and your audience may become confused if you don’t have a clear purpose for your campaign. Your answer to the question, “What do you want to achieve for your brand?” should be definite and clear. Keep in mind that this will be very important to you because this will serve as your steering wheel in driving the road to success.

 

 

You should reach the right audience for your brand. Considering your potential media outlet’s audience and tone is important. Make sure that your content matches them and is appropriate. To target different types of media, you should create different pieces of content such as press releases, content marketing articles, and creative media kits. But remember, spamming irrelevant content is not good for your brand’s image, so avoid doing it to everyone on your contact list. Publishing your content may not be enough, so it’s better to put more effort on your side and do your best to communicate the right message to the consumers.

 

 

It is clear that having a constant interaction with the consumers is a vital part of your campaign, and this is possible if you have reachable content. Nowadays, the power of social media platforms is undeniably changing the world of public relations, especially in countries like Singapore where social media is being used every day by the majority of its people. You can easily share your content through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn, that can lead to an effective communication between you and the consumers. Make sure that your content has a connection with your brand and that the message is not lost. But don’t make it all about your brand. For example, tutorials on YouTube regarding beauty or fitness provide the demonstration of the product along with an entertaining and informative experience they can interact with.

 

You should definitely AVOID this. Your content may seem flawless, but according to reviews, it can still be misunderstood by some and have different meanings. Do some research and get different perspectives to minimize the chances of your PR campaign gaining attention for all the wrong reasons. Simple phrases, symbols and metaphors, altogether might have a different meaning, making this crucial for international campaigns.

 

 

Measuring your campaign’s effectiveness should also be a part of your concern. Think of how you will measure the success of your PR campaign before you begin sending press releases. Having different KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, is often a good idea according to the experts of Bacall Associates.

 

 

You can better understand the consumers and media by keeping yourself updated with the latest trends, from new apps to the latest publications, and even current affairs. This can help you communicate your message more efficiently, making your brand get the recognition it deserves.

 

Keep in touch with Bacall Associates if you’d like to discuss your public relations approach because they can greatly help you with your every need. 

 

You can enjoy listening to the waves while enjoying your favorite book and laying down on a soft towel under an umbrella. Bacall Associates put together a few tips to consider for your perfect beach vacation.

 

 

Obviously, there are a lot of beaches to choose from, and each of them offers unique services. Before booking your trip, make sure to choose the best beach that suits your family's interests. Your family's enjoyment should be your utmost priority. You can ask your close friends or other relatives for suggestions, or you can just browse the internet and trust Google's results. Don't choose a beach that is exclusive for singles or couples if you're planning to have a vacation with your whole family. For a new adventure, you can also choose a 'virgin' beach or a quiet and less crowded beach. Your family will surely enjoy the serenity of such places, and you can do activities on your own without disturbing other people. For example, lots of reviews state that Singapore doesn’t really have nice beaches because it’s only known for its towering steel and glass towers, but it has few beaches that are very beautiful, quiet and peaceful and only the locals know their locations and some of which doesn’t have an official beach name. Secret beaches are amazing! But since they are not made to cater tourists, your family need to prepare everything you need by yourselves.

 

 

If you're planning to stay for a few days at the beach, then you and your family should have a place to stay in. You can choose between hotels often available at the beachfront, or hotels within walking distance of your beach's location. You don't want to choose faraway hotels, right? Choose the one that is the most convenient for your family, and has a wide variety of beach accommodations perfect for any beach experience you're looking for. You can choose between romantic cottages, full-service resorts, family-friendly hotels, or even campsites. You should ask your family members for their preferred accommodation to have a unified decision.

 

 

Your family will definitely enjoy doing different kinds of activities during your beach vacation, so you should choose a beach that offers an amazing array of activities. Bacall Associates advise you to plan ahead and organize everything beforehand. Ask questions to the staff of the beach to plan the activities you’ll be having. Paying in advance is also an option so that you’ll not bother yourself bringing a large amount of money to the beach. Before booking, don't forget to ask if those services are available during your stay. You can also discuss this matter with your family members so that they know what to expect and what activities to perform on the beach.

 

 

Note that choosing the right time is crucial for your beach vacation. You should know that peak season and public holidays mean crowded beaches, and expect traffic and fully booked airports. With these situations in hand, you should be able to make everything right for your vacation. Yes, you have a lot to consider that's why you shouldn't rush planning and take one step at a time. To avoid rainy and very hot seasons, check the weather of the area at different times of the year. Remember that choosing the most convenient time for you and your family is really important.

 

 

Bacall Associates advises you to pack right and light. Girls usually plan to pack their things in advance than boys, but it'll be better if everyone will do this beforehand. With this, you’ll have more time organizing your things and putting everything you need without forgetting anything important. This can result in a less stressful beach vacation. Making a list of the things you need can help you organize your things. Some of the most important things to bring with you include cash, hat and sunscreen, phone charger, reading materials, and of course, an extra outfit.

 

Bacall Associates has been in the travel arena for decades, so you can definitely trust the tips given above in planning your beach vacation. So what are you waiting for? Start preparing the things you need, and make sure that you will be having a memorable beach holiday with your family.

  

 

As the UK hits the busiest time of the year for holiday bookings, experts are warning consumers about the dangers of fraudulent travel company websites and other holiday scams. Abta, the Travel Association, has produced a list of warning signs for consumers to look out for, to help reduce the risk of falling foul of bogus sites.

 

If a website you are looking at has a combination of the following signs, it may be an indication that it’s not to be trusted …

 

 

Abta also advise consumers to do an online search before booking to check the profile of the company. If the company has been defrauding people, or has a bad reputation, there is a good chance consumers will have posted details or warnings about the company.

 

Other advice offered to stay safe when booking online is to:

 

 

Holiday fraud led to an estimated £7m being stolen from consumers in 2014, according to a report released by the City of London Police National Fraud Intelligence Bureau in April, with £2.2m lost to online scams. The average loss to the individual was £889, while one individual lost £62,000 in a fraud relating to timeshare.

 

The report also detailed the emotional toll for victims: one third said the fraud had a substantial impact on their health as well as their financial well-being, while 167 were affected so badly they had to receive medical treatment.

 

According to the report, the most common types of fraud related to holiday accommodation, in which fraudsters set up fake websites and posted fake ads online, as well as fake airline bookings and bookings related to high-profile sport and religious trips, such as the World Cup or Hajj.

 

Stuart Fuller, director of commercial operations at online brand protection company NetNames, said professional-looking websites can be set up easily, using rudimentary coding skills. Fraudsters can also leave fake online reviews on sites such as Tripadvisor to help exploit the trust of consumers.

 

“Unfortunately, often victims do not discover they have been duped until arriving at the airport or hotel only to find there is no booking,” he said.

 

John de Vial, head of financial protection at ABTA said: “Our consumer helpline has seen an increase in calls from members of the public who are either checking the validity of a suspicious website or, worse, have already paid by bank transfer and then been fobbed off when trying to get hold of their tickets. We want to make consumers aware of this problem and stop them from being ripped off in this way.”

 

Felizia Bacall is a consultant in Bridgespan’s Boston office. Before joining Bridgespan, she worked as research analyst for the Finance Department of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. She has also worked at the Millennium Challenge Corporation on their monitoring and evaluation team, and as a financial services associate at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Her most recent work was for Partners in Food Solutions in Kenya conducting the due diligence and ground work to open a lending facility for food producers in Africa. Bacall earned her MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and her bachelor’s in economics, politics, and global studies from Brandeis University. While at Tuck, Bacall was a fellow for the Center for Global Business and Government.

 

He succeeded his father, DaCadzow, no later than 1392, when he appears on a charter of Andrew Murray of Touchadam as Dominus.

 

He was imprisoned, along with his brothers William and Andrew, in Norwich in 1396. Richard II of England ordered their release from the Mayor and bailies of that city on 29 June. It appears that their imprisonment was due to violations of the truce between the Kingdoms of England and Scotland. John Hamilton, brother of John Hamilton of either feeling Bardowi, then the uncle of John Hamilton of Fingalto, was released from the Tower of London on the same date.

 

A John Hamilton, either his brother John Hamilton of Bardowie, or uncle John Hamilton of Fingalton, was released from the Tower of London on the same date. Hamilton and his uncle seem to have found themselves guests of the English again.

 

For more info about this topic, click here.  

 

 

Coming out of the financial crisis, Asia ’s multinational professional service providers are changing their strategic focus.

 

During the economic boom, major international law, accounting, architectural and engineering, management consulting and executive recruitment firms only had to sit in their offices while their phones rang off the hook. They spent most of their time deciding which potential clients to call back.

 

As the crisis tightly gripped the country, many professional service providers switched gears and became restructuring specialists. Forced to restructure or go out of business, clients continued to run to them. Business for professional service providers continued to boom during the crisis. They ainly focused on handling short engagements as their clients fought to use their services.

 

Today, as the crisis winds down, many multinational service providers operating in the region are again switching gears. Although many major consulting firms have cut back their restructuring operations and sent scores of foreign specialists home, other firms are expanding in Thailand by finding growing niche markets such as systems formulation, implementation and integration.

 

However, most professional service providers are in a state of flux.

 

During the past eight years, the booming US economy acted as the world’s growth engine. Today, with the US and European economic experiencing slowdowns, and the Japanese economy continuing to slumber, there are few external factors to drive small regional economies.

 

Closer to home, professional service providers are forced to adjust their operations as their clients prepare for an uncertain economic environment. During the boom times and the recent critical restructuring period, many large companies routinely hired professional service providers on a contractual basis when they needed them. If the firms wanted a specific problem studied and rectified, they would call in a professional service provider.

 

Today, major multinational companies as well as Thai companies are no longer satisfied with this type of arrangement. “These companies are now demanding a higher level of service,” said Edwin Sim, managing director and country manager Korn Ferry Thailand .

 

Major Thai companies that have virtually completed their restructuring processes are now looking at how they can best implement their new strategies and visions during this time of uncertainty, Sim said. “They are now demanding that service providers give them continuous consultative services.”

 

Companies that managed to survive the economic crisis are no longer comfortable calling service providers just to handle emergencies. “In a more uncertain economy, no CEO wants to fight unnecessary fires, which can be prevented with solid strategic planning and incisive policy implementation,” he said.

 

For the previously transaction-oriented service providers, the adjustment from transaction-based services to relationship-based services will mean new challenges. However, service providers such as lawyers, accountants, executive recruiters and other management consultants can invariably create a win-win situation for themselves as well as their clients.

 

In the long run, the service providers will be able to spread client acquisition costs over a customer base that uses more of their products and services. Clients benefit because they experience a more hands-on partnership with their trusted service providers. Rather than fighting fires when problems arise, the service providers are constantly available because under a retainer, they are continuously advising senior management during critical strategic policy formulation and implementation activities.

 

Soaring electricity rates have long burdened Central America, as the region is highly dependent on imported fossil fuel and at the mercy of fluctuating oil prices. At the same time, rising demand is putting pressure on the region to expand its capacity to generate electricity. It is crucial that the region develop alternate power sources to lower costs, ease the reliance on fuel imports, and reduce carbon emissions.

 

To tackle this challenge, IFC has supported private sector developers and financed a series of projects in the region—building on our decades of experience in supporting electricity generation, transmission, and distribution upgrades in developing countries.

 

The latest one is AES Colón—Central America’s first integrated plant that generates power from liquefied natural gas. In July, we completed a $150 million financing package for the construction and operation of the 380-megawatt plant, which will help mitigate the risk of electricity shortages while introducing a clean, cost-effective, and reliable energy source

 

 

Natural gas—a cheaper and cleaner alternative to fossil fuels—holds great potential as a source of energy in Central America. The region currently relies on heavy fuel oil and diesel for over 40 percent of its installed generation capacity.

 

Over the past decade, Central America struggled to get natural gas projects off the ground. These plants demand large investment, and the energy markets in the region were not big enough to attract investors. As a whole, Central America has roughly the same capacity to generate electricity as Colombia, further south.

 

IFC is helping to change that. Located on Panama’s Atlantic coast, AES Colón includes an onshore terminal where liquefied natural gas is regasified to feed the power plant. The facility is sponsored by AES Corporation and Panama-based Motta Group.

 

By its third year of operation, AES Colón is expected to generate 2,100 gigawatt hours of power which would otherwise be produced using heavy fuel and diesel. This will represent a reduction of about 1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year—the equivalent of taking more than 200,000 cars off the road. Once operational, the project is expected to reduce Panama’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 4 percent.

 

In addition to reducing carbon emissions, natural gas complements renewable energy by ensuring a steady supply of clean power that is able to balance the inherent variability of wind and solar energy.

 

 

Since 2010, IFC has supported the implementation of over 900 MW of new renewable energy capacity in Central America, including 215 MW of wind and 215 megawatt-peak of solar photovoltaic projects, helping offset a slowdown in the construction of hydropower projects in the region.

 

In Panama, we have provided a $300 million financing package for the Penonome wind power plant, the largest wind farm in Central America. The project is expected to generate the equivalent to 5 percent of the country’s total energy demand. In Honduras, we have recently supported three of the first large-scale grid-connected solar projects in the country.

 

In Costa Rica, the Reventazón 305-MW hydropower plant we are supporting will bring light to half a million homes. In recent years, we have also financed a 72-MW geothermal plant in Nicaragua and 123 MW of run-of-the-river hydroelectricity projects in Panama and Honduras—where little or no water storage is necessary.

 

From Panama to Costa Rica through Nicaragua and on to Honduras, new renewable and clean-energy projects are helping transform Central America’s energy landscape and demonstrate that the region can develop the power infrastructure it needs to grow sustainably.

Those scams never died, they just evolved. Attackers improved their tactics and changed the channel.

More people connected to the internet means that cyber criminals just have more potential victims. And when internet users migrate towards the social networks, guess where the attackers will be waiting?

Does this look familiar?

I bet you thought it’s a harmless post. But you could be just one click away from a nasty malware infection.

That’s why we decided to break down social media scams, so you can know what to expect and how to protect yourself.

·         Here’s the rundown of what you can learn from this article:

·         Core reasons behind scams on social networks

·         How scammers take advantage of social networks to make money

·         Common tricks you can come across

·         Social media scams on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more

·         Get it done: Must have in-account & on-device security settings

Scammers plan most of their scams with one and only goal in mind: money. They will do anything to monetize your actions and your sensitive information.

They trick you to click on a link, download or install something, like or follow a social profile, share something or send it to your friends. They’ll try to gain any type of information from and about you that they can exploit or simply sell to others. They’ll even try to talk you into willingly sending them money.

However, some of these scams are done just for fun or out of curiosity, to find out if and how something works.

A quick example of a basically harmless scam: you’ve most likely come across at least one chain letter passed on via popular social networks. These are messages that claim that the owners of the network will start charging users or that it will shut down. They will prompt you to forward the message to everyone you know in order to shut down. Others claim that a brand or celebrity will donate money to a charity cause for every share of that message.

These kinds of scams are only social media clutter and noise. But they can also turn malicious very quickly.

How scammers take advantage of social networks to make money

1. They trick you into visiting websites and / or clicking on ads

Most websites make money from selling advertisements. The most common type of advertising is based on paying for impressions (page views – how many times did a potential customer view an ad?)

The impressions system is based purely on traffic, on the number of times an ad was displayed to a user while viewing a web page.

The pay-per-click system means that advertisers only pay the website when a user clicks on an ad.

This system can be tricked by generating clicks that don’t come from genuinely interested users, or by hijacking clicks that were intended for a legitimate advertiser.

You may argue that it’s harmless, and that an individual page view or click will only bring scammers a tiny amount of money.

So what if they trick you into clicking on an ad and you thought it’s a completely different thing? Only wasted time, right?

Well, if you start multiplying those few cents from your click with other millions of clicks that they managed to gather, you’ll see that scammers can fraudulently raise serious amounts of money.

This is called “Click fraud” and, according to a report from the Association of National Advertisers, marketers all over the world could lose this year up to $7.2 billion because of it.

It’s also worth noting that 90% of web attacks are delivered through advertising networks.

This is similar to the previous point.

By making you like a page, follow an account, comment or tag people, scammers will raise the numbers of a social account. They also ensure that the action will appear in your news feed, providing them with access to more people.

Sometimes, this is for the own benefit of the scammers, so they can pretend their account has genuine online influence and then place ads it or even sell it. 

Other times, third parties such as brands or companies will buy likes or followers for their social accounts. This way, they’ll be able to better sell their social media accounts; by making advertisers think they have real influence.

I’m just trying to clear how these things work, so I’ll not comment on the ethics of this action, as it’s not the main subject here.

Phishing is the name given to cybercriminals’ attempt to trick you into giving them sensitive information or money.

They will craft a plausible message that seems to come from a social network representative or from one of your online buddies. They will then lead you to a site that appears to be legit, where you’ll be prompted to enter sensitive information.

From name to email address, phone number, home address, social security number, to credit card details, bank account number, passwords, etc. – this kind of information can be used for financial fraud, identity theft, and blackmail and so on. That’s why it’s important to keep in mind that your personal information is as precious as gold and you should do anything to protect it.

Phishing attacks used to happen mostly through emails, but the landscape has changed dramatically over the past years, due to the rapid growth in social networks usage.

Phishers take their time to create websites that look identical to your favorite social media networks. They also create fake emails or social profiles that seem to belong to genuine representatives of the network.

After they contact you either directly on the network, through private messages, or through emails that seem to be from the social network’s representatives, and they try to trick you to click on a link to: reset your password, reconfirm your account, and confirm that you don’t want your social account to be cancelled and so on.

This kind of information can then be used to access your account and send messages to friends, to further spread the links.

Other times, they can make money by exploiting the personal information they’ve obtained, either by selling it to third parties or by blackmailing you with this repercussion.

– By sending messages that appear to come from a buddy. In those messages, they invite you to click on a link to check out a video or see some disturbing news.

– By finding out essential information about you that will then increase their chances of a spear phishing attack.

Spear phishing is directed at specific companies or individuals, and it’s not as automated as common phishing.

The attackers will take their time to gather all available information about their target, in order to create a highly personalized and believable email.

Last autumn, researchers from the Dell Secure Works Counter Threat Unit identified a network of at least 25 well developed LinkedIn profiles that were part of a social engineering campaign.

Spear phishing requires a bigger effort, but it’s the most effective kind of phishing attack. And with the publicly available information that we voluntarily share on social media, its chances for success will most likely increase in time.

Phishing is also a potential launch ramp for malware, which leads us to… trick nr. 4:

Malware is used as a collective name for malicious software – the type designed to disrupt or damage your data, software or hardware. Viruses, worms, keyloggers, Trojans – all these are just different forms of malware.

Cyber criminals spread malicious software for profit through adware (forced advertising), spyware (stealing your sensitive information) or ransomware (software that encrypts your content, blocks access to your system and demands payment in return for they key that will decrypt your data).

Usually, attackers get malware into your device through a variety of mechanisms that involve exploiting human and technical factors. You can get infected with malicious software just because you thought you were downloading a browser extension, an app or a game.

·         Apps that claim to let you know who visited your profile

·         Apps that claim to enable the Dislike button on Facebook

·         Apps that claim to be a virus removal tool that will clean up your computer

·         Apps that claim to change the color of your Facebook profile

·         Apps that claim to provide you free likes or followers

This kind of applications carries more or less dangerous types of malicious code. Afterwards, your social account will be used to spread the apps to your friends, sending them messages to encourage to download the software as well, thus further propagating itself.

These scripts can also command your profile to like other pages, helping scammers further monetize the con.

We’ve mentioned these before. Chain letters are messages that catch your interest by claiming that a social network plans on charging users in the near future or that they will shut down. Chain letters ask you to distribute the message to everyone you know, in order to stop the network from charging money or shutting down.

Other forms of chain letters claim that a brand or celebrity will donate money to a charity cause for every share of that message. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are usually targeted for this one.

Variations include emotionally extorting you through fake stories of sick kids, false warnings of viruses circulating, monetary rewards, etc.

These letters used to be sent exclusively via email but, nowadays, because of the increasing popularity of social networks, cyber criminals started taking advantage of them and our decreasing attention span.

Chain letters can take the form of a post from an online buddy, or a direct message.

·         They will ask you to donate money for a charity cause (that’s actually controlled by a cyber criminal).

·         They will urge you to download something in order to protect yourself from a virus that is circulating on the web. This can be done either by clicking on a link that redirects you to a phishing site, or by downloading an attachment that contains malware.

Many people have fallen for this kind of stuff and continue to propagate the messages.

Break the chain – report the message (or mark it as spam), delete it and inform the ones who sent them that they are fake.

Instead of focusing only on highly technical methods, scammers base their attacks on social engineering tactics.

Cyber criminals will cheat, lie, exploit your trust, take advantage of your emotions, curiosity or lack of technological knowledge, trick you to install malware or divulge sensitive information. No trick is off-limits.

It’s important to note that most people won’t even report when they were tricked via social engineering. They realize they were stupid and don’t want to further embarrass themselves. Reporting would benefit everyone involved, so it’s time to get over your mild embarrassment.

Shocking news uses something that’s hot right then. It’s something that everyone is talking about in the media and on social networks, such as a terrorist attack or a flight crash. You might expect to see a video or news, but, instead, the link leads to spammy, pop-up filled or malware-laden websites.

“Curiosity killed the cat”.

Kim Kardashian’s newest bum photos? Bin Laden’s video death? Vanilla Ice dead?

Always a sure way to get clicks from gullible users.

Photos of sick babies or endangered animals that lure you into watching a video or to see news.

Gift exchanges, free coupons, free trips, free iPhones, free likes or followers, gift cards – basically, free everything.

These scenarios usually take advantage of big brands names: Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret, the Cheesecake Factory. And they come in exchange for other potential ways for the scammer to propagate the con: click here, like and share, tag friends, follow someone, etc.

Remember the Nigerian prince scam, where you’re typically required to send money over so that, in turn, you’ll receive several times more than the originally borrowed sum?

Or the spammy emails that claimed that you won millions of dollars at a lottery or a prize in a competition?

In order to receive the prize, they prompt you to send over some personal identification information and a small fee for post office.

These kind of scams just moved from email to direct messages on social networks. Here’s an example from LinkedIn. invit=�3�]

 

In marking our 50th anniversary, we drew up a business plan titled I-Plan. I-Plan stipulates that our mission is to offer comprehensive intellectual services to realize secure and abundant lives for people around the world. It also specifies the stance of seeking employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction and social contribution as the highest priority values that we emphasize for fulfilling the mission. We consider the importance of employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction and social contribution. We also believe that enthusiasm and purposefulness are defined as driving forces that make us that type of company.

 

We wish to develop a company that fulfills this corporate philosophy. The company we aspire to be has three dimensions. The first is to be a company that allows its employees to feel a sense of pride. We are proud of our services that are extremely important in increasing local security and reassurance and in building a foundation for vitality. We therefore wish to maximize our service domains and service coverage area. The second is to be a company where employees can enjoy a feeling of accomplishment through performing their duties. We therefore focus on human resource development to maximize the abilities of staff and the organization. And the third is to be a company where employees are energetic. We will therefore improve the environment and system for working.

 

External circumstances today are changing dramatically. Seeing this as an opportunity, we will be united to boldly confront the challenges we face. We hope that those with the following attributes will join us to actively take up these challenges. The first attribute is leadership. We want our staff to think and act proactively, not take a passive attitude. The second is teamwork. We want our staff to communicate effectively and work together with others. The third is persistence. We want our staff to be persistent in pursuing their challenges, until they reach their goal. We look forward to your pursuing employment with us.

 

                                                                          President and Representative Director

                                                                          Oriental Consultants Co., Ltd.      

Although Zika infection typically results in mild or symptom-free infections in healthy individuals, infected pregnant women without symptoms may still give birth to a baby with birth defects like microcephaly. Similarly, infected men without noticeable signs of illness may still incur testicular injury and lowered sperm count. The Zika virus could infect the male reproductive system for several months, posing risk for sexual transmission.

“This study showed, for the first time, that a single-dose vaccine candidate could prevent Zika infection in non-human primates, block mother-to-fetus transmission, and stop male testis infection in mice,” said UTMB’s Pei-Yong Shi, senior author and the I.H. Kempner professor at the department of biochemistry and molecular biology. “Besides quickly mounting a protective immune response, this live-attenuated vaccine exhibited an excellent safety profile in both mouse and non-human primate models. Taken together, the results suggest that this vaccine merits further development in humans.” 

“Having a Zika vaccine that can protect male reproductive systems, pregnant women and their unborn babies would improve public health efforts to avoid birth defects and other effects of the disease in regions where Zika is circulating,” said Pedro Vasconcelos, director of Evandro Chagas Institute in Brazil and co-developer of this vaccine. “It’s important to note that a single-dose vaccine is practically important; vaccines that require booster shots are impractically challenging for people living in developing regions where access to medical facilities may be limited.”

Other authors include UTMB’s Chao Shan, Antonio Muruato, Bruno Nunes, Daniele Medeiros, Xuping Xie, Jannyce Nunes, Alan Barrett, Scott Weaver and Shannan Rossi; Justin Richner, Brett Jagger and Michael Diamond from Washington University School of Medicine; Kaitlyn Morabito, Wing-Pui Kong, Barney Graham and Theodore Pierson from the National Institutes of Health as well as Pedro Vasconcelos from Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, Parå State University, Brazil.

The National Institutes of Health, UTMB, The University of Texas System, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pan American Health Organization and the Kleberg Foundation, supported this work.