Sany Woo's Blog

After more than 2 months of holidays… the new school session for 2010 began yesterday.

A new school year and new schooling hours for the students in pre-schools. I only found out about this when I read an article in the papers on December 31, 2009. It seems that the minimum number of schooling hours has been increased from 3 to 4.

Why is there a need to do so, I wonder? The only word that played in my mind then is ‘kiasu’ (fear of loss). What else can you cramp into the young minds in that extra hour?

My son is an intelligent and articulate boy for his age, though he can be quite a handful with his endless questions and chattering sometimes. His teachers say that sometimes they do not know how to answer his questions?! He can count quite well and I am in no hurry to ask him to sit still for hours to improve his writing skills, unless he’s ready for it.

I prefer my son to learn and build his creativity through play. I let him absorb the wonders of nature and science first hand by bringing him for nature walks, trips to the beach, zoo, parks and science center.

We build his love for books and learning by subscribing for a library membership for him and encouraging him to read (or rather look at) picture books whenever he wishes (which is quite often).

I prepare lots of papers for him to draw his interpretation of the wonders he sees around him and stuck the first picture he has drawn of our family (plus our car and home) on our fridge.

He has many sets of bricks and Lego’s to ‘build’ whatever he fancies. Lots of board games and educational toys to keep him busy for hours.

He loves to zoom around the house on his bicycle and mini-car (he can even drift with it). When you think he’s going to hit a table or wall, he suddenly performs a quick maneuver and rides safely away. He gave my mom and mother-in-law quite a number of frights!

That’s what he’s been doing during the holidays and he enjoyed every moment of it. Some of my friends sent their children for extra tuition classes… unbelievable… tuition classes at 4 years old?! A nightmare if you ask me.

Last year we sent him to playschool because we wanted him to learn how to socialise with children his age. He is surrounded by adults as he’s an only child and it’s healthier for him to start learning to mix with young friends. It took him a while to adjust because he still prefers the company of adults, especially the elderly. I think it’s because they have more patience with him and loves to chat with him. Just ask my grandmothers!

Now he is in his 1st year of kindergarten. Ah! How time flies!

Luckily for me my son is an early riser because now his preschool starts at 8am and ends at 12pm. To prepare the young scholars for the longer schooling hours, his preschool planned a short adjustment period whereby on the 1st to 3rd day, they gradually increase the number of hours to the full 4 hours.

So far he’s happy to be with his friends from playschool.

How was your childrens’ first day of school?

Leave a comment below and share your views with the readers of this blog!

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What I am going to relate below is my personal experience with credit card fraud. I hope to pass this message out so you will take necessary precautions to prevent any financial loss and identity theft.

Feel free to pass this message on to your contacts if you think it will help raise their awareness on credit card fraud.

It started with a simple sms…

Translation:
AXXXXX: Respected client, On 5/10/08 you have used your credit card at IOI Mall for amount RM4966, transaction code:CH875A, please make payment as soon as possible. Tel:03-79520900

I was alarmed to receive this sms because firstly, I have cancelled my credit card with this bank a few years ago and secondly, I have not been to IOI Mall for a long time.

Immediately I called the number stated in the sms and a Mr Tan picked up my call. He claims he works for the Customer Service Department of AXXXXX located at PJ.

Mr Tan told me that a person has applied for a Gold Master credit card from the bank on August 16, 2008 at their branch with a credit limit of RM5,000. This person used a home address at Taman Meru Utama, Klang on the application form.

On November 2, 2008, this person has swiped for the amount RM4966 using the credit card.

When I informed him that I did not apply for the card and that someone else has fraudulently used my identity, he asked me to call Bank Negara (the Central Bank) to report on this matter and to request Bank Negara to conduct an investigation and to issue an instruction to AXXXXX to suspend the credit card account. Meanwhile, he will notify his supervisor and they will conduct their own investigation on this matter.

He kindly gave me the Bank Negara’s number to call: 03-79661004 and specifically asked me to call this number.

Now I am really sure something fishy is going on because Bank Negara is located at KL but he gave me a number with a different area code. Another thing is that, with the necessary approvals, the bank itself can suspend the account without going through Bank Negara I am sure.

After that, I asked Mr Tan a few questions relating to the bank’s procedures on credit card transactions but he gave unsatisfactory answers. He kept asking me to call Bank Negara to report my case.

To find out more (or just plain curious) I went along with his advice and called the number he gave me and a Chinese lady called Carmen picked up the call. She continued speaking in Malay to me though I replied her in English. Very odd.

I briefly told her that I want to report on a credit card fraud whereby someone used my identity to apply for a credit card with AXXXXX and used the card last year.

After that, we went through a simple Q&A session of who, what, when, where, why, how…

Then it came to the last question… she asked me to disclose all my ATM and credit card numbers with all the banks I currently hold….

I ask her why she need this information. Her reply was… when Bank Negara run a check on all the credit card and bank accounts under my name, they will be able to know if the syndicate used my identity to apply for credit cards from other banks and suspend those accounts also (is that so?).

I then ask her if it is necessary for me to personally go to Bank Negara to fill a form with these information instead but she says… no, it is not necessary. After that, I told her that I do not have the numbers with me because I am currently not at home.

Told her that I will call back again the next day with the information because it is close to the end of their office hours (ie. 5pm). She then gave me a reference number, saying that I just need to call back with the information and provide the reference number so that I do not need to go through the whole process again.

She also reminded me, as a precaution, not to inform anyone, including my family members, about this matter for 3 days. This was the time needed for Bank Negara to conduct an investigation on my case. The reason being that they were afraid that someone close to me might be behind this fraud.

Don’t you feel they are really good at making you feel fearful of financial and identity loss and distrustful of the people around you, so that they can milk out the information they need from you?

After that, I called up the telephone directory assistance and asked for the telephone numbers of the PJ branch of AXXXXX and Bank Negara. Not surprising… the numbers do not match.

I called the two numbers a few days later but was unable to get through…

When I called the Contact Center for AXXXXX at 1300-80-XXXX, the person who picked up my call checked and confirmed that I do not have any active accounts with the bank.

She also told me previously there were cases in which people got duped in the same manner by this syndicate. Some of them have even lodged police reports.

With the current economic downturn, there are many unscrupulous people going around preying on unsuspecting victims for financial gains instead of earning money legally.

Please be very careful and remember to never disclose your personal, credit cards and banking accounts information to anyone.

Best regards,

Sany Woo @ http://sanywoo.com

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