|
Early Evening
Rains Cause Blackouts
Candles were back on the scene early yesterday evenings, as rains in parts
of San José and Heredia, caused blackouts.
Most affected by the surprise downpour and faults in electrical service were
those in San Francisco de Dos Ríos, San Antonio de Desamparados, Barrio
Cascajal, Barrio Córdoba, Zapote, the area surroung Centro Comercial del Sur
and La Y Griega, as southeast areas of San José.
In Heredia, a transformer blew news the bridge El Pirro.
According to a spokesperson for the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL),
the electrical failures were caused mainly by water on high tension cables
which at this time of year are dry and weighed down by dust. The water
increased the tension in some cables and caused short circuits.
According to the CNFL spokesperson, heavy rains will clean the cables.
Yesterday's rain was not strong enough to do that, just enough to cause
headaches for the company, who mobilized various emergency crews to restore
power to the affected areas in the shortest time.
ICE Ordered to Re-Pay Customer
Allan Castillo, a businessman in Manuel Antonio/Quepos has won his complaint
agianst the telecommunications giant ICE (Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad) for providing lousy cellular service.
The Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (ARESEP) - the agency
that regulates public prices and services - agreed with Castillo's complaint
that there were problems with the GSM service and decided to order ICE to
reduce the cost of Castillo's calls to 190 (voice message service) by ¢2.937
colones, plus any charges for late payment and administrative costs.
Though the amount is a drop in the bucket for ICE, it does represent a large
win for the consumer, knowing that the ARESEP does work for the people and
not the giant company.
The problem goes back to last year when Castillo changed his service from
TDMA to the new GSM, with the promise by ICE that the new service had better
coverage and service. However, the changeover was a nightmare for Castillo.
He estimates that he lost more than 30% of his calls and needed to
constantly call 190 to check his messages for the lost calls. His complaints
to ICE went unheard. He decided to make a formal complaint to the ARESEP.
Last week the ARESEP denied ICE an request for an increase in telephone
rates and decided as a slap in the face to order a decrease of ¢100 colones
in the basic service for cellular telephones.
Inside Track: Taxes Are for
Other People
A list of the United States "10 biggest tax scofflaws so far this century"
appears in the April issue of Atlantic Monthly
magazine.
According to IRS records researched by the Atlantic Monthly Magazine, the
biggest tax crime was committed by a financial advisory business called
Anderson's Ark & Associates, which ran a scam based in California and Costa
Rica.
Anderson's Ark put money from 1,500 U.S. clients into offshore trusts that
let clients access their money through debit cards.
Atlantic Monthly said Anderson's then prepared fraudulent tax returns,
claiming the money was spent for legitimate deductions. The estimated tax
loss to the federal government was $28 million.
Lottery Scam Deserves
Dishonorable Mention
Crooks usually don't get their own holidays, but we're declaring this week
International Lottery Fraud week.
If you're a lottery fraud crook, contact us and we'll give you a wonderful
proclamation and a special plaque. But of course we'll first need a security
fee of $2,500 and detailed information about your bank accounts. But wait,
we're getting ahead of the story.
Sound great? It's a fraud!
Scam operators - often based in Canada - are using the telephone and direct
mail to entice consumers to buy chances in high-stakes foreign lotteries.
The El Gordo letter and Dutch e-mail are common rip-offs where you'll be
prodded to pay for administrative costs and/or to supply financial
information.
The telephone usually starts with a phone call where the caller will pretend
to be from some type of international lottery promotion organization and is
calling to inform you of your recent winnings in a lottery. The prize can
range from a hundred thousands of Dollars to millions.
The caller will tell you that in order to cash in your prize, all you need
to do, is to $2.500 by Western Union to Costa Rica. They will promise the
money, intended to be used as a security deposit, would be refunded the next
day when you will receive that big prize. And they will want you not to tell
anybody of the big winnings. There may be unscrupulous persons out there who
might want to take it.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission says says lottery scams are real popular,
either those that try to sell you tickets for a foreign lottery or those
like the above, where you're supposedly a winner of a lottery you didn't
even enter.
How to spot a prize or lottery scam
If the prize or lottery notification (by telephone, regular mail or email)
has any of the following elements, we strongly suggest you do not respond to
it:
- The information advises that you have won
a prize - but you did not enter any competition run by the prize
promoters.
- The mail may be personally addressed to
you but it has been posted using bulk mail - thousands of others around
the world may have received the exact same notification.
- The prize promoters ask for a fee (for
administration or "processing") to be paid in advance.
- Other schemes pretend to be legitimate
lotteries, or offer you the opportunity to buy shares in a fund that
purports to purchase tickets in legitimate overseas lotteries.
- The scheme offers bait prizes that, if
they are real, are often substandard, over-priced, or falsely represented.
Or, as part of the prize you can purchase "exclusive items" which may also
be over-priced or substandard.
- To get your prize might require travel
overseas at your own cost to receive it.
We did an Internet search on lottery scams and
came up with literally dozens of different scams that are currently ongoing.
The most popular this time of year is the Spanish "El Gordo", where you
might receive a letter or phone call telling you of your winnings.
If you don't have a ticket your are not a winner. Period.
If you get such a call, letter or e-mail, don't respond to it. Legitimate
lotteries don't ask for money in advance. And you should never provide
personal identity or personal finance information to people you do not know.
Unless you're a lottery crook. Then you should send us a check for $2,500.
After we've cashed it, we'll send you that lovely plaque.
|
|
Venezuelan president
attacks OAS, UN critics
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Sunday attacked
some international organizations' critics as "hypocrites."
Chavez condemned the UN International Labor Organization (ILO) and the
Organization of American States (OAS) tried to join an international
campaign of "lies" against his government.
The OAS' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said this month that
democracy and the rule of law had deteriorated in Venezuela.
The ILO has investigated reports of persecution of Venezuelan
anti-government union leaders and unfair sacking of state workers by the
government.
The Venezuelan president said on a Sunday television program that this was a
sovereign country with its own constitution. He said, "We laugh at this and
denounce them as hypocrites."
Chavez said he would reject any move by the ILO to ask his government to
rehire more than 18,000 oil workers who were fired for participation in an
anti-government strike over a year ago that paralyzed oil production in the
world's No. 5 oil exporter.
Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000. Opposition leaders
accused Chavez of becoming increasingly authoritarian and dividing this
South American nation along class lines.
At least nine people were killed and about 200 injured in clashes between
government troops and demonstrators on Feb. 27 and March 5.
OAS not to intervene in Fujimori extradition
Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary
General Cesar Gaviria said here on Saturday that the bloc would not
intervene in the extradition of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori
from Japan.
The extradition request filed against Fujimori "is a matter between Peru and
Japan," said Gaviria after attending a seminar held ahead of the 45th
assembly of governors of the Inter-American Bank of Development (IBD).
The Peruvian government informed the OAS on Thursday of its intention to
appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague if Japan still
refuses to extradite Fujimori. On Friday, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry
announced that it had also informed the United Nations of the same
intention.
Peruvian Foreign Minister Manuel Rodriguez promised this week that Fujimori
would receive a just trial with full respect for due processes.
On Thursday, Peru announced that Fujimori had agreed to respondto charges by
the Peruvian government.
Fujimori, who ruled Peru with an iron fist between 1990-2000, is now exiled
in Japan. He is charged with human right abuses that involved 25 lives and
were allegedly committed by the paramilitary group Colina under presidential
orders between 1991 and 1992.
|
