EPF gets on Facebook, Twitter

KUALA LUMPUR: The public can now obtain the latest information on the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) through Facebook or Twitter.

Its deputy chief operating officer (Finance and Customer Services) Hizwani Hassan said Facebook could be assessed under "Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja" and Twitter KWSP at KWSPBuzz.

He said the use social media such as Facebook and Twitter enabled faster dissemination of the latest information on EPF through pictures and video.

"More importantly, it allows EPF to reach out and get closer to its members, especially the Generation Y and those who depend a lot on mobile gadgets for the latest information," he said in a statement Monday.

Hizwani said within a few months after the introduction of the EPF Facebook, more than 6,600 people had registered with the social networking tool.

"When the public registered with Facebook and Twitter KWSP early this year, they were able to obtain informaton on the EPF's announcement of the dividend rate for 2009 at the same time the press editors and reporters got the information through the EPF's press release."

However, he said, the two channels were provided only to relay the latest information on EPF and for the organisation to get close to its more than 12.3 million members.

"Members are reminded to use the channels already available such as the service counters, EPF call centre at 03-8922 6000 or the myEPF website for any query on EPF," he added. - Bernama

fixed phone line being used by another part

YA'ISH of Bandar Sri Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, says he was shocked when told by Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) his fixed phone line number was being used by another party.

"On Sept 28, I sent an email to TM because I could not make or receive calls from my fixed line," he says.
"Two days later, TM informed me my fixed line number was being used by another party and they requested me to go to TMPoint to sort out the matter."

YA'ISH says he has been using the fixed line since the mid-1990s and cannot understand how it could suddenly occur.

"I've already made an official complaint to TM so I don't see why they need me at their office. Until today, I have yet to receive any feedback from them."

● A SPOKESMAN for TM says: "We wish to clarify that the situation faced by YA'ISH was due to faulty equipment at TM’s exchange. Our technical team has since replaced the equipment to restore the customer’s fixed line service.

We have informed YAI'SH on the status and he has confirmed that his problem has been resolved. TM would like to apologise to YA'ISH for the inconveniences caused."

When contacted by Hotline, YA'ISH says his fixed line is working again.

Monday, January 3rd, 2011 13:58:00

 

PETALING JAYA: Sometimes, helping a friend in need is not worth the deed.

This was the lesson learnt by a Labuan nurse who lost almost half a million ringgit to a man she had befriended on online social networking site Tagged in April last year.

Married with kids, Lucy (not her real name) said she began chatting with "Greg Kennedy", 40, who claimed to be an engineer working in London.

One day, Greg confided in Lucy he wanted to buy a house for his mother in Canada. "Some time in April, he told me he had also sent a gift to me."

She then received a call from Greg claiming he had wrongly sent the money for the house in a package to Malaysia.

"He was crying on the phone saying he had sent 70 per cent of his life savings to me instead of to his mother in Canada.

"I pitied him and said I would help him. I told my husband and we decided to help him as he sounded genuine."

Greg told her the money was sent to the KL International Airport some time in May last year. Then, someone claiming to be a Customs officer contacted her.

"The officer said I needed to pay a range of fees, including a declaration fee to Bank Negara, insurance, anti-money laundering fee as well as some late payment fee for the collection of the package and handling charges."

Lucy banked a total of RM60,000 into an account as instructed.

She then flew to KL in May, where she met with an African man in his 30s at a hotel in Subang. The man, Clinton Morris, who introduced himself as an agent with an affiliated office with the Customs Department, said he had Greg's money.

"I was surprised I had to go to a hotel. When I arrived and saw Clinton with the luggage, I was convinced it was Greg's."

Clinton had said Lucy would not able to collect the luggage as clearance was needed from Singapore.

Then, another man, who introduced himself as James Mattson, told her they had to go to Singapore to get clearance. "They told me they would send the bag to me in Labuan once things were sorted out."

The duo asked for extra charges, including demurrage fees as their "agency" had been holding foreign currency for more than a month, documents to be endorsed by the KL High Court and their lawyer's fees.
A few days later, the men called and told her to bank in more money into the same account for flight tickets to Labuan. "They also needed cash as a form of security and I did as instructed."

But the trip to Labuan never materialised. Lucy got another call from Mattson claiming he needed RM15,000 to bribe Immigration Department officers holding the bag.

When Lucy was unable to pay, she was told the bag had been confiscated.

Still believing Greg, who claimed to have run out of funds, Lucy paid for his flight to Malaysia. The drama continued when she received a call, supposedly from the British High Commission, of Greg's detention due to passport problems and was asked to pay for his release.

"I was so stupid to once again believe what I heard and I borrowed more money, including from moneylenders, and banked in the money as requested."

When Lucy was told Greg was being detained at the Sungai Buloh prison and that she had to pay another RM15,000 bribe to Immigration officers and the police for his release, she had enough. She had so far shelled out RM430,000 in total.

She reported the matter to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission believing government officers were involved, but was later told she had actually been scammed.

Last month, Greg SMSed her claiming to be back in UK.

"When I called him, he said he was at the clinic undergoing checks and that he would call me back, but he never did. He also began avoiding my calls."

Lucy lodged two reports on the case, which police are investigating as theft.

'I need a way out of this mess'

"I'VE lost all my money and now I have suicidal thoughts as people are asking me to pay them back but I can't.

"I took a personal loan in addition to getting help from moneylenders and friends.

"I earn RM4,000 a month and for the past four months, the moneylenders debited RM1,800 from my bank account as they are holding my ATM card."

Lucy, who has three school-going children, said: "I don't know what to do as RM430,000 is a lot of money. I can't believe I was so stupid."

She said she had thought of resigning and working overseas. "I am also concerned about my children if I go overseas. I need to figure out a way to get out of this mess.

"I just hope other people will not fall for such scams and lose all their money, just like me."

RM2mil lost to syndicates in online trickery

What the suspects usually do is approach locals and tell them they have difficulty opening a bank account and offer money to the account holder to allow their account to be used for money transfers — ACP Mohd Izany Abdul  Ghany

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 100 cases were reported on parcel scam syndicates last year in Kuala Lumpur, with an accumulated loss of RM2 million.

City police commercial crime department head ACP Mohd Izany Abdul Ghany told The Malay Mail police had conducted investigations into Lucy's case but no arrest has been made.

"The bank account used belonged to a foreigner but the address of the account holder turned out to be fake."
He said it was one of many tactics used by the parcel scam syndicates.

An expert in parcel scams said it is usually run by conmen from African countries.

"What the suspects usually do is approach locals and tell them they have difficulty opening a bank account and offer money to the account holder to allow their account to be used for money transfers."

The expert said such syndicates were willing to pay about RM300-RM500 to the account holder to allow money be transferred.

Another tactic syndicates used was to have a local fixer find addicts or homeless people and obtain their MyKad for a small payment in cash.

"They would open a bank account using the MyKad and abandon the account once they were done with it."
The expert said the modus operandi hardly ever changes. "It is the same year in and year out yet they still get away with it because we are so easily deceived."

Izany said parcel scam victims were usually women in their 30s and 40s.

The number of reports lodged last year increased by 50 per cent.

"The amount lost was almost the same but the number of cases increased from 66 in 2009 to 100 cases last year."

He said many fell victim to such fraud despite cases being highlighted in the media. He suspected it could be due to the way the suspects communicated with the victims during online chats.

“They are sweet talkers and always know how to get the victims to help them,” said Izany
.
The latest incident, reported on Dec 18, involved a a 38-year-old businesswoman who was conned of RM50,824 by a foreigner she met online.

The woman, in the police report, claimed she met the man on Nov 10 and he introduced himself as a doctor
from the UK working with the British forces in Iraq.

He told her he planned to open a practice in Malaysia and needed to send his medical equipment before that.
He claimed he needed to pay insurance for it but had no money at the time as it had been transferred to another bank.

He said a parcel containing a cheque for £350,000 (RM1.7 million) and £65,000 (RM311,000) in cash was supposedly on the way to the woman.

In the police report, the victim claimed the man showed an airway bill on the parcel to convince her to help him pay for the insurance and claim the parcel on his behalf.

The victim banked in several payments to help him before realising she had been conned.
Izany said police arrested 34 people last year for such scams, mostly from African countries.
“Some were charged while others were deported and blacklisted.”

He advised the public, especially women, to be wary of trusting people online.

Suspects arrested last year

Anti-tower protest kicks-off

PETALING JAYA: Protests against the proposed 100-storey Warisan Merdeka tower has gone online with the "Mega Demonstration on Facebook – 'Say No to Mega Tower' which kicked off yesterday with.
More than 2,000 "online protestors" have confirmed their participation in the cyber-rally, set to go on until Sunday.

But, while the campaign sought to get the 2,228 supporters to change their Facebook profile images on personal sites as well, only a handful have done so.

University student Ram Kumar from Kedah objected to the tower because he felt the government had to get their "priorities right as there is an urgent need to lower the cost of medical, education and housing for the low-income earners”.

Broadcast engineer Fazli Abas, 27, said: “I don’t understand why it’s necessary to build a 100-storey mega tower as there are many buildings in the city’s Golden Triangle, especially the Petronas Twin Towers, (that have) yet to be fully occupied.”

Another university student, Victor Tan, wondered if the profit generated from the project would be able to reach up to three or five times the amount of the RM5 billion investment.

The Facebook campaign “1M Malaysians Reject 100-storey Mega Tower” was created a day after the Budget 2011 announcement and has registered 156,853 approvals at Press time.

READ: Taking on the 100-storey tower

READ: Najib defends 100-storey Warisan Merdeka tower plan

Customer service woes

Improving trend still falls below expectations

PETALING JAYA: There is a general view that customer service in Malaysia falls short of expectations but if we look into the operational metrics of individual industries, service levels have been improving, said Customer Relationship Management and Contact Centre Association Malaysia (CCAM) vice-president Chew Su Fong.

She was responding to the findings of Greater Expectations: Keeping Pace with Customer Service Demands in Asia Pacific, a recent report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, which revealed Asian companies were not emphasising service.

Chew told Mail Money that the definition of good customer service was subjective and what was good yesterday was deemed ‘given’ today despite intense competition in the service industry.

“Consumers are more informed. They know their rights better and this gives the perception that here, good customer service is falling short. This is why the findings from studies which span various service industries may be relevant.

“However, judging from the results of our recently concluded 11th CCAM Annual Contact Centre Awards 2010, the variation between rankings of contestants were sometimes close and the scoring, very high for many categories.”

Chew cited examples where drivers can renew their road-tax online and the customer experience improved. In telecommunications and banking, there was pro-active servicing such as call-back and follow-ups until completion of service resolutions.

Chew, who is also Celcom Axiata Bhd senior vice-president of customer service, said common problems affecting customer service performance were networks and tools performances, particularly in the telco industry.

Other factors were fulfillment objectives, follow-ups and product knowledge of front-liners servicing consumers.

"Third parties of distribution channels such as dealers and resellers representing organisations, also contributed to customer service performance because of the conflicting objectives of closing sales and providing good service. In such cases, sales usually prevailed and consumers might complain later of not knowing the full rates of a telecommunications package plan until they received their first bill, for example.”

When asked if customer service should measure up to the price that one is paying, Chew said: “It is fair for service to measure up to the price one is paying. However, servicing options must be provided.

Pos Malaysia: Lodge complaints over late payment notices

GEORGE TOWN: Those who made utility bill payments at post offices but still received late payment notices should lodge a complaint with Pos Malaysia Bhd.

Pos Malaysia’s head of corporate communications and customer care Datuk Rohaiza Hashim said customers should bring their original bills or receipts to any regular post office to check on the matter.

She said this in light of a recent case involving the Batu Ferringhi mini post office which was outsourced to an approved third party operator by Pos Malaysia.

About 50 people stormed the post office on Wednesday to seek an explanation on why utility bill payments they made there were deemed unsettled.

Three female clerks had since been arrested.

“The case is under investigation and the operator and his staff have been suspended from handling Pos Malaysia services,” Rohaiza said.

She said Pos Malaysia had taken full control of the operations at the outlet with two of its own staff members.
She described the incident as “isolated’ and thanked the public for alerting Pos Malaysia.

Rohaiza said there were currently about 500 outsourced post offices in the country and over 700 regular post offices.

“Outsourcing is done in areas where there is no regular post office within a 5km radius, so that people can still have easy access to basic postal service,’’ she added.

“Applications are open to Malaysians who have their own premises such as mini markets,” she said.

In Petaling Jaya, Fomca secretary-general Muhd Sha’ani Abdullah said services for all one-stop payment counters should be improved and monitored closely to avoid fraudulent activities.

“The enforcement and rules are already there,” he said.

Keen on clarification from MCMC

PETALING JAYA: Several MPs told The Malay Mail yesterday they were also in the dark about whether the Universal Service Provision (USP) fund has been spent wisely.

Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin cited the example of how only about a third of residents in his constituency in Sabah had electricity supply in their homes as well as only one telco tower and two rural Internet outposts.

"Giving free netbooks to residents there before the necessary infrastructure is complete would be useless.
"Three hybrid solar power plants are being built by the Energy Commission and only then can the MCMC build more Internet facilities."

Public Accounts Committee deputy chairman Dr Tan Tang Giaw, said MCMC must make use of the USP fund wisely and effectively to achieve the aim of providing Internet services in rural areas where telcos were not interested in investing as it was not profitable for them.

"We don't know how they are spending the fund. If it is true, the fund now has RM4.7 billion, that is a huge amount. I will bring this matter up in Parliament."

Gombak MP Azmin Ali was also keen on getting clarifications from the ministry on the state of the fund.
"I don't want to comment further as only the ministry will know how the fund has been used so far."

Meanwhile, Selangor State Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, said the USP fund had been used wisely by the MCMC in his constituency of Sungai Panjang.

"Last month, MCMC gave 500 netbooks with broadband access to villagers."

He said he was satisfied with the effort, adding: "I don't know what it is like at other places. So far, I heard Internet facilities at Sungai Besar, Sabak Bernam and Tanjung Karang have been completed by the MCMC.

Villagers there are happy."