A Day In The Races

Yesterday I went to races, the Toyota Indy 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Although I like motor sports, I am more fanatic of Formula 1 than anything else. I don't follow US motor sports because I think there are too many different leagues, categories and subcategories, and all them are sort of boring, mainly because the run in oval circuits.

Anyway, because I'll have to pass again this year the next Formula 1 US Grand Prix in Indianapolis due to economic shortages (I've been unsuccessfully planning to go since 5 years ago), I decided to try going to a motor race whose cars are the most alike to F1's: Indy Car Racing League.

I must admit it fulfilled all my expectations and I liked it. It's not Formula 1, but heck, it's the nearest and cheapest race I can go by now.

The sad thing of yesterday's race was the death of one driver, Paul Dana, which occurred in the morning practices, before I arrived to the motor complex. I never knew about his accident until the end of the race, when the announcer in the tracks's PA explained the reason why Danica Patrick didn't participate in this race. It was disappointing for me, because watching her was one of the reasons why I decided to go. Other than that, I felt very excited with the whole event.

I snapped some pictures you can see after the jump or by going to my Flickr album.


Ralph Schumacher's Formula 1 car. This is the car he competed with last year.


That's me :-)


My next car (hopefully), the new 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser.


The new FJ Cruiser's sticker price, wow!, well equiped under $30K.


The moment when the race started, after two warm-up laps.


In the far side of the track, Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves from Marlboro Team Penske.


Dan Wheldon and Helio Castroneves battle in the last lap ina very tight, nose to nose finish. Dan Wheldon won the race for a difference of barely 0.0147 seconds.


Dan Wheldon congratulated by his pit engineers after winning the race.

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Calling to Tranquility Base

Here Men From Planet Earth
First Set Foot Upon the Moon
July 1969 A.D.
We Came in Peace For All Mankind.

This is my entry for this week's Photo Friday Challenge: Technology

oops, nothing else here...

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Beware of the Australian (and others) Lottery Scams

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: I am not the originator of this scam; I am not the sender or even the victim. I just wanted to expose this scam to avoid other people from falling in it. I’m not an expert in this kind of thing, thus I will not respond to any inquiries about this or any other lottery scam. Information about legitimate lottery services can be found elsewhere on the Internet.

The idea behind this post is to educate the reader to recognize this particular scam, and avoid to be ripped off his/her money when trying to cash “free” money. Remember, in this World nothing is free, and much less money. Keep reading…

This is a true story: Recently a fellow coworker (I’ll refer
him as Steve to protect his privacy …or his stupidity?) showed us (to me and other coworkers) a check and a letter he received reportedly from the Australian International Lotto. The letter stated Steve had won US$95,000 in a random lottery draw, and to prove it they had enclosed a check for $2,850 for tax and clearance fee.

The check, reportedly issued by Wachovia Bank in the US, looked so legitimate that Steve went to a local Wachovia branch to verify its authenticity. Being there, he asked a clerk for verification and she told him the check was real and the account was also valid, but she recommended him not to cash it in there because he would have been asked and would have to answer too many questions.

After that he came to us, showed us the letter and the check and asked for advice. All of us recommended him to destroy the check and forget about it, citing the many scam cases perpetrated on these days and broadly discussed all over the internet. But the temptation of “free” money was too strong, so he decided to try cashing it. At this point let me clarify Steve is a hard working and honest guy, long time married, father of two and has a completely clean record.

Anyhow Steve went to a Check Cashing store and when handed the check to the clerk, she asked him to wait while she processed it. And here is when everything went downhill. It happened that the clerk called the cops and within minutes the poor Steve found himself handcuffed and sitting on the floor like a criminal. Fortunately for him, one of the cops who arrived to the scene knew about and had experience with these kind of cases and told everyone else Steve was just another victim of a shameful scam. Finally Steve just got a verbal reprimand and was left to walk out without charges, but scared to hell. Of course, “we told you” were the nicest words we later told him.

Now, let’s look the letter and analyze all the details that may indicate this was indeed a clear case of a scam. Unluckily I couldn’t make a copy of the check before he tried to cash it for analyzing it as well, and I only got access to this letter after everything related happened.

Anyway I’m not an expert, but this letter looks so clearly phony that anyone, but Steve, would have sensed the fishy smell. The letter has a plethora of grammatical errors, letter casing errors, misspelling errors, naming inconsistencies and some other errors I’ll further explain below. Please look at the image and find each occurrence being explained here:

1. Inconsistency Error: There is an inconsistency in the name of the institution. As far as I know, lottery services names are trademark, and they carefully avoid lawsuits by always using their correct names. In this case, the main title reads Australian International Lotto, but then in the first paragraph they instead use the word Lottery.
   
2. Grammatical Error: the sentence …that you have emerged ___ one of the winners… lacks the preposition as.
   
3. Grammatical Error: there’s an unnecessary hyphen in the number NINETY – FIVE.
   
4. Wrong Letter Casing: The word TAX shouldn’t be in upper case.
   
5. Wrong Punctuation: In the sentences ...more on that . As soon… the ending point is separated from the last word.
   
6. Grammatical Error: In order to make sense, these should be two sentences separated by a comma and not by a point, as well as the upper case letters are wrongly used: …receive this certificate. Please Contact…
   
7. Spelling Errors: bellow?, or maybe below.
   
8. Grammatical Error: Instead of being separated by a comma, the conjunction or would have been better to make sense: …to avoid unauthorized organizations, individuals contacting you…
   
9. Wrong Paragraphing: There shouldn’t be a carriage return at the end of the word ARE.
   
10. Wrong Letter Casing: The word lotto should start with upper cased U.
    
11. Inconsistency Error: How’s the institution called?, Australia Lotto Corporation, as in the final paragraph, or Melbourne Australian Lottery Incorporation, as in the green words in the watermark.
    
12. Unknown Address: When I googled for 115 Laurier Avenue, the only avenue I found with that name is located in Ottawa, ON in Canada and you can see in the satellite map it seems to be a park. Otherwise, the only place that exists in London with the Laurier name is Laurier Road which isn’t an Avenue. In the same way, the satellite map shows what it seem to be a residential neighborhood and not the building of a financial group. In addition, can anyone tell me what part of England the city of LOONDON is located at?.
    
13. Inconsistency in Fonts: All paragraphs in the letter have different font styles and sizes. Although not an error, it’s a professional mistake.
    
14. Unknown Financial Institution: When I googled Prudential Financial Group, it pointed to an institution located in the US, and not in the UK. In the UK the company with the nearest name is Prudential plc. Remember, trademarks exist to avoid confusion in brand names.

As you can see, there are so many signsi in this letter that would ring a bell of alert to anyone (but Steve) and clearly indicate this was indeed just another scammer trying to find a fish stupid enough to swallow the bait.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission gives these advices for consumers who are thinking about responding to a foreign lottery or other potential cross-border scams:

• If you are a US citizen and you play a foreign lottery through the mail or by phone, you are violating federal law.
  
• If you buy one foreign lottery ticket, expect more bogus offers for lottery or investment "opportunities." Your name will be placed on "sucker lists" that fraudulent telemarketers buy and sell.
  
• Keep your Social Security, credit card and bank account numbers to yourself. Scam artists often ask for them during an unsolicited sales pitch.
  
• Do not fall for a promise. Telephone solicitations that require an upfront fee for advance-fee loans, unidentified investment opportunities or prize promotions are against U.S. law. Furthermore, legitimate lenders do not guarantee a loan before you apply, especially if you have bad credit or no credit record.
  
• If you do not recognize a telephone area code, check it out in your telephone directory.
  
• The bottom line, the commission says, is to ignore all solicitations for foreign lottery promotions. If you receive lottery material from a foreign country, give it to your local postmaster or contact your state attorney general's office or the FTC.

However, if you were already or suspect you’ve been a victim of a scam, you can file a complain at EConsumer.gov, a joint project of consumer protection agencies from 20 nations.

In conclusion, all I can tell you are some recommendations based on pure common-sense:

• Free money does not exist. Always, I repeat ALWAYS there is a string attached.
  
• Never respond to any requests for advance payment.
  
• Do not send any money or personal details to anyone who says that you have won a prize or anything else in a lottery or sweepstake that you have not previously entered. Such claims are almost certainly frauds. Always check fully any person or organization before sending anything to them.
  
• Finally….How can you win a lottery or sweepstake if you never purchased a ticket?

Live long and prosper.

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100

I just realized my previous post was my post number 100 in this blog.... happy posting to me, happy posting to me, happy posting dear Mario, happy posting toooo meeeee... :-)

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