I just realized that October is breast cancer awareness month after reading that Pelf is going pink. She even changed her theme to pink. What the Pink for October website and the others joining this movement are doing is to raise awareness to the public regarding breast cancer.

How can you help?

According to the info in Pelf’s post, you can do either one (or more) of these:

1. Go pink. Wear pink clothes. If you are blogging, change or modify your current theme to a pink theme. Wear a pink ribbon. Etc etc etc.
2. Design badges and banners. Many others have helped designed pretty Go Pink! badges for others to download and include in their blog. I am using one of them too.
3. Design blog themes. If you are good at designing or modifying blog themes, do it! Not only are you helping to spread the message, you will be getting tons of back links when people start using your theme. A win-win situation is what I see.
4. Help spread the word. If you really can’t do any of those above, just help by writing a post to spread the message across.

What am I doing to help?

Well, I can’t imagine myself turning my blog pink. LOL. I am really sorry but I don’t think I can. So, the next best thing would be to (1) include a Go Pink for October badge in my blog and (2) write a post to help spread the message.

I believe these campaigns are a good way for bloggers to give back to the society. I manage to raise over $400 for MAKNA previously when I joined Blogathon 2007 a few months back. It was an exciting journey.

Go pink and help make a difference.

Scam, scam, scam.

A housewife was reported losing RM360,000 to a lucky draw SMS scam. Another 32 year old computer analyst lost RM560,000 to yet another lucky draw scam.

I really wonder if these people live in some places where there are no access to local news from newspaper or and other sources. There have been so many reported cases in the past. I am sure they have either read or heard about it. Why are they still falling prey to these scams?

Greed. It has always been greed.

The half a million ringgit could have been used for some other investments or something. Oh well, at least they have learned a lesson from this. Too bad it is just a “very expensive lesson”.

[Via TheStar]

I read in the newspaper a few days ago regarding teenagers running away from home. I wonder who bear the responsibilities when cases like this happen — the parents or the teenager themselves. Maybe both parties share the responsibilities equally. Anyway…

Jean` reported that her 17 years old cousin sister ran away from home on Merdeka Day around 7pm. She might be heading to Ipoh from KL. Head over to her blog for photos and a phone number in case you might have bumped into her.

Help spread the news and do check her blog frequently for updates on the case. You don’t want this story to continue circulating in the blogosphere 2 years after the girl has been found and save at home.

Search for the term “scam” in The Star’s website and you will notice that there is at least one article about scam every week. There are 7 articles regarding scam in the past week alone.

This is a reminder than scams are happening around us all the time. Some may have even experienced others trying to scam you. There will be a next victim of scam, just make sure you are not the one.

Article 1: Man falls prey to HK scam

This scam happened using the same technique I highlighted over a month ago at TenthOfMarch.com. The victim was informed that he has won a big sum of money. He was later asked to deposit a sum of money into a bank account for some overseas trust insurance, which he did.

After losing RM3,460, he later received a second phone call asking him to deposit an extra RM8,000 for processing fees. Only then did he realize he was cheated.

Article 2: Beware of the court con

This technique is said to have been originated from Penang and had spread to Johor and other states. From the report, it is stated that “the police have received more than 100 reports of the scam in the Klang Valley”.

Blogger Jee has first hand experience of this scam a few weeks ago. According to the report, the victim received a phone call from the “Malaysian High Court” and was said to have missed a court hearing. In order to “settle the problem”, the victim is required to hand over his name, identity card number, bank account number and current bank balance.

Article 3: Young bank card holders sucked into scam

The victim rented his ATM card to a stranger for RM150 a month. Little did he know that his bank account would be used to scam other victims. After being tracked by one of the victims, he seek help from the Cheras MCA office.

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Scams have been around for many generations. It will still be around for many generations to come. The question is, “Are you the next victim?” *touch wood*