Owner: Common Cents URL:http://spectre-commoncents.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 12:43:29 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: Making sense and cents out of 'investing' money on online programs. Site statistics:Click here
AsianPay News 2007-01-03 01:37:00 I'll be the first to admit that I've not keep up to date with anything remotely related to AsianPay. But I have been receiving emails from readers asking bout feedback regarding the program and subtle invitations to join their 'investment' program. I hope that everyone who got a reply from me did heed my advice and stayed away. For those of you who are clueless, I got this from NoBS.Reason why I never joined AsianPayThere were concerns that what they did wasn't legal.It had a branch in Singapore. To accept money in the form of investments or loans, you need a license. As far as I'm concerned, they did not have a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide any sort of financial services. You can find a list of companies that have a license here. And luckily for us it's the beginning of the year so the list is pretty much updated.Not too sure what happened for them to make the changes. Probably someone did file a complain with the MAS, hence the changes. No o
Infinity Shares Has It's Own Blog 2007-01-05 02:47:00 Infinity SharesIS just launched it it's new blog. I've updated the relevant entry.Mida-SurfFor some reason I'm still getting emails from this scam for the past few weeks. The good thing is that this one's just a waste of space. The bad thing is that it's persistent as hell. The anal thing is that I can't delete my account coz my password's been changed, so unless I email them (which I wouldn't), I'm stuck with stupid updates from a program that's ceased payments.JR ExchangeLooks like this local exchanger is back and working again. It probably came up somewhere during the week.
Read more:Infinity
E-gold Stutters 2007-01-11 18:41:00 I haven't been paying attention to the blog for sometime due to attending the 'stag party of the year' (good friend's), and probably wouldn't be around much in the next couple of weeks either, in preparation for the 'wedding event of the year'. Adding to that, I'd be busy entertaining some friends/traders (ex-colleagues) who will be dropping over to Singapore for a holiday.Anyway on to the post before I give a detailed schedule for January. If anyone has noticed, e-gold has been having fits the last couple of days. Maybe it's just the timing I tried to access e-gold, or the after effects of the Taiwanese earthquake, but I've not been able to reach the e-gold website on numerous occasions. Judging from the forums, I'm not the only victim here.It's probably nothing really important, nor devastating, but one can't help but return to the last time something marginally similar happening back in Dec 05. Back then, the e-gold offices were raided and e-gold was unavailable for abo
Private Investors Union Bites the Dust 2007-01-15 16:15:00 Yup, this one's as good as dead. If you're a member, log in and read the latest news. It's not good.Good thing I only had the minimum here. This one almost bit me had it not been for the announced holiday period. I had kept away from adding more money into the program until the 'trading' resumed.While the website(s) are still up (PIU and BFG), it's as good as an empty shell. Of course the charade of investigation and scapegoating continues to fool anyone who cares to listen/read. And as with all programs which pull similar stunts, I'm sure it will go on for some months till everyone's forgotten about it. The one thing's for sure is that no one else will be seeing another cent anytime soon.
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PIU : Scam or Incompetent Administrators? 2007-01-17 00:50:00 My personal schedule has been hectic to say the least, but I thought I'd just share some more thoughts on this matter since a couple of people have inquired. Those who have read the 'reports' seem to think PIU were indeed hoodwinked.ScamLet's just say the arguments for PIU in this catergory is really high.1. For starters, where in the world did this third party fictional(?) investment company come from??? All along I (and alot of others) was led to believe that PIU did all the trading. I've never once read on any forum nor in their newsletters that they had outsourced our money to a third party company. They had always inferred that trading and other investment vehicles were done by 'their traders'.Now all of a sudden they dropped the bombshell that they had put our money into another company. Sounds like a desparate attempt to deflect attention. Now, let's say the reports are true, I'm still maintaining that I was scammed. Had I known there was a third party involved, my deci Read more:Incompetent
, Administrators
A Few Grouses 2006-03-15 17:50:00 Damn, 2 posts in a day. Got quite alot to complain/whine about. Good thing it's not all bad.MPDWI've updated the MPDW entry with the latest changes. If you haven't heard, they've made drastic changes to the program. Taking an objective stand, the changes are mostly pretty good. However the changes made are of immediate effect. This means those of us who are in the program have our units locked up for a period of 6 months.While I understand the need for the changes, I'm unhappy that my funds are locked up for the next 6 months without prior warning. I hope they do the right thing and allow members time to adjust and withdraw if they do not want to be part of the program. I'm personally hoping I can withdraw some my funds. I'll still leave something in there, just that I don't feel comfortable with the changes, especially the way they are handled.Oh, and btw, the returns last week was a pretty nice 3.65%GottaLottaHitsNo news here. Unfortunately no news isn't good news here. I be
Quick Update 2007-02-04 07:51:00 It's been a while since I've written anything of note here. Been rather busy the past couple of weeks and it didn't help that I completely forgot I had to serve the nation. Hence I'm in the middle of my reservist training with little, close to no access to the internet. My in-camp training should last till the end of next week and hopefully I'm able to catch up on the news of the past couple of weeks.NSFGNo idea what the f**k is going on here. Emails have not been replied to and I've not received a statement since December. The only good news here is that they have paid up for the January withdrawals. Otherwise, communication has been piss poor.Infinity SharesIS has posted a positive overall for the month of January. I will get around to posting the updates in the related entry when time permits.Hyip GamesSince the middle of last year, I've been dabbling with long term games, paying anything from 0.5% - 3% on a daily basis. While there have been misses here and there, the overal Read more:Quick
, Update
, Quick Update
Lucky Escape 2007-02-08 14:50:00 I just completed my reservist today, and it was supposed to be a joyous occasion since this was supposed to be my last call up to serve the nation, although I've yet to receive the black and white despite being promised verbally by the higher ups.A couple of reservist mates and I wanted to celebrate the occasion with some drinks, but our joy was short lived. On the way to our destination, we got involved in a 6 car pile up, and the car we were in was smashed up pretty badly, both from the front and the back.Luckily the airbags were activated and by some sheer fluke, we got away unscathed. In fact it, considering how badly compressed some of the cars were when we got out to assess the situation, it was a miracle that no one was injured. Had it not for an army policy that bars us from bringing in our camera phones, I would have taken and posted the extent of the damage here.I'm still shaken by the incident and thanking my lucky stars it wasn't anymore serious than just monetary losses Read more:Escape
Action Against NSFG 2007-02-09 08:52:00 Looks like some members are going to take issue with NSFG over the alleged confiscation of funds by the Danish authorities and I'm really tempted to join in the fray. More importantly was the actions by NSFG to continue paying members in full after the incident, while sucking the remainder with the illusion that everything was fine and taking in our new deposits during that period.For more detailed information, you can read it from the HYIPDiscussion forum.Whatever the outcome, it's clear that NSFG is no longer a viable option any longer. I've removed them from the blog menu. As for personal opinions, I don't have any at the moment.
Read more:Action
Quick Updates 2007-02-11 17:01:00 DesertSky MarketingI've gotten a full refund as well as a 10% profit from Dustin. It's unfortunate that I've stopped the whole autosurfing thingy to rest my eyes since November. I'm sure when the doctor gives me the go ahead, I'd be giving this one a close look. So far this one's been nothing but a top notched program. How long it will last still remains to be seen, but right now it's definitely one of, if not the best, out there.NSFGJust to update everyone, I received my statement for the month of January and it's not something to shout about. In fact there hasn't been much joy since my money was stolen in September.
Read more:Quick
NSFG : Something To Cheer About Or Stalling For Time? 2007-02-14 19:43:00 Looks like all my recent posts since returning from a rather eventful 6 weeks have all centred around NSFG in one way or another.I just received an update from Paul, stating that they gained a profit of 10% by mid-Feb. I suppose this should have come as some good news, but I'm not impressed at all. The miserly 10% doesn't even come close to reimbursing the 66% lost when they took my money and joyfully used it to pay some others. Until that occurs, I doubt I'd be fully satisfied with anything that happens here. To put things in perspective, it doesn't even come close to making up for the 15% lost last month. Moreover I'm very sure many of the MA account holders have already jumped ship, making it more difficult for them to reimbuse us from the fees. To add to that given their recent run of trading losses as well as administrative incompetence, the skeptic in me seriously find it hard to believe they actually made such 'huge' profits.Alternatively it looks to me like they are stal Read more:Cheer
Welcoming the Year of The Pig 2007-02-17 10:28:00 No news here or thoughts here. It's a day early, but I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year.I'm personally looking forward to the year of the Golden Pig. It's been literally the year of the Dog for me this past 12 months of so. Everything that could've gone wrong has/had. I've had near brushes with death and disability, and accidents that have left permanent damage.On the financial front, this past year has been quietly good due to the bull runs in most equity markets, with the more exciting times actually occurring with the online adventures instead.Anyway here's to wishing everyone health and wealth. And remember to use a large dose of common cents when making your online 'investment' decisions.
E-Gold News 2007-02-23 20:33:00 Just read this from e-gold:e-gold Empowers Online Gambling Sites to Refuse Payments from US Persons On October 12, 2006, the Safe Ports Act was signed into law in the United States. As a result of the Safe Ports Act and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 contained in the Safe Ports Act, the facilitation of many forms of Internet gambling by persons located in the United States has become a proscribed activity. With the objective of preventing the use of e-gold by United States persons for unlawful online gambling, e-gold has deployed a feature whereby any e-gold account holder may configure their e-gold account(s) to block incoming e-gold Spends from accounts controlled by Users residing inside the United States or who are accessing the Internet from within the United States. Online gambling businesses using e-gold are now required to enable this new account attribute.While this doesn't really affect those of us who are not in the US, or playin
NSFG : Interesting Bit of Information 2007-02-26 16:55:00 I was doing my daily browsing thru the blogs and came across this interesting bit. It's was found on NoBS blog and it's worth a good look if you're in NSFG. The interesting bit is written by a user called 'Per' and it certainly is an interesting bit. Scroll down abit and you'd see it. Heck, I'll copy it verbatim for those who are not net saavy. All the urls provided are not in English. It's amazing how two young amateur wannabe-traders can trick people all over the hyip-world!Did a google on www.google.dk (I'm danish…) - and Kenneth (the trader) apparently works as a sales- or storeclerk with a small wood and cardboardfactory in Farum north of Copenhagen: www.farusa.dk. Also he's doing some banner-designs from home.. look at www.bannerdesign.dkCheck the photo on NSFG website, its taken at the factory. Then go to www.farusa.dk and see his profile and photo there: http://www.farusa.dk/dk/nyhedsbrev/3/nyhedsbrev.htm Why will a "topgun-forextrader" still be w
DesertSky Marketing Closes It's Doors 2007-03-03 02:12:00 Looks like Dustin has decided enough was enough and decided to close the doors on DSM yet again. The signs were not looking good in the past week. Daily returns fell swiftly, outdoing the mini downturn in the equity markets.Personally I think this was a good move. People were not ready for the product and played it like they would any other normal program. Until mentality changes, the only way to play the game is to get your principle out asap and play with profits. Moreover the product looked like a semi-ponzi at best and cash would eventually run out. At least with DSM, no one loses. There would be refunds to anyone not in profit.And as usual, the forums were filled with complaints as the vultures circled the dying program, hoping to put their 2 cents worth, enhancing their own reputations. Fact of the matter is people who play 'guru', should've known the nature of the beast. Since they have proven themselves unable to overcome the beast, they really shouldn't be playing the ' Read more:Marketing
, Doors
What We're Up Against 2007-03-02 21:30:00 I’ve been in this industry for a couple of years, and have learnt a lot (or so I think). The biggest lesson I’ve learnt is to never trust anyone. This is one arena that is filled with the lowest of lowlifes, the type that would sell their grandmothers for the odd dollar. To put things into perspective, I’ve worked for a number of years in a very well known global bank group (well known for nasty office politics) and the level of deceit and distrust is nowhere near the level of scum that resides here.Everything you read from the monitors, blogs, info-sites and forums should be taken with a large dose of salt. Not everything presented is as rosy as it is. There are pseudo monitors that have no value other than to rake in referral commissions, blogs filled with referral links (albeit giving good commentary, but still a referral whore, nonetheless) and industrial ‘consultants’ dishing out (bad) advice in forums.There is always an agenda behind everything that is done in this indu
Understanding the System: DesertSky Marketing Script Flaw 2007-03-05 19:28:00 I've been meaning to post this a couple of days back after my last post, but was insanely busy with a wedding of a good friend, which completely slipped my mind (right....some good friend I am).In my last post, I mentioned that people were not understanding the product but did not elaborate on it. I'll try to elaborate on it in the simplest terms possible.The script DSM runs on allows compounding, which isn't a bad thing as everyone thinks. In fact it's a godsent, considering it saves both the administrator and the members transaction fees in e-gold and other processors used. It's something I've mentioned in my simplistic guide on surf programs. People compound anyway if internal compounding is not allowed. They can merely cashout and redeposit, so in itself is not an issue.However the real problem is that the script does not account for internal compounding as payouts. When you compound internally two things happen:1. You cashout2. You redepositAnd it's done in that order. In t Read more:Understanding
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NSFG : Good Returns 2007-03-09 02:19:00 Well, amidst all the furore surrounding the whole DSM saga, I've been selectively reading my emails and completely missed the ones from NSFG. For some reason the mails ended up in my spam folder, hence this late late update.The good news is that they secured slightly over 19% for the month of Feburary. Pardon me if I'm not jumping for joy yet. Combined with January's result, it's a marginal gain of over 1% for 2 months.The REAL good news here is that I'm in conversation with a managed account holder, and so far March has been a brilliant month. We're looking at gains over 5% in the first week of March. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope they don't screw this one up.As for enthusiasm for the program, you've got to bear with my lack of it. Until the amount that was woefully under-reported/stolen is replaced, all these news really mean nothing. It's just paper gains and losses. With the huge exodus of people from the pool accounts and the stellar results, I'm expecting som Read more:Returns
DesertSky Marketing 2007-03-10 07:46:00 You gotta be kidding me! You seriously have to be! Just after I posted the last entry, DSM announced that it's now part of the CEP family. Unfortunately for all the people who solely used e-gold and alertpay for this one, you just got royally screwed, since only CEPTrust will be used.Looks like a plan to accept all these programs into under the CEP umbrella and to create a larger audience for that particular pay processor. It's going to be interesting to see how all this develops. The conspiracy theorist in me is going into overdrive.
Read more:Marketing
DesertSky Marketing Programs : The Fallout 2007-03-10 06:35:00 I admit I've a mild obsession with what's going on with DSM, despite not being involved in them. As mentioned in previous posts, the fallout from the second closure of DSM would adversely affect the other programs leasing the same script. True enough, most of the programs under the umbrella had to annouce closure or some form of change.DesertSky Marketing
Yet amazingly enough, DSM reopened and just announced that all upgrades/compounds would remain. The only change being the daily percentages. This is probably good news for everyone involved in the program.The only question is....where is the money going to come from? I can understand if the principal sums are paid that extra 20%, but to include that to the compounds? That's surely going to be alot of money involved.In the not too distant past, you could argue that there was extra income coming from leasing the script, but after the fallout, only 2 of the 5 programs are garnering any sort of income for DSM. The other 3 have already d Read more:Programs
, Fallout
Not Dead Yet 2007-04-04 04:11:00 It's been awhile since I last blogged. To say the least, I've been busy with offline stuff. Just to shed abit of light to the Singaporeans reading this, someone offered me half a mil for my HDB apartment. I never had the intention of selling but the offer's so crazy I had to take a serious look at it and do my sums. So while doing this, I made a disciplined effort to take some time off this blog, although I had plenty of comments to make over various anal issues.As for my apartment, chances are I'd still hold on to it, afterall the bulk of the money would be spent on another one since I do need a roof over my head. Secondly, my area is in for major developments in the next 3 years. On top of that, I prefer to go the rental route should I eventually move out.NSFGLooks like we pool members have been treated like dirt again. No updates, no news, no statements. I had to get this from a managed account user. Read and weep. These guys are either plagued with insane bad luck or the most i
New Local Exchanger 2007-04-12 10:14:00 Just a quick update here. Looks like there's another new kid on the block.SgExchangerHaven't used them yet, and probably might not in the near future. The usual suspects are still working well for me. Moreover nothing really outstanding about the rates provided.This new one has a wide banking option to purchse and sell e-gold. It also provides 'instant' exchangers via YIM or MSN.The thing that raises my eyebrows here is the impending use of paypal. We all know the chargeback function of paypal, and the horror stories of exchanging paypal with e-gold. Will monitor how this develops if I have the time.As with all new exchangers, go small and go slow.
Read more:Local
Another Local Exchanger : ECurrenz 2007-04-20 17:56:00 Ok, this one's pretty well recommended. And the rates are probably some of the best I've seen in town. I haven't used them yet, but if you're looking for good rates, this one's definitely the place.The only downside for me is that OCBC is not represented yet. But if you have other local bank accounts, then this one should be alright. As with all unfamilar exchanges, go small and go slow.
Read more:Local
Buy E-Barrel Makes the Local News 2007-04-23 17:53:00 The program 'Buy E-Barrel
' was running pretty hot in the beginning of the year and collapsed a couple of weeks ago. This article was printed in the local papers, Straits Times, yesterday.I saw this one being posted around in the forums I've visited, and luckily didn't put a cent into it. There were just so many reasons not to buy into the hype generated by this one.I've a good number of friends who are working in the oil industry as traders and such deals simply do not appear out of nowhere. In fact they don't appear at all.The rates are ridiculous.The MLM aspect of it is ridiculous. Other than an incentive for the stupid to con other stupid people, MLM usually has no place with real investment.Heavy Malaysian influence. I have nothing against Malaysia or the people residing there, but given the blatant number of scams that come out from there, this one was a straight no-no for me.Unfortunately this comes too little too late for all those who have already fallen victim here. But Read more:Local
E-Gold Trouble? 2007-04-27 19:35:00 I've recently got alot on my plate and haven't been actively monitoring the 'industry' on the whole. There are things that I've wanted to comment on but haven't had the time to cohesively put my thoughts together. However this e-gold situation is something that can't wait.1mdc which has been a strong bastion for e-gold users had their accounts blocked via court orders. Not much is known with regards to the details and speculation, as usual, is rife. You can visit the 1mdc website for more inform on them.IceGold, a major exchanger in Europe has also changed their e-gold account. Again, speculation as to why they are doing it, is running wild.Of course more information of this can be found in DigitalMoneyWorld.com.Chances are that all these are going to amount to nothing as the US government is weeding out all the illegal transactions and money laundering schemes going on. On the other hand, hitting on the exchangers may have more servere reprecussions for those of us with money i Read more:Trouble
E-Gold Indictment and Response 2007-05-01 17:53:00 E-GoldAs all of you should already know, e-gold was indicted on the 27th and 3 days later came up with this response. I thought the response felt like a statement filled with damaging insinuations that's going to bite e-gold in the arse in a court fight.There's still alot of uncertainty going on with regards to the future of e-gold, with the situation going nowhere clearer in the next few of months. In the meantime, it's business as usual for e-gold.I'm personally leaning towards taking the cautious approach and not hoarding much in my e-gold accounts, just enough to make the occasional gamble when the right situation arises.Club-FXTraderApparently 'hackers' got into the account and stole all the money. I don't have much vested here. On hindsight I should have pulled all my money out of this one last month when changes were announced. I've never taken this one as a real program and have always been treating it like a ponzi.I've never believed any program which promises a fixed Read more:Response
NSFG, IS updates 2007-04-30 07:17:00 NSFGThey posted a 10.94% gain for the month of April. While good, still goes a long long way to replenishing what's been stolen.They also announced that there would be no trading during the last week of May, due to another holiday they are taking.Just thinking aloud here, but I'm still kinda curious just how many managed accounts they still have. You would expect having a handsome commission on those managed accounts (which allegedly are 90% of the pooled accounts) would go a long way filling the hole that's been dug in our pockets.Infinity SharesLooks like they found a new broken and doing the necessary to switch brokers. Trading would resume once the switch is done.Due to the e-gold situation, deposits have currently been disabled.Local ExchangesSpeaking of the e-gold situation, it seems the big 3 exchangers in Singapore are going on a profiteering run. The rates to sell e-gold has dropped drastically in the last couple of days, while buy rates remain somewhat still on the high si Read more:updates
Local Exchangers Taking E-Gold 2007-05-12 07:37:00 Have not really been monitoring the situation. There is a flurry of activity in the rumour mill and no one knows who is right or what to believe. The prudent thing is to exchange your e-gold out to cash and see where to go from there.As of typing this entry, only SnapGold and WynGold are accepting your e-gold and are certified reliable. As far as I know, SGExchanger is doing so too. However, don't expect good rates from any of them. These are uncertain times and you should be glad that someone is willing to shoulder the risk on your behalf.As for the rest of the exchangers, JR Exchanger has probably kicked the bucket, which is just as well. Never did feel good about them. The rest like Entelnova and Ecurrenz are not buying e-gold at the moment.
Read more:Local
, Taking
Anyone Remember EpaySurf.com? 2007-05-16 12:40:00 It's been over a year since this one reared it's ugly head. There have been murmurings around that Kent has been involved in some other autosurf scams that have plagued this 'industry'. I've, of course, been kept out of the loop with all this information since I've staunchly refused to get close to anyone.Anyway, there's a video cast on 24Surfmonitor that reveals quite alot about what some people have already suspected, that Kent's been involved in a number of failed programs, and is still involved in some current ones. Make what you will of it. I personally couldn't care less. Kent can do whatever he likes, whenever he likes.To view the video cast, visit the 24SurfMonitor site and click on the latest video. Mind you, the video's awfully long, and for most parts, awfully boring as well. Coming straight to the point isn't one of Kent's strong points.Just for the record, I hate to drive traffic to a monitor.
Read more:Anyone
, Remember
Rates for Local E-Gold Exchangers Improve.....Slightly 2007-05-18 19:07:00 Since the last update, prices have gone southwards, until I checked today. Prices for select exchangers have improved slightly but it's still at cut-throat rates. Major exchangers around the globe have been waiving all around and charging ridiculous rates for people willing to take a huge discount. Perhaps the word 'profiteering' is more appropriate here. I understand the current situation is not rosy at all, but still does not justify such low rates.Given the circumstances, I'd rather pour whatever e-gold I have into some hyips, which I have for the past 2 weeks. And frankly I've been doing pretty well. Looks like scammers might also be having trouble cashing out their money, hence 'returning' some of it back to those who are willing to take a risk (well, one can always dream).Anyway before I digress further, there is some semblance of good news related to local exchangers. Entelnova has resumed purchasing e-gold. Their rates are similar to Snapgold, who is low anyway. WynGold Read more:Rates
, Local
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