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
Positive Outlook from Wager Island 2006-10-22 23:50:00 After a couple of weeks being hidden in the thick fog of uncertainty (like the island King Kong resided in), the mist seems to clear a little giving some hope that Wager Island
may yet be found on the map again. Word from the resident meteorological centre says that the mist should clear in the next 2-4 weeks.UPDATE, Oct. 19, 2006 Wager Island has successfully located banking insitution(s) that we feel are safe, secure and reliable. We are underway with our new financial structure and plan to have our accounts open and finalized within 2 - 4 weeks. Our original banking institution, FCIB, is unfortunately closing under the pressure of a multi-billion dollar VAT scandal in Europe.The good news is that we are negotiating the release of FCIB Wager Island funds to be wired into our new financial structure as soon as our accounts are set-up. We are also taking this opportunity to update our software and to add more games to Wager Island. We apologize for the in Read more:Positive
, Outlook
NSFG and DSM updates 2006-10-20 18:23:00 NSFGWell, the NSFG folder in Golden Horizon has been locked and probably a good thing too. I found that it was spiralling out of control with silly posts that don't help the current situation. I'm still not pleased that I was lied to and hoodwinked into making a deposit in August under the assumption that everything was fine.Let's hope whatever happened doesn't scare those with managed accounts away. They are essential in the recovery process.Anyway here's the update in the locked forum. We can only hope and pray that everything works out as planned.Hello everyone,I have now completed all the returned deposits bar one guy who I am waiting bank info on to get their wire back over.I have taken the decision to lock this forum as it is not serving a purpose other than for people to shout and vent, since I don't have the time to come here and review things and actually answer questions it just spirals out of control.If you have questions email me, better yet do as many have done alrea Read more:updates
More on NSFG and a Little on DesertSky Marketing 2006-10-19 05:09:00 NSFG24hrs after reading the news from the forums (I've still not received the email yet), I'm still pretty darn disgusted with what's transpired. This program had the bulk of my online 'investments' and I was even in the process of making it a safe haven with a managed account.HansG probably articulated certain parts what I feel the best in his blog entry, Paranoid Investing. Although I there were sections I didn't entirely agree with, this was what I felt echoed my feelings best, and I quote:What bothers me most of all: I have invested additional sums of money in the last 3 months. Not only is that money now subject to the same restrictions (while not part of the problem), while we were all blissfully unaware of the problem, you allowed others to withdraw a 100% of their account in the last 3 months, while in fact there was only 30% available to them. This means that you were handing out MY money while you were keeping up appearances. You even had the balls to post excellent res Read more:Marketing
Early Winter Hits NSFG 2006-10-18 01:58:00 Wow.....wow. This one hit like a ton of falling bricks. If you're a member of NSFG, you should have received an email from Paul with regards to what's happening. For some reason I haven't received the email yet and had to get the news from the forums, and quite frankly, the news totally floored me, especially since I recently put in a huge deposit in Aug.I thought I had made some really smart decisions and had avoided some of the crap that has hit this industry, namely Rog's offer and FX Experts. Never in my wildest expectations that this would hit NSFG as well. I wish they had the honesty to inform us earlier, especially before I made that large spend here.Perhaps it's just as well this came up at this time. I was in the process of setting up a managed account with their brokers, BGC Partners. I had arranged a meeting with my lawyers this Friday (20th Oct) to get my documents noterized. Well, at least I'm going to save up on the fees incurred here until NSFG has proven itself ab Read more:Early
General Scammer Alert 2006-10-12 16:42:00 Just a heads up. Looks like a serial scammer is back on the loose and threatening the already chaotic neighbourhood with yet another one of his fly by night schemes.Click here to read more about this scammer.The program in question : www.mfppro.com (My Financial Planner)I'm not entirely certain this one is run by the same scammer, but whatever the case is, the program itself looks dodgy and filled with lies. Doesn't help that the mastermind behind it seems to be a charlatan, roping in some of the best referral whores out there in the forums to do his cheerleading.However if you think you can play this game and get away with some profits, then by all means go ahead and do it. Afterall, one needs to take calculated risks in this arena.
Read more:General
, Scammer
, Alert
Early Winter On Wager Island 2006-10-05 01:00:00 Looks like Wager Island
has run into some problem with the bank they are using. The situation looks to be a temporary one. The game, in the meantime, has been frozen, which is ironic since the more lucrative parts of the island are spawned from a volcano. Anyway, here are the full details. Wager Island's primary banking facility, First Curacao International Bank, has been closed by the Dutch Authorities. This has resulted in some delays in paying withdrawals over the past few weeks. This has nothing to do with Wager Island, the bank has been closed in connection to VAT fraud taking place in Europe. We are rushing to set up a new primary banking structure, but until then we will freeze the game. Please due not be alarmed, we will update you regularly as to when we will open with our new banking structure in place.To verify what we are saying is true, please click on the following links for news and articles regarding First Curacao International Bank. https://www. Read more:Early
NSFG : September Returns 2006-09-29 20:58:00 It's been announced that NSFG brought in 5% this month, that means after the performance fees, it's 3.75% for me. While not exactly stellar, it seems we're finally seeing some much needed consistancy since moving over to the new brokers.I'm very comfortable here and now entertaining thoughts of reviving my initial plans of setting up a managed account, despite the fees I have to pay my lawyers to get it done. It's definitely giving better returns than my non-performing units trusts and surely better than keeping my money in the bank.
Read more:September
, Returns
Short Update 2006-09-29 12:14:00 Update : Looks like the site is back. My views on it still haven't changed since.Just a short update on a local exchanger. JR Exchange seems to be unaccessible at this point of typing this entry. I'm abit leery of it since I have some doubts over it.Anyway, Singaporeans still have alot of other choices purchasing e-gold from the other local exchangers.
Read more:Update
, Short
Desert Sky Marketing Signups Enabled 2006-09-27 19:33:00 In the event anyone wants to know, signups have been enabled for Desert
Sky Marketing
. Good morning! Our script testing is complete and everything is working with the exception of purchasing a Raffle Ticket via a payment processor (this should be resolved by tomorrow). You may, however, purchase a Raffle Ticket with your cash balance (this actually saves you the processor fee!). Cashout requests made by Friday, September 22nd have been completed. Please remember you must request a cashout by Fridays in order to be paid on Wednesdays. Members who do not activate their account by midnight of the day they sign up will automatically be deleted by the script. Free members who have never upgraded are automatically deleted by the script after 14 days. Don't forget to use our support system for account issues: http://desertskynetwork.helpserve.com Don't forget to register in our forum: http://www.desertskyforum.net DesertSky Marketing is now open for new members! Please not
Desert Sky Marketing Updates 2006-09-26 10:08:00 Got this email from Dustin, the administrator here.For those of you who are too lazy to read everything, here's the main highlights.1. Signups are temporarily disabled.2. Upgrades can only occur on weekdays. Upgrade button will be disabled for the weekend.Every other thing here is gravy.Each and every one of you have helped Desert
SkyMarketing
become a hugesuccess over our first few days! The response has been much more thanI could have asked for. At this time we have almost 350 members and weare barely 72 hours old.I am, at this time, going to disable new sign-ups. The reason I'mdoing this is very simple; I want to make sure everything is workingcorrectly. So far, there have only been a couple minor issues reported andwe are almost completed with the fixes. However, I would rather erroron the side of caution. As you can understand, if we discover an issueit will be much easier to fix 350 accounts as apposed to fixing severalthousand accounts. Even though I've tested, and test
Desert Sky Marketing 2006-09-23 09:16:00 Firstly this one's run by a well known figure in the so-called industry. I'm sure that's probably set everyone backpeddling...not another one. But before you do, I would suggest taking a look at it before you write it off.The percentages are nothing to crow about. It pays a paltry 2.5% daily for 60 days, which is about 50% in 2 months. And the referral commissions are once again nothing to crow about too, offering a staggered rate of between 1-3.5%. It allows members to request payouts once a week, with a small staggered fee, depending on the amount you request. My suggestion here to save on fees is to request sparingly, but of course not everyone feels the same here.However what makes this stand out is the amount of effort put forth to make it legitimate. The admin here is open to scrutiny, and in fact welcomes it. On the site itself are the scanned copies of company registration and other bits and pieces of information. You can also contact the admin by phone or skype.The surfing Read more:Marketing
, Desert
Midas Goes From Bad to Worse 2006-09-21 17:01:00 Talk bout digging a larger hole to bury oneself in. I got this update from the admin of Midas
-Surf.I did several payouts and will resume more later as I am exhausted and must retreat to bed. I wanted to announce that any fast track payout that is late will be receiving their fee back. Please email support@midas-surf.com your userid, and FT payout date. This will help us expedite the process as we can have a list to check off as we catch up. I apologize for falling behind. I want to make it right to all members. The best way I know to this is to give away free money. Here is the deal: Every 100 dollars gets you a free $40 upgrade and every $1000 gets you a free $100 upgrade. If you max out at $5000 then we will add enough to your total to cover the fee removed (2% for e-gold and 4% for AlertPay) to get you the full 5000 amount to surf with. The remainder of bonus money will be sent to you in your processor account you upgraded with. With that said I bid for goodnight at 6:18 AM EST -5GM
Getting Started - Part 5 2006-07-28 01:42:00 Just thought I'd do a little write up on some of the local exchangers. Well, this section is actually meant for Singaporeans who are looking for a quick and safe way to exchange for e-gold. I've personally tried most of them, while the others come with a solid reputation.The exchange rates given by these exchangers/companies are pretty competitive, so do scout around for the best rates. The service provided is usually prompt and polite. And probably most important for Singaporeans is that it is easy to make a purchase or out-exchange excess e-gold via internet banking. The convenience and the ability to stay anonymous is a major factor why most Singaporeans use local exchangers over their more recognised international counter-parts.As a note of precaution, if you're exchanging large amounts of gold, it would be prudent to do so in batches of smaller amounts. Don't do everything at once. Always better to be safe than be sorry, even if the services mentioned come with glowing reputat
Northsea Forex Group (NSFG) 2006-01-31 20:10:00 Update (28/03/06): Pooled account closes doors to new members.__________Update : Pooled accounts will be closed on the 25th of March. This is a planned moved since the program was started. There is a limit to the number of accounts the adminstrators can handle and they feel that it's near their threshhold. So if you're interested in getting in, this is the time.Managed accounts will not be affected by this new development.__________It's ironic that I'm primarily an autosurfer yet the first program I'm going to post on my blog is a pooled forex fund.Northsea ForexGroup
(NSFG) is probably one of the most transparent pooled funds I've ever come across. The amount of information provided by the gentlemen who run this, Paul and Kenneth, is absolutely astounding. From telephone numbers to addresses to scanned passports (yes I have seen all these particulars). In the forums where they post, there have been reports of people actually meeting them. For security purposes I'll not divulge
Getting Started - Part 2 2006-01-28 11:12:00 If you're totally new to this and haven't a clue what to do, this is probably the most important place to be. Before you can send money or receive money to any autosurf or hyip, you probably need to use an online payment processor.There are several to choose from.E-GoldIt's been running since 1995 and that says alot bout this processor. Probably the best and most hassle free of all the processors. Unfortunately it's also a scammers and hackers favourite processor since there are no chargebacks allowed. Hence it's always important to keep the highest level of security when it comes to e-gold accounts.It's also my choice processor. Kinda builds my ego when I have a substantial amount in e-gold. ;o)It acts almost as a currency on it's own and has features that allow users to exchange between different currencies, ie from USD to GBP.You can purchase e-gold via any of the exchangers which can be found in their site. Personally I love to use London Gold Exchange. But more often than n
NSFG : Should I Stay or Should I Go? 2006-10-27 18:50:00 Should I stay or should I go now?If I go there would be trouble,If I stay it will be double,So come on let me know.Sorry, couldn't resist the song by Clash. Judging from the latest email from Paul of NSFG (which incidentally I didn't receive on time as usual), they are allowing us to withdraw whatever is remaining of our money or stay with them while they try to recover.Suffice to say, it honestly doesn't leave me very much room to manoeuvre. If I leave, I only take about 30% of my equity back and have to write the other 70% off as losses. This is unacceptable to me since the bulk of my deposits shouldn't even be losses in the first place. So my initial reaction is to let them trade the amount back.The silverlining here is that Ken is actually the type of trader I would leave my money with. How soon the recovery process will be remains to be seen. I'm not holding my breath here, just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.Here's the email I didn't receive:Good Morning every
Death of Autosufs? 2006-10-26 16:43:00 Well, things are not that gloom....yet, but judging from the way things are going and the number of new surfs appearing, it certainly looks like the end could very well be near. Just look at the autosurf and hyip whore capital on the net (MMG), and you'd realise in the past couple of weeks, the number of new traffic exchange programs has been dwindling. Not to mention, most of those new ones look terrible. There are no long term plans and seem like rush jobs with only one intention in mind, which is to run away with your money.The 'industry' has been plagued by scammers and incompetent administrators since February, when StormPay pulled the plug. Ever since, the 'industry' has struggled to find an identity. The good old days of StudioTraffic, 4Daily and 12DailyPro are dead and probably buried. Many programs have since come, tried and gone.What's more worrying is the lack of support from members. Any autosurf relies on cashflow to sustain payouts. Even the ones claiming to be legi
NSFG : Food For Thought 2006-11-02 17:03:00 I just received an email from Paul, and as expected, there was a drop of almost 70% of what's left in my account. Seeing that if I take the option to leave by the 15th of November, I'd only be left with 31% of my previous statement, I've chosen to stay. For better or for worse, that remains to be seen. In my book, if I'm going to lose 70% of my equity on a risk, it's as good as losing it all. Might as well make the best of a bad situation, but I also empathize with those who choose to leave.Some (junk) food for thought:- I can see why they chose to do what they did. The entire fiasco probably happened early in the year when they switched brokerage from ACM to FXCM. Had they announced it at that time, it would have spelt the death of the program at it's infancy. There would not be any managed accounts, from which the fees are crucial to recovery (more on that later).- If they pulled it off, they would look like geniuses, but as we all know, they're currently looking like dunces.-
Slowing the Pace 2006-11-13 16:36:00 Due to a 'freak' accident which happened last week, I would be slowing the pace of my entries until I recover (hopefully). The freak accident has left me partially blind in the left eye and according to the specialist treating it, it's going to take at least another couple of weeks before I can gain some semblence of 'normal' vision again.As it is now, looking at the computer screen does take it's toll on the eyes and the splitting headaches as a result are just not worth it.To add to that, I'd be leaving for South Korea in mid-December for a holiday cum business trip. I'd be meeting with a couple of oil traders whom I used to deal with while they were working in Singapore.Both these reasons have contributed to me not joining any autosurfs in the next couple of months, while I try to pull out from those that I'm already in.NSFGIt's been confirmed that the money was indeed taken by the Danish government. To save you all the trouble from sifting thru the mess in the hyipdiscuss Read more:Slowing
Take The Internet Back 2006-11-17 14:21:00 This is the latest offering from World Limited Partnership Program (WLPP).It's an attempt from them to take in a share of the internet advertising pie, and passing part of the profits to 'shareholders' like you and me. The thing here is that it's not a new concept. I've seen programs that offer the same and all have failed miserably. I've no reason to think this one's different, however I've been a member of WLPP for a reasonably long time (since it's inception) and personally I like how the management handles the programs under it's umbrella.Anyway back to Take The Internet
Back. The concept is simple, it works like a paid-to-read program. They email you advertisements in return for points which is then converted into cash, depending on the amount of advertising revenue generated. As for the ratio of the profits generated, 45% goes to the members/shareholders (us), 45% is retained in a 'war chest' for future projects and 10% kept by the company. The best part is that whate
Out Of Action 2006-11-21 15:25:00 I wouldn't be posting for the next month or so. The 'freak' accident has unfortunately resulted in complications to my eye, hence I have had to get an opertation to save whatever is left of it. The recovery process will take sometime, hence I wouldn't be updating this blog until I've sufficiently recovered.Meanwhile good luck on all your 'investments'.
Read more:Action
Bouquets and Updates 2006-12-03 09:31:00 I'm practically typing this with one functioning eye, but I believe some form of 'thank you' needs to be expressed for the well wishes and concern I've been getting via email. I've not replied to most due to my condition, hence I'd take this opportunity to thank everyone (you know who you are) who took the effort to email this blind man.As for the queries to what exactly happened, I'll leave a couple of websites detailing my condition as well as the procedure used.Detached RetinaScleral BuckleAs for getting my vision back, it's pretty much a subjective thing, depending on how well my body repairs itself. The doctors are pretty optimistic that I should get most of it back in the next 6 months.Now for some updates not regarding my personal life.12by12DailyKudos to David for expelling the two well known referral whore extraodinaires. Here's what has been said.Referral commission is a reward paid to people who actively promote 12by12daily for the benefit of all members. Referral Read more:Bouquets
Couple of Things 2006-12-08 10:29:00 Strangely after my operation, I've found myself on the internet more than before. I suppose suddenly having too much time on my hands help.DesertSky MarketingEveryone from the program has and should be receiving refunds (plus a little profit for some of us). However according to Dustin, some of the refunds might take up till Feb 07 to fulfill. This is all hunky dory to me.......EXCEPT he's going to relunge the program under a new business model on 02 Jan 07.I'm personally not comfortable with it. With all due respect to Dustin, who's probably a swell fellow, it doesn't make sense to me. In this volatile industry, having a clean reputation helps immensely. Lunging a new program while in debt certainly doesn't give confidence to new members, especially after they get wind of this.Shall see what transpires from now till 2nd Jan.Wager IslandThere's a short update on 4th Dec. Doesn't say much on a date they will return, except they will try to re-open asap.Until that happens, I'm g
Myth of ProfitSharing Programs 2006-12-10 17:02:00 If you've not been around for the past month or so, the newest rage in town are the profitsharing programs that have appeared in both the AS and Hyip arenas. While they aren't exactly sprouting up like mushrooms yet, it would be a matter of time before they get copied and replicated. It happened with AS over a year ago, and with the forever-type programs a few months ago. This industry is filled with copycat types, and when a plan works, everyone jumps on the bandwagon and follows the money trail.The concept behind a profitsharing program (PSP for short) is a simple one. Deposits made into a program everyday are shared out to all members who purchased units or shares. Each share has a cap on earnings and when it reaches that cap, the share expires. Depending on the amount of deposits made on a daily basis, you could meet the share cap in any thing from 2 to 20 or even more days.There are a number of reasons for the birth of a PSP program. And if the forums and explanations are to b Read more:Programs
Local Exchangers : Where We Stand 2006-12-14 23:02:00 I've not been exchanging cash for e-gold or vice versa for the past few months. Partly due to my inactivity (accident), and partly due to USD falling against the SGD. However there might be a need to out-exchange some of my e-gold hoard sometime soon, since I'm unlikely to find reliable programs to dump it in.So if there are any fellow Singaporeans looking to have a bit of e-gold in hand, feel free to mail me. I should be able to offer slightly better rates than local exchangers. But don't expect me to off load too much at a time. I like to keep a reserve should something sweet turn up.A few fellow Singaporeans have been emailing me and asking me which exchangers are currently available, since a couple have stopped all communication. I don't keep up to date if I don't personally use the services, although I do keep in touch via the grapevine and the occasional email that keeps me informed.EntelnovaVery possible still the strongest and best around. Their processes are somewhat more Read more:Local
, Stand
'Hit and Run' vs Test Spends 2006-06-22 09:15:00 It's been sometime since I made any entries here. I've been rather busy with the World Cup during this period, trying to stay up till the wee hours of the day catching the games. Anyway I thought it would be interesting to share my thoughts on this, before I completely forget about it....again.This has been a debate that's been raging in my mind for quite sometime, about which strategy to adopt when I want to make a spend in an autosurf. For anyone unsure what 'run and hit' and 'test spends' mean, I'd give a brief definition of both.Hit and Run - Entering a program with a big sum and then pulling out after the first (or second) cycle.Test Spend - As the name suggests, putting in a small sum and waiting for payment before committing a large sum.Both methods have sound reasoning and merits behind them. Personally I prefer to use test spends on programs which perceivably have a longer shelf life. These are usually programs which pay a lower percentage and takes a longer time to re
Autosurf Leaders Fall 2006-12-19 16:02:00 As we all probably know by now that 13dailypro and 12by12daily have both fallen by the wayside. Thankfully I've avoided most of the mayhem for now, but the fallout resulting from these programs could very well affect me in other areas.It's not a secret that many smaller autosurfs do infact punt their money (or your money) into the bigger more established programs. Usually when the big ones fall, those piggybacking on them will fall too. The laws of gravity is universal.Personally I'm rather dismayed by the way 12by12 went down but it did, however, save me from eating some serious crow. I've always liked the way Dave ran things. He came across as someone with integrity and with a no nonsense attitude which is needed in this arena of weak-minded individuals and outright scums.This entire exercise also shows a couple of things.1. The pool of active autosurfers is small and possibly going to dwindle after this. At last count, 12by12 had bout 35,000 surfers (give or take a couple of tho Read more:Leaders
Merry Christmas! 2006-12-22 18:18:00 Ok, I'm slightly early, but the entire weekend is going to be taken up by relatives and football. So here it is, MerryChristmas
one and all.In case you missed Santa's presents, here's why.
Read more:Merry Christmas
Internet Disruptions 2006-12-29 05:44:00 Major earthquake in Taiwan caused chaos to my internet connection for the past 3 days. The undersea cables were severely hit resulting in absolutely no access to any website not from Singapore, despite the new reports. I had no access to my ISP mails, nor the web-based ones (ie Yahoo, Google).Thankfully I didn't have any autosurfs running, nor did I have any money in any short-term hyips. So other than being terribly bored at home due to the heavy rains that have been pounding the island nation, there was not much damage done.I suppose the entire exercise shows how reliant we are on the few cables from Taiwan. Once they went down, there was major disruption to phone lines and internet connections. Isn't redundency one of the first things you learn in Networking 101? I suppose the major telecommunication companies are so determined to suck us dry that a contingency plan to have alternative routes is too rich for them. I hope this is a wake up call, speaking of which, Singtel sucks don Read more:Internet
Infinity Shares 2006-12-31 19:32:00 I've been in Infinity
Shares since June 06, and was hoping it would remain low profile for sometime. The current membership level is still low, and the amount deposited is not astronomical. Unfortunately, the lid's been somewhat blown off via DD reports done by a variety people. Some I trust, others I have no idea even existed. You can read them here:High Yield Weekly DigestNoBSHyipPPPNot that any of that matters. Fact of the matter is that I've been pleasantly pleased with what I've been getting from this program. The rewards are not high by any means, but I have reasons to believe that goes on behind the scene is real forex trading. The current trader, Christian, is someone whom I've known in some obscure (and now defunt) forum since the middle of 2005.As for how the program goes, it's imperative to sign up in their forums to read the FAQs. It holds a wealth of information as well as instructions on how to participate in the program. In a nutshell, you purchase shares which ar
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