While some people try so hard to get ahead in life, barely keeping their head above water, others have a secret edge, effortlessly getting whatever they want. At best, these winners are mediocre imbeciles, yet they rise to fame and fortune while the virtuous and talented fall by the wayside.

Could there be some other force at work here? Could there be a hidden game that circumvents the rules we learned as children?

Imagine being in a dark room full of people. With your natural eye you can barely make out their silhouettes, but with night vision goggles, you would have an advantage over the entire crowd.

If you are one of those whose head is barely above water, I offer you a pair of social-vision goggles, so to speak, a peek at the real secret.

You see, there is a game being played right before our very eyes, a game most of us will never see. We find it around the water cooler at work. We find it with the regulars down at the local bar. We even find it in our own homes around the dinner table at holiday dinners.

Life is too often a game designed to lure in the suckers. Those among us who are the most virtuous, the most diligant and most decent are are the ones who often end up the loser. Those who believe in fair play; that what goes around comes around, place themselves at an enormous disatvangage in the game.

While we, the rank and file, are busy grasping at the brass ring, a small group of insiders, the players, are coolly and cynically, manipulating the strings.These are the people who ride the slipstream of those more talented than themselves, and then conspire with others to dispace the trailblazer and place themselves at the helm.

Players take the better share of the rewards life has to offer: the beautiful homes, the cars, the svelte spouses, and leave the rest for us to fight over the crumbs.

Most life-skills coaches seem to ignore this reality, preferring to preach the gospel of goals, positive attitude and focused application of our strengths, and there is some merit to such an approach. It is true that without a goal we have no direction, and without skills based on your strong suit, no success is sustainable. So yes, with a life-skills coach you could grab a few more crumbs than your neighbor. However, that approach alone will still keep you in the dark as to what is really going on around you. As you rejoice over your newly acquired crumbs, the Players slip by unnoticed, their hands full of stolen goods.

John Berling Hardy is author of the e-book “Have We Been
Played?- The Hidden Game Revealed.” The insights contained in
this series give you the Edge. To find out more about the carefully
guarded secret shared by all those who enjoy power and prestige visit
Have We Been Played.com.

[tags]Secret, hidden, game, player, manipulation, competitive edge, freedom, authentic relationship, recla[/tags]

Visiting Disney can be a graceful and magical experience in the life of any child or adult. For many children, going to Disney is like a dream come true. And as much as parents want their children to experience that dream, prices and costs do not help. That is why people tend to fall for scam artists offering great and unbelievable prices for Disney packages.

Not long ago, a woman was arrested for selling fake Disney vacation packages. She operated through Craiglist website through a fake name. She collected over seven thousand dollars from her victims and failed to provide the vacation package she advertised on the website.

Another company you should be aware of is Holiday Management Group. They contact their victims through unsolicited faxes offering great deals for Disney vacation packages. According to these faxes, if you purchase their package you will be saving up to five hundred dollars. The only thing they ask in exchange for that great deal is that you take a real estate tour and listen to a 2 hours sales speech.

The vacation package this company offers is called a Touch of Magic. These passes do not exist. This company is not associated in any way with Disney. Skybus, is an online company that offers many products. Among them, they offer Disney Vacation packages, which are really inexpensive. When you select on the website the option to purchase this package, it will redirect you to a page with a phone number for you to call.

Once you call this number, an agent will “assist you”, and try to get as much information about you as possible, ranging from your marital status to your monthly income. Of course that information is not relevant to the purchase of a Disney vacation package.

But it is relevant for this company, since what they are really trying to do here is to sell you a time share package, and they will do whatever is necessary to get you to go to their presentation. Scam artists are very clever and they know exactly what to do to get your money.

So the brightest thing for you to do is research. Make sure you are working with legitimate companies or agencies. Disney vacation packages can save you lots of money, but be realistic, if the package you are looking to buy seems suspiciously cheap, do a little digging.

Sometimes what seems to be cheap ends up being more expensive than regular price packages. This does not mean that you should avoid all Disney vacation packages; it only means that you should make sure you are working with legitimate agencies.

CEO of Advertizia, Julian J. Lenox writes articles and website reviews for Travel and Tourism Top 100, a websites reviews repository specializing in tourism. Sources for this article: Disneyland Packages.

[tags]disney packages, disneyland packages, disney parks packages, disney passes[/tags]

If you run an online business, fraud is one of your biggest fears. You lose money and products when fraudulent purchases are made, and sometimes it feels as though there is nothing you can do to fight it. While fraud is a very real problem, there are things you can do to fight if you do your homework beforehand.

Recognize Fraudulent Orders

While you may not be able to recognize all fraud, there are some clues to watch for. Look out for orders with the following characteristics:

- Placed late at night
- Orders for huge volumes of merchandise
- Address that does not match credit card billing address
- ISP in a different area than the customer’s address
- Email addresses from free email programs that are not assigned an ISP
- Repeat purchases using a credit card number with different expiration dates

Obviously, it would be impossible to block all attempts that had some of these characteristics, but if you can learn to identify them, you may be able to fight back.

Fighting Fraudulent Credit Card Purchases

When fighting fraud, you must look for a balance between fighting crooks and making it possible for people to make purchases without going through too many loopholes. Remember, requiring your customers to do too much to prove their identity may cause them to not make the purchase, thus lowering your profits. You will have to decide what steps to take, but consider these:

- Require customers to provide full information, including phone numbers and billing address.
- Consider calling customers using the phone number they provide in order to verify their identity and the fact that they placed the order. If you do this right, the customer will not mind, because they will view it as an attempt to protect them from identity theft.
- Use a database to block credit card numbers that are identified as high-risk.
- Ask for the security number on the card. On MasterCard or Visa cards, this is on the back on the signature lines. It is on the front of American Express cards.
- Consider blocking customer who use free email programs. Keep in mind that this will hurt many legitimate sales, because millions of people use these as their primary email addresses.
- Ask customers to use an online payment gateway like PayPal that provides some protection from fraud.
- Delay delivery until the payment clears.
- Never offer cash or check refunds. Some scammers will make a credit card purchase on a fraudulent card, then immediately ask for a refund via check or cash. If refunds are required, put the money back on the card.

Go through this list, and put in place the protections you feel comfortable with. Remember, you may not be able to avoid all fraud, but with the right steps, you can prevent much of it, protecting yourself and your customers. When you do face fraud, remember that even the best traditional merchants occasionally deal with it, so fight the crook as well as you can, put extra security in place, and move on. There are more sales to be made and more money to earn!

Leading credit card processing company securely process online payments with confidence and avoid fraudulent payments by using trusted merchant services.

[tags]online payments, merchant account, credit card processing[/tags]

Identity theft, or ID theft, has become the bane of modern society and its propensity to keep personal and public records online and in different institutions. In the yesteryears, identity theft was kept at a minimal level because physical, tangible records were in use, such as paper and documents, and that no one ever thought of combining a persons medical, financial, personal, or criminal information in a single file.

With the advent of technology however, man has come up with ways to make transactions and identification more easy and convenient within all sectors of society. With the right user name, password, E-mail address, bank account number, PIN codes, or credit information, any authorized institution of the Western world can access a persons financial information and hordes of confidential data. Society is only one step away to consolidating a persons information into a single account, and jumbles them all together within a supposedly impenetrable database of sorts.

Malicious people, hackers, and identity stealers are in no short supply however. It is the nature of men to destroy what they have built. And so, in the increasingly wired world we live in, and the information that flows between the channels, it is only a matter of time before someone, somewhere, intrudes through the channels of information and steals somebody elses identity.

Identity theft is defined as a criminal action that seeks to use, in a deceitful way, another persons identity for unlawful financial or medical gain, or simply to evade lawful authorities. Whatever the type of ID theft, the impetus behind the criminal act is always to exploit the resources and privileges of the victim, or implicate the victim with particular sort of unlawful act.

Actually, identity theft is a misnomer, since nobody can really steal an intangible concept such as an identity. Identity thieves can only use another persons identity. There are fives ways in which identities can be used. One is for business or commercial exploits. A common practice is to use another financial institutions identity to secure a credit.

Second is masquerading as someone else to get a persons financial information for his own use either to withdraw funds or to obtain goods and services in the name of the victim. Third is for a criminal to assume an identity to acquire medical benefits. The unlawful user can steal an identity and use the medical privileges of the victim such as medicine, health insurance benefits, medical care, and use them for his/her advantage.

Fourth, criminals can use another persons identity when apprehended for a crime. Through the use of a victims public records or through a fake ID, a criminal can present that information to the authorities and not come later for the court hearing. Being scott-free, the criminal can elude the authorities for another time.

Fifth is the use of another persons identity for use in day-to-day life. With this type of ID theft, one can partially or completely assume the identity of another person in various areas of life; from important things such as shopper information, to something as trivial as a social networking account.

Matthew Stanton writes an article about an ID Theft and why it is important for people to know about this crime and what it can do to their lives. Simply visit this site for information at http://www.identitytheftlabs.com/

[tags]ID theft[/tags]

There are many scammers out there preying on helpless homeowners experiencing crises in their homes. When you are dealing with a household emergency, chances are you will grab any offer of help that will come your way. While this may be helpful in lessening the stress you are experiencing, you should make the initiative of protecting yourself from emergency cleaning service providers who may just scam you for your money or perform unsatisfying services. The damage will be greater if you fall prey to con artists and dishonest contractors.

You must take the following precautions in order to avoid emergency cleaning service scams:

1. Make a thorough inspection of the property and areas in your home which require cleaning.

If you are dealing with a water leak, flooding or any incident which requires cleaning, evaluate the extent of the damage before you have any repair done. Inspect the structure and foundation of your house as well as the water systems. Take note of all the furniture and appliances that have been damaged. Check which areas of the house have been infested by filth and grime and have possibly been plagued with molds. Take pictures if possible for accurate documentation. These steps are needed so that you can evaluate the extent of the work that needs to be done by your emergency cleaning service and the reasonable fees that are due to them.

2. Plan and monitor the work of the emergency cleaning service.

The best way to protect your self from scammers is to plan the repair schedule well and keep yourself updated of the cleaners’ action plan and progress. This will keep you aware if they are delivering the results that they promised. It is best if you prepare a written contract for any service that may cost more than $150. To protect yourself from fly-by-night cleaners, you should choose ones that have local offices and have been established for quite some time. If you are required to pay downpayment, do not shell out more than one-third of the total cost of the repair. Get all the important information of your chosen contractor as well as the rest of the crew. You can monitor their work by taking regularly taking pictures at the end of the day.

3. Choose an emergency cleaning service provider that is insured.

By choosing a cleaner that is adequately protected by an insurance policy, you can be sure that whatever damage that may arise during the process of the cleaning will be compensated. Before confirming the employment of such services, you must first ask for proof that the service provider is insured. You can either request that they fax their insurance certificate or arrange for a meetup so you can take a look at the necessary documents. Ask for the original because it will be hard to spot the period of coverage of the policy if the certificate is just a photocopy.

Richard Barthallo reports on issues affecting homeowners for Emergency Cleaning Service Concord and Emergency Cleaning Service New Orleans

[tags]emergency,cleaning,services,and,their,professional,equipment[/tags]

The collapse of the housing market coupled with the meteoric rise in consumer debt has dramatically increased the number of annual foreclosures. Last year there were both record number of home foreclosures and bankruptcies reported across the US. Those who endure the hardship of foreclosure face possible loss of their home and this in turn causes them to seek out assistance.

Those facing foreclosure face tremendous emotional distress much more so than those facing bankruptcy. The extraordinary stress of foreclosure causes ones judgment to become clouded and makes it easy to fall victim to scammers.

It always astonishes me that no matter how bad off an individual might be there is inevitably another individual willing to exploit that persons suffering for their own financial gain. Con artists and scammers have wasted no time in preying upon the extraordinary distress of those facing foreclosure.

Scammers attempting to siphon money from those facing foreclosure primarily rely upon two scams: the equity scam and the fake counseling scams.

An equity scam is where an unsolicited offer is made to those facing foreclosure to find a buyer for their homes and immediately solve their financial problems. The individual making the offer will even offer to take over the debt in exchange for their deed to the house.

Once the house is deeded over to the scammer, the house is then rented out while the foreclosure proceedings remain in progress. Foreclosure proceedings can take many months offering the scammer the potential to earn thousands. Those who deeded over the home ultimately do not discover the scam until their home has been auctioned off. They are then stuck with the original mortgage debt and the loss of their home.

With the fake counseling scam, an unsolicited offer is made for expert advice and assistance in exchange for a small fee. The ‘experts’ will then figure out a way to reduce your monthly payments and even reduce the original mortgage debt. What really ends up happening is that the money is turned over to experts who offer advice that could have found freely been on the Internet.

Often times the consulting fees for such a service can cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars. The best a consultant can really do is get you a short grace period, usually of no more than a couple of months. Again, information for the grace period could have easily been retrieved from the internet or by a quick trip to the local library.

The easiest way to avoid being scammed while enduring foreclose is to remember the golden rule marketing; if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. If someone offers ‘expert’ advice and assistance, you should do a search for the information they provide on the internet. More than likely you will find the very same information that the ‘experts’ have access to but without the price tag.

If you need more foreclosure help then quickly head over to Foreclosure Help and Advice where you will find helpful foreclosure tips, advice and resources including information on foreclosure plans, negotiating and more Foreclosure Information.

[tags]tax foreclosures scam, pre foreclosure scam, foreclosure solutions scam, foreclosure sales scam[/tags]

With the growing threat of identity and credit theft, we all need identity fraud protection. Once we understand how these criminals get personal information, we can find ways to protect ourselves.

High Tech Methods

The internet has made it easy to shop and maintain our financial accounts, but it has also made it easy for criminals to steal our information. The best online identity fraud protection is to be smart about when and where you give out information.

Never send critical data such as credit card numbers or Social Security numbers over email. Email doesn’t go directly from you to the recipient. Instead it is passed among many computers, each covering a leg of the journey. Any of these computers could have software designed to sift through email hoping to find valuable information.

Think twice before clicking on links in emails you receive. Identity thieves will set up fake websites designed to look just like your bank or your favorite shopping site then send out false emails to lure unwary victims in. If you want to go to a website that you know will ask personal information, always type the URL yourself or select one of your browser bookmarks.

Low Tech Methods

Although electronic methods have expanded identity thieves’ toolboxes, they still get most of their information from traditional methods such as dumpster diving. The best identity fraud protection is to shred information such as bank or credit card statements before throwing them in the trash. Recycle bins are no safer as many identity thieves find jobs at recycling centers. Since most recycling programs don’t accept shredded paper, a thief is more likely to find unshredded documents in the refuse there.

If your wallet is lost or stolen, call your credit card companies immediately. This is true even if you recover the wallet later, say by returning to the restaurant where you left it and getting it from the manager. Anybody could have gone through your wallet and stolen your credit card numbers. As added protection, don’t carry anything with your Social Security number in your wallet.

Be careful about giving information over the telephone. Anybody nearby could overhear you and write down the information. This often happen at work, where people conduct personal business on the telephone with several other workers within earshot.

Credit Fraud Prevention

Even the most diligent consumers can be victims of identity fraud. Protection methods that include credit report monitoring are the best ways to defend yourself. You can get free credit reports, but annual reviews won’t catch problems in time.

Credit monitoring services stay one step ahead of the thieves by regularly monitoring your credit and alerting you of unusual activity. These services provide an additional layer of identity fraud protection beyond what the average consumer can do by shredding documents and keeping private information private. Using both methods ensures that identity theft is something you read about, not something you experience.

Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on identity
fraud protection, visit http://www.lifelockrewards.com/.

[tags]identity fraud protection, credit monitoring, lifelock[/tags]

There are days when things just do not seem to go your way. You have been getting ready for a certain occasion and you have done everything you can to make sure that things would run smoothly. You believe that you have accomplished this goal because you thought about everything in advance. But things can still turn out to be ugly especially when it comes to things that you are not in control of.

In one situation, a host who is having a garden party had everything set up and the forecast for the night is that everything will be clear and starry. A few hours before the event however, a garbage truck turns turtle in front of the park scattering a lot of garbage. This can totally ruin the occasion and this is the time to call for an emergency cleaning service. An emergency cleaning service can clean up the mess very quickly for your benefit. They have expensive and effective equipment that will make sure that things will be returned to the way they are supposed to be.

There are times that things are not as clear cut however. You call these people and it turns out that your favorite company is booked for that time. You therefore have no choice but to look for others. There are many reputable companies out there but sometimes you are not sure with one you are dealing with for the first time. The best thing to do in these situations is ask for referrals. If you are indeed a regular in the other company, ask them if they can help you find one because it is an emergency situation for you. Most likely they have contacts of other companies to whom they pass projects to when they cannot fulfill them. This is essential because one would not like to spend money on people who will just scam them.

Moreover, your original emergency cleaning service provider would also want to maintain their reputation and would therefore give you another company who they are sure will satisfy your needs. It is important to get a good one because choosing the wrong one would definitely ruin everything you have prepared for in the past. Even if this is an emergency, you do not want to fall into a scam trap and nor would you want to pay for something that is unsatisfying in general. You want tour night to be perfect and you may need your service provider’s help in more ways than one.

Richard Barthallo reports on issues affecting homeowners for Emergency Cleaning Service Buffalo and Emergency Cleaning Service Niagara Falls

[tags]emergency,cleaning,service,and,all,the,help,you,can,get[/tags]

Homeowners who are in need of emergency cleaning service are very mush prone to scams. Because of the urgency of the task and the panic felt on the onset of home accidents like pipe bursts, sewage backflow or flooding, you can just easily accept any cleaning offer. It is only natural that you want the mess to be cleaned up.

So in times when you need an emergency cleaning service, it is best to put panic and worry behind and be alert for any signs of scams. Hire the best and qualified company by avoiding these:

An Air Duct Cleaning Offer

Unless your air ducts or any part of your heating/cooling system gets contaminated with flood water, you won’t need to have it cleaned. Air ducts rarely get dirty and if they do, they need to be cleaned by a highly qualified company; one who usually offers this type of service only.

A Representative Who Does Not Bear Any Company ID

If someone knocks on your door and offers you an emergency cleaning service and cannot show you any company ID, consider this a sign of a scam. Qualified companies should have proper company IDs for their employees. Other indication you should also look for are cleaning vehicle with company logo, a business address, contact number or a website.

Asks for an Upfront Payment

Asking for an upfront payment is the most obvious sign of a scam. Never fully pay for something which you still have not received. If the company requires a guarantee on your ability to pay, make a down payment or show your insurance coverage.

Back-job is Not Free

A back job should be free since there won’t be any if the company had done a good job the first time. Just like warranties in buying products, a free back job labor is a must.

5. A Company Does Not Make an Inventory of Household Items

Before a cleanup actually happens, a company should make an inventory or documentation of your household items. On your part, this will ensure that nothing gets lost. On the company’s part, this can ensure that they are able to put everything back to its proper place.

More than ever, homeowners should be careful when disaster strikes their home. Because aside from the damage and health risks that incidents cause, these incidents can be used by con artists to cheat you out of your hard earned money.

Richard Barthallo reports on issues affecting homeowners for Emergency Cleaning Service Buffalo and Emergency Cleaning Service Niagara Falls

[tags]be,alert,for,emergency,cleaning,service,scams[/tags]

There are some months that are just full of events. November to December for example are filled with occasions from Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year. There are many celebrations and therefore a lot of houses, event places and halls that need to be cleaned before and after the party. As a result emergency cleaning service companies are in high demand. These people are asked to clean locations as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality. They are hired because of their expertise and a lot of people pin on them the success of their parties. We all know that the places where these are held need to be neat, hygienic and overall a good place to enjoy yourself in. These companies that are already well-known are sometimes fully-booked during these months just because of the multitude of events that are there.

One might find themselves with lesser known companies or even start ups who are only operating during the heavy months. You should be very wary with dealing with these service providers because you are unsure of their capabilities. You do not know if they can provide what they promise to provide. Understandably you may be in a hurry but it would be of no help if one would get a company that does not deliver. In the internet, you can check the type of equipment that companies usually have for these occasions. There are fans and dehumidifiers that are a staple for these services. When dealing with smaller or less known emergency cleaning service providers, ask the type of equipment they will use in the cleaning process. They should have at least some of the basic machinery and pieces of equipment or else they will not be able to help you.

If you have the time, visit their offices and see what type of operation they have. You do not want to be pinning the success of your party on a company that will not be able to clean your location. While they may not be real scam artists in the sense that they will not take your money and run, they may be so in the way that they will provide you with less than is promised or les than what is expected. It is possible that if a company that usually cleans for you is fully booked that they will recommend to you other emergency cleaning service companies that provide similar services. They may be giving you a contact number for competitors but since they will not be able to provide the service anyway, they might as well give you others who could.

Richard Barthallo reports on issues affecting homeowners for Emergency Cleaning Service Buffalo and Emergency Cleaning Service Niagara Falls

[tags]emergency,cleaning,service,and,avoiding,bad,service[/tags]