Mike Milo’s Journal

This may not be true, but if it educates one person so that they’re not duped by these bastards then it’s well worth it! This happened to a freind of mine…

WARNING…New Credit Card Scam (Keep your guard up).
Note, the callers do not ask for your card number; they already have it.
This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA and Master
Card Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you’ll be better prepared to protect
yourself.

My husband was called on Wednesday from VISA, and I was called on Thursday
from Master Card.

The scam works like this: Person calling says, “This is (name), and I’m
calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My Badge number is
12460 Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I’m
calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which was issued by
(name of bank). Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99
from a Marketing company based in Arizona?”

When you say “No,” the caller continues with, “Then we will be issuing a
credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the
charges range from
$297 to $497, just under the $500 purchase pattern that flags most cards.
Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your
address), is that correct?”

You say “yes,” and the caller continues ? “I will be starting a Fraud
investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 1- 800 number
listed on the back of your card (1-800-VISA) and ask for Security. You will
need to refer to this Control Number. The caller then gives you a 6-digit
number. “Do you need me to read it again?”

Here’s the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works.
The caller then says, “I need to verify you are in possession of your card.”

He’ll ask you to turn your
card over and look for some numbers. There are 7 numbers; the first 4 are
part of your card number, the next 3 are the security numbers that verify
you are the possessor of the card. These are the numbers you sometimes use
to make Internet purchases to prove you have the card.

The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him. After you tell the
caller the 3 numbers, he’ll say, “That is correct, I just needed to verify
that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have your
card. Do you have any other questions?”

After you say no, the caller then thanks you and states, “Don’t hesitate to
call back if you do,” and hangs up.
You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the card
number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within twenty
minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA Security
Department told us it was a scam and in the past 15 minutes a new purchase
of $497.99 was charged to our card.

Long story short – we made a real fraud report and closed the VISA account.
VISA is reissuing us a new number. What the scammers want is the 3-digit
PIN number on the back of the card.
Don’t give it to them. Instead, tell them you’ll call VISA or Master card
directly for verification of their
conversation.

The real VISA told us that they will never ask for anything
on the card as they already know the information since they issued the card!
If you give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN Number, you think you’re receiving
a credit. However,
by the time you get your statement you’ll see charges for purchases you
didn’t make, and by then it’s almost to late and/or more difficult to
actually file a fraud report.

What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from a
“Jason Richardson of Master Card” with a word-for-word repeat of the VISA
scam. This time I didn’t let him finish. I hung up! We filed a police
report, as instructed by VISA. The police said they are taking several of
these reports daily! They also urged us to tell everybody we know that this
scam is happening.

Please pass this on to all your family and friends. By informing each other,
we protect each other.

I got ambitious today and tried painting one of my drawings in Photoshop. It was a ton of fun and I will definitely do more of these. Lots of work though especially when Photoshop kept crashing on me during my Jay Jay animation “render times” in 3D Studio Max! Still, I’m pretty happy with it.

A quick sketch of a not-so-sane barbarian.

It’s just how I feel today….

Here’s a Doodle… just playing around really.

WRITE IT ON THE BACK OF YOUR ENVELOPES!
This is a great idea actually. I wonder how many people will really do this though. I don’t send too many letters anymore.
Here’s a link to an online Stamp Maker if you’re interested…

Excerpt from an e-mail circulating the web:

You may have heard in the news that a couple of Post Offices in Texas have been forced to take down small posters that say “IN GOD WE TRUST,” The law, they say, is being violated.

Anyway, I heard proposed on a radio station show, that we should all write “IN GOD WE ‘TRUST” on the back of all our mail. After all, that is our national motto, and it’s on all the money we use to buy those stamps.
I think it is a wonderful idea. We must take back our nation from all the people who think that anything that offends them should be removed. !

If you like this idea, please pass it on and DO IT!
The idea of writing or stamping “IN GOD WE TRUST” on our envelopes sounds good to me.

It has been reported that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a mess about having “In God We Trust”on our money and having God in the pledge of Allegiance.

Could it be that WE just need to take action and tell the 14% to “sit down and shut up”?

Sometimes I think so!

Oh man I’d HATE to be the guy holding that bag 10 seconds later!

On the first day God created the dog. God said, “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. I will give you a life span of twenty years.”
The dog said, “That’s too long to be barking. Give me ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten.” So God agreed.

On the second day God created the monkey. God said, “Entertain people, do monkey tricks, make them laugh. I’ll give you a twenty-year life span” The monkey said, “How boring, monkey tricks for twenty years? I don’t think so. Dog gave you back ten, that’s what I’ll do too, okay?” And God agreed.

On the third day God created the cow. God said, “You must go to the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer. I will give you a life span of sixty years.” The cow said, “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. Let me have twenty and I’ll give back the other forty.” And God agreed again.

On the forth day God created man. God said, “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. I’ll give you twenty years. Man said, “What? Only twenty years! Tell you what, I’ll take my twenty, and the forty the cow gave back and the ten the monkey gave back and the ten the dog gave back, that makes eighty, okay?” “Okay,” said God, “You’ve got a deal.”

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play, and enjoy ourselves; for the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family; for the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren; and for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

HAHAHAHAHA!
This is a good one!

Glenn and Scott are bungee-jumping one day when Glenn has a brainstorm, “You know, we could make a lot of money running our own bungee-jumping service in Southern California.”
Scott agrees that it would be a great idea, so the two pool their money and buy everything they’ll need: a tower, an elastic cord, insurance, etc.

They travel south and set up in a vacant lot. As they are constructing the tower, a crowd begins to assemble. Slowly, more and more people gather to watch them at work.

When everything is ready Glenn gives it a test jump. When he bounces at the end of the cord and comes back up, Scott notices that Glenn has a few cuts and scratches.
Unfortunately, the Scott isn’t able catch him, so Glenn falls again, bounces, and then comes back up.
This time, Glenn is bruised and bleeding. Again, Scott misses him. Glenn goes down again and this time, he comes back pretty messed up—he’s got a couple of broken bones and is almost unconscious.

On the next attempt, Scott finally catches him and pulls him in. “What happened?” he asks. “Was the cord too long?”
Glenn cathes his breath and replies, “No, the cord was fine, but tell me… what the heck is a piñata?”

As many of you know L.A. is really hot! Hot women, hot sun and hot cars! I am a transplant myself originally from Old Tappan, New Jersey.
Not much animation going on there…
Anyway, in honor of todays 110 degree weather I give you a great email sent by my wife(another one of those nutty mass e-mailers!)

Living in Los Angeles A journal:

May 30th: Just moved to Los Angeles. Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! It is beautiful. I’ve finally found my home. I love it here.

June 14th: Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to seethe sun everyday like this. I’m turning into a sun worshipper.

June 30th: Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing lawn for me.Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th: The temperature hasn’t been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least it’s kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.

July 15th: Fell asleep by the community pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over60% of my body). Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol’ sun in a climate like this.

July 20th: I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left thismorning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the upholstery. The car now smells like Kibbles and sh*ts I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat.

July 25th: The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it’s hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th: Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now. $225,000 house and I can’t even go inside. Why did I ever come here?

Aug. 4th: Its 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.

Aug. 8th: If another wise @ss cracks, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m goingto strangle him. Damn heat. By the time I get to work the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!

Aug. 9th: Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when I saton the seats in the car, I thought my @ss was on fire. I lost 2 layers offlesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and @ss. Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried @ss, and baked cat.

Aug 10th: The weather report might as well be a damn recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It’s been too hot to do sh*t for 2 damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn’t it ever rain in this damn desert? Water rationing will be next, somy $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can’t live in this damn heat.

Aug. 14th: Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today. Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield off the car. The installer came to fix it and said, “Hot enough for you today?” My sister had to spend $1500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Los Angeles! What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here??

Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.