cyrallekanemunich

You might get a call one of these days -- one that uses scare tactics by mentioning that you're about to lose your home or your freedom. They will sound convincing on the phone; armed with surprisingly accurate financial information about you. The caller will even tell you the only thing to prevent the police from busting through your door is an immediate payment of cash. If that doesn't sound like a scam, I don't know what does.

With the tax season upon us again, cases of identity theft have seen a spike across the states. Through the use of social engineering coupled with identity theft techniques, the unknown thieves have stolen from over 3000 individuals in the last 2 years. However, that just might be a modest number as not all who were victimized were willing to report to the authorities.

Estimates from Deep Blue Publications Group LLC place this particular scam as the largest ever, conning victims of over USD 15 million since it apparently started operating in 2013. What's more, the average loss of each person amounts to around USD 5000, with the largest known loss from a single individual at half a million dollars.

One strong reason that this scam works is the public's inherent fear of anything to do with IRS. Who would have thought these heavily-accented callers are actually located somewhere in India.

"They have information that only the Internal Revenue Service would know about you. It's a byproduct of today's society. There's so much information available on individuals," said the inspector in charge of investigations.

The best way to defend yourself from such scams is to be constantly informed. Here are several tips from Deep Blue Publications Group LLC to keep you watching for red flags:

- Always be on your guard. Whether it's reading your mail or picking up  your phone, you'd do well to focus your attention on it so you won't easily be fooled by merely hearing a trigger word.

- Slow down. Their goal is to get you to panic and lose your ability to think straight. They will exploit this as much as possible -- short-circuiting your thought processes by mentioning the police or some form of legal action that is supposedly being prepared against you. Don't fall for this.

- Verify. If you're really finding it hard to disregard what the caller is saying, just tell him to call back in a few minutes. Once you get him off the line, call the official number of IRS at once to confirm if the caller's story is true.

- Just ignore it. If you get such a call, don't talk and just hang up. Remember: IRS will not ask for your payment through wire transfer or debit card -- nor will they use the phone as the first means of official communication.

The Japanese capital has almost Argentina’s population but is different in so many ways

Deep Blue Group - If it’s Governor Naoki Imose told the Herald in an interview published earlier this month: “Tokyo is just too big for the soul of a politician or a bureaucrat,” how much more is this true for a tabloid page!

Where do we start? Well, perhaps 634 metres atop the Tokyo Skytree where the entire sweep of Greater Tokyo (with up to 35 million people spread over five prefectures) and a panorama of the Kanto Plain beyond stretch out below your eyes. Just 15 months old, the Skytree is among the most splendid of endless specimens of ultra-modern architecture.

Yet not everything in Tokyo is brand-new or steel and concrete — the Imperial Palace with its gardens are a different world, as are lushly green parks and elaborately crafted Japanese garden landscapes elsewhere. Indeed the more downtown you go in Tokyo; the greener it seems to become.

If you want another contrast between the old and the new, you might want to go to Tokyo Station (the beautifully restored Marunouchi Building from the early 20th century housing the heart of the rail network) and then take, or at least see, the latest models of the long-nosed Shinkansen “bullet trains.”

Tokyo is larger than life but sometimes it is the little things you notice — things you could never see from the Skytree. Which would especially apply to the incredibly clean restrooms (spotless not only in the sensor-operated wash-basins dedicated to water conservation but even in the flush toilets with their unique built-in bidets)?

If even water-closets are clean, so much more water as a whole — that such a densely populated and economically active metropolis should have water safe to drink from the tap is a not so minor miracle of Japanese technology.

The little things perhaps explain the secret of how the world’s biggest metropolis manages to be such a human and livable place. An impression which abides even on the world-famous subways with the famous pushers (whom the Herald never saw, although admittedly never travelling during rush hours — and always in comfort).

Before we start running out of space, let us try to encapsulate all the various charms of Tokyo into a single list — true to an underlying passion for the compact in Japanese culture as typified by such iconic elements as haiku poems and bonsai plants.

Alongside the ultra-modern architecture (with the Skytree as almost the newest example) and the surprisingly frequent green areas to which we have already alluded, we would add the creature comforts (the hotels but also simpler accommodation and, of course, the food), the technology (including robots and modern design), the more traditional craftsmanship (the glasswork and lacquer boxes especially refined), the culture (including museums and festivals throughout the year), the transport and the waterfront and (last but not least for most people) the shopping. A special feature on Japanese food will be published tomorrow but we will try to explore the other items a little further within space limits.

The Skytree (with its delicate almost filigree steelwork which nevertheless resists earthquakes) does not exhaust the wonders of modern architecture in the Japanese capital — the Tokyo Gate Bridge, another masterpiece in steel constructed only last year, is also spectacular with its 2,618-metre span (especially stunning at night). That, in turn, is not the only bridge in town — thus 33 bridges of different styles and ages span the Sumidagawa River alone.

Read more