Product Barcode Country Identification

Summary:
Email claims that consumers can identify what country a product was manufactured in by analyzing the first 3 digits of the product's barcode (Full commentary below).
Status:
Misleading

Example:(Submitted, November 2008) Subject: Product Bar Coding

Product Bar Coding

The whole world is scared of China made 'black hearted goods'. Can you differentiate which one is made in the USA , Philippines , Taiwan or China ? For your Information ... the first 3 digits of the barcode is the country code wherein the product was made.

Sample: all barcodes that start with 690.691.692 until 695 are all MADE IN CHINA.
471 is Made in Taiwan

This bar code is 471 – Made in Taiwan

This is our human right to know, but the government and related department never educate the public, therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves.

Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products 'made in china', so they don't show from which country it is made.

However, you may now refer to the barcode, remember if the first 3 digits is 690-695 then it is Made in China .

00 ~ 13 USA & CANADA
30 ~ 37 FRANCE
40 ~ 44 GERMANY
49 ~ JAPAN
50 ~ UK
57 ~ Denmark
64 ~ Finland
76 ~ Switzerland and Lienchtenstein
471 ~ Taiwan
628 ~ Saudi-Arabien
629 ~ United Arab Emirates
690-695 ~ China
740 ~ 745 - Central America
All 480 Codes are Made in the Philippines.

Commentary:
This email claims that consumers can find out which country a product was manufactured in by examining the product's barcode. According to the message, the first three digits of the product barcode identify where the product was made. It suggests that concerned consumers could thus easily identify products made in countries with a dubious reputation for contaminated or dangerous products such as China by matching the first three barcode digits to a country list included in the message.

©iStockphoto.com/imagestock The first three digits of a product barcode do not always identify where the product was made

However, the information in the message is quite misleading.

The first three digits of European Article Number (EAN) barcodes are known as the manufacturing code and they do indicate which EAN numbering authority allocated a particular set of numbers. Every country that uses the EAN system has its own numbering authority which is responsible for assigning manufacturer codes for companies within its jurisdiction. These codes are sometimes referred to as "country codes". Thus, at first take, the information in the message may seem valid.

However, in reality, this is not the case. An FAQ published on bar code information website Bar Code 1 explains:

Does the barcode number indicate the country of origin of a product?

No it doesn't. The 3-digit prefix code indicates which numbering organization has allocated the bank of numbers to the company. For example, a company may have it's headquarters in South Africa. The EAN organization in South Africa has the code "600", but all the products of the company may be manufactured in England. The English-made products would still have the "600" prefix code. The prefix code is a way to have 70-plus EAN member organizations issuing numbers without having to worry about duplicate numbers.

This information is confirmed on a barcode prefix list published on global standards organisation, GS1's website:

GS1 Prefixes do not provide identification of country of origin for a given product. They simply provide number capacity to different countries for assignment from that location to companies who apply. Those companies in turn may manufacture products anywhere in the world.

Thus, while the first three digits of the product barcode may sometimes indicate where the product was manufactured, it will not always do so. For example, a barcode that has 690 as the first three digits indicates that the barcode was assigned by the Chinese EAN numbering authority. However, it does not necessarily mean that the product was actually manufactured in China.

Therefore, the advice given in this email is actually rather pointless. The information in the email would only be useful to consumers if the prefix invariably indicated where a product was manufactured. The fact that the barcode prefix is not a reliable and constant method of determining a product's country of manufacture means that, while the information in the email may be interesting, it is actually of little practical value.

from:http://www.hoax-slayer.com/product-bar-codes.shtml

SMS Advance Fee Prize Scam

Summary:
Mobile phone SMS claims that the recipient has won a major prize in a rewards promotion and should call a specified number to find out further details (Full commentary below).
Status:
False

Example:(Submitted, November 2008) JAPAN INTENATIONAL MOTORS: you have WON toyota prado VX 4WD worth 110000US$ dollars,in GLOBAL internate rewards promotion,call Mr.Nick on [number removed] now!

Commentary:

©iStockphoto.com/DSGpro Beware of SMS messages that claim that you have won a prize or cash in a promotion that you have never entered

Scammers are quick to use any means at their disposal in order to steal money from their victims. Long before the arrival of the Internet, advance fee scammers operated via surface mail and telephone. Email and the World Wide Web have made their tasks much easier. And fraudsters also use other modern technologies, including the Short Message Service (SMS) communication protocol on mobile phones.

Except for the means of distribution, the above scam attempt is basically the same as thousands of other prize advance fee scams that are sent via email. The scam SMS claims that the recipient has won an expensive 4DW vehicle in a global "rewards promotion" and instructs him or her to call a specified number to claim the prize.

However, neither the prize nor the supposed promotion actually exists. The SMS is simply the bait used to fool potential victims into contacting the fraudsters responsible. If a recipient does take the bait and reply, he or she will be asked to pay an upfront fee, supposedly to procure the release of the prize. The scammers may claim that the payment is to cover, insurance, delivery costs, legal fees or any one of a plethora of other bogus excuses. If the victim pays the first of the requested fees, other payment requests may follow. Of course, all of the money sent by the victim will be kept by the scammers. The victim will never receive the "prize" nor is he or she likely to get his or her money back even if the police are eventually notified.

The scammers may also trick their victim into supplying a large amount of personal information that could be subsequently use to steal his or her identity. People should be very cautious of any SMS, email, fax, or surface mail message that claims that they have won money or a prize in a lottery that they have never entered.

Note:
Some unscrupulous companies have also use "prize winner" SMS messages or phone calls to trick users into making expensive premium rate calls, supposedly to claim their prize. Although these premium rate schemes are not related to the advance fee scams described above, and may not even be illegal, mobile phone users should certainly be aware that responding to some prize calls or SMS's could very rapidly rack up sizable phone bills.

House Removal Bridge Accident Photographs

Summary:
Photographs show an accident in which a house, along with the large truck carrying it, became stuck across a river after a bridge collapsed, presumably due to the excess weight of the vehicle's load (Full commentary below).

Status:
Origin unknown - Research in Progress

Example:(Submitted, November 2008) Subject: Engineering Question

Engineering Questions of the Day

Q.) How much does a house weigh and

How much can a rural two-lane bridge Hold???

SO! WOULD THIS BE COVERED BY HOUSE INSURANCE, CAR INSURANCE, OR, DOES IT COME UNDER ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE ???







Commentary:
They say that every picture tells a story and these are no exception. It seems reasonable to suggest that the hapless organizers of a house removal project have made a serious miscalculation when planning their route with quite devastating and destructive results. However, without knowing any of the circumstances involved in the depicted incident, it is difficult to draw any concrete conclusions.

The images have been posted to a number of online communities and blogs and also circulate via email. So far, none of the descriptions I have seen mention where or when the mishap took place. The earliest posts I have seen containing the images date back to late 2007.

Some commentators have suggested that the images have been digitally altered. Although this cannot be conclusively ruled out, I have so far seen no evidence that casts doubt on the authenticity of the images.

I am currently attempting to discover where and when this incident took place. If you have any knowledge about the images, please email me or leave a comment below.

from:http://www.hoax-slayer.com/house-removal-bridge-accident.shtml

Obama Malware Emails

In the wake of the US Presidential election, inboxes around the world are being hit by malware emails supposedly providing news about Barack Obama's historic win. Soon after the results were announced the first batch of bogus "news" emails were sent out. These messages claim to provide news about the election and contain a link that supposedly opens a video showing Obama's "amazing" acceptance speech. However, clicking the link opens a webpage that claims that, in order to view the video, the user is required to download what appears to be a new version of Adobe Flash Player. In fact, the download is not a flash player at all, but a trojan that, once installed, can collect sensitive personal information from the infected computer and send it to a remote server. The emails arrive with a variety of subject lines.

Criminals regularly exploit major news events and it is not surprising that they have chosen to target the US election results. Malware distributors are likely to continue to exploit the election over the coming weeks and months. Internet users should be very caution of any unsolicited emails claiming to link to news, videos or photographs concerning the election. If you receive such a message, do not click on any links contained in the email or open any attachments that it may contain.

References:
US Presidential Malware
Blizzard of US Presidential malware
Spammers use 'Obama' emails to load trojans

from:http://www.hoax-slayer.com/obama-malware-emails.shtml

Babysitting Overpayment Scam

Criminals use a large variety of nefarious schemes to "launder" their ill gotten gains and/or trick unwary victims into sending them money or personal information. One such scheme involves sending the victim a cheque or money order for considerably more than a previously agreed upon price and asking him or her to wire the "extra" amount to a specified recipient. The scammers claim that the extra money is to cover further costs such as supplies or shipping fees.

In reality, the victim will be unknowingly sending the money directly back to the scammers, usually as a cash wire transfer. In this way, criminals are able to reap the proceeds of their crimes without leaving a trail that will lead the police to their door. For example, the scammer may send the victim a cheque for several thousand dollars, which is supposedly enough to cover the cost of an item he is purchasing as well as a "delivery" fee that is to be forwarded to a third party "agent". The victim will be instructed to bank the cheque, and once it clears, send the extra amount to the agent via a wire transfer. Alas, the cheque will turn out to be stolen and investigations may lead police to the victim who processed it. Meanwhile, the criminal has been able to procure a sizable portion of the stolen money in the form of untraceable cash.

The following real life example should help to illustrate how these overpayment scammers operate. The scammer first contacted his potential victim with the following message:

Subject: Can You BabySit For Me

Hello,

My name is Dr Bill, I need a babysitter for my twins, i live in london Canada but am coming down to your area in the state for a Six Weeks seminar and am coming down with my set of twins,i lost my wife some months back and i cant leave my babies behinde here in Canada.

Please get back to me if you are intrested in babysitting for my twins.I need someone that will take care of them as her own baby. Please get back to be on time so we can arrange how possible this will be.

Thanks Dr Bill

The potential victim responded and, after more correspondence, a price for the babysitting work was arranged. The scammer then sent the following message:

Hi,

Thanks for the prompt response, I have informed my colleague that i have gotten someone who will be caring for my Kids and am really looking up to the care you will give to my KIDS.I will have the deposit and the payment for your service for babysitting my Kids made to you prior to my arrival, Also I have contacted a store that will be shipping the KIDS item to your address with the KIDS toys,i just want to inform you about this and i will be forwarding money for the KIDS item plus your a month wages,so you can forward the money for the KIDS item to the Store Manager and she can send the items to you before i arrive with the KIDS and so you can put everything in place prior to our arrival.

Get back to me with your Full Name and Address including your phone number.

Anticipating to meet you and get the best care for the KIDS.Also i will be staying in an hotel, i will let you know the exact address before we arrive. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Thanks
Dr Bill

Thus, the scammer intended to send money for a babysitting deposit as well as extra to be forwarded to a "Store Manager" who would supposedly send supplies for the children after receiving payment. In reality, this extra money would have been sent back to the scammer or an accomplice after the babysitter inadvertently banked a stolen or bogus cheque.

Thankfully, the intended victim in this case became suspicious and pulled out of the "agreement" before it was too late. Unfortunately, many victims do fall for overpayment and job offer laundering scams every day.

Internet users should be very suspicious of any business arrangements in which the buyer or client offers to send an amount over the agreed price with instructions to forward the extra money to a third party. The following links provide more information about overpayment and payment transfer job scams:

• Overpayment Cheque Scam
  
  
• Website Advertising Enquiry Scam
  
  
• Payment Transfer Job Scam Emails - Laundering Scams
  
  
• Overseas Artist Job Offer Scam

from:http://www.hoax-slayer.com/baby-sitting-overpayment-scam.shtml

Denmark Whaling Shame Protest Email

Summary:
Email claims that attached photographs depict a bloody whale slaughter near a shore in the Faroe Islands, a province that is part of Denmark (Full commentary below).
Status:
True

Example:(Submitted, November 2008) Subject: Denmark, What a Shame

DENAMRK: WHAT A SHAME, A SAD SHAME. THIS MAIL HAS TO BE SEEN . THERE IS NO WORST BEAST THAN HUMAN KIND ITSELF!!!!

While it may seem liar even today continues to be made this time of year BRUTAL, Dantesque, bloody slaughter in the Faroe Islands, which belong to Denmark. A country supposedly 'civilization' AND EUROPEAN UNION country. For many people this attack to life is unknown , to sensitivity. IN THIS bloody slaughter to attend Moz to 'show' entering adulthood (!) Is absolutely incredible that no one does ANYTHING to prevent this barbarism that are committed against Calderon, an intelligent dolphin who has the particularity of approaching People out of sheer curiosity. fwd this everywhere, PLEASE.

Pass it on to your friends around the world! It is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!

Make Denmark STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





















Commentary:
This protest message decries the killing of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands and includes a series of photographs that graphically depict this bloody slaughter. The message calls on Denmark, of which the Faroe Islands is a part, to stop the slaughter and urges recipients to pass on the message in order to raise awareness of the issue.

The claims in the email are true. Such whale hunts do indeed occur in the Faroe Islands, usually during the summer months. The Faroe Islands are made up of a number of small inhabited islands. Every year, hundreds of Long-finned Pilot Whales are killed in such slaughters. The hunts are non-commercial and anyone in the island communities can join in at will. When a school of whales is spotted close to shore, messengers are dispatched to inform local inhabitants of the particular island involved. A formation of small boats is then used to drive the whales ashore, where they beach themselves in the shallow water and are killed by waiting islanders. A special whaling knife is used to sever the animal's spine near the dorsal fin. Information on a Faroe Islands website about whaling in the province describes the killing process:

Men gather on the shore to kill the beached whales. Ideally, most of the whales will strand far enough up on shore that it is unnecessary to secure them. However, those remaining in the shallows must be secured and hauled closer. Traditionally, this is done by driving a steel hook, or gaff, with a rope attached to it into the back of the whale. A new blunt hook inserted into an airsac in the whale’s blowhole has now been widely tested in practice and it is hoped that this new equipment may eventually replace the traditional gaff as the standard method for securing whales. The whale is killed using a sharp knife to cut down to sever the spinal cord, which also severs the major blood supply to the brain, ensuring both the loss of consciousness and death within seconds.

These whale kills have occurred in the Faroe Islands for hundreds of years and are considered by Islanders to be an important part of their social culture. It is generally only Faroese men who take part in the killings while female islanders look on. The whale hunts have caused international outrage and have been roundly condemned as unnecessary and barbaric by conservation and animal rights groups around the world. However, Faroe Islanders vigorously defend their right to engage in the hunts. A Wikipedia entry on the subject notes:

Most Faroese maintain that it is their right to catch pilot whales given that they have done so for centuries. The Faroese whalers defend their actions before international organizations like Greenpeace with three arguments: one, that grindadráp is not a hunt as such, but a dráp meaning a kill (ie that they do not regularly take to sea just to hunt for pilot whales, but only kill those which are sighted swimming to close at land); two, that the pilot whale hunt does not exist for commercial reasons, but for internal food distribution among households; and three, they do not believe the pilot whale to be an endangered species.

They further argue that most people in the modern world have become so far removed from the harsh realities of animal food production that they have formulated unrealistic notions of how food actually gets to their tables.

However, conservation organisations do not consider these factors to be valid arguments for the continuation of the slaughters. They argue that modern day Faroe Islanders have ample food and do not require whale meat to survive as in earlier centuries. Moreover, they point out that Pilot Whales in the region are known to have high levels of mercury, PCBs and environmental poisons and excessive consumption of whale meat could be detrimental to the health of Islanders.

In spite of its cultural significance, the continuation of the practise is very difficult to convincingly defend and even some Faroe Islanders have began opposing it.

It should be noted that, although the Faroe Islands are indeed a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, they are largely an autonomous entity. A home-rule law was brought into effect in 1948 which gave the Faroe Islands a considerable degree of political independence from Denmark. The Faroese are self governing in most matters other than foreign affairs, the legal system and defence. Furthermore, although Denmark is certainly part of the European Union, the Faroe Islands are not. Information about the Faroe Islands on theUK Trade & Investment website notes:

Denmark granted the Faroe Islands a measure of Home Rule as a self-governing populace in 1948. Over the years the ties to Denmark have gradually relaxed so that, whilst being part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the islands have their own parliament and flag and issue their own bank notes and stamps. The special status of the Faroe Islands means that their policies and tax regimes do not always coincide, indeed some differ greatly, with those of Denmark. For example, the Faroe Islands are not a member of the European Union and all trade is governed by special treaties with the EU. In November 2003 the Faroe Islands agreed with the EU and acceeded to membership of the Pan-European System of Cumulation of Origin. In principle this is a mutual free-trade agreement.

Thus, demanding that Denmark put a stop to the slaughter may not be the most effective approach. The continuation of international condemnation and pressure to stop the whale kills might be more effectively aimed directly to the Faroe Islanders themselves.

from:http://www.hoax-slayer.com/denmark-whaling.shtml

One Wing Plane Landing - Best Air Race Pilot Ever Video

Summary:
Video supposedly shows an air race pilot successfully landing his plane after one wing snapped off during a mid air manoeuvre (Full commentary below).
Status:
Almost certainly false - Probably part of a viral ad campaign for German clothing company killathrill

Example:(Submitted, November 2008)

Subject: Fw: Wing breaks off stunt plane Best pilot EVER!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRCbkBfdBrQ

Commentary:
This video, supposedly depicting a skilled pilot's miraculous landing after one wing snapped off his aircraft during a mid air stunt, is rapidly circulating via email and online. Some viewers apparently believe that the video is genuine footage of a real incident. However, many commentators suggest that all is not what it seems to be. The landing sequence, especially, looks decidedly suspect and most probably depicts a remote control plane rather than a full sized aircraft. The video is almost certainly the result of clever editing and manipulation with full sized and remote controlled aircraft.

The supposed pilot of the aircraft has been identified as one James Andersson. Andersson has his own website which discusses his alleged prowess as a pilot. The site even features an interview in which "Jimmy" talks about the lost wing landing incident. However, there is strong evidence to suggest that both the one winged landing video and and the pilot's website are part of an elaborate advertising scheme launched by German fashion design company killathrill. The killathrill brand name features prominently on the stricken aircraft, supposedly as Andersson's sponsor. The pilot also wears a killathrill jacket during his "interview" about the incident.

The WhoIs record for the domain, jamesandersson.com lists the registrant as one Sandra Thielecke and includes a killathrill.com email address. It seems more than a coincidence that Sandra Thielecke is in turn listed on the killathrill website as the company's geschäftsführerin (female managing director). And, in spite of James Andersson's supposedly long involvement with stunt flying and air races, there is seemingly no mention of his past deeds other than on his own website and in comments related to the video itself. The WhoIs record also reveals that the domain was only registered in September 2008.

Moreover, if genuine, such a compelling piece of footage would have almost certainly been prominently featured in TV news shows around the world. Instead, it apparently only made it to YouTube.

Thus, it seems very likely that the video and the related website are yet another clandestine advertising campaign aimed at raising the profile of a particular company, in this case, killathrill. Such "viral" advertising videos are a new trend in online marketing and have proved very successful for other companies. A Dutch travel company has used another "amazing" aircraft landing video as part of a viral advertising campaign. A video supposedly showing cell phones making popcorn was later revealed to be an ad for Bluetooth headsets. And a "scary" video of an elevator ghost turned out to be a promotion by a consultancy company in Singapore.

In time, killathrill, like other companies who have pulled such stunts, is likely to "own up" and further reap the benefits of its creations. Meanwhile, the video will continue to circulate, generating much intense debate as to its veracity and affording killathrill a great deal of free publicity.

from:http://www.hoax-slayer.com/one-wing-plane-landing-video.shtml