Monday, January 18, 2010

Surprises of Last Week !

I can't say last week was uneventful. Other than starting classes and meeting new students, I had two surprises. A bad surprise and a good surprise. Lets have the bad one first.

Last Thursday, I received an sms from an ex student of mine asking me to buy the ***** local Bahasa Malaysia daily and to read Page 8. At first I thought it would be some news on a local event and I didn't think much of it. Anyway after lunch, I remembered the sms and bought the newspaper. Turned to page 8 and immediately recognize the the side profile of the photo of a woman as the ex student of mine.

Apparently she became the latest victim of an internet scam and was conned of an astounding RM 16,000 !!!! Immediately my mind was saying , 'How could anyone be fooled of that much money ---and all within a couple of weeks !!!! I called her to find out more....and, believe you me.....the story is stranger than any Hollywood movie ! The only investment the con-men dumped in was a few e-mails and phone-calls.

These unscrupulous people are always on the look-out for vulnerable (....and unfortunately foolish) victims. The detail is too long and complicated that I'll spare you readers the pain and frustration of it !!

A police report had been made  and I look forward to the follow-up.  Moral of the story ? Becareful of what you read in your mails ! Its a cyber jungle out there  , but its real !!

The good surprise !

Would you believe that this also happened on last Thursday ! At about lunch, I received a call which I never imagined. It was from Abida , a former student from Xinjiang , China. I wrote two postings on her before one of which is here. It was good to hear that she is now married with a 4-month old daughter. I remember her crying on the day of her departure back home to Xinjiang and I told her she will be back. And true enough.... Yes I am certainly looking forward to see her again after about 4 years.


Abida back in 2005

6 comments:

pEaCe said...

RM16,000!??? WOW... scary mannn!

anak si-hamid said...

Yes, there are a lot of conmen and conwomen about and too many of us are too naive and hopeful for a quick buck.

How wonderful to receive news from a former student - part of the reaward of being a teacher.

anak si-hamid said...

Hi,
You do look like Tommy Lee Jones, come to think of it - after watching his movie last night.
But don't overdo on the gymnastics.

imsunnysideup said...

hahahah....gymnastic. But I think I can still do the back somersault......what d heck for ? heheheheh

Yes iriss.....scary is an understatement !

Helas木村 said...

->ASH
yeah i do think the same hehehe..

ok bcak to topic.. i wanna search that paper adesss... how can be like that.. like i never relplied any form that enter my spam or inbox mail..

and bout ur students. so glad still u can contact her.. i think in tweaker2 blogspot u also had post bout her (",)

imsunnysideup said...

helas
yup that I did.
I've attached a link in my posting.