Smooth talking con artists operating from so-called "boiler rooms" in Canada are convincing elderly Americans on the telephone to send them their lifetime savings in a host of telemarketing scams. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian tells how those people find you in the first place and the way millions of seniors wind up on so-called "sucker lists." "What about some leads? We need some more leads. I'm seeking specialized leads." That request is in a phone call between a telemarketing con man and the supplier of so-called "leads" -- information like home phone numbers, bank accounts and credit ranking that are craved by con artists usually.Why is a credit card number extremely important? Sgt. Yves LeBlanc of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says it shows they've access to money.Sgt. LeBlanc is within the business of searching for those who traffic in leads often pulled from phony prize or sweepstakes entries and used to gather the names in the gullible. "What they don't realize is, after they're putting their signature with that form and sending it back, they now go on a sucker list," says Leblanc. "Telemarketers make reference to those lists as sucker lists." Keteyian Blogs: How Seniors Get Scammed The lists have revealing names like "Oldies But Goodies," for compulsive gamblers over 55 and "Suffering Seniors" for all those with debilitating diseases.The lists are pure gold within reach of this Montreal con man, who asked we phone him Zack."They're guaranteed hits," he says.Keteyian: I'm looking at cell phone numbers, I'm looking at names, I'm investigating dates of birth, I'm considering banks. There are 12 names in this article. How many could you close?Zach: Probably all 12.Keteyian: With a few scam or another?Zach:Definitely. Today, in cities like Montreal, leads include the way in to a $40 billion-a-year global criminal enterprise centered in Canada, the place to find hundreds of boiler rooms preying on hundreds of thousands of seniors in the us."I was scammed using this Canadian outfit, pretty strong," says Alonzo Fox. The 85-year-old Fox was on a large number of sucker lists, having entered phony sweepstakes for many years. He ended up being conned away from $40,000."I've had up to 47 requests for sweepstakes entries a single day," he explained.Authorities say names entirely on sucker lists in busted telemarketing boiler rooms in Montreal were traced to forms delivered by Rick Panas, the owner of a printing business in Rock Hill, S.C.In 2005, Panas was barred from doing business in Iowa for "bogus prize mailings" which is currently under federal investigation in New york for, sources say, his role in selling leads to con artists. When Keyetian went to his business, a door was slammed as part of his face."What outrages me the most, I guess personally, would be that they are targeting people who find themselves susceptible," says Postal Inspector Tim Mahoney, who tracks down lead suppliers from the U.S. who will be priming the pump for boiler rooms in Canada."It's fairly obvious, in several cases, yhat they know the way the leads are going to be used," he says.Keteyian: The lead suppliers from the U.S... in order that they know their leads are ripping off the Americans. No question...Zach: Absolute confidence. They don't care. They manage to get thier money, that's it.Keteyian: Then when we hear "we're just supplying names, we do not know what happens to them…"Zach: Do not think them. Fox now shreds all his spam. Perhaps it's the best protection against showing up on sucker lists -- the lifeblood of Canadian con artists draining the bank accounts of yank seniors out of billions a dollars annually. The following Web sites offer specific information on scams targeting older persons and how to avoid learning to be a victim:AARP Scam Alert: Misplaced TrustFTC: Cross-Border Telemarketing Scam Targets Elderly AmericansFTC: Telemarketing ScamsFBI: Fraud Target - Senior Citizens
tall black ugg boots Retired Gen. Wesley Clark of Little Rock on Tuesday rejected suggestions he apologize for saying John McCain's medal-winning military service didn't qualify him to the White House.Elaborating, Clark said a president have to have judgment, not merely courage and character.Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful, said Clark's comments ended up inartful. But McCain's campaign judged them worse, and worked to stoke the controversy.One ally with the Republican presidential contender accused Obama of "winking and nodding" when he should be condemning Clark and his comments. "This is now about Obama, not Wesley Clark," added Orson Swindle over a conference call with reporters organized by the Republican presidential candidate's campaign.Swindle, a retired colonel and - like McCain - prisoner of war in Vietnam, added that Obama should tell his surrogates to "knock this crap off."Clark set off the controversy on Sunday while he said McCain's wartime experience as a Navy pilot and his awesome command of an air squadron in peacetime was failed to provide him with experience needed to become president."I don't believe riding in a fighter plane and becoming shot down is really a qualification to be president," he added during the time.McCain frequently emphasizes his military service as they campaigns for the White House.Obama, who would not serve in the military, frequently cites his opposition for the 2003 invasion of Iraq as proof of the judgment needed in a commander in chief.Despite criticism from Republicans, Clark declined to back down in a morning interview with ABC on Tuesday. "The experience that he had as being a fighter pilot isn't the same as having been on the highest levels of the military inside them for hours to make ...life or death decisions about national, strategic issues," he was quoted saying.Asked whether he felt he owed McCain an apology, Clark responded, "I'm very sorry until this has distracted from the message of patriotism that Sen. Obama would like to put out."Later, in a National Public Radio interview, Clark was inquired on his statements in 2004 that Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, had "heard the thump of enemy mortars, He's seen the flash of tracers" and can lead in a time of war."I feel that you can always cite a candidate's service from the armed forces as a testimony to his character and the courage. But I do not think early service justifies leaving looking at a candidate's judgment," he replied.McCain's campaign responded having its second conference call by surrogates on this subject in two days.Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., rebutted Clark's claim by arguing that McCain's years as a prisoner of war and also the mistreatment he endured made him uniquely allowed to lead the campaign in the Senate to ban the usage of torture in the interrogation of detainees inside the war on terror."Nobody would have taken the floor and discussed detainee policy" the same way, Graham added.Obama, campaigning in Ohio, said he didn't believe Clark's intent was similar to critics who four years ago challenged John Kerry's account of his very own wartime service in Vietnam. The so-called Swift Boat ads are is widely blamed by Democrats for enjoying a role in Kerry's defeat from the presidential race in 2004."I don't think that Gen. Clark had precisely the same intent as the Swift Boat ads of 4 years ago. I reject that analogy," Obama said.He explained McCain "deserves the utmost honor and respect for his plan to our country."At the same time, he said his admonishment - in a Monday speech on patriotism - against devaluing McCain's military service ended up in early drafts of his speech, and was not added at the last minute in response to what Clark had said."The question is why, given each of the vast numbers of issues that we've got to work on, that would be a top priority of mine," he was quoted saying. "The fact that somebody over a cable show or over a news show, like Gen. Clark, said something that was inartful about John McCain, I do not think is what is keeping Ohioans up in the evening," he said.On Monday, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said, "Sen. Obama honors and respects Sen. McCain's service, and naturally he rejects yesterday's statement by Gen. Clark."
mulberry purses NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks turned lower Tuesday afternoon, after morning gains connected to deal news, with a $95.5 offer for Dutch bank ABN Amro, ran their course. Overall action remained fairly quiet and trading volumes were low with many participants still away after the three-day Memorial Day weekend.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33 points to 13,474, with losses lightened by gains for IBM , Microsoft Corp. , Verizon Communications .Also among blue chips, shares of Alcoa Inc. dropped 1. A week ago, Alcan Inc. turned down Alcoa's $28.5 billion hostile bid. On Tuesday, Alcan gained as much as 2%, after reports that Norsk Hydro and Rio Tinto are considering making bids for your Montreal-based aluminum producer.Vehicle Corp. slumped 1.2% amid reports that BMW is interested in buying Ford Motor Co's Volvo unit.The S&P 500 fell 2.88 points to 1,512, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.4 suggests 2,559.Among tech shares, Google Inc. gained 1%, even after news that the Federal Trade Commission has begun a preliminary antitrust probe into its planned $3 billion deal to acquire online advertiser DoubleClick.Trading volumes showed 873 million shares exchanging practical the New York Stock market and 1.03 billion for the Nasdaq stock market. Advancing issues outpaced gainers by 18 to 13 on the NYSE and by 16 to 13 about the Nasdaq.By sector, multimedia networking , telecoms , and airlines led increases in size, while oil and pharmaceuticals dropped.Deal-making resumesStocks briefly jumped higher after news that consumer confidence bounced back May. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to 108.0 in May from 106.3 in April. Economists expected the index to rise to 105.8. Nonetheless it was merger news that again set happens for the market rally to continue. "We're mostly focusing on the countless deals that have been announced," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. "The world is full of liquidity and that is what is driving us." Leading the flow of deal news, the Royal Bank of Scotland-led group officially launched an offer for ABN Amro in a deal valued at $95.5 billion. That supply is higher than a rival all-stock offer from Barclays . RBS claimed it had "amicable" talks with Bank of America about a settlement over its disputed acquiring LaSalle from ABN Amro.Other marketsCrude futures were falling sharply, using the front-month contract down $1.57 at $63.63 a barrel. Nigerian oil workers have cancelled a strike and several refineries, including three in the Gulf Coast, are finding its way back on line. Treasury prices were slightly lower, sending yields a little higher, after the consumer confidence data. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note last was down 5/32 at 97 1/32 which has a yield of 4.884%. The dollar was pressurized against its major rivals in early trade. It last traded down 0.08% at 121.52 yen as the euro rose 0.4% to $1.3510. Gold also rose amid dollar weakness indications of investment demand for the dear metal. Gold futures were up $2.40 at $657.70 an oz .. More dealsArchstone-Smith is all-around a $20 billion deal this agreement it would be acquired by Tishman Speyer and Lehman Brothers . Bradley Pharmaceuticals jumped over 20% after its us president bid to take the company private for $21.50 a share, a 17% premium over its Friday closing price.Avaya gained 14% following news reports that some private equity firms would like to buy it. In completed deals, URS Corp. consented to buy engineering and design company Washington Group within a stock-and-cash deal worth $2.6 billion. By Nick Godt
mulberry planner This story was written by Deepti Arora, Daily Californian This fall, University of California Berkeley students are learning about the 2008 presidential elections not only to the news, but in their classrooms too.With November's elections covering many issues, focusing on everything from Wall Street's downturn for the war in Iraq, many professors would like to incorporate as much of today's politics into their curricula as possible. Political science and journalism professors say they commonly attempt to incorporate current events inside their courses, but the elections have reached departments like mass communications, business and ethnic studies. "The entire thing that makes a class intriguing, notable and important is that it affects students' lives and the things they'll vote for," said economics professor Christina Romer, who often assigns problem sets that draw on current and proposed economic policies. Many professors said there is certainly greater student interest in certain courses as well, almost undoubtedly on account of today's active political environment. Professor Dan Schnur, a top Republican media strategist who was the main adviser for Sen. John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign, said additional students petitioned to join his class on campaign strategy and also the media this year in comparison to previous years. "I've never witnessed a presidential campaign having a higher level of student interest compared to the one this year," he stated. One of Schnur's students, senior Terance Orme, admitted that the presidential elections largely motivated him to take Schnur's class. "This class is quite far from theory-based-it's a refreshing real-world putting on what I'm learning," he stated of the course, where Schnur allots an hour of each lecture to debating the candidates' political positions. Section of what makes November's elections unique plus more interesting compared to past campaigns is the candidates' unexpected nominations, said David Karol, a helper political science professor who uses YouTube clips with the candidates while teaching a class on political parties. "Both presidential candidates were underdogs to some respect within their own parties when seeking nomination," he said. Schnur said that the increased student desire for this year's elections can be mainly due to an expansion in technology. "Some than it is blogging, a variety of it is YouTube, a number of it is Facebook, a lot of it is Twitter," he explained. "There is just no shortage of the way for people who want to be involved in politics to be able to." Both presidential candidates are actively utilizing these newer technologies to target a younger generation of voters. Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama features a blog on his Web site, giving viewers the ability to share its posts on social networking sites. A Facebook page has been given for Sen. John McCain with videos and photos posted for the page's more than 330,000 supporters. However, there are many benefits to a media age that encourages political awareness, Schnur said hello can act as a double-edged sword at times. "On one hand, these technologies are empowering and on one other hand they are isolating," he stated, adding that the Internet can be used to propagate extreme opinions making voters more polarized in their beliefs. Romer said she chooses not to bring her personal political views in to the curriculum. "I try to teach some tips i think is mainstream economics," she said. "I think I'll even go overboard sometimes in giving the other side because I have my own liberal Obama-heavy political views." Regardless of instructor's political preferenes, students said the effective use of classroom theory to today's politics more often than not gives the course an increased sense of value. "I think if you're going to take political science classes in which you just learn terms, commemorate things more easy to know or fun to learn about when you see them going on," sophomore Jiesi Zhao said.
ugg sundance boots More children and teens are increasingly being exposed to online pornography, mostly by accidentally viewing sexually explicit Websites while surfing the world wide web, researchers say.Forty-two percent of Online users aged 10 to 17 surveyed said they'd seen online pornography in a recent 12-month span. Of those, 66 percent said they did not want to view the images and had not sought them out, University of New Hampshire researchers found. Their conclusions come in February's Pediatrics, due out Monday.Areas of the study were released last November and located that one in seven had received "unwanted sexual solicitations or approaches in the past year." Some kids, like cyber-savvy 10-year-old Ryan Morano, already realize how to cope, CBS News technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg reports."Something could appear at any time," Morano said. "And without a pop-up blocker, you could be confronted with these bad pictures."Online pornography was defined in the study as images of naked people or people sex."It's so common now, who hasn't seen something of that nature?" said Emily Duhovny, 17.The Marlboro, N.J., senior high school senior said X-rated images show up all the time when she's online. Duhovny said the very first time she saw one, it absolutely was shocking, but now, "more than anything, it is just annoying.""It doesn't have to be a bad thing, but that really should not be how you learn about sex education," said Duhovny, an editor for Sexetc.org, a teen-written Internet site on sexual health issues connected to Rutgers University.In the survey, conducted between March and June 2005, most kids who reported unwanted exposure were aged 13 to 17. Still, sizable quantities of 10- and 11-year-olds also had unwanted exposure — 17 percent of boys and 16 percent of females that age."It comes as no surprise that teens are exposed to both wanted and unwanted sexual material online. That's all the more reason for parents to hold in close touch with their kids, keep computers within a central area of the house and – if needed – use parental control software that blocks inappropriate sites," CBS News technology analyst Larry Magid said.Greater than one-third of 16- and 17-year-old boys surveyed said they had intentionally visited X-rated sites before year. Among girls precisely the same age, 8 percent had done so.The results result from a telephone survey of merely one,500 Internet users aged 10 to 17, conducted using parents' consent.Overall, 36 percent had unwanted exposure to online pornography, including some children who had willingly viewed pornography in other instances. The 2005 number was up from 25 % in a similar survey conducted in 1999 and 2000.The latest survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.Online use that put kids at the highest risk for unwanted experience pornography was using file-sharing programs to download images. However, additionally, they stumbled onto X-rated images through other "normal" Internet use, the study said, including talking online with friends, visiting chat rooms and playing games.Filtering and blocking software helped prevent exposure, but has not been 100 percent effective, the researchers said.Better methods are essential "to restrict the use of aggressive and deceptive tactics to advertise pornography online" without also hampering use of legitimate sites, the study said.University of Chicago psychiatrist Sharon Hirsch said exposure to online pornography could lead on kids to become if perhaps you are too soon, or could place them at risk for being victimized by sexual predators should they visit sites that prey on children."They're seeing issues that they're really not emotionally willing to see yet, which may cause trauma for them," Hirsch said.Exposure also could skew their perceptions about what constitutes a healthy sexual relationship, said Janis Wolak, the study's lead author along with a researcher at the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center.Still, many survey participants said they were not disturbed by what they saw, and Wolak said research is needed to determine how experience online pornography affects kids.
ugg boots grey The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to induce the United States to end its 46-year-old trade embargo against Cuba after its foreign minister accused the U.S. of stepping up its "brutal economic war" to new heights and vowed to "never surrender.""The blockade had not been enforced by using these viciousness as over the last year," Felipe Perez Roque told the assembly, accusing U.S. President George W. Bush's administration of adopting "new measures bordering on madness and fanaticism" that have not only hurt Cuba but interfered with its relations with at the very least 30 countries.It had been the 16th straight year that the 192-member world body approved a solution calling for the U.S. economic and commercial embargo against Cuba to be repealed "as soon as you can."Delegates in the 192-member General Assembly chamber burst into applause in the event the vote in favor of the resolution flashed on-screen - 184 to 4 with 1 abstention. That's a one-vote improvement over last year's vote of 183 to 4 with 1 abstention.In addition to the U.S., Israel, Palau along with the Marshall Islands voted contrary to the resolution while Micronesia abstained. Albania, El Salvador and Iraq did not vote.The annual vote came only a week after Bush delivered his starting address on Cuban policy in 4 years, attacking Cuba's government and challenging the international community to aid the people of the communist island shed Fidel Castro's rule and turn into a free society.Perez Roque referred to as the vote the international community's answer to Bush's speech."I think it is an historic victory. It is really an Olympic record in the General Assembly," the Cuban foreign minister said in an Associated Press interview. "Today, the international community have expressed their support for the Cuban right to be an impartial nation, to be respected rolling around in its right to self-determination."Even though the resolution is just not legally binding, Perez Roque said the vote "has an essential ethical and moral meaning" because it supported the Cuban struggle from the embargo and strengthened "our resilience and our decision, really, to face up to and finally to defeat the blockade."In Havana, state television gleefully lead with news of "a resounding victory for Cuba" and said the area had received "the resounding support in the international community." Celebratory music blared and a waving Cuban flag was shown over the words "Viva Cuba Libre!" or "Long Live Cuba!"The Usa has no diplomatic relations with Cuba, lists the country as a state sponsor of terror and contains long sought to isolate it through travel restrictions plus a trade embargo, which has been tightened over Bush's two terms. This coming year, the U.S. increased enforcement of financial sanctions, which Perez Roque strongly denounced.The Bush administration sees Castro's failing health as an opening for change. Little differs from the others under Raul Castro, 76, and Bush said in the speech that the U.S. can make no accommodations with "a new tyranny."Speaking ahead of Tuesday's vote, U.S. diplomat Ronald Godard said "it is long past time that the Cuban people love the blessings of monetary and political freedom.""Instead of voting in support of this resolution condemning the usa for declining to take part in unrestricted financial transactions which has a regime that deprives its people of the fundamental human rights until this body is charged with protecting, we urge member states to oppose and condemn the Cuban government's internal embargo on freedom, which is real cause of the suffering in the Cuban people."Perez Roque, in his address, accused the us of violating international law, depriving Cuban kids of medication, punishing anyone employing Cuba, and even preventing Cuban writers from playing a book fair in Puerto Rico, that they called "a barbaric act."He expressed Cuba's solidarity with U.S. movie producer Oliver Stone, who had been attacked by the U.S. government for filming in Cuba, and activist director Michael Moore, that is being investigated for visiting Cuba."It is McCarthyism with the 21st century," Perez Roque said, referring to the political witch hunt that U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy accomplished against suspected American communists in the 1950s."Without doubt, when you well know, the brutal economic war which has been imposed on Cuba hasn't only affected Cubans," he was quoted saying, pointing to banks companies in many countries that were hurt by the U.S. financial measures.Perez Roque accused the U.S. of ignoring the 15 previous resolutions "with arrogance and political blindness," but he explained despite the continuing harsh sanctions, Cuba couldn't survive cowed."Cuba will never surrender," he explained. "It fights and will fight."
ugg boots black