Haiti — Before and Now.

Posted By Ann Melrose on January 19, 2010

Michelle Obama’s outpouring for the benefit of the Red Cross is well and good if a person has $10 to spare and a cellphone that does text messages. However, not everyone has either the ten-spot or a cell with sufficient texting. Yes, the ten dollars will go a long ways toward purchasing food and water for the Haitians, but in all of the drives for donations, I have yet to see one for medical equipment. Because of the type of injuries, a lot of these people have become amputees, losing a hand, arm, leg and more. I, for one (because of my medical history) have a surplus of canes and a walker; I know of other people who have more. Many of our neighbors have cared for an ailing parent who has passed on leaving behind a multitude of equipment including canes, walkers, wheelchairs, oxygen supplies and more. How do we get these to Haiti? Where can we drop them off? Who is going to handle shipment to the island and to those who would dispense them?

I remember Port-au-Prince before the earthquake. It was 40 years ago and I understand there weren’t too many changes over the last 40 years until the earthquake. At that time, my husband was stationed at Guantanamo Bay and we went on a one-day shopping trip to Haiti. It was a lesson in reality. We were living from payday to payday and did not have a lot of money to spare. However, by comparison we were wealthy. In Port-au-Prince itself, there were signs of modern development, but the people who came to the market to sell their “goods” were absolutely dirt poor. It seemed so unfair then — the few who were wealthy thrived, while those who were poor had no chance of improving themseves. Forty years later, not much has changed.

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gimme an S… and a CAM

Posted By Ann Melrose on October 9, 2009

Lately, one of the highlights of my day is picking up the mail. It’s not that I am expecting anything special. My kids don’t write. No one in my family or circle of friends write or send anything in the mail. It’s faster to use the phone, email, or UPS. However, sometimes it is fun to look through the junk or just simply dust out the cobwebs collecting in my mailbox. It all sounds pretty boring, until I found the envelope buried among the advertising and junk mail.

It’s  just a plain envelope…no markings. Not even a return address. All it has on it is a label with my name and address, a Canadian stamp and a postmark. Wait a minute! I don’t know anyone in Canada. Scam clue #1!

I carefully opened the envelope and a check fell out, fluttering gently to the ground. A check made out to me in the amount of $4,950, from the AIG Annuity Insurance Company. Their address is printed as Amarillo, Texas. The check  is on the BNY Mellon Trust of Delaware. Now, I’m getting very suspicious. Anything regarding AIG sets off warning bells. Scam clue #2!

Since I am now very suspicious, I opened the letter that originally held this check. At the top is the AIG logo, with an address in Seattle, Washington. According to the letter, my name was connected with a specific serial number and was drawn out of a computer database in the “annual Consumer’s Promotional Draw”, organized for Canadian and American consumers of retailers including Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Macuy’s, etc.  I have been awarded with a prize of $250,000. The check I am holding in the amount of $4950 has been provided to aide me in the mandatory payment of non-Canadian residential tax, insurance and delivery charges. The actual prize will be delivered as a certified check.

Ooookay. Now, I have shopped at Wal-Mart, Target and Sears. However, I do not recall filling out any forms with my name and address. And I also have never heard of anything called an annual Consumer’s Promotional Draw. At the bottom of the letter, it specifies for me to contact a claim agent with phone number and lists a tax agent with an address in New York. Now we have 5 seperate locations (including the origination in Canada)  associated with this one plain envelope. SCAM clue #3!

As for SCAM clue #4, this letter was not on letterhead. It appears to simply be a copy generated on a copy machine, complete with toner smudges.

Since I was away from my computer, I called my daughter to do a search to see if there were any instances similar to mine. I had her enter the words: AIG, annual consumer draw. She immediately got a number of hits with people relating very similar instances. In fact, one report listed the wording on their letter that was amost identical to mine. Apparently what these people want is for you to deposit the check into your bank account. Then you are immediately to call them and arrange to pay the taxes via a wire or some other instant method of payment. Since the check is bogus, your bank is now minus $4950 and they now have your banking information, person information, and you have been set up for identity theft.

AIG has stated that they have absolutely no relationship with these people and if you receive a letter/check such as I did, turn it over to law enforcement agencies. I checked with the postmaster and was told that the best method for me is to send it to the State Attorney General’s office. For more info on this major scam:

www.ripoffreport.com/…/AIG…/aig-annuity-insurance-company-42e3a.htm

www.bustathief.com/consumers-promotional-draw-scam
www.complaintsboard.com/…/td-financial-trust-c189702.html
www.wpcu.coop/default.aspx?ContentItem=3726.

Most people dream of finding a fortune in their mail. Unfortunately there are wolves out there… in this case, Canadian wolves who prey on innocent folks who just don’t have a clue. Now, I have given you for solid SCAM clues.  Please be wary of any promises of wealth. Never, ever give out any personal information, banking information. Always be suspicious of anyone wanting  you to deposit a check in your account and give them the funds back. In this case why go to the trouble to send a person money to pay taxes from your own bank account, unless there was something in it for them?

And always, do what I did — run a search on it. In most cases, it has happened to someone else and it is better to take the time to check it out. If it looks like a SCAM, smells like a SCAM, you can bet that it is a SCAM!

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Double Whammy

Posted By Ann Melrose on August 1, 2009

One thing about illness — if you’re not looking, it can sneak up behind you and bite you on the butt, or in my case, hit you with a double whammy. There are times when you try to keep up to date on illness prevention, but the medical community and/or the media either don’t know enough or just don’t keep us informed. It seems that it is usually done in favor of more popular stories.

Not too long ago, the popular story was the Bird Flu. You couldn’t turn around without hearing about some new development. Medical staff were interviewed and there were daily reports on what to do and what not to do. Then the news dwindled down and very little was said.

The same thing is happening with the Swine Flu, a.k.a. the H1N1 virus. Daily reports have been issued, including fatalities, lists of symptoms, and all kinds of predictions on areas of concentration as well as what to do and what not to do. There is still some coverage, but the amount of media coverage is dwindling in favor of anything about the life and death of Michael Jackson.

Now, granted, it is sad that someone his age should die suddenly, but somehow news about this virus and the possible complications when it returns as early as this winter seems more important, don’t you think?

Fortunately, some of those people who have been infected with H1N1 will build up immunity and when it returns — IN FORCE — they will not suffer as badly as those who were able to escape infection. I am one of those people.

I’ve followed the news and since I do not travel amidst the masses, I figured I was going to escape H1N1. Nope. A few days after a short visit with my grandchildren, I started showing flu symptoms. Instead of getting better, it got worse. And then just as I was getting over the mess, I had problems hearing and developed swelling around my ears. I had developed a “sinus infection”. Double Whammy. I’m fairly sure that is just a catch-all phrase to cover everything to do with sinuses, ears, and everything above the neck.

More pills, antibiotics, headaches and trying to convince everyone that I’m fully recovered from the flu and not contagious. And, I do NOT have the mumps. I now have enough antibiotics in my system that I should be able to fight off anything that tries to invade. So after the proverbial fog I’ve been in, I am back at the computer and raring to go!

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"Miscellaneous Information"

I am a Storyteller. I started telling stories to my younger brothers to keep them entertained. In High School, I gathered local news and wrote for the weekly newspaper. Since it was run by my mother, I also did typesetting, ad design, pasteup, and inking the press. Over the years, I've written for magazines and newspapers; everything from local color to technical articles for a medical trade magazine. As a short story writer, I tell entertaining stories; as a journalist I write the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth.


About the author

Ann Melrose has been a writer, an editor, a journalist, an artist, a musician and more. Her job experience involves everything from a telephone operator to selling real estate. She has always been a story teller, creating imaginative stories to amuse small children under her care. That imagination enabled her to create horrific stories to scare her brothers into submission.

In the early 1980s, she turned her talent to putting her stories to paper. Her first published story, "Danger in the Woodpile" appeared in a local children's magazine, and from there she had short fiction published in a variety of magazines . Not content with writing fiction and hungry for a paycheck, she turned to journalism and wrote feature articles for local magazines and newspapers.

Her journalism experience includes writing feature articles for various publications ("The Gift of Life," The Bulletin, August 2003), as well as medical technology articles for "Physicians and Computers. She currently writes feature articles for the Virginia News Source. In addition to writing, Ann is the senior editor at Swift Creek Publishing; she is also involved in linux consulting and web design and is the founder of Swift Creek Consultants, L.L.C.

Both Ann and her husband enjoy going to science fiction conventions, and attend several on a regular basis. She has been a panelist at several, including Dragon*Con, StellarCon and PhilCon. She is a member of SFWA and works with new writers via the Internet.



Ann Melrose