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Scam Alert!

“We are seeking a new Administrative Assistant for our online church, Authority of Christ International Churches. During our deliberation, we have seen your profile to be perfect for this job. We believe that you can be an asset to our church. I am pretty sure that you will enjoy your 1. stay with us since we always see to it that we balance work and life outside work. In our company, we have series of scheduled activities that each employee must participate as a form of team building.  REALLY?  Not happening… Be sure to earn up to $400 Weekly and you don’t need to pay any extra cash to get this job. You must have good A minimum of three (3) months demonstrated experience with computers, including the Internet, Email applications (Hotmail/ GMail. Yahoo!) or other related Internet service email apps If these qualifications match you, please reply to this add. If you have some questions or any clarifications on this matter please don’t hesitate to call me or email me.” Congratulations once again. Best Regards, Respectfully Yours, Joshua Rodgers Authority of Christ International Churches   Doesn’t Exist…. Cell: (347) 455-9818 Joshua Rodgers, Information Desk Authority of Christ International Churches T: +1 (347) 455-9818  Only an answering option, never a person. I researched the phone number and found several scam reports using this number and various names.  Skype: ACIChurches  I contacted this account several times – never a response. T: @3wsJob  Huh?  What’s this?

Knowing full well it was a scam, I replied – just to see what response I’d get…  This was his response: ~*~ “Hello Thanks for the response, Your application has been reviewed and granted. Below is explanation about what you’ll be doing. WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING You will be sending our Christian digest to our on line subscribers through email. The digest and the email address you’ll send the digest to will be e-mailed to you and you’ll be instructed on when to send the digest to the email addresses. You’ll open another email address which you’ll be using to send the digest . If you are interested in this position please respond to this email, so that I may send you the Employment Agreement. If you have any questions about this job don’t hesitate to send them to me . I’ll attach a sample copy of the digest which you’ll be sending, later in my next email after receiving your information, just for you to see that this is legitimate. Please send me this info in this format Full name : Home address .: City: State: Zip-code: Age: Gender: Phone number (home) : Phone number (mobile) : Get back to me ASAP. Thank you.”
  Wow  –  can you count how many red flags there are with this response?  Goodness, I don’t give that much information to anyone! Why does he need a home address or what my gender is?  How about the poor grammar? or the Spidey Sense that is coming over me saying RUN…   RUN AWAY!!! Just as a note to all the new virtual assistants out there: PLEASE, DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Research your potential clients completely. If you think something is off, listen to your instincts,  run it by your mentor – or even send it to me! I’d love to help make sure you’re not taken for a ride or scammed, or your identity stolen. Stay safe out there fellow Virtual Assistants! Kathy McCabe]]>

Using Pictures Without Permission

Blazing Guitar © Kathy McCabe, Hilltop Photography
Blazing Guitar by Kathy McCabe, Hilltop Photography Just a few days ago I uploaded a really great picture (the one in this article) to my web stores and to Facebook to show my friends.  Unfortunately, it was ‘altered’ with someone’s words to advertise an event at a local tavern. (It was NOT the tavern or any of their employees that used my image.)

When I offered – very generously – to allow him commercial use for the price of a drink and shout-out to me as the artist he declined and said he wouldn’t use it. When I asked him why he would use it for free (basically stealing off Facebook) and not pay the ridiculously low rate of a drink and a shout out, he told me that he had the right to use anything anyone put up online and on Facebook, for free.  And because although I watermarked the image but not through the center of it then he could do whatever he wanted with it.

Wow, how can anyone in this day and age actually believe that pictures online are free for anyone’s use? Can there be people who don’t understand copyright law? It’s said, knowledge is power. 

Well, let’s get really powerful and absorb some knowledge.  Please note, this article isn’t intended for those of us who understand and abide by the copyright laws, it is for those who don’t.

A Copyright  – defined by the US Copyright Office:  A form of protection provided by the laws of the United States for “original works of authorship”, including literary, dramatic, musical, architectural, cartographic, choreographic, pantomimic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, and audiovisual creations. “Copyright” literally means the right to copy but has come to mean that body of exclusive rights granted by law to copyright owners for protection of their work. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, title, principle, or discovery. Similarly, names, titles, short phrases, slogans, familiar symbols, mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, coloring, and listings of contents or ingredients are not subject to copyright. 

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/definitions.html
  • NO, YOU MAY NOT USE MY PHOTO WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! Well, not just mine, you can’t use ANY photo without permission.
  • NO, I DON’T HAVE TO PLACE A WATERMARK OR COPYRIGHT ACROSS THE ENTIRE IMAGE FOR IT TO BE PROTECTED.
  • JUST BECAUSE IT’S ON THE INTERNET DOES NOT MEAN IT’S YOURS TO DO WITH AS YOU WISH. It is still mine.
  • You are not allowed to alter my work without permission. You aren’t allowed to resell my work, for any reason unless we have an agreement in writing and you have PAID me for use of the image.
  • If you want to use my image to promote your business, that requires a COMMERCIAL license. You must ask permission and purchase first! (At least for my images it does.)

If you don’t believe me, have a look at US Copyright Law at the US Copyright Office. www.copyright.gov. Also, LegalZoom has a good section explaining copyright law. Another good resource is http://pegfitzpatrick.com/oh-snap-can-i-legally-use-that-photo/

If you want to find out if your image is being used anywhere else, you can search using Google, simply enter the URL of your image and hit search. After the results are brought up, click on images and then you can click on Search by Image. It will bring up anywhere else your image may be.

To protect your image you can choose to watermark them. Or, you can institute a “No Right Click” script, but that doesn’t work in all browsers. WordPress has several plugins that may be helpful in keeping your images from being lifted.

Bottom line, we as artists – photographers, songwriters, literary writers, graphic designers, painters, and so on – should NOT have to deal with an uninformed public stealing our work.  Know the laws, protect yourselves, and educate people about copyrights.

This is my ‘lecture’ of the day.  Thanks for listening to my rant.

Credit Card Transaction Surcharging

To buy anything in this world you would need moany and in today’s world we have credit cards to make our work simpler. From buying groceries, gas, day trading or any sort of transactions, you will need a credit card. There’s been a great deal of talk in my virtual assisting circles about credit card transaction fee surcharging.  If you’re not familiar, credit card industry laws changed not long ago that will now allow back charging the consumer for the credit card transaction fees that merchants were charged, like in case of dealing with Ebates, as described at https://dyernews.com/ebates-review/. Instead of getting a credit card you might want to look into Citrus Loans, they have lower internet rates.  Only credit cards, NOT debit cards or pre-paid (gift) cards, this includes a debit card entered as a credit card. Right now, Visa, MasterCard, American Express are allowing their merchants to surcharge customers. Here are the caveats. You must register with both Visa and MasterCard to surcharge your customers, you must post it visibly for online and offline sales on your website, invoice, or at your checkout, or if in person you must post it visibly at the door and checkout counters, and you cannot charge more of a fee than what the actual transaction fee is. Allowable fees are typically between 1% – 4%. Fees must be clearly marked on all receipts. disclosureCalifornia, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma and Texas—and Puerto Rico have laws that prohibit merchants from charging consumers with surcharges on credit card transactions. If you’re a Visa merchant and want to register (here) by filling out an online form. There is also a link to the requirements to the merchant in order to surcharge their transaction fees. For MasterCard there is also a form and other requirements to be met before you begin to surcharge. You can begin the process by completing an online form (here). sampreceiptAs for PayPal, they do not allow you to charge a surcharge, but you can add in a handling fee. Their policy is explained in the User Agreement. Merchants are raising fees across the board and offering a discount for cash, check or debit card purchases. But my questions is this: How can you be sure that the fees aren’t being charged to you anyway, then the merchant adding an additional checkout fee on the receipt?  Answer is, you can’t.

Be sure to check every receipt! Although full disclosure is required, this could be overlooked so always check your receipts.
I’ve made it a promise to my clients – my virtual assisting clients and on our store (www.hilltop-arts.com) that no check out fees will ever be charged.  I don’t think its smart to add on fees to your clients. Why not? Accepting credit cards is a convenience for me as well as them. If I’m charging a checkout fee, why take credit cards?  This is a cost of my doing business and is a legitimate tax deduction. But more importantly, I don’t want this fee added to me when I’m checking out, why do I want to give that to my customers?  I feel it would detract from the reputation I’ve worked for over 18 years to establish of being a quality and affordable service provider. If you are using credit card very often you have to take care about your credit history. Use the best credit monitoring service for this purpose.]]>