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I Won The Lottery! Or, Maybe NotI must be the luckiest person alive. In the past three days I found out I won 1.5 Million Euros in the UK lottery, One Million Euros in the Winx International Lottery, 1.5 Million Euros in the 2007 E-Mail Lottery, and 500,000 Pounds in an e-mail lottery held by the Coca Cola Company. Wow! What did I do to receive all these riches? The sad truth is there are actually people who fall for these schemes. For the promise of a quick buck (or million Euros as the case may be) people will turn over their bank account numbers, wire money in the hopes of getting more back, or give other information that could lead to identity theft. These lottery and sweepstakes schemes have gone on long before the internet, with one of the oldest being the phony sweepstakes which required an entrance fee to claim your prize, which amounted to more than the "prize" was worth. Another variation of that scheme was requiring the potential "winner" to call a certain number to find out if he or she was a winner. The phone call cost the potential "winner" a certain amount per minute with an unusually-long wait time on hold. The real winner was the scamming company which made money off the phone calls. Today's thieves have a wide choice of scam-delivery mechanisms, including in person, the mail, phone and internet. However, the same holds true no matter how the scam is delivered: if it sounds too good to be true, it is. How Can You Recognize the Lottery or Sweepstakes Scam? There are certainly legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes offers. Who hasn't bought a state or multi-state lottery ticket from their local lottery retailer? Or, who hasn't seen one of those sweepstakes offered by a recognized company advertising in the coupon section of the Sunday newspaper? You fill out the entry form or reasonable facsimile (usually a 3"x5" card) with your name and address and send it off. Therein is your biggest clue as to whether you're the victim of a scam. In a legitimate lottery or sweepstakes you have bought the ticket or entered your name and address. In a scam lottery or sweepstakes you are notified you've won when you haven't even entered or bought a ticket. In addition, it's illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders, whether national or state lines. Any lottery offer involving the purchase of lottery tickets for other state or country lotteries could end up with you being charged with illegal activities. One ploy used by foreign scammers involving lotteries or sweepstakes is offering you an "advance" on your winnings. The scam artist will send you a check for part of your "winnings." All you have to do is wire them payment for "taxes" or other official purposes. By the time you find out their check has bounced the money you wired is in their hands. And, because it was wired it's harder to trace. Lottery scammers don't always use e-mail or the phone. Sometimes they do their dirty work in person. A typical scam would go something like this: You are approached in person by someone who claims he or she just won the lottery but isn't eligible to claim it. They offer to split the money with you if you claim the prize. Sounds good, right? Except that before you claim the prize from the lottery retailer you are required to withdraw some money from your account and give it to the ticket holder as a good-faith gesture. By the time you find out you're holding a non-winning lottery ticket, the thief is long-gone with your good-faith money. In order to protect yourself from these scams, it's important to remember the following: Lotteries •It's illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders. •If you ever receive a phone call, letter or e-mail announcing you just won a lottery, it's a scam. Sweepstakes •It's illegal for a company to require you to pay to win or claim a sweepstakes prize. •It's illegal for a company to suggest that buying something will improve your chances of winning. •Companies cannot ask for money from you for taxes they say you owe on a sweepstakes winning. •Be cautious when entering sweepstakes from displays you see in malls – often times these are people just wanting your name and address for a future sweepstakes scam. •Only enter sweepstakes from recognizable companies, and never pay a fee to enter. Avoiding being the victim of a scam takes a healthy dose of skepticism. If you are ever unsure about the legitimacy of an offer made to you, you can call the National Fraud Information Center's Hotline at 1-800-876-7060. Other articles by this author »
About Shari Hearn
Shari Hearn is a writer and creator of http://www.safetytips411.com and http://www.expecting-baby.net Related
And here is another random article you might be interested in... 5 Steps to Build Stronger Communication and UnderstandingPart Three of a Four-Part Series Part One: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/02-08-05_Process_Improvement.html?src=ART83 Part Two: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/02-14-05_Core_Processes.html?src=ART84 Next Week: Six Sigma Tools Did you know that you should always create a process map for every procedure or system of procedures that you develop? And did you know that, like a table of contents, this will create stronger communication and better understanding in your organization? How do you do this? Identify Core Processes Last time, we followed the money trail and identified your business' core processes. We discussed where to best start a change in one of those core processes. And we introduced the technique of producing a process map. So this week, let's take a further look at how to create a process map â€" and see how it creates knowledge to benefit you and your organization. Use Process Map as Communication Tool A process map is a flow diagram of the primary processes within an organization. It very specifically shows you both who and what is involved in a process, as well as the requirements for that process to be effective. The primary goal is to use the map as a communication tool. It is to show the sequence of interactions of the elements involved in the process. And so process maps are drawn and used by organizations to achieve several benefits:
In other words, a process map details what happens first, second and third in a process. It shows what happens in each step along the way. And this is drawn in graphical form for easier communication and understanding. This type of map shows the "big picture" of 10-20 core processes within an organization. The map also shows the critical elements within each section and its importance within the whole system. And these sections, or bands, are what relate the processes to each other AND to the outside suppliers and customers. Link Suppliers and Customers Although there are several ways to draw a process map, the basic diagram is typically constructed in four bands. And these four bands link together Customers, Primary Processes, Secondary Processes and Suppliers. You improve effectiveness by showing the specifics of a process. And sometimes we've learned the hard way that the development phase of a project or a process is far more expensive than the planning phase. And so by thinking through and perfecting your processes beforehand, you decrease waste in development time. With a detailed process map, you identify and decrease such waste wherever it occurs in the process. Here are a few key points to keep in mind while process mapping:
Now, let's break down the process map even further. Define Steps of the Process We've just defined the big picture process map as a sequence of interactions of multiple processes. These multiple processes consist of multiple steps. As we've discussed, the benefits are better communication and understanding and a decrease in waste. And this offers a great "big picture" view of your organization's processes. But... When you go to write your organization's procedures, you need more detail. You'll need a method to define the sequence of interactions of each step. And you do this with a procedure map. Here's an example of a typical procedure map: With this refined procedure map, you can see the steps that go into an organization's competency process, including the suppliers and customers for each of those steps. This is also called the SIPOC method. This method identifies the Suppliers of the specific data used as an Input for the Process to create Outputs for the Customer. The map also gives you both effectiveness and performance criteria for this process' owner(s). With such measurement criteria, you set the mark for continuous improvement of the process. And so by creating a procedure map, you will further increase communication and understanding within your organization. Procedure maps become a strong tool in training, either to familiarize new employees to their jobs or to increase efficiency and performance with current employees. Communicate, Understand and Apply Knowledge Both process and procedure maps are crucial in an organization. And so as a rule of thumb, never develop a procedure or system of procedures without first creating a process and procedure map. Acting like a table of contents, a process map helps organize the chapters of a complex book in a way that this knowledge can easily be communicated, understood and applied. Next time, we will discuss Six Sigma problem-solving tools and answer the question: how do you move from seat-of-the-pants decision making to measurable and continuous process improvement? You have permission to publish this article free of charge, as long as the resource box is included with the article. If you do run my article, a courtesy reply to sean@bizmanualz.com would be greatly appreciated. This article is 927 words long including the resource box. Thanks for your interest. Other articles by this author »
About Chris Anderson
Chris Anderson is the managing director of Bizmanualz, Inc. and co-author of policies and procedures manuals, producing the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance. To learn how to increase your business performance, visit: http://www.bizmanualz.com?src=ART85 Related
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