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Time and again we read of fraud occurring and when I look at why it occurred there is a common thread.
TRUST – we trust total stranger to tell us the truth and we trust them to such an extent that we do not verify .
Verification appears to be a lost art , it should be the no 1 item on any businesses agenda.. verify verify verify.
In this news item alone there are three examples of where verification could have prevented the embarrassment
- More than 150 international students gained fraudulent qualifications in less than a year from API Institute of Education, which closed last year. Almost half were “ghost” students, who paid for qualifications but never attended classes.
- Last year Massey University’s Albany campus had to get rid of about 50 students who enrolled in its business degree with fake diplomas from local schools.
- Kingsland Institute has been barred from taking new students after two senior staff were charged with immigration fraud last July.
Significantly the article states “NZQA has advised the Government that it has found dishonest practices, particularly over the sale of qualifications and falsification of results. “
When accepting degrees they have to be verified. I spoke to a Bangladeshi lady recently who advised me that in countries such as hers it is common for the wealthy to have others sit exams for them.
We cannot claim to be the least corrupt county in the world when we are blind to truth. We have to set up systems which make people accountable to the truth.
Verisure will help you set up a verification system and allow you to train your staff so that you can easily verify the existence of degrees yourself.
I am not saying that this is a scam but when an unsolicited offer comes in to your mail box together with a free personalized pen its worthy of a closer look
The letter and envelopes from national pen had me puzzled as to who they are, where they are from, and which Po box they use.
The letter uses PO box 9111 Newmarket telephone 0800440816 which is answered by an answer phone with a distinct Irish accent.
The reply envelope for the order bears Po Box 201236 Auckland airport but the return address on the original envelope has private bag 92901 Onehunga.
The mail authority is spring global mail Po Box 91958 Victoria street West.
Call me old-fashioned but I am used to dealing with companies which have just one address, and are something more than a name. National pen is not a New Zealand based company and there is no indication of where it is a company or even if it is a company.
This is a great way to trade as you will never be able to find accountability if something is wrong with the product or if it starts to glow in the dark and it’s not meant to.
Richard Grant who supposedly signed the letter as Vice president sales has a sufficiently generic name which means that he , if he exists cannot be identified.
As for the web site www.pensnewzealand.com is registered to a San Diego address website registered in Melbourne with a Swedish admin address.
If I do want pens I think I would rather deal with some one local then I would know who I am dealing with and if the pens turn out to have no more than 5 drops of ink in them then I have some where to address the fact under the fair trading act.
I f you would like to know how you can find out who or what your next offer is from and if it is safe place contact us at Verisure and find out when we run our next finding the facts workshop .
Every so often there is another story in the paper of how some one has been ripped off. Today they feature Kurtis Haiu in a story entitled Accused rugby player trapped in property nightmare.
Had Kurtis Haiu not made the common mistake of trusting some one who promised greater riches and had done his home work he would have seen warning signs before things went bad.
Very few people check out these property dealers . It’s all in the sales pitch – your future depends on who you choose to believe.
New Zealanders have to learn to question and do due diligence it is far cheaper than the fall out from a bad decision. It is far cheaper than trying to resolve things later on.
It would have cost him Less than $500 to have had some background information that would have ensured that he made a sounder decision.
It is still not too late Verisure can still provide him and his fellow investors with investigation assistance which could turn the tables around but like a ball of wool it always takes longer to untangle the mess.
Damien Grant’s article in the herald on Sunday entitled Trusts industry a costly sham looks at the industry of trusts .
In my work I frequently see the abuse of trust and confusion which arises out of misinformation about trusts.
Very few people appear to grasp the true nature of trusts and that the name given to a trusts is merely a trading name for the group of people who together are the trustees .This name however is not the legal name for the trust .
Only if a trust is incorporated under legislation does it have a name of its own and is capable of sing or being sued under that name.
Unincorporated trusts are sued in the names of the trustees e.g. john Smith, Trevor Black and Mary Green as trustees in whateverthename trust.
Trusts are commonly used in a manner akin to identity fraud so always be sure that you know who you are dealing with and make certain that you get the name of the trustees and have proof that they have obligations to the deed.
Undoubtedly the dirtiest words that any one can use in NZ are the F word and he C word.
In my line of business I use them often and I have the distinction of having been sued for using the words.
I fought back against corruption and I was punished for it as it appears that In New Zealand speaking up and exposing corruption is not a cool thing to do.
It appears that in NZ our corruption free status is but an illusion. a statistic which we have to preserve no matter what.
I started my anticorruption blog with this quote it appears appropriate that I do this again
Cold hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is gray and yellow, white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion – moody blues
That first post back in 2009 was Facing reality
we have moved a bit since there but we still have a long way to go.