Telephone Scam Alert from 347-559-0378 urging you to call 202-754-8079

Telephone Scam Alert from 347-559-0378 urging you to call 202-754-8079

Chicagoland residents receiving scam phone calls

You might receive a scam phone call falsely claiming you owe money to the IRS or under investigation.

It's a scam.

No one calls your phone to allege a criminal proceeding.

The number originates from 347-559-0378

It urges you to return the call to 202-754-8079

And here's the message:

Voicemail from (347) 559-0378

"Matter goes to the federal court house or before you get arrested by the County Sheriff's officers kindly call us back on our number which is 2027548079 repeat 2027548079. Don't disregard this message and do return the call before the situation does worst on you to know more about this please press one now. To ignore this message please press nine. Thank you and have a wonderful day."

Here's the info:

Off late we have been receiving reports from Indian Americans and NRIs about a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, throughout the country. Victims are told they owe taxes and if they don't pay immediately, they would be arrested. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest/ deportation. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting. The call normally comes from a New York/Bronx caller ID number 347 559 0378 but the voice message asks you to call 202 754 8079. The caller talks about tax fraud/IRS and asks to press number 1 to avoid getting arrested. If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here what you should do: If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at listed numbers in their website www.irs.gov. All such phone calls should be immediately reported to the police and people are suggested not to reveal any of their personal information to these callers.

If you receive a call like this, call your State Attorney General to report the scam, and also contact the IRS to inform them of the scam.

We have reported them, but it never hurts to file more complaints to help shut these scam artists and thieves down.

-- EDITOR

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Samsung 7.1CH Blu-ray Home Theater System is a very bad choice for consumers

Samsung 7.1CH Blu-ray Home Theater System is a very bad choice for consumers

I purchased the Samsung 7.1CH Blu-ray Home Theater System about 8 months ago for just over $800. I remember the sales clerk at the Tiger Direct store urging me to purchase a two year warranty for about $129. It made me think, why do companies sell their products but refuse to stand by them? It's almost as if the company is taking out an insurance policy against the reliability of the product they are selling. Tiger Direct and Samsung were in it together to make money.

I told him no. I said that if my brand new Samsung Home Theater System didn't work, I'd never buy another Samsung again and I would chalk off the expense to experience. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Of course, the system crashed this week after I was forced to "install" a new software upgrade to the system's memory. The system sound started to make noises and the movie I had rented from Red Box was freezing in the Samsung System. But, even before it started to fail there were problems.

First, the system disk drive door doesn't automatically open. It only opens after you turn the system on and off, which is a real hassle. The door won't open when you touch the open door button on top of the DVD player, as it is supposed to do. For some reason, turning it on and off is the only way to make the door open.

Secondly, the sound started to have problems. I correctly installed all of the speakers and it still made crackling sounds occasionally. Now, occasionally may not sound bad to some people but when you are engaged in a great movie, and I always am, a crackling sound in the movie can disrupt the experience totally.

Finally, the DVD's started to fail. Not immediately at the start of films, but deep into the film, once you have been hooked. Is there anything worse than watching a 2 hour movie and having something go wrong at 95 minutes into it? No.

But, apparently that is the Samsung promise of lack of quality. They promise to sell you a piece of garbage that not only will disappoint you, but will not even do what it promises to do. But, if you want to buy an insurance policy on it, you can get a new one.

Sorry Samsung, I'd rather throw your trashy unreliable system in the trash and go out and buy something else. Another brand. I'll take my chances with someone who cares enough about their products they don't try to force you to buy a "warranty" insurance policy "just in case" something goes wrong.

Maybe you should hire some technicians who know what they are doing, Samsung, and spare the rest of America your unreliable garbage.

- RAY HANANIA

OS X Maverick operating system for MAC has many bugs and flaws

OS X Maverick operating system for MAC has many bugs and flaws

By RAY HANANIA

Apple released their software operating system for their MAC computers to compete with the recent upgrade of Windows to 8.1. But unlike Windows operating systems, Apple doesn’t give you much choice and they force you to download it and install it. If you don’t, they harass you with upgrade notices and bulletins about how your system won’t work right.

So, like an idiot, I downloaded and then installed it. “Maverick?” Who comes up with these names? Techies who don’t get enough fresh air or have issues with their mommy obviously. And disciples of 1984 Practitioner the late Steve Jobs, who continue to implement his oppressive style of “I know better than the rest of you idiots. Just give me your money and shut the F up!” He may not have said it that way precisely, but that is exactly how Steve Jobs thought.

I am almost ashamed to acknowledge that Steve Jobs is American Arab like me — adopted from natural birth parents who included a Syrian father.

The OS X Maverick has jammed my Mac Book Pro so badly I am now forced to consider taking a trip to the Apple Store to get them to fix the mess it has created. Many of my software programs no longer load automatically and the ones that do load take forever. The software programs I purchased, not all made by Apple but were made for the Apple and MAC systems worked great under the old operating system. What was it called the “Lion.” Seriously, these names suggest some Freudian deficiency in the Penis Department.

Dream Weaver for MAC, DOA. Photoshop Elements 11, DOA. Microsoft Word, which is far better of a writing system than anything MAC or Apple ever produced, DOA. Tweet Deck, DOA. All the programs I rely on and more, all dying or dead.

So I have to go back to the drawing board and revert the installation and go back in time, and risk losing everything I have created over the past three days, or forge ahead and wait for each of the software programs to provide bug fixes and updates, which some have promised will be coming. Right! I write a LOT. I manage so many web sites and media and public relations the last thing I need is a system that is designed to drag you down Steve Job’s molasses filled rabbit hole.

When has a computer techie EVER told the truth? (When he told his mommy that his computer job is the easiest skate job he has ever had and he doesn’t have to really work hard to make money because the lemmings in the public will simply take whatever schlock they throw at them.

Beware. OS X Maverick is a flawed operating system. It has serious issues. Not everyone is as wealthy, or sinister, as Steve Jobs so the choice of repurchasing software to replace the software that Apple may be trying to intentionally undermine — it’s a Steve Jobs control issue of hereditary proportions. Buying new software is not an option.

Oh, that’s right, one software program updated itself to work with OS X Maverick. Final Cut Pro. That only took an hour of my time.

Seriously, before you just jump over the cliff to the Pied Piper’s tune, and drop into the abyss with the rest of Apple Lemmings, stop and think. Is everything new that they throw at us really worth it? Or, is it designed to simply force us to just spend more money, which has always been Steve Job’s mantra, the middle finger version of the Kirtan Kriya.

Okay. I’m just showing off, sorry. That’s what happens when I get mad, to distract from the frustration that is the true value of Apple and my beautiful looking but hassle-filled designed Mac Book Pro.

Oh, and lest I forget. The new system has screwed up my email (i’m getting duplicates of everything and the tech “gurus” said I have to make some system adjustments. And, it has stolen all my iBooks from iTunes and put them on my MAC. What does that all mean? I don’t know but it bothers me when they just do things WITHOUT ASKING — the Steve Jobs legacy. Puke!

(Ray Hanania is an award winning columnist. His columns are published by Creators Syndicate and appear every Sunday in the Saudi Gazette Newspaper. www.RayHanania.com.)

Ancestry.com just doesn't work properly

Ancestry.com is an expensive waste of time. The problem it has it is commits you to a monthly fee of about $30 and then allows you to look up information through its databases on your relatives. Supposedly, you are able to collect the information and then use it for your family. But Ancestry.com makes it difficult to use the information that you find. Worse, it offers expensive options to "print" the information and makes it difficult to download the data once you find it to use on your own. The system doesn't allow you to download the entire tree, for example. You can pay to print tree tree one family at a time. That is hugely expensive. You can manually collect each document on your own and save it to a harddrive, but that defeats the purpose of having to pay every month to access and collect information. Ancestry.com intentionally makes it difficult to use because they want you to keep paying every month like alimony. They will encourage you to purchase a software program called Family Tree Maker. The Windows version works OK. Not great. Just OK. The MAC version is worthless and has severe problems with programming bugs. The theory is you can create an Ancestry.com file on your family online and then "easily" download it to your computer and link and sync it to the Family Tree Maker. Don't hold your breath. The MAC version continues to have sync problems. The tech writers who designed the program also didn't think you should know whether or not the program actually syncs. That's because I will bet the people who write these programs don't really use them. They only take your money and deposit it in their bank accounts. That's the extent of their involvement. Your are royally screwed if you purchase the Family Tree Maker program from a Third Party. If it doesn't work, Ancestry.com, which affiliates with the software, will deny any connection and shrug their shoulders when you tell them it doesn't work. What I have to do is find a weekend when I can sit down at my computer and download everything into a new file, and save all the data I collected and the documents, including the ones I uploaded on my own. Most of the data that Ancestry.com offers is available for free. But you have to do the online searching on your own. But the concept of paying a monthly alimony for life is outrageous. Ancestry.com hopes that you won't care. Clearly, they don't. -- RAY HANANIA

Nissan sucks soooooo bad! Their Navigation Update is a real hassle

Nissan sucks soooooo bad! Their Navigation Update is a real hassle I purchased a Nissan Maxima in 2010. It's a beautiful car. I added the sport package, the navigation and the iPod connections. When I purchased the car, they demanded a cash deposit and imposed payments. I paid my money and made the payments each and every month without fail. So last month when Nissan informed me that my Navigation System was basically out-of-date after only 3 years and I had to pay an additional $179 to get the update, I figured, "Wow! What a fucking rip-off." I bought a navigation system and now I have to purchase an update! For $179? Ok. You can't beat the bureaucracy, including at Nissan. I like the car. So I figured, I'll update the stupid Navigation System that is one of the slowest I have worked with. Now, for $179 more, I can have an updated slow-ass Nissan Navigation system. So tonight, the navigation package arrived. It consisted of five DVD disks and an instruction booklet in English, Spanish and French. I'm AMERICAN! I don't need Spanish and I don't need French!!!!! There are 28 pages of instructions in each section. Are you kidding me? To update my Navigation system that I have to pay $179 for? So my son and I got into the car and started reading the instructions. Turn on the car and leave the car running in my driveway. It takes at least 90 minutes to update the system and the car has to be running. We backed the car out of the garage, although I did give it some thought. But who would blame Nissan for suicide? We inserted Disc 0. It told me to turn off Bluetooth. Then turn the car off, wait 10 seconds. And Turn the car back on. Then select Update Navigation System. It took 30 minutes for Disc 0 to load and then "save." Fine. I spent quality time talking to my son as the stupid system dragged its snail-paced ass to update. Now, turn on the Bluetooth and then turn off the car for at least 10 seconds. Then, turn the car back on and insert Disc 1 of 4 remaining. We did. And that's when the hitch came. It asked me for my "License." The one that Nissan was supposed to give me but NEVER GAVE ME. I looked at the receipt they sent me. No License. I looked at the shipping verification. No license. I looked through the plastic box of Discs. Nothing. I looked at each disc. Nothing. I looked through the manual included with the box. Nothing. Nissan or Nothing?  Maybe Nissan is unAmerican for "Nothing"? I called Nissan. They work banker's hours and were not available. I have to call in the morning, but that means I can't install Nissan's stupid Navigation System until I get home at night because my commute to work is only 45 minutes. And I can't leave the car running on the street so some mope can open the door and steal it. I have to sit in the car or be near it. So now I'm seething and wondering why I wasted my hard earned money to buy a stupid Nissan. Maybe I should have bought that BMW I wanted. Who knows, maybe they might be more reliable than Nissan. Don't waste your time updating your Navigation system. Go out and trade your Nissan in and buy a new car. And ask them upfront, how long does my Navigation system last? And why, in today's world of Internet and wireless, can't I just push a button and update the Navigation system without all of this cave-man era hassle? This is the 21st Century, right? Apparently, not at Nissan where they can't seem to get anything right. License? Give me a break! I paid $179. It shouldn't be my hassle to waste time waiting to get my license that someone at Nissan forgot to send me.
-- Ray Hanania

More problems with Q-See security cameras

As many of you know from my past writings, I truly dislike Q-See Cameras security system. This is one of the most complicated security systems to install, unless, of course, you are Geek Tekkie with no life and all you do is read computer code for a living. Here's what I have written in the past: Q-See Cameras, worst system out there Q-See Cameras don't work The Q-See camera system comes with a poorly written instruction booklet that basically says call their tech people to install. I did call, and they quoted me some outrageous price that was more than $2,500. Can you imagine that? To install an $800 system? So I reached out to a local computer professional and had them install the system. When I talk about installing, I am NOT talking about just putting the cameras around the house and connecting them to the DVR. I am talking about the reason you purchase security systems, to access them remotely. Yes, it was easy to install the camera so they work and display their views on a TV screen inside the house. With 8 cameras, the wires can get a little tricky, bringing them into the house to connect to the DVR. The real problem, though, is following the spaghetti like instructions in the small, fine print-like instruction booklets that come with the system. They are impossible to follow. I've tried. (And I used to program and sell software programs to IBM back int he 1980s when computers first came out. Today, software programs are written by people with no social skills. They don't know how to talk to normal people and write to themselves.) Once again, I am having problems. I paid someone to set up the port forwarding and set up the many, many criteria and settings required to get the system to be accessed from outside of the home through my home network. It took about 3 hours. I figured, I had wasted so much money already, what's another $300? It's far less than the $1,500 Q-See's technicians wanted. (They were so rude when I called anyway. They didn't seem to care about everyday people like me. Probably only kissing the ass of big businesses where they can make a fortune. Many big businesses don't mind wasting money on schlock.) Now, Comcast upgraded my system replacing the Router and the Modem with one Tower which does both. That changed the IP address, and now the system is down. Useless, again. I've spoken with people who have other systems. They showed me their instructions. So simple to install and connect an iPhone, iPad or Android App to access the video images live. Such a great idea, when it works. But the Q-See Security Camera system doesn't work that easily. The instructions are so complicated, I doubt even a computer tech professional can easily figure them out. Why does it have to be so complicated? Because the people who designed Q-See cameras don't care about average people. And when average people complain, they viciously attack and slam you for speaking out. Tough shit. I am going to tell everyone I know that the worst thing I did was to purchase your system and share my frustrations with everyone. The public deserves to know. Maybe, instead of bashing me and others who complain, you might spend your free time at Q-See redesigning the system, making the instructions EASIER TO FOLLOW, and creating a process that easily connects it to an App without having to have a degree in Computer Science or Technology. I'll call and pay a local computer tekkie and pay him to update the system to allow me to access the poor images from a Cell Phone/iPad app. -- Ray Hanania

Audio & Video recording Skype Calls, what works and what doesn't

I use Skype to broadcast my live Radio Show in Detroit each week from Chicago and an important function is to record the audio files so that I can upload them for my podcast at Podbean, which is one of the best podcasting services I use so far. I chose Podbean after dropping Libsyn.com, which was far too expensive and had issues. Podbean seems to be most efficient and easy to use.
Up until last week, I was using PowerGramo for Skype to record my calls. Although it is a decent recording system, PowerGramo had some issues. It constantly forced you to upgrade. They were always making changes to it. I don;t mind upgrading but it was always a hassle once I upgraded to have Skype and PowerGramo sync. That didn't always happen automatically. I had to manually instruct Skype to sync it.
But in the most recent upgrade, PowerGramo did something and when I recorded my last two radio shows, although PowerGramo reported everything was recording properly, it suddenly only started recording one channel, not both. In other words, it recorded me when I talked but not the guest on the Skype line or any of the audio coming in to Skype. It just heard me and recorded me -- even though I off course could hear the audio coming in from Detroit.
I was using a conference call feature to call the radio station and a guest or co-host. Skype worked great, PowerGramo did not. After many years of using PowerGramo I deleted it from my system. I can only give a software program one shot to work. Second chances do not come easy.
My first attempt at a replacement was to download and purchase for $36 Pamela Recording Professional. The biggest problem with Pamela is they offer no instructions on how it works. That's the big problem with programmers and computer geeks. They think that just because they get it, everyone else should. It's not intuitive. It has a lot of features with no explanation, one of the worst forms of software I could possibly imagine.
But, Pamela works. 
While looking for some operating instructions and finding a lot of garbage Youtube videos by people  who also don't know how to communicate very effectively, I stumbled on something called SuperTinTin. SuperTinTin claims that it is far better than Pamela. I mean they brag so much so I figured, ok, I will try it. I downloaded and purchased a registered system for $29.
Boy does SuperTinTin suck. It is one of the most bug-infested software programs I have ever tried. The claim that it is better than Pamela comes from SuperTinTin itself in a very misleading blog that pops up when you look for comparisons between SuperTinTin and Pamela. SuperTinTin trashes Pamela a lot.
But when I tried SuperTinTin, I had endless problems.
First, SuperTinTin recorded a background clicking noise. That was something that the SuperTinTin blog claimed only happened with Pamela.
SuperTinTin has very few options to control your recordings. The recordings are not clean. OK. I lost $29. But that's ok because this blog brings in a lot of revenue. That's why it is popular. I purchase everything so that you don't have to when the software sucks. And SuperTinTin is terrible.
I recommend not buying SuperTinTin at all.
The truth is that Pamela is just OK but the sound quality is good and it records properly on first installation. But it really needs someone who speaks English and knows how to talk to human beings to develop some basic instruction manuals and user manuals so that normal people -- not idiot geeks -- can use the many features that it offers.
Pamela so far is my best recording option for podcasting and broadcasting with my video camera, too. But that's only because I haven't yet found the perfect recording software.
-- Ray Hanania www.TheMediaOasis.com