Berbagai cara dilakukan oleh hacker untuk berusaha menguasai dan mengurasi isi rekening e-gold Anda. Berikut ini adalah berbagai cara untuk melindungi e-gold Anda:
1. Gunakan komputer pribadi, jangan meminjamkan komputer kepada orang lain, tanpa pengawasan Anda.
2. Gunakanlah min 15 kombinasi huruf (besar dan kecil), angka dan tanda baca untuk passphrase e-gold Anda. Jangan gunakan passphrase yg mudah ditebak spt nama, tgl ulang tahun, dsb.
3. Biasakan menulis passphrase dengan SRK.
4. Jangan simpan passphrase di harddisk, anda bisa menulis di kertas misalnya.
5. Ganti passphrase 1 minggu sekali.
6. Selalu login dari bookmark/favourite browser Anda. Pastikan: https://www.e-gold.com/acct/login.html
7. Jangan pernah Anda login dari link yang diberikan oleh e-mail, walaupun e-mail tersebut seolah-olah datangnya dari e-gold. E-gold.com tidak pernah mengirimkan e-mail berisi link kepada Anda.
8. Hindarilah untuk login e-gold dari tempat public, misalnya warnet, dsb. Pastikan Anda menggunakan SRK dan mengganti passphrase Anda, jika Anda harus akses rekening e- gold Anda dari tempat umum.
9. Sentinel (Accent PIN) di setting ke high (detect IP change) dan enable (browser change)
10. Bila anda melakukan spend e-gold dari web lain (misal web HYIP), pastikan url dimulai dengan https dan simbol gembok terkunci (secure).
11. Pastikan Anda menggunakan operating system, seperti Win-XP, yg ASLI (Original).
12. Install anti spyware dan anti virus di komputer (no crack software)
13. Jika memungkinkan aktifkan Firewall
14. Autoupdate antispyware, antivirus, dan windows anda.
15. Scan spyware dan virus minimal seminggu sekali (full scan)
16. Selalu log out setelah mengakses account anda.
17. Jangan mengunjungi situs yg aneh2 spt porno, crack, mp3, dsb.
18. jika Anda curiga komputer anda terkena virus, jangan segan-segan untuk melakukan full format!
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Monday, 20 August 2007
Protecting your gold,
Basic security measures
One important issue much on our minds these days is security of our assets. Particularly online.
With the advent of the internet came scammers, fraudsters and other morally deficient persons. It
is important therefore that you take steps to protect your hard earned gold!
Protecting your accounts can be summed up in the following basic measures.
1. Ensure you have at least one anti-virus software on your machine. There is a link at the
end of this book you can use to get free anti-virus software.
2. Ensure you have at least one firewall on your machine. There is a link at the end of this
book you can use to get a free firewall for the computer.
3. Do not give out your passphase’s to anyone. Including your family unless you trust
them totally.
4. Do not access your accounts from any other computer than the one to normally use. It
is absolute insanity to go to an internet shop and use the machines there. They are
invariably riddled with software that can capture your Passphase and other information
about you. Software such as viruses, Trojan, Key loggers and the like (definitions of
these are given under definitions after this section) are designed to capture your
account details..
5. Some people access their accounts from work and from university machines. Again
this is foolhardy when you consider that systems people and those that work for them
which may be contractors from other companies also can access your machine account
at Uni and work and possible capture the information you enter.
6. Never type in your Passphase or passwords. Use either the system given on the web
site, such as SRK with e-gold for example, or copy and paste from somewhere else.
Preferably NOT from your machine.
7. Do not keep your passwords or passphase’s on the same machine you log in from.
Some people keep their passwords on a floppy disc and copy and paste from that.
Using the MS password container is not particularly safe either. Best option is to
remember it. If you can’t, keep it in a safe place and separate from your login in
process. Much as you would with your pin number and credit or debit card.
8. Never Never Never access your account from an email. Even if it apparently comes
from the company which holds your account. In practice e-gold, GoldMoney and the
others will NOT send you an email in which they ask you to go to your account from a
link in that email. The same, incidentally, applies to banks and other services in which
you may have an account containing stored value. IF you get an email and you are
unsure and wish to check. Close the email down and access your account from the
usual link that you use in the browser. Usually in your Bookmarks or Favorites or the
browser equivalent.
9. When you have finished with your account always log off in the correct manner. Do
not just shut down the browser.
10. Lastly, apply common sense to the handling of your accounts. How do you treat the
security of your credit cards, cash you carry, your bank account? Your gold account
should be at least, if not more, secure. Your security depends utterly on you. If you
don’t take the above precautions then you cannot winge to someone else about how
“All my gold has been stolen from my account”. Fully apply the above and you are
more likely to keep your golden nest egg!
One important issue much on our minds these days is security of our assets. Particularly online.
With the advent of the internet came scammers, fraudsters and other morally deficient persons. It
is important therefore that you take steps to protect your hard earned gold!
Protecting your accounts can be summed up in the following basic measures.
1. Ensure you have at least one anti-virus software on your machine. There is a link at the
end of this book you can use to get free anti-virus software.
2. Ensure you have at least one firewall on your machine. There is a link at the end of this
book you can use to get a free firewall for the computer.
3. Do not give out your passphase’s to anyone. Including your family unless you trust
them totally.
4. Do not access your accounts from any other computer than the one to normally use. It
is absolute insanity to go to an internet shop and use the machines there. They are
invariably riddled with software that can capture your Passphase and other information
about you. Software such as viruses, Trojan, Key loggers and the like (definitions of
these are given under definitions after this section) are designed to capture your
account details..
5. Some people access their accounts from work and from university machines. Again
this is foolhardy when you consider that systems people and those that work for them
which may be contractors from other companies also can access your machine account
at Uni and work and possible capture the information you enter.
6. Never type in your Passphase or passwords. Use either the system given on the web
site, such as SRK with e-gold for example, or copy and paste from somewhere else.
Preferably NOT from your machine.
7. Do not keep your passwords or passphase’s on the same machine you log in from.
Some people keep their passwords on a floppy disc and copy and paste from that.
Using the MS password container is not particularly safe either. Best option is to
remember it. If you can’t, keep it in a safe place and separate from your login in
process. Much as you would with your pin number and credit or debit card.
8. Never Never Never access your account from an email. Even if it apparently comes
from the company which holds your account. In practice e-gold, GoldMoney and the
others will NOT send you an email in which they ask you to go to your account from a
link in that email. The same, incidentally, applies to banks and other services in which
you may have an account containing stored value. IF you get an email and you are
unsure and wish to check. Close the email down and access your account from the
usual link that you use in the browser. Usually in your Bookmarks or Favorites or the
browser equivalent.
9. When you have finished with your account always log off in the correct manner. Do
not just shut down the browser.
10. Lastly, apply common sense to the handling of your accounts. How do you treat the
security of your credit cards, cash you carry, your bank account? Your gold account
should be at least, if not more, secure. Your security depends utterly on you. If you
don’t take the above precautions then you cannot winge to someone else about how
“All my gold has been stolen from my account”. Fully apply the above and you are
more likely to keep your golden nest egg!
Friday, 10 August 2007
Exchange Providers
In the subsequent pages of this section is detailed information about various Exchange Providers.
The exchange providers perform a valuable service in that they enable one to fund and cash out
one’s gold. Although they all perform the same function, each one is different and deals, not only
with gold currency but, in many cases, with other digital currencies as well. They each have
various methods of payment they accept, are based in different currencies and have varying
charges for their service.
Many of them belong to the Global Digital Currency Association (DGCA)
and you will recognize that by the DGCA logo they display on their sites. The Global Digital
Currency Association (GDCA) is a trade association of online currency operators, exchangers,
merchants and users. It is their stated goal to further the interests of the industry as a whole and
help with fighting fraud and other illegal activities, arbitrate disputes and act as escrow agent
when and where required. They believe in self-regulation and have developed a reputation ranking
system and arbitration procedures to help users and operators to succeed in the industry. Logos of
the DGCA look will look something like this:
There are many colors designating a ranking with the GDCA. I recommend you look
them up.
In addition when you see the logo on any site, always check back to the DGCA to ensure
that site is registered. There are sites which ‘lift’ logos and place them on their site to gain
credence with the consumer.
Details about some of the more established exchange providers are listed here. These exchange
providers have been around almost as long as the earliest gold issuer (e-gold) and have proven
their reliability and service levels through time. You can check the currency issuers sites and the
GDCA for more if you wish but the following are recommended.
They are:
GoldNow
Spacegold
Able Gold
London Gold Exchange
Anygoldnow
Icegold
Sydney Gold Sales
GitGold
e-forex
Gold-Cash.biz
TheGoldShop
Goldcurrencies
The exchange providers perform a valuable service in that they enable one to fund and cash out
one’s gold. Although they all perform the same function, each one is different and deals, not only
with gold currency but, in many cases, with other digital currencies as well. They each have
various methods of payment they accept, are based in different currencies and have varying
charges for their service.
Many of them belong to the Global Digital Currency Association (DGCA)
and you will recognize that by the DGCA logo they display on their sites. The Global Digital
Currency Association (GDCA) is a trade association of online currency operators, exchangers,
merchants and users. It is their stated goal to further the interests of the industry as a whole and
help with fighting fraud and other illegal activities, arbitrate disputes and act as escrow agent
when and where required. They believe in self-regulation and have developed a reputation ranking
system and arbitration procedures to help users and operators to succeed in the industry. Logos of
the DGCA look will look something like this:
There are many colors designating a ranking with the GDCA. I recommend you look
them up.
In addition when you see the logo on any site, always check back to the DGCA to ensure
that site is registered. There are sites which ‘lift’ logos and place them on their site to gain
credence with the consumer.
Details about some of the more established exchange providers are listed here. These exchange
providers have been around almost as long as the earliest gold issuer (e-gold) and have proven
their reliability and service levels through time. You can check the currency issuers sites and the
GDCA for more if you wish but the following are recommended.
They are:
GoldNow
Spacegold
Able Gold
London Gold Exchange
Anygoldnow
Icegold
Sydney Gold Sales
GitGold
e-forex
Gold-Cash.biz
TheGoldShop
Goldcurrencies
1MDC
1MDC is somewhat different in that it is not actually a gold currency issuer but rather a ‘holding‘
company. I have included this as it is:
A secure method of holding and retaining one’s gold
A very simple system to use.
No Storage Fees
Very private
In fact, 1MDC is simply e-gold moved to a collective e-gold account and with a simple doubleentry
bookkeeping system on top: this has nothing to do with banking or risk, 1mdc does not
"use" the grams for anything or "invest" in anything. All the grams are there all the time. Exactly
as e-gold stores gold bars, 1mdc stores e-gold. Additionally, to promote 1mdc, 1mdc even pays
the storage fees on the overall quantity of 1mdcGrams, so you don't have to! Very simple.
You can even spend from one 1MDC account to another, avoiding the transfer fees normally
associated with e-gold transfers. The gold of course stays in the 1MDC account and it is just a
simple transfer of ownership of that gold from one 1MDC account to another 1MDC account. A
sort of e-gold within e-gold you might say. But without the charges.
So lets look at how we open a 1MDC account. Firstly you will need an e-gold account of course.
If you have not done so already you will need to open an e-gold account and fund it through an
exchange provider.
Here is the 1MDC screen you will see when you go to https://www.1mdc.com/
There is more information about 1MDC if you scroll down but the three main links are at the top
left main screen. Log in and Create Account. Here we will select Create Account and get the
following screen.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
32
As you can see I have entered some details. An e-gold account, some initials, a password which
one enters twice to check for any errors. I chose a PIN number. One does not type this in but
selects it from the 4 drop down boxes. (Remember this PIN, you will use it along with your
password and initials to log in to your account)
Then select Create Account. The following screen will come up.
This confirms your account has been created. With 1MDC you do not get an email so be sure you
have retained your login details.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
33
To log in you go to the Login Link at the top left. And your log in screen will look like this:
Here you enter your e-gold account, initials, password and select your PIN number from the pad
as shown. The moment you select the last PIN number you account page will come up thus:
This is the main screen from which you work. The left side of the screen shows the current status
of your 1MDC account. The right side contains the links you use to perform the usual actions.
You can ‘spend’ 1mdc to another 1MDC account holder, get your history, move, or bail, e-gold to
your 1mdc account or move, un-bail, e-gold from your 1mdc account to your e-gold account.
To bail in or out gold from 1mdc you select the appropriate link and you will be taken to the
relevant page where you simply fill in the amount in grams of gold you wish to bail in or out of
your 1mcd account.
1mdc is easy to operate and a good place to store your gold.
company. I have included this as it is:
A secure method of holding and retaining one’s gold
A very simple system to use.
No Storage Fees
Very private
In fact, 1MDC is simply e-gold moved to a collective e-gold account and with a simple doubleentry
bookkeeping system on top: this has nothing to do with banking or risk, 1mdc does not
"use" the grams for anything or "invest" in anything. All the grams are there all the time. Exactly
as e-gold stores gold bars, 1mdc stores e-gold. Additionally, to promote 1mdc, 1mdc even pays
the storage fees on the overall quantity of 1mdcGrams, so you don't have to! Very simple.
You can even spend from one 1MDC account to another, avoiding the transfer fees normally
associated with e-gold transfers. The gold of course stays in the 1MDC account and it is just a
simple transfer of ownership of that gold from one 1MDC account to another 1MDC account. A
sort of e-gold within e-gold you might say. But without the charges.
So lets look at how we open a 1MDC account. Firstly you will need an e-gold account of course.
If you have not done so already you will need to open an e-gold account and fund it through an
exchange provider.
Here is the 1MDC screen you will see when you go to https://www.1mdc.com/
There is more information about 1MDC if you scroll down but the three main links are at the top
left main screen. Log in and Create Account. Here we will select Create Account and get the
following screen.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
32
As you can see I have entered some details. An e-gold account, some initials, a password which
one enters twice to check for any errors. I chose a PIN number. One does not type this in but
selects it from the 4 drop down boxes. (Remember this PIN, you will use it along with your
password and initials to log in to your account)
Then select Create Account. The following screen will come up.
This confirms your account has been created. With 1MDC you do not get an email so be sure you
have retained your login details.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
33
To log in you go to the Login Link at the top left. And your log in screen will look like this:
Here you enter your e-gold account, initials, password and select your PIN number from the pad
as shown. The moment you select the last PIN number you account page will come up thus:
This is the main screen from which you work. The left side of the screen shows the current status
of your 1MDC account. The right side contains the links you use to perform the usual actions.
You can ‘spend’ 1mdc to another 1MDC account holder, get your history, move, or bail, e-gold to
your 1mdc account or move, un-bail, e-gold from your 1mdc account to your e-gold account.
To bail in or out gold from 1mdc you select the appropriate link and you will be taken to the
relevant page where you simply fill in the amount in grams of gold you wish to bail in or out of
your 1mcd account.
1mdc is easy to operate and a good place to store your gold.
Saturday, 28 July 2007
Using Gold Money
As with e-gold you have a menu of items which, in this case are presented down the left side.
Using GoldMoney is so simple we don’t need to go through the screens. By going to
http://goldmoney.com/en/how-it-works.php you can easily see how to operate the account. These
are easy instructions to follow with a step by step guide on buying, selling, getting your holding
statement and much more.
The same principles apply as with e-gold. You select from the menu the activity you wish to
perform and then when the screen comes up you follow the directions exactly.
Logging out of Gold Money is as simple as clicking the Blue Logout button top right of the
screen.
Now to be paid in gold money by another you simply give then your GoldMoney account number
which will have been sent to you by email. Of course you do not give them your Passphase.
It is as simple as that.
Let’s now look at Pecunix.
top
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
25
Pecunix
Pecunix is somewhat different but follows the same basic rules. Select the button to open an
account and fill out your details in the application form. And you will have a Pecunix Account.
The logging in is different again with Pecunix and also very security conscious. First let’s look at
opening a Pecunix Account.
Here is a screen shot of the Pecunix home page at http://pecunix.com/
You can clearly see at the bottom left where to Open a Pecunix account. click that button.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
26
From here you can ‘take a tutorial’, a recommended move. And you can also click the Next Step
button to start the steps to open your Pecunix account.
The following is the User Agreement which you will have to accept in order to continue.
Having accepted that you then go onto the 2nd step of your application. Here you fill out your
password and an email address as I have done below.
One more step to go!
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
27
Here you complete filling in your details and then you select the number from the row at the
bottom that corresponds to the number in the blue square to the left and you will be almost there!
The last screen to fill in and you then select with your mouse the number in the row at the bottom
of your screen to correspond with the blue number in the square to your left of that row.
And your account is created!
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
28
Now, as with e-gold and GoldMoney, you check your email for your account details which will
look something like this:
Congratulations, you have successfully created your new Pecunix account.
_THIS E-MAIL CONTAINS SENSITIVE INFORMATION, PLEASE KEEP IT SAFE_
Your e-mail address goldcentury@telstra.com is your "account number". Give
this e-mail address to people who wish to pay you with Pecunix.
Here is the PIN number you use to access your Pecunix account. You
should keep this PIN number a secret.
Entry PIN: XXXX
Your PIN and your password can be changed at any time by logging in
to your Pecunix account and clicking on the "Account Details" menu.
There is no need to reply to this message. Simply use the PIN and your
password to log in to the Pecunix website to view your account. If you
had received a payment it will be added to your account balance when you
log in for the first time.
_IMPORTANT SECURITY INFORMATION FOLLOWS, PLEASE READ_
Your password and PIN are valuable secret account access codes and you
should never share them with anyone else. Pecunix will never ask for
your password or PIN. You are responsible to keep them secret and safe.
We recommend that you get a good password safe for your computer
passwords. We highly recommend passwordSafe which is available for free
download at http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net
All communication from Pecunix will be signed with the Pecunix PGP key.
PGP is a powerful free encryption tool that can greatly enhance your
security and privacy. We recommend that you learn how to use PGP with
Pecunix. You can download a free copy of PGP from
http://www.pgp.com/downloads/freeware/
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
29
Here is your initial Pecunix login screen. This is where you first put your password and then
instead of typing or copy/pasting your 4 digit PIN you simply select from the numbers in the row
in the middle.
Then, again, select a number from the bottom row that corresponds with the number in the blue
square.
Here is where there is a marked difference between e-gold and GoldMoney. The log in process is
going to be quite different and a little more complex. You will need to ensure you understand the
process and do NOT lose your log in information.
This is the screen which will come up when you have entered your log in information.
You will need to write down or make a copy of the Private Identification Keys. They are your
only means of entry into your account and to actually make a payment from the account. Pecunix
is perhaps one of the most secure systems around.
Once you have made a record of them you tick the Saved your PIKs box and then click Continue.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
30
You will be presented with the following screen which is your account screen:
As you can see it will be a balance of zero since you have not funded the account yet. The Menu
on the left enables to you to perform the usual functions as making a payment, getting your
account history, changing your details etc. This is a good time to explore what Pecunix has to
offer. Many merchants use Pecunix as a payments system just as they do with e-gold and
GoldMoney. All sites in addition have lists of some merchants that use their system. To fund the
account click Fund/Cashout in the menu.
This will take you through a screen to another screen which lists exchange providers who deal in
Pecunix.
The use of Pecunix is relatively easy. Although the login is a little more complex than the others,
Pecunix is one of the safest systems around and worth the extra effort.
Using GoldMoney is so simple we don’t need to go through the screens. By going to
http://goldmoney.com/en/how-it-works.php you can easily see how to operate the account. These
are easy instructions to follow with a step by step guide on buying, selling, getting your holding
statement and much more.
The same principles apply as with e-gold. You select from the menu the activity you wish to
perform and then when the screen comes up you follow the directions exactly.
Logging out of Gold Money is as simple as clicking the Blue Logout button top right of the
screen.
Now to be paid in gold money by another you simply give then your GoldMoney account number
which will have been sent to you by email. Of course you do not give them your Passphase.
It is as simple as that.
Let’s now look at Pecunix.
top
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
25
Pecunix
Pecunix is somewhat different but follows the same basic rules. Select the button to open an
account and fill out your details in the application form. And you will have a Pecunix Account.
The logging in is different again with Pecunix and also very security conscious. First let’s look at
opening a Pecunix Account.
Here is a screen shot of the Pecunix home page at http://pecunix.com/
You can clearly see at the bottom left where to Open a Pecunix account. click that button.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
26
From here you can ‘take a tutorial’, a recommended move. And you can also click the Next Step
button to start the steps to open your Pecunix account.
The following is the User Agreement which you will have to accept in order to continue.
Having accepted that you then go onto the 2nd step of your application. Here you fill out your
password and an email address as I have done below.
One more step to go!
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
27
Here you complete filling in your details and then you select the number from the row at the
bottom that corresponds to the number in the blue square to the left and you will be almost there!
The last screen to fill in and you then select with your mouse the number in the row at the bottom
of your screen to correspond with the blue number in the square to your left of that row.
And your account is created!
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
28
Now, as with e-gold and GoldMoney, you check your email for your account details which will
look something like this:
Congratulations, you have successfully created your new Pecunix account.
_THIS E-MAIL CONTAINS SENSITIVE INFORMATION, PLEASE KEEP IT SAFE_
Your e-mail address goldcentury@telstra.com is your "account number". Give
this e-mail address to people who wish to pay you with Pecunix.
Here is the PIN number you use to access your Pecunix account. You
should keep this PIN number a secret.
Entry PIN: XXXX
Your PIN and your password can be changed at any time by logging in
to your Pecunix account and clicking on the "Account Details" menu.
There is no need to reply to this message. Simply use the PIN and your
password to log in to the Pecunix website to view your account. If you
had received a payment it will be added to your account balance when you
log in for the first time.
_IMPORTANT SECURITY INFORMATION FOLLOWS, PLEASE READ_
Your password and PIN are valuable secret account access codes and you
should never share them with anyone else. Pecunix will never ask for
your password or PIN. You are responsible to keep them secret and safe.
We recommend that you get a good password safe for your computer
passwords. We highly recommend passwordSafe which is available for free
download at http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net
All communication from Pecunix will be signed with the Pecunix PGP key.
PGP is a powerful free encryption tool that can greatly enhance your
security and privacy. We recommend that you learn how to use PGP with
Pecunix. You can download a free copy of PGP from
http://www.pgp.com/downloads/freeware/
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
29
Here is your initial Pecunix login screen. This is where you first put your password and then
instead of typing or copy/pasting your 4 digit PIN you simply select from the numbers in the row
in the middle.
Then, again, select a number from the bottom row that corresponds with the number in the blue
square.
Here is where there is a marked difference between e-gold and GoldMoney. The log in process is
going to be quite different and a little more complex. You will need to ensure you understand the
process and do NOT lose your log in information.
This is the screen which will come up when you have entered your log in information.
You will need to write down or make a copy of the Private Identification Keys. They are your
only means of entry into your account and to actually make a payment from the account. Pecunix
is perhaps one of the most secure systems around.
Once you have made a record of them you tick the Saved your PIKs box and then click Continue.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
30
You will be presented with the following screen which is your account screen:
As you can see it will be a balance of zero since you have not funded the account yet. The Menu
on the left enables to you to perform the usual functions as making a payment, getting your
account history, changing your details etc. This is a good time to explore what Pecunix has to
offer. Many merchants use Pecunix as a payments system just as they do with e-gold and
GoldMoney. All sites in addition have lists of some merchants that use their system. To fund the
account click Fund/Cashout in the menu.
This will take you through a screen to another screen which lists exchange providers who deal in
Pecunix.
The use of Pecunix is relatively easy. Although the login is a little more complex than the others,
Pecunix is one of the safest systems around and worth the extra effort.
Monday, 23 July 2007
GoldMoney
GoldMoney operates somewhat differently and much simpler. We will go step by step through
the sequence to open an account with Gold Money. However the actual usage is very simple and
graphically explained on the web site. The following page gives a detailed outline of how to use
your GoldMoney account http://goldmoney.com/en/how-it-works.php
Here is the home screen of GoldMoney at http://goldmoney.com
You can open a new account here and log in to an existing account. Lets open a new account.
Select the blue Free Signup button. You will be presented with an application form to open a new
Holding Account like this.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
23
Then you fill out your details as I have done below. Fill out your details in the form also.
Once you have filled out your details and agreed to the User Agreement, select the Blue Open
Your Free Holding Account button.
You will be immediately logged in. In addition, like e-gold, Gold Money will send you an email
with your log in details and you will then see the following screen.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
24
This is your account screen. From here you can navigate to other areas of your account such as
your holding balance or statement, change your Passphase (recommended), buy and sell
GoldMoney and other activities.
Ensure you keep those details sent to you in your email safe as that is your log in and without
those details you will be unable to log in and retrieve your holding. Note that GoldMoney is dealt
in grams not dollars or currency measurements, so you will need buy and sell in grams. There is
a link on the buy and sell pages to find out how much grams or ounces you need to transact for a
specific dollar value.
Explore and read through the site which is very comprehensive and explains how to transact and
deal in GoldMoney in great detail.
You can log out using the blue logout button in the top right corner. Always log out when you
have finished using the account. Do not just close the browser!
top
the sequence to open an account with Gold Money. However the actual usage is very simple and
graphically explained on the web site. The following page gives a detailed outline of how to use
your GoldMoney account http://goldmoney.com/en/how-it-works.php
Here is the home screen of GoldMoney at http://goldmoney.com
You can open a new account here and log in to an existing account. Lets open a new account.
Select the blue Free Signup button. You will be presented with an application form to open a new
Holding Account like this.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
23
Then you fill out your details as I have done below. Fill out your details in the form also.
Once you have filled out your details and agreed to the User Agreement, select the Blue Open
Your Free Holding Account button.
You will be immediately logged in. In addition, like e-gold, Gold Money will send you an email
with your log in details and you will then see the following screen.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
24
This is your account screen. From here you can navigate to other areas of your account such as
your holding balance or statement, change your Passphase (recommended), buy and sell
GoldMoney and other activities.
Ensure you keep those details sent to you in your email safe as that is your log in and without
those details you will be unable to log in and retrieve your holding. Note that GoldMoney is dealt
in grams not dollars or currency measurements, so you will need buy and sell in grams. There is
a link on the buy and sell pages to find out how much grams or ounces you need to transact for a
specific dollar value.
Explore and read through the site which is very comprehensive and explains how to transact and
deal in GoldMoney in great detail.
You can log out using the blue logout button in the top right corner. Always log out when you
have finished using the account. Do not just close the browser!
top
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Operating an e-gold account
To operate your account go to: https://www.e-gold.com/acct/login.html which should be in your
Bookmarks or Favorites in your browser.
In here type in your new account number, You can either type in your Passphase (not
recommended), copy and paste it from another doc or use the SRK system:
To use the SRK system simply select the SRK icon and a pop up box will appear. Instead of
typing in your Passphase you simply select the characters in the pop up box and the system inserts
your Passphase for you. This is a secure method of preventing anyone from picking up your
Passphase or password from your keystrokes.
Then select the login button and you will be presented with your Information/Configuration
screen:
If you login from a different computer you may get this screen:
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
17
You will then need to get the pin number sent to you by e-gold to your designated email address
and enter it in the field provided.
The e-mail will have the following information:
PIN: 262-904
Acct: 1990779
Expires: 3/20/2005 2:58:00 AM GMT
IP: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
--
Explanation:
The security settings on e-gold account 1990779 require new PIN entry
when a change in computer and/or location is detected.
If you did not attempt to login to e-gold account 1990779 at
3/20/2005 2:43:00 AM GMT, this suggests that somebody besides you knows the
passphrase to your e-gold account due to poor security practices on
your part! In that case you should immediately take the following
steps in the following order:
1. Login to your e-gold account
If the one-time PIN is still active (see above), your successful
login will deactivate it.
2. Change the passphrase on your e-gold account
Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keypad (SRK) in case your computer is
infected with a keystroke logger or virus.
3. Read and implement the security recommendations published on the
e-gold website.
Don't put this step off, or you risk compromising your new passphrase
as well!
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
18
You will then be taken to your account. The reason for this is to protect your account from
unauthorised access from another computer. More on this in the security chapter.
Information/Configuration
Is the first screen you see when you login. This contains information regarding how you access
your account and from what computer or IP address. Unless you are familiar with this type of
activity it is suggested you make no changes until you have become familiar with the
configuration, what and when changes should be made. Sufficient to know that with the current
settings you will be able to login to your account from the same computer each time, The PIN
request will only apply if you log in from another computer.
MENU
At the top of every screen within your account you will see a menu. From this menu you can log
out or go to any area of your account:
Let’s check the Balance of our account shall we? Just click on Balance and the following will
come up.
Bookmarks or Favorites in your browser.
In here type in your new account number, You can either type in your Passphase (not
recommended), copy and paste it from another doc or use the SRK system:
To use the SRK system simply select the SRK icon and a pop up box will appear. Instead of
typing in your Passphase you simply select the characters in the pop up box and the system inserts
your Passphase for you. This is a secure method of preventing anyone from picking up your
Passphase or password from your keystrokes.
Then select the login button and you will be presented with your Information/Configuration
screen:
If you login from a different computer you may get this screen:
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
17
You will then need to get the pin number sent to you by e-gold to your designated email address
and enter it in the field provided.
The e-mail will have the following information:
PIN: 262-904
Acct: 1990779
Expires: 3/20/2005 2:58:00 AM GMT
IP: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
--
Explanation:
The security settings on e-gold account 1990779 require new PIN entry
when a change in computer and/or location is detected.
If you did not attempt to login to e-gold account 1990779 at
3/20/2005 2:43:00 AM GMT, this suggests that somebody besides you knows the
passphrase to your e-gold account due to poor security practices on
your part! In that case you should immediately take the following
steps in the following order:
1. Login to your e-gold account
If the one-time PIN is still active (see above), your successful
login will deactivate it.
2. Change the passphrase on your e-gold account
Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keypad (SRK) in case your computer is
infected with a keystroke logger or virus.
3. Read and implement the security recommendations published on the
e-gold website.
Don't put this step off, or you risk compromising your new passphrase
as well!
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
18
You will then be taken to your account. The reason for this is to protect your account from
unauthorised access from another computer. More on this in the security chapter.
Information/Configuration
Is the first screen you see when you login. This contains information regarding how you access
your account and from what computer or IP address. Unless you are familiar with this type of
activity it is suggested you make no changes until you have become familiar with the
configuration, what and when changes should be made. Sufficient to know that with the current
settings you will be able to login to your account from the same computer each time, The PIN
request will only apply if you log in from another computer.
MENU
At the top of every screen within your account you will see a menu. From this menu you can log
out or go to any area of your account:
Let’s check the Balance of our account shall we? Just click on Balance and the following will
come up.
Sunday, 15 July 2007
How to open and use gold currencies
Here are some practical instructions on how to open and operate gold currencies. Each currency
is different so we will take one at a time and I have included some screen shots to guide you step
by step and help you on your way.
The accounts featured will be in order:
e-gold
GoldMoney
Pecunix
And 1mdc.
1mdc is not a separate currency issuer in fact but a separate account within e-gold which one can
use as a safe area to store gold for a length of time. Specific details will be provided about 1mdc
when we come to use it.
As the oldest and probably the most popular, we will start with e-gold.
top
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
12
e-gold
Here is the first page you see when you go to http://www.e-gold.com
From this screen you select Create Account from the menu on the left which will bring
you to the following screen.
Read the Terms & Conditions then select the I AGREE button. You will then be presented with
the New e-gold™ Account Creation Form on the next page.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
13
This is the first section of the application form. Scrolling down you will see the balance of the
form to be filled in.
This is the last part of the form.
All sections need to be completed with your details by following the instructions as designated on
the screen.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
14
Your application should then look something like this but with your personal details:
Second screen:
And third screen:
You then select the Open button and wait.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
15
You will then see the following screen:
Go to your email account and there should be an email address with your new e-gold account
Number as shown below. Ensure you read and understand the instructions contained in the email.
The next section will show you how to operate your e-gold account.
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2005 5:52 PM
From: NewAccountRobot_donotreply@e-gold.com To: goldcentury@telstra.com
Subject: Welcome new e-gold user!
Your new e-gold account number is:
1990779
Click on "Access your Account" at the e-gold site to login and begin using
your e-gold account. The e-gold site is at:
http://www.e-gold.com
--------------------------------------------------
* * * Read/Save/Print this email message * * *
--------------------------------------------------
Important information about your e-gold account:
- It's OK to tell others your e-gold account number!
Other e-gold Users need your e-gold account number in order to Spend
e-gold to you. So don't hesitate to display it on your web page,
your business cards, or your e-mail signature file.
- However, *DO NOT* reveal your passphrase to others!!!
Anybody with knowledge of both your e-gold account number and your e-gold
passphrase has complete access to your e-gold account; therefore, do not
reveal your e-gold account passphrase to others. *NEVER* enter your
passphrase on any website other than the www.e-gold.com web site.
top
is different so we will take one at a time and I have included some screen shots to guide you step
by step and help you on your way.
The accounts featured will be in order:
e-gold
GoldMoney
Pecunix
And 1mdc.
1mdc is not a separate currency issuer in fact but a separate account within e-gold which one can
use as a safe area to store gold for a length of time. Specific details will be provided about 1mdc
when we come to use it.
As the oldest and probably the most popular, we will start with e-gold.
top
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
12
e-gold
Here is the first page you see when you go to http://www.e-gold.com
From this screen you select Create Account from the menu on the left which will bring
you to the following screen.
Read the Terms & Conditions then select the I AGREE button. You will then be presented with
the New e-gold™ Account Creation Form on the next page.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
13
This is the first section of the application form. Scrolling down you will see the balance of the
form to be filled in.
This is the last part of the form.
All sections need to be completed with your details by following the instructions as designated on
the screen.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
14
Your application should then look something like this but with your personal details:
Second screen:
And third screen:
You then select the Open button and wait.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
15
You will then see the following screen:
Go to your email account and there should be an email address with your new e-gold account
Number as shown below. Ensure you read and understand the instructions contained in the email.
The next section will show you how to operate your e-gold account.
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2005 5:52 PM
From: NewAccountRobot_donotreply@e-gold.com To: goldcentury@telstra.com
Subject: Welcome new e-gold user!
Your new e-gold account number is:
1990779
Click on "Access your Account" at the e-gold site to login and begin using
your e-gold account. The e-gold site is at:
http://www.e-gold.com
--------------------------------------------------
* * * Read/Save/Print this email message * * *
--------------------------------------------------
Important information about your e-gold account:
- It's OK to tell others your e-gold account number!
Other e-gold Users need your e-gold account number in order to Spend
e-gold to you. So don't hesitate to display it on your web page,
your business cards, or your e-mail signature file.
- However, *DO NOT* reveal your passphrase to others!!!
Anybody with knowledge of both your e-gold account number and your e-gold
passphrase has complete access to your e-gold account; therefore, do not
reveal your e-gold account passphrase to others. *NEVER* enter your
passphrase on any website other than the www.e-gold.com web site.
top
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Other eCurrencies
eCurrencies seem to come and go. Currently there are systems such as PayPal, NetPay,
WebMoney and EZCMoney to name just a few. Doubtless there are many others and who knows
what the future holds. The purpose of each is the same of course. To provide a secure efficient
speedy method of transporting value from one person or business to another. Some do it better
than others do. Some don’t.
Many merchants accept eCurrencies as well as the traditional transactional mediums. Some of
these are good in that they may offer a sort of guarantee in the case of fraud. Not all do however
and one should study the terms and condition of those he or she proposes to accept. Bear in mind
it is a form of third party payment and as such subject to the same fraudulent problems as third
party cheques. PayPal, for example, tends to hold the merchant responsible for fraudulent funds
going through its accounts and has a track record of freezing merchant’s accounts without notice,
tying up the merchant’s PayPal account and the funds in it. Then extracting the funds they
consider fraudulently obtained. This can happen well after the event and the ‘customer’ has long
gone. The merchant has little come back in this situation. An exchange provider recently ran a
pilot using PayPal for a while and found that during that time 50% of the orders he received were
fraudulent. So be wary of using third party arrangements. I do not say don’t use them. Just be
aware of what is involved and the potential risks
Some years back the New York Times ran a story on Flooz.com, a past purveyor of online
currency using electronic gift certificates (the company is now defunct). They had come to a dead
stop apparently due to being defrauded of about $300,000 US dollars from scammers in Eastern
Europe and Russia who have a stolen credit card fraud system well set up and operating. To show
how large this operating was the company sold $25 million USD dollars of Flooz currency in
2000. There have, over the years, been a number of proposed alternatives to online credit card
transactions some of which have, like Flooz, fallen by the way side and some have achieved a
modicum of success.
Such systems, like any other, invite the criminals who see it as an excellent way to whitewash
their ill-gotten gains and it is quite likely used as such on occasion. However that applies to all
types of transactions and some of the biggest banks in the world have been embarrassed to find
themselves ‘doing the laundry’ so to speak.
WebMoney and EZCMoney to name just a few. Doubtless there are many others and who knows
what the future holds. The purpose of each is the same of course. To provide a secure efficient
speedy method of transporting value from one person or business to another. Some do it better
than others do. Some don’t.
Many merchants accept eCurrencies as well as the traditional transactional mediums. Some of
these are good in that they may offer a sort of guarantee in the case of fraud. Not all do however
and one should study the terms and condition of those he or she proposes to accept. Bear in mind
it is a form of third party payment and as such subject to the same fraudulent problems as third
party cheques. PayPal, for example, tends to hold the merchant responsible for fraudulent funds
going through its accounts and has a track record of freezing merchant’s accounts without notice,
tying up the merchant’s PayPal account and the funds in it. Then extracting the funds they
consider fraudulently obtained. This can happen well after the event and the ‘customer’ has long
gone. The merchant has little come back in this situation. An exchange provider recently ran a
pilot using PayPal for a while and found that during that time 50% of the orders he received were
fraudulent. So be wary of using third party arrangements. I do not say don’t use them. Just be
aware of what is involved and the potential risks
Some years back the New York Times ran a story on Flooz.com, a past purveyor of online
currency using electronic gift certificates (the company is now defunct). They had come to a dead
stop apparently due to being defrauded of about $300,000 US dollars from scammers in Eastern
Europe and Russia who have a stolen credit card fraud system well set up and operating. To show
how large this operating was the company sold $25 million USD dollars of Flooz currency in
2000. There have, over the years, been a number of proposed alternatives to online credit card
transactions some of which have, like Flooz, fallen by the way side and some have achieved a
modicum of success.
Such systems, like any other, invite the criminals who see it as an excellent way to whitewash
their ill-gotten gains and it is quite likely used as such on occasion. However that applies to all
types of transactions and some of the biggest banks in the world have been embarrassed to find
themselves ‘doing the laundry’ so to speak.
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Why use gold currencies?
Bank transfers, especially between different countries, can be expensive. Many digital currencies
have come and gone. Some with the best of intentions, some with not so good intentions at all.
Basically the idea is to transfer funds or value of some sort for good or services rendered or
expected.
Traditionally this was done through banks credit cards, letters of credit and such systems as
Western Union for example. With the advent of the internet and the speed and advances in
communications digital currencies came into the fore. Currently millions of dollars are transacted
each day through digital currencies. Such companies as PayPal, NetPay, Web Money, Paymate
and many others all vie for your few cents to complete a transaction.
As useful as these apparently are there is an inherent risk with their
use as none of these have any measure of guarantee and if the
company fails or, worst, was set up as a scam, then any funds in the
accounts are usually lost. Standard Reserve was such a company that
failed with a director taking with him thousands of dollars still
unrecovered after some years. OSGold, set up as a scam, as it was
later revealed, cost thousands of people millions of dollars. PayPal,
although, now having over 50 million customers, still applies strict
rules that, if broken, can cost a merchant thousands in tied up funds
frozen for an indeterminate amount of time.
What about the currency issuers, such as e-gold for example, you might ask?
Gold Currencies are different. The currency supplier does NOT own the gold and is only the
custodian. They simply administer the change of ownership and records of the accounts and
invariably employ an accounting firm to verify the gold deposits and do audits. And take a slice of
gold for doing so in transaction and/or storage fees
Here are 5 good reasons for owning gold:
• INDEPENDENCE. The security offered by gold is provided by its very independence.
Gold is independent of states, currencies, productivity and credit worthiness. Some
economic or political influences may affect the price of gold, but its value and its
acceptability remain independent of them.
• RESERVE ASSET. Many experts advise private investors to hold between 5 and 10% of
their wealth, in the long term in precious metals. Experience has shown that the regular
purchase of gold coins helps to protect the smaller investor against price fluctuations.
• SECURITY. Gold has always been prized as precious and valuable. Over the years gold
has proven itself to be one of the most reliable stores of value.
• STABILITY. Despite possible price fluctuations on the open market, the value of gold
has remained remarkably stable and has shown repeatedly the tendency to rise.
• LIQUIDITY. Gold is traded around the globe 24 hours a day. With gold you possess an
international currency which can always be sold around the world at any time.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
9
So with a gold account you actually have something substantial rather than just a paper record of
funds. In the event of any economic ‘disturbance in the force’ where currency gets devalued and
digital currency companies may be subject to various pressures, economic crises and currency
fluctuations, your gold, safely tucked away in a bank vault, usually can be counted upon to hold
its own. In any economic crisis, such as a recession, depression, war or any other highly
disturbing influence, gold continues to maintain its value and even sometime increases.
As a transactional medium for merchants it has additional advantages.
• The merchant gets his money up front. No waiting for the funds to be transferred. The
transfer of gold in this instance is instantaneous.
• There is no chargeback for the merchant. Once that gold is in his account it cannot be forcibly
extracted.
• The cost is considerably cheaper. There are no running costs involved. Just a nominal storage
fee and small spend fee of no more than 50 cents and usually less.
This is truly a ‘house’ built of gold … and gives new meaning to the term, ‘Safe as houses’.
have come and gone. Some with the best of intentions, some with not so good intentions at all.
Basically the idea is to transfer funds or value of some sort for good or services rendered or
expected.
Traditionally this was done through banks credit cards, letters of credit and such systems as
Western Union for example. With the advent of the internet and the speed and advances in
communications digital currencies came into the fore. Currently millions of dollars are transacted
each day through digital currencies. Such companies as PayPal, NetPay, Web Money, Paymate
and many others all vie for your few cents to complete a transaction.
As useful as these apparently are there is an inherent risk with their
use as none of these have any measure of guarantee and if the
company fails or, worst, was set up as a scam, then any funds in the
accounts are usually lost. Standard Reserve was such a company that
failed with a director taking with him thousands of dollars still
unrecovered after some years. OSGold, set up as a scam, as it was
later revealed, cost thousands of people millions of dollars. PayPal,
although, now having over 50 million customers, still applies strict
rules that, if broken, can cost a merchant thousands in tied up funds
frozen for an indeterminate amount of time.
What about the currency issuers, such as e-gold for example, you might ask?
Gold Currencies are different. The currency supplier does NOT own the gold and is only the
custodian. They simply administer the change of ownership and records of the accounts and
invariably employ an accounting firm to verify the gold deposits and do audits. And take a slice of
gold for doing so in transaction and/or storage fees
Here are 5 good reasons for owning gold:
• INDEPENDENCE. The security offered by gold is provided by its very independence.
Gold is independent of states, currencies, productivity and credit worthiness. Some
economic or political influences may affect the price of gold, but its value and its
acceptability remain independent of them.
• RESERVE ASSET. Many experts advise private investors to hold between 5 and 10% of
their wealth, in the long term in precious metals. Experience has shown that the regular
purchase of gold coins helps to protect the smaller investor against price fluctuations.
• SECURITY. Gold has always been prized as precious and valuable. Over the years gold
has proven itself to be one of the most reliable stores of value.
• STABILITY. Despite possible price fluctuations on the open market, the value of gold
has remained remarkably stable and has shown repeatedly the tendency to rise.
• LIQUIDITY. Gold is traded around the globe 24 hours a day. With gold you possess an
international currency which can always be sold around the world at any time.
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
9
So with a gold account you actually have something substantial rather than just a paper record of
funds. In the event of any economic ‘disturbance in the force’ where currency gets devalued and
digital currency companies may be subject to various pressures, economic crises and currency
fluctuations, your gold, safely tucked away in a bank vault, usually can be counted upon to hold
its own. In any economic crisis, such as a recession, depression, war or any other highly
disturbing influence, gold continues to maintain its value and even sometime increases.
As a transactional medium for merchants it has additional advantages.
• The merchant gets his money up front. No waiting for the funds to be transferred. The
transfer of gold in this instance is instantaneous.
• There is no chargeback for the merchant. Once that gold is in his account it cannot be forcibly
extracted.
• The cost is considerably cheaper. There are no running costs involved. Just a nominal storage
fee and small spend fee of no more than 50 cents and usually less.
This is truly a ‘house’ built of gold … and gives new meaning to the term, ‘Safe as houses’.
Saturday, 30 June 2007
What is gold currency?
What is gold currency?
Basically it is a very simple concept.
Gold is currently (at the time of writing) around 444USD per ounce. Of course the value
compared to fiscal (dollars and cents) currency varies and has been as low as 300USD per ounce
and as high as 800USD per ounce. But the variation is usually only a few cents or a dollar or two
each day and not particularly significant for people using gold as an immediate currency. It does
become important when one is using it as an investment or holding on to it for any length of time
and transacting in large amounts perhaps. However carting around even an ounce of gold is not
very convenient. If you wish to purchase a product or service for say, 100USD then it is difficult
to break off a slice of gold to that value and hand it over to the merchant. There is another method
however.
Corporations such as e-gold, GoldMoney and Pecunix
operate on a basic principle of accounting. Without
going into the technicalities of it, all that happens is that
you open an account with either e-gold, GoldMoney,
Pecunix or another gold issuer and then you can fund
your account with gold. Gold is obtained from exchange
providers who make a business simply converting or
transacting fiscal funds to gold and visa versa. More on
exchange providers later.
The currency supplier holds in trust a quantity of gold
bars. These are usually 400 troy ounces (1 kilogram is
equivalent to 32.1507 troy ounces)the size of the
internationally traded London Good Delivery bar. The
term “small bars” refers to bars weighing 1000g or less.
So gold issuers such as e-gold, GoldMoney and Pecunix for example, supply and act as custodians
on behalf of clients who own a specific quantity of gold metal.. With this system an account
holder, who can be a consumer or a merchant, holds a quantity of gold which may be anywhere
from fractions of an ounce to entire 400 ounce bars and their holding is represented as accounts
which display the value of gold held by that account holder. Transactional history and balances
are available upon inspection and a small fee is charged for each transaction and for storage. This
gold is in the form of actual gold bars and held in escrow in banks around the world. Each account
holder actually ‘owns’ an amount of that gold and this holding is reflected in his account. A
consumer can fund their account through one of the exchange providers set up for this purpose
and then ‘spend’ any amount, even down to a penny, to a merchants account. The value of gold is
then transferred from the consumer’s account to the merchants. The merchant can redeem his
gold or ‘cash it in’ with an exchange provider when he has sufficient.
Having opened your account with one of the currency suppliers (usually free) you then ‘fund’ the
account through an exchange provider. If, for example you wanted 200 US dollars worth of gold
you would supplied that amount of dollars to the exchange provider and he or she would fund
your account with the gold to that value less his commission. Your account would then show gold
to the value deposited in your account by the exchange provider. This is simply a transfer of
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
7
ownership. The gold is not moved. It stays in the bank vault. All that has happened is the portion
of one of those gold bars which was ‘owned’ by the exchange provider has now been transferred
to you.
Of the gold bars resting in the bank vault, you would own a sliver of one of those bars. The value
of that 200 dollars worth of gold may go up or down. If gold goes down compared to the US
dollar your gold ‘holding’ would reflect this in a slightly less value, perhaps 190 dollars worth of
gold. The actual gold does not change. It continues to sit there. Only the value of it may change.
By the same token, if the price of gold rises dramatically then your small sliver might suddenly be
worth 240 dollars.
But let’s say that, having acquired the 200 dollars worth of gold, you then decide to spend it on a
nice up market DVD player available across the country for 150 dollars. You don’t want to pay
by check or use your bank account. The retailer accepts e-gold so you simply spend the 150
dollars to his account. This is an instant transaction so the retailer is happy, he has his gold
without waiting and at a relatively small cost (usually the currency issuer will charge a few cents
for the transfer to the recipient). The ownership of that amount of gold has now changed again.
You still own a tiny sliver of gold worth 50 dollars but the retailer now owns that portion of the
gold bar in the vault worth 150 dollars which you owned. When you make your spend the
currency suppliers software makes the record in both accounts of the transfer of ownership.
Sometimes it is called gold credits.
Presumably, of course, you will get your DVD.
There are some variations to the above and one can go into the technicalities of how it works and
for those keenly interested there are some links and references at the back of the book. There are
some important factors to be aware of however.
Firstly, although the transactions are not expensive, especially when compared to conventional
systems such as banking, credit card, Western Union and the like, there is still a cost to be
considered. Exchange providers traditionally charge anywhere between 2 and 15% depending
largely on how you fund them. If you use a credit card to buy gold you will incur higher charges
naturally. If you pay cash then the charge will be less.
Second, the transaction is instantaneous. There is no ‘waiting period” for any party. Once the
’spend’, as it is called, is done the debit from your account and the credit to the account you have
spent to is done. So it pays to ensure you do it accurately and not make any mistakes.
Third, the ‘spend’ is irrevocable. That is to say irreversible. Not like a bank check which one can
claim was falsely issued or a credit card payment which one might claim was unauthorized. The
currency issuer will not reverse a transaction once make. One should therefore be totally sure that
one wants to make the spend and that one is spending to the correct account. You cannot rely
upon the person you are spending to reverse it in the event of an error.
Basically it is a very simple concept.
Gold is currently (at the time of writing) around 444USD per ounce. Of course the value
compared to fiscal (dollars and cents) currency varies and has been as low as 300USD per ounce
and as high as 800USD per ounce. But the variation is usually only a few cents or a dollar or two
each day and not particularly significant for people using gold as an immediate currency. It does
become important when one is using it as an investment or holding on to it for any length of time
and transacting in large amounts perhaps. However carting around even an ounce of gold is not
very convenient. If you wish to purchase a product or service for say, 100USD then it is difficult
to break off a slice of gold to that value and hand it over to the merchant. There is another method
however.
Corporations such as e-gold, GoldMoney and Pecunix
operate on a basic principle of accounting. Without
going into the technicalities of it, all that happens is that
you open an account with either e-gold, GoldMoney,
Pecunix or another gold issuer and then you can fund
your account with gold. Gold is obtained from exchange
providers who make a business simply converting or
transacting fiscal funds to gold and visa versa. More on
exchange providers later.
The currency supplier holds in trust a quantity of gold
bars. These are usually 400 troy ounces (1 kilogram is
equivalent to 32.1507 troy ounces)the size of the
internationally traded London Good Delivery bar. The
term “small bars” refers to bars weighing 1000g or less.
So gold issuers such as e-gold, GoldMoney and Pecunix for example, supply and act as custodians
on behalf of clients who own a specific quantity of gold metal.. With this system an account
holder, who can be a consumer or a merchant, holds a quantity of gold which may be anywhere
from fractions of an ounce to entire 400 ounce bars and their holding is represented as accounts
which display the value of gold held by that account holder. Transactional history and balances
are available upon inspection and a small fee is charged for each transaction and for storage. This
gold is in the form of actual gold bars and held in escrow in banks around the world. Each account
holder actually ‘owns’ an amount of that gold and this holding is reflected in his account. A
consumer can fund their account through one of the exchange providers set up for this purpose
and then ‘spend’ any amount, even down to a penny, to a merchants account. The value of gold is
then transferred from the consumer’s account to the merchants. The merchant can redeem his
gold or ‘cash it in’ with an exchange provider when he has sufficient.
Having opened your account with one of the currency suppliers (usually free) you then ‘fund’ the
account through an exchange provider. If, for example you wanted 200 US dollars worth of gold
you would supplied that amount of dollars to the exchange provider and he or she would fund
your account with the gold to that value less his commission. Your account would then show gold
to the value deposited in your account by the exchange provider. This is simply a transfer of
Gold Currencies and How to Use Them
7
ownership. The gold is not moved. It stays in the bank vault. All that has happened is the portion
of one of those gold bars which was ‘owned’ by the exchange provider has now been transferred
to you.
Of the gold bars resting in the bank vault, you would own a sliver of one of those bars. The value
of that 200 dollars worth of gold may go up or down. If gold goes down compared to the US
dollar your gold ‘holding’ would reflect this in a slightly less value, perhaps 190 dollars worth of
gold. The actual gold does not change. It continues to sit there. Only the value of it may change.
By the same token, if the price of gold rises dramatically then your small sliver might suddenly be
worth 240 dollars.
But let’s say that, having acquired the 200 dollars worth of gold, you then decide to spend it on a
nice up market DVD player available across the country for 150 dollars. You don’t want to pay
by check or use your bank account. The retailer accepts e-gold so you simply spend the 150
dollars to his account. This is an instant transaction so the retailer is happy, he has his gold
without waiting and at a relatively small cost (usually the currency issuer will charge a few cents
for the transfer to the recipient). The ownership of that amount of gold has now changed again.
You still own a tiny sliver of gold worth 50 dollars but the retailer now owns that portion of the
gold bar in the vault worth 150 dollars which you owned. When you make your spend the
currency suppliers software makes the record in both accounts of the transfer of ownership.
Sometimes it is called gold credits.
Presumably, of course, you will get your DVD.
There are some variations to the above and one can go into the technicalities of how it works and
for those keenly interested there are some links and references at the back of the book. There are
some important factors to be aware of however.
Firstly, although the transactions are not expensive, especially when compared to conventional
systems such as banking, credit card, Western Union and the like, there is still a cost to be
considered. Exchange providers traditionally charge anywhere between 2 and 15% depending
largely on how you fund them. If you use a credit card to buy gold you will incur higher charges
naturally. If you pay cash then the charge will be less.
Second, the transaction is instantaneous. There is no ‘waiting period” for any party. Once the
’spend’, as it is called, is done the debit from your account and the credit to the account you have
spent to is done. So it pays to ensure you do it accurately and not make any mistakes.
Third, the ‘spend’ is irrevocable. That is to say irreversible. Not like a bank check which one can
claim was falsely issued or a credit card payment which one might claim was unauthorized. The
currency issuer will not reverse a transaction once make. One should therefore be totally sure that
one wants to make the spend and that one is spending to the correct account. You cannot rely
upon the person you are spending to reverse it in the event of an error.
Sunday, 24 June 2007
FREQUENTLY ASK QUESTION (FAQ) about HYIP
What is HYIP (High Yeld Investment Program)?
HYIP is an abbreviation of High Yield Income Program. What it means is that investing in a HYIP will bring great returns on your investment.
Are HYIP Legal?
The real HYIP's are legal, they are a form of investing, but they are only legal if you declare your earnings from them on your tax form (similarly, you can put your losses on them aswell). However, Ponzi's are not legal, anywhere or in any country under any circumstances. It's your choice alone to invest in them and take the risks.
How Much Can I Make?
It depends entirely on how much you invest (obviously the more you invest, the more you make), and the daily percentage of the program (higher daily percentage = more money daily).
How Much Can I Lose?
Again, you can lose as much as you invest. Therefore remember the golden rule of HYIP: ONLY INVEST WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE.
How Much Can I Invest?
Depends on the company. Some companies allow you to invest from $1, and most have no upper limit. Check the specific company for more details.
How Do I Invest?
You invest your e-Gold into the companies. Actually making the transaction is simple, enter the amount you wish to invest, and away you go.
How Do I Know They Are Not Scams?
Simple and straight answer: You don't. You can take advice from people in the industry, read forum posts. The decision to join should be entirely your own, and you should understand the risks involved.
Want to start??
HYIP is an abbreviation of High Yield Income Program. What it means is that investing in a HYIP will bring great returns on your investment.
Are HYIP Legal?
The real HYIP's are legal, they are a form of investing, but they are only legal if you declare your earnings from them on your tax form (similarly, you can put your losses on them aswell). However, Ponzi's are not legal, anywhere or in any country under any circumstances. It's your choice alone to invest in them and take the risks.
How Much Can I Make?
It depends entirely on how much you invest (obviously the more you invest, the more you make), and the daily percentage of the program (higher daily percentage = more money daily).
How Much Can I Lose?
Again, you can lose as much as you invest. Therefore remember the golden rule of HYIP: ONLY INVEST WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE.
How Much Can I Invest?
Depends on the company. Some companies allow you to invest from $1, and most have no upper limit. Check the specific company for more details.
How Do I Invest?
You invest your e-Gold into the companies. Actually making the transaction is simple, enter the amount you wish to invest, and away you go.
How Do I Know They Are Not Scams?
Simple and straight answer: You don't. You can take advice from people in the industry, read forum posts. The decision to join should be entirely your own, and you should understand the risks involved.
Want to start??
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Risks of online investments
First and foremost you must understand that the reward is directly proportionate to the risk. That is what speculation is all about; you cannot expect to make a substantial return if you are not prepared to accept a certain amount of risk. Any experienced financial speculator will tell you that successful speculation involves being able to quantify risk. The amount of risk attached to any particular HYIP, is for the most part, unquantifiable.
Many of the genuine small Internet based HYIP's are considered high risk, as they are not particularly well thought out programs, often with no sound methodology from which to generate returns. They receive thousands of small deposits from participants, which only adds to the problem. The larger specialist programs, many of which are not plugged on the Internet, can be much safer in many respects, as they are usually run by professional traders who know how to generate returns using sound trading methods. They keep a low profile due to the risk of interference by some authorities, but this does not mean that they are not genuine investment programs.
There is yet another type of HYIP trading program which allows you to set up your own offshore company and a bank account, the funds are then traded through this account, but the program administrator and/or trader never has any kind of access to your funds, he/she only has the authority to place the trades on the account. This method of funding is without a doubt the safest that is available to the HYIP investor. The only risk is that which is attached to the trading method used to generate the returns, although most professional traders will operate with specific risk parameters in mind.
The program administrators should also be forthcoming about how they intend to generate the quoted returns. You should be extremely wary dealing with any HYIP that refuses to disclose details about their system, after all they are asking you to show good faith in them by investing your hard earned money, so they should at least be willing to tell you how they intend to generate the quoted returns. Once you know how a program works, you are in a much better position to be able to assess the viability of that program. For example there is one HYIP that claims very high returns from investing in domain names. This type of HYIP might have been feasible a few years ago, but is highly unlikely to be profitable these days. There have been many high profile court rulings against domain name speculators over the last few years, and registering domain names is hardly an area that requires specialist knowledge and expertise.
As a rule the larger the sum of the investment the safer the program is likely to be, assuming that you are afforded adequate capital security. The frauds are usually the ones that request small investments and membership fees, as well as offering referral fee arrangements. Programs operating in this manner can draw in a greater number of participants in a short time before shutting down. The larger programs tend to be much more professional, with their focus on making steady returns for investors and taking a small part of those returns as their profit. Most of the larger programs also appear to understand the need for frequent client communications, which is often an area of complaint amongst many of the smaller HYIP's. Usually your only source of regular information is the HYIP website (assuming they have one), and in many cases these websites are not updated as frequently as they should be.
Many of the genuine small Internet based HYIP's are considered high risk, as they are not particularly well thought out programs, often with no sound methodology from which to generate returns. They receive thousands of small deposits from participants, which only adds to the problem. The larger specialist programs, many of which are not plugged on the Internet, can be much safer in many respects, as they are usually run by professional traders who know how to generate returns using sound trading methods. They keep a low profile due to the risk of interference by some authorities, but this does not mean that they are not genuine investment programs.
There is yet another type of HYIP trading program which allows you to set up your own offshore company and a bank account, the funds are then traded through this account, but the program administrator and/or trader never has any kind of access to your funds, he/she only has the authority to place the trades on the account. This method of funding is without a doubt the safest that is available to the HYIP investor. The only risk is that which is attached to the trading method used to generate the returns, although most professional traders will operate with specific risk parameters in mind.
The program administrators should also be forthcoming about how they intend to generate the quoted returns. You should be extremely wary dealing with any HYIP that refuses to disclose details about their system, after all they are asking you to show good faith in them by investing your hard earned money, so they should at least be willing to tell you how they intend to generate the quoted returns. Once you know how a program works, you are in a much better position to be able to assess the viability of that program. For example there is one HYIP that claims very high returns from investing in domain names. This type of HYIP might have been feasible a few years ago, but is highly unlikely to be profitable these days. There have been many high profile court rulings against domain name speculators over the last few years, and registering domain names is hardly an area that requires specialist knowledge and expertise.
As a rule the larger the sum of the investment the safer the program is likely to be, assuming that you are afforded adequate capital security. The frauds are usually the ones that request small investments and membership fees, as well as offering referral fee arrangements. Programs operating in this manner can draw in a greater number of participants in a short time before shutting down. The larger programs tend to be much more professional, with their focus on making steady returns for investors and taking a small part of those returns as their profit. Most of the larger programs also appear to understand the need for frequent client communications, which is often an area of complaint amongst many of the smaller HYIP's. Usually your only source of regular information is the HYIP website (assuming they have one), and in many cases these websites are not updated as frequently as they should be.
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
Biografi Carlo Ponzi
As the legend goes, the scheme that would make Carlo Ponzi a household name occurred to Carlo when he was a young man. Carlo would sit on his front steps in Boston and watch his neighbours return home from a day's work. It was during one of these daydreaming sessions that his innovation struck. Predictably enough, the first victim of what would become known as the Ponzi scheme was Carlo's friend Tony. Carlo made an intriguing offer: if Tony lent him $20, Carlo would return $30 in ninety days. "I'll meet you right here and pay you 50 percent on your money."
If only Tony had not taken Carlo up on his offer. Nevertheless, he did. Moreover, the next day, so did Carlo's friend Guiseppe. Therefore, ninety days later, true to his word, Carlo met with Tony and presented him with his $30. Perhaps like most of us, Tony let his worst half get the better of him and told Carlo, "What the hell, keep it and give me another 50 percent interest in ninety days." The Ponzi scheme was born. Guiseppe, the second-generation sucker, subsidized Tony, the first.
Before young Carlo Ponzi pioneered in financial chicanery, he had already lead an interesting--and criminal, to anyone who should have bothered to check--life. Immigrating from Italy at the age of 17, Carlo soon found an alternative to dishwashing and waiting on tables: he would assist his fellow Italian immigrants in sending money back to the home country. However, when it was discovered that Carlo was pocketing a generous portion of the funds, he was sentenced to three years in prison.
Perhaps illustrating the observation that government incarceration simply educates more criminals, instead of learning a lesson from his imprisonment, Carlo, once released, began plying his entrepreneurial skills smuggling Italian immigrants into the U.S. from Canada. Nabbed again, Carlo was off to prison for another three years. Setting his mind on going straight, Carlo then moved to Boston and found a job as a $16-aweek clerk. Soon thereafter he met and married Rose Guecco, seeing her as someone willing to take a two-time loser, and Rose had faith that her Carlo would one day rise to the $25-a-week pay bracket.
Now around this time, the "war to end all wars" was ending in Europe, and the boom of the roaring twenties was just beginning. Wages were rising and malinvestment was charging ahead, driving an emerging speculative investing craze. And Carlo knew he didn't like working for a living; watching his neighbours trudge home day after day from work as he sat on his Boston stoop only further convinced him that he needed a scheme to get ahead. He thought and thought on that stoop, and, as we know, Carlo came up with quite a scheme. With the success he experienced with Tony and Guiseppe, Carlo started Securities Exchange Company at 27 School Street in Boston the day after Christmas 1919. Advertising a 50-percent return in ninety days, money from investors large and small poured in. With all this money pouring in, Carlo had to figure out a plausible explanation for how he could pay 50percent interest in ninety days when no place in the world paid that much. However, Carlo's ingenuity for frauds came through again.
He told investors that he had a network of agents in Europe that purchased depreciated European currencies, converting the currencies into international postal coupons, which were then redeemed at face value in the United States in US dollars. Carlo claimed all the high rollers were doing it, the Rockefellers, J.P. Morgan Jr, everybody. But Saint Carlo instead was sharing the wealth and helping the common man (while helping himself of course). Redistributing their money was more like it.
Every day, tens of thousands of dollars were deposited with Carlo's tellers. Outside the building, crowds lined up, waiting to invest. Every day, Carlo would arrive at work in his chauffeur-driven limousine. The key to the entire scheme continued to work its magic, as the deposit counters were usually a swarm of activity, and the withdrawal counters were practically deserted. As the deposits grew and grew, Carlo even opened branch offices, eventually totalling thirty-five. He also used some of the deposits to purchase two actual businesses, Hanover Trust Co. and J.P. Poole Co. Carlo even found time in his busy schedule to buy his wife a mansion.
It was not long however, before Carlo's claims attracted attention from the wrong people. In a few short months, he had transformed himself from a mere clerk to a veritable financial wizard, he and Rose were swaddled in luxury, and anyone who wanted to cash in immediately received their deposit with interest, no questions asked. Carlo's success invited scrutiny. The U.S. Postal authorities advised the federal government that Carlo's given explanation for how the Securities Exchange Company conducted its "investments" could not possibly work. However, since the federal government operates on its own concept of time, it was not until months later that the feds conducted an official audit of Carlo's operation.
Moreover, as news of the audit hit the street, the whiff of insecurity began to work its magic, creating a run on the Securities Exchange Company. However, it seemed as though Carlo had an inexhaustible supply of cash: all of the investors who lined up to withdraw their deposit, each received their cash plus 50 percent. As the audit progressed, the auditors were stumped. The company kept meticulous records of all deposits and withdrawals. No one was being cheated, and no law had been broken. The only thing that they could not find was how the company made its fantastic profits. When asked, Carlo indignantly replied that that was a company secret.
The feds responded to this by placing a restraining order on the company, prohibiting it from accepting any further deposits while the investigation was proceeding. Carlo, glimpsing impending doom, hired the wellrespected William McMaster to handle public relations until the investigation blew over. This move did not turn out so well for our friend Carlo. Shortly after being hired, McMaster issued a statement to the press that the Securities Exchange Company had never conducted even a single foreign financial transaction.
Again, investors created a run on Carlo's company, and once again, Carlo appeared to weather the storm, even serving coffee and donuts to depositors as they waited. But eventually the toll of the investigation and revelations took their course, and more and more investors showed up to withdraw their money, until eventually the money ran out. On August 9, 1920, Carlo's bank issued a statement that it could no longer honour checks from the Securities Exchange Company. Two days later, Carlo's criminal record was released to the public.
Panic now gripped those investors who held back, and Carlo feared for his life. He asked for and received police protection. One by one, his assets were seized. First to go were Rose's mansion and their three luxury cars. Then Hanover Trust and J.P. Poole. As the investigation progressed, investigators discovered that Carlo at his height had 40,000 investors, and the total take was nearly $15 million, and this was back when hotdogs cost a nickel. On October 21, 1920, Carlo, now penniless, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for embezzlement. Released in 1924 and faced with further charges, he was once again imprisoned, this time for nine years. It was obvious to Carlo that his frauds had not worked out exactly as planned.
Out of jail again in 1934, Carlo was deported to Italy, where, sizing up a sucker if he ever saw one, he quickly offered his services to Mussolini. Once hired, Carlo dispelled any confidence in his claim to be any sort of financial wizard and was soon dismissed by Il Duce. Carlo next turned up with an Italian airline and was sent to Rio de Janeiro. Carlo had no sooner than arrived to take up his new duties when the airline abruptly folded. Stranded in Rio, Carlo Ponzi would end his days penniless, nearly blind, and partially paralysed. He died in a charity ward in Brazil in 1949.
As we all know, however, this would not be the end of the Ponzi scheme. Carlo Ponzi's spirit, if not his ghost, would live on under the tutelage of not the marketplace, but the state. Though Ponzi's great reputation as a financial wizard was tarnished and tattered, other men would come along to claim his mantle. Instead of falling into obscurity, the criminal scheme of a poor boy from Italy would be institutionalised as a system of deceit and privilege and thereby expanded into a racket the size and scope of which, with ingenious and elaborate rationalizations, not to mention decades-long duration, Carlo Ponzi surely couldn't have dared imagine.
The Social Security Act was ostensibly a fund to pay pensions, but it doubled as a hidden tax to fund a Treasury reserve fund for cloaking tax increases and higher government spending. Contributors to Social Security do not receive the returns from the money they paid into the "fund" in the past. Rather, just as in a Ponzi scheme, they are paid from the funds of current contributors (taxpayers), and these taxpayers will in turn be paid from the taxes paid by the generation that follows them. In other words, its purpose is the redistribution of income, not investment toward the production of new wealth.
The temptation to consume today what is due tomorrow is irresistible to politicians. Tax money is always spent. The essential deceits that lay behind Social Security are of course even more evident today. The socalled budget surpluses of the Clinton '90s exist solely as an accounting shell game in which surplus revenues generated from Social Security taxes are deposited with the U.S. Treasury and included as part of the general tax-revenue fund. In return, the Treasury then issues IOU's to the wildly misnamed Social Security Trust Fund. The IOU's are not included as liabilities in the federal debt, and are not included in the official U.S. budget.
A keen observer of FDR was John T. Flynn, who described Social Security's racketeering design. "The plan was to make the payroll tax big enough to pay the benefits, plus enough more to create a so-called reserve of $47 billion in 40 years. It was given the fraudulent name of Old-Age Reserve Fund. The Security Board would collect the taxes each year, use a small part of it to pay the pensions and put the rest in the "Fund." That is, it would lend it to the Treasury and the Treasury would then spend it for any purpose it had in mind. At the end of 40 years, Roosevelt was told, this money could be used to pay off the national debt."
This was sixty-five years ago, and of course, the deceit of Social Security allowed the accumulation of ever more debt, rather than the retirement of it, and the creation of an enormous "off-budget" slush fund. Carlo's scheme lasted less than a year, and was exposed by his own PR man. The government's Ponzi scheme has lasted through good times and bad, for more than half a century. This suggests that while Carlo Ponzi's brilliance lay in the creation of ingenious frauds, perhaps he should have plied his talents as a politician, where he would have been able to fleece his victims legally.
If only Tony had not taken Carlo up on his offer. Nevertheless, he did. Moreover, the next day, so did Carlo's friend Guiseppe. Therefore, ninety days later, true to his word, Carlo met with Tony and presented him with his $30. Perhaps like most of us, Tony let his worst half get the better of him and told Carlo, "What the hell, keep it and give me another 50 percent interest in ninety days." The Ponzi scheme was born. Guiseppe, the second-generation sucker, subsidized Tony, the first.
Before young Carlo Ponzi pioneered in financial chicanery, he had already lead an interesting--and criminal, to anyone who should have bothered to check--life. Immigrating from Italy at the age of 17, Carlo soon found an alternative to dishwashing and waiting on tables: he would assist his fellow Italian immigrants in sending money back to the home country. However, when it was discovered that Carlo was pocketing a generous portion of the funds, he was sentenced to three years in prison.
Perhaps illustrating the observation that government incarceration simply educates more criminals, instead of learning a lesson from his imprisonment, Carlo, once released, began plying his entrepreneurial skills smuggling Italian immigrants into the U.S. from Canada. Nabbed again, Carlo was off to prison for another three years. Setting his mind on going straight, Carlo then moved to Boston and found a job as a $16-aweek clerk. Soon thereafter he met and married Rose Guecco, seeing her as someone willing to take a two-time loser, and Rose had faith that her Carlo would one day rise to the $25-a-week pay bracket.
Now around this time, the "war to end all wars" was ending in Europe, and the boom of the roaring twenties was just beginning. Wages were rising and malinvestment was charging ahead, driving an emerging speculative investing craze. And Carlo knew he didn't like working for a living; watching his neighbours trudge home day after day from work as he sat on his Boston stoop only further convinced him that he needed a scheme to get ahead. He thought and thought on that stoop, and, as we know, Carlo came up with quite a scheme. With the success he experienced with Tony and Guiseppe, Carlo started Securities Exchange Company at 27 School Street in Boston the day after Christmas 1919. Advertising a 50-percent return in ninety days, money from investors large and small poured in. With all this money pouring in, Carlo had to figure out a plausible explanation for how he could pay 50percent interest in ninety days when no place in the world paid that much. However, Carlo's ingenuity for frauds came through again.
He told investors that he had a network of agents in Europe that purchased depreciated European currencies, converting the currencies into international postal coupons, which were then redeemed at face value in the United States in US dollars. Carlo claimed all the high rollers were doing it, the Rockefellers, J.P. Morgan Jr, everybody. But Saint Carlo instead was sharing the wealth and helping the common man (while helping himself of course). Redistributing their money was more like it.
Every day, tens of thousands of dollars were deposited with Carlo's tellers. Outside the building, crowds lined up, waiting to invest. Every day, Carlo would arrive at work in his chauffeur-driven limousine. The key to the entire scheme continued to work its magic, as the deposit counters were usually a swarm of activity, and the withdrawal counters were practically deserted. As the deposits grew and grew, Carlo even opened branch offices, eventually totalling thirty-five. He also used some of the deposits to purchase two actual businesses, Hanover Trust Co. and J.P. Poole Co. Carlo even found time in his busy schedule to buy his wife a mansion.
It was not long however, before Carlo's claims attracted attention from the wrong people. In a few short months, he had transformed himself from a mere clerk to a veritable financial wizard, he and Rose were swaddled in luxury, and anyone who wanted to cash in immediately received their deposit with interest, no questions asked. Carlo's success invited scrutiny. The U.S. Postal authorities advised the federal government that Carlo's given explanation for how the Securities Exchange Company conducted its "investments" could not possibly work. However, since the federal government operates on its own concept of time, it was not until months later that the feds conducted an official audit of Carlo's operation.
Moreover, as news of the audit hit the street, the whiff of insecurity began to work its magic, creating a run on the Securities Exchange Company. However, it seemed as though Carlo had an inexhaustible supply of cash: all of the investors who lined up to withdraw their deposit, each received their cash plus 50 percent. As the audit progressed, the auditors were stumped. The company kept meticulous records of all deposits and withdrawals. No one was being cheated, and no law had been broken. The only thing that they could not find was how the company made its fantastic profits. When asked, Carlo indignantly replied that that was a company secret.
The feds responded to this by placing a restraining order on the company, prohibiting it from accepting any further deposits while the investigation was proceeding. Carlo, glimpsing impending doom, hired the wellrespected William McMaster to handle public relations until the investigation blew over. This move did not turn out so well for our friend Carlo. Shortly after being hired, McMaster issued a statement to the press that the Securities Exchange Company had never conducted even a single foreign financial transaction.
Again, investors created a run on Carlo's company, and once again, Carlo appeared to weather the storm, even serving coffee and donuts to depositors as they waited. But eventually the toll of the investigation and revelations took their course, and more and more investors showed up to withdraw their money, until eventually the money ran out. On August 9, 1920, Carlo's bank issued a statement that it could no longer honour checks from the Securities Exchange Company. Two days later, Carlo's criminal record was released to the public.
Panic now gripped those investors who held back, and Carlo feared for his life. He asked for and received police protection. One by one, his assets were seized. First to go were Rose's mansion and their three luxury cars. Then Hanover Trust and J.P. Poole. As the investigation progressed, investigators discovered that Carlo at his height had 40,000 investors, and the total take was nearly $15 million, and this was back when hotdogs cost a nickel. On October 21, 1920, Carlo, now penniless, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for embezzlement. Released in 1924 and faced with further charges, he was once again imprisoned, this time for nine years. It was obvious to Carlo that his frauds had not worked out exactly as planned.
Out of jail again in 1934, Carlo was deported to Italy, where, sizing up a sucker if he ever saw one, he quickly offered his services to Mussolini. Once hired, Carlo dispelled any confidence in his claim to be any sort of financial wizard and was soon dismissed by Il Duce. Carlo next turned up with an Italian airline and was sent to Rio de Janeiro. Carlo had no sooner than arrived to take up his new duties when the airline abruptly folded. Stranded in Rio, Carlo Ponzi would end his days penniless, nearly blind, and partially paralysed. He died in a charity ward in Brazil in 1949.
As we all know, however, this would not be the end of the Ponzi scheme. Carlo Ponzi's spirit, if not his ghost, would live on under the tutelage of not the marketplace, but the state. Though Ponzi's great reputation as a financial wizard was tarnished and tattered, other men would come along to claim his mantle. Instead of falling into obscurity, the criminal scheme of a poor boy from Italy would be institutionalised as a system of deceit and privilege and thereby expanded into a racket the size and scope of which, with ingenious and elaborate rationalizations, not to mention decades-long duration, Carlo Ponzi surely couldn't have dared imagine.
The Social Security Act was ostensibly a fund to pay pensions, but it doubled as a hidden tax to fund a Treasury reserve fund for cloaking tax increases and higher government spending. Contributors to Social Security do not receive the returns from the money they paid into the "fund" in the past. Rather, just as in a Ponzi scheme, they are paid from the funds of current contributors (taxpayers), and these taxpayers will in turn be paid from the taxes paid by the generation that follows them. In other words, its purpose is the redistribution of income, not investment toward the production of new wealth.
The temptation to consume today what is due tomorrow is irresistible to politicians. Tax money is always spent. The essential deceits that lay behind Social Security are of course even more evident today. The socalled budget surpluses of the Clinton '90s exist solely as an accounting shell game in which surplus revenues generated from Social Security taxes are deposited with the U.S. Treasury and included as part of the general tax-revenue fund. In return, the Treasury then issues IOU's to the wildly misnamed Social Security Trust Fund. The IOU's are not included as liabilities in the federal debt, and are not included in the official U.S. budget.
A keen observer of FDR was John T. Flynn, who described Social Security's racketeering design. "The plan was to make the payroll tax big enough to pay the benefits, plus enough more to create a so-called reserve of $47 billion in 40 years. It was given the fraudulent name of Old-Age Reserve Fund. The Security Board would collect the taxes each year, use a small part of it to pay the pensions and put the rest in the "Fund." That is, it would lend it to the Treasury and the Treasury would then spend it for any purpose it had in mind. At the end of 40 years, Roosevelt was told, this money could be used to pay off the national debt."
This was sixty-five years ago, and of course, the deceit of Social Security allowed the accumulation of ever more debt, rather than the retirement of it, and the creation of an enormous "off-budget" slush fund. Carlo's scheme lasted less than a year, and was exposed by his own PR man. The government's Ponzi scheme has lasted through good times and bad, for more than half a century. This suggests that while Carlo Ponzi's brilliance lay in the creation of ingenious frauds, perhaps he should have plied his talents as a politician, where he would have been able to fleece his victims legally.
Saturday, 16 June 2007
Penjelasan ringkas tentang e-gold
E-gold adalah emas yang disirkulasikan secara elektronik via internet। Konsepnya: Perusahaan e-gold Ltd., menyimpan emas dalam suatu tempat (vault) yang mana emas tersebut dipergunakan sebagai cadangan yang menopang emas yang diedarkan oleh e-gold Ltd. melalu internet. Nilai emas yang disimpan di e-gold adalah dalam berat emas. Yang mana dari waktu ke waktu bisa berubah seiring dengan perubahan harga emas internasional. Manfaat dari e-gold antara lain:
- Berbelanja online, misalnya di: goldstores।com
- Menyimpan emas secara praktis dan efisien,
- Melakukan pembayaran dari orang ke orang,
- E-commerce,
- Payroll,
- Membayar tagihan,
- Menyumbang,
- Spekulasi/trading
Disadur dari : http://greatachiever.com/hyip.html
Jika Anda berminat untuk memiliki rekening e-gold secara gratis, silakan kunjungi:
https://www.e-gold.com/e-gold.asp?cid=4512231
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
फॉर थे नेव वन ओं
HYIP Monitors - What's real and what's not in the hyip world
Hyip montitors or hyip rating sites are sites where owners of hyip programs spend a little money in order to place their program in the hyip listings. The Hyip Monitor administrator then spends the money back in the program and communicates to the site visitors the performance of the program.
After a placement is made in the monitor, the listing will display a Waiting sign that tells if the hyip invest sites are paying or not. This means that the monitor admin is waiting to see if the hyip program delivers the payment. After the first Payment, the sign will change to Paying.
When there is something wrong with the program the sign will change to Problem. At this point in time it is advisable not to become an investor of any given hyip program.
Usually the Hyip Monitor will perform a little bit of due dilligence to help investors make an informed decision.
Beware: Hyips investments are supposed to be a fasttrack to generating
Picked From: http://business-blog1.spaces.live.com/
After a placement is made in the monitor, the listing will display a Waiting sign that tells if the hyip invest sites are paying or not. This means that the monitor admin is waiting to see if the hyip program delivers the payment. After the first Payment, the sign will change to Paying.
When there is something wrong with the program the sign will change to Problem. At this point in time it is advisable not to become an investor of any given hyip program.
Usually the Hyip Monitor will perform a little bit of due dilligence to help investors make an informed decision.
Beware: Hyips investments are supposed to be a fasttrack to generating
Picked From: http://business-blog1.spaces.live.com/
Scam Hyips
Most High Yield Investment Programs do not survive for very long , turning out to be a scam. Scam HYIPs are Ponzi schemes.A Ponzi scheme is an investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns ("profits") to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by any real business.This approach allows the scam to continue as long as new investors are found and/or old investors leave their money in the scheme, known as compounding (because even higher profits are promised).
Picked From: http://business-blog1.spaces.live.com/
Picked From: http://business-blog1.spaces.live.com/
Monday, 11 June 2007
Mengamankan E-gold
Berbagai cara dilakukan oleh hacker untuk berusaha menguasai dan mengurasi isi rekening e-gold Anda. Berikut ini adalah berbagai cara untuk melindungi e-gold Anda:
1. Gunakan komputer pribadi, jangan meminjamkan komputer kepada orang lain, tanpa pengawasan Anda.
2. Gunakanlah min 15 kombinasi huruf (besar dan kecil), angka dan tanda baca untuk passphrase e-gold Anda. Jangan gunakan passphrase yg mudah ditebak spt nama, tgl ulang tahun, dsb.
3. Biasakan menulis passphrase dengan SRK.
4. Jangan simpan passphrase di harddisk, anda bisa menulis di kertas misalnya.
5. Ganti passphrase 1 minggu sekali.
6. Selalu login dari bookmark/favourite browser Anda. Pastikan: https://www.e-gold.com/acct/login.html
7. Jangan pernah Anda login dari link yang diberikan oleh e-mail, walaupun e-mail tersebut seolah-olah datangnya dari e-gold. E-gold.com tidak pernah mengirimkan e-mail berisi link kepada Anda.
8. Hindarilah untuk login e-gold dari tempat public, misalnya warnet, dsb. Pastikan Anda menggunakan SRK dan mengganti passphrase Anda, jika Anda harus akses rekening e- gold Anda dari tempat umum.
9. Sentinel (Accent PIN) di setting ke high (detect IP change) dan enable (browser change)
10. Bila anda melakukan spend e-gold dari web lain (misal web HYIP), pastikan url dimulai dengan https dan simbol gembok terkunci (secure).
11. Pastikan Anda menggunakan operating system, seperti Win-XP, yg ASLI (Original).
12. Install anti spyware dan anti virus di komputer (no crack software)
13. Jika memungkinkan aktifkan Firewall
14. Autoupdate antispyware, antivirus, dan windows anda.
15. Scan spyware dan virus minimal seminggu sekali (full scan)
16. Selalu log out setelah mengakses account anda.
17. Jangan mengunjungi situs yg aneh2 spt porno, crack, mp3, dsb.
18. jika Anda curiga komputer anda terkena virus, jangan segan-segan untuk melakukan full format!
Disadur dari Http://www.greatachiever.com/ by Mr. Fernandus AG
Berbagai cara dilakukan oleh hacker untuk berusaha menguasai dan mengurasi isi rekening e-gold Anda. Berikut ini adalah berbagai cara untuk melindungi e-gold Anda:
1. Gunakan komputer pribadi, jangan meminjamkan komputer kepada orang lain, tanpa pengawasan Anda.
2. Gunakanlah min 15 kombinasi huruf (besar dan kecil), angka dan tanda baca untuk passphrase e-gold Anda. Jangan gunakan passphrase yg mudah ditebak spt nama, tgl ulang tahun, dsb.
3. Biasakan menulis passphrase dengan SRK.
4. Jangan simpan passphrase di harddisk, anda bisa menulis di kertas misalnya.
5. Ganti passphrase 1 minggu sekali.
6. Selalu login dari bookmark/favourite browser Anda. Pastikan: https://www.e-gold.com/acct/login.html
7. Jangan pernah Anda login dari link yang diberikan oleh e-mail, walaupun e-mail tersebut seolah-olah datangnya dari e-gold. E-gold.com tidak pernah mengirimkan e-mail berisi link kepada Anda.
8. Hindarilah untuk login e-gold dari tempat public, misalnya warnet, dsb. Pastikan Anda menggunakan SRK dan mengganti passphrase Anda, jika Anda harus akses rekening e- gold Anda dari tempat umum.
9. Sentinel (Accent PIN) di setting ke high (detect IP change) dan enable (browser change)
10. Bila anda melakukan spend e-gold dari web lain (misal web HYIP), pastikan url dimulai dengan https dan simbol gembok terkunci (secure).
11. Pastikan Anda menggunakan operating system, seperti Win-XP, yg ASLI (Original).
12. Install anti spyware dan anti virus di komputer (no crack software)
13. Jika memungkinkan aktifkan Firewall
14. Autoupdate antispyware, antivirus, dan windows anda.
15. Scan spyware dan virus minimal seminggu sekali (full scan)
16. Selalu log out setelah mengakses account anda.
17. Jangan mengunjungi situs yg aneh2 spt porno, crack, mp3, dsb.
18. jika Anda curiga komputer anda terkena virus, jangan segan-segan untuk melakukan full format!
Disadur dari Http://www.greatachiever.com/ by Mr. Fernandus AG
Friday, 1 June 2007
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