In December 2013 I did an interview with Claire Noble on Northern Sound / Shannon Side radio about SEPA and its implications for Irish Business. With the proposed extension to the deadline announced in early January I spoke again with the Bottom Line as to what this means for small businesses and what the wider implications are as part of the National Payments Plan. Full interview can be heard here as part of the podcast of the programme.
SEPA and Its Implications for Irish Businesses
I recently did an Interview with Claire Noble on Northern Sound / Shannon Side radio on the upcoming implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area. Click the link below to listen the Podcast
Interview on SEPA from Northern Sound December 3rd 2013
By Simon Bell
Update 20th January – I have recently done a follow up Interview with Claire about the impacts of the proposed SEPA extension, the interview can be heard here
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Identify, Prevent and Deal with Mobile Premium Rate Scams (Part 2)
In my previous Blog I identified a number of premium rate scams that are occurring currently and claiming unsuspecting victims. In this part I’d like to present some tips on how falling victim can these can be prevented and avoided and in the case where they cannot be prevented or avoided what the best actions are that can be taken to deal with these.
To understand why it is important to take the necessary steps to prevent and avoid becoming victim of one of these scams it is first very important to understand what the true value of your mobile phone number actually is. Firstly consider the following, your mobile account (either pre-paid or billpay) is a means by which a financial charge can be levied against you (either by accruing a payment against a billed account or deprecating credit from a prepaid account.) It also takes very little to initiate a charge against this account, simply making a call or sending a text can initiate charges to enormous values voluntarily.
So what would my tips be to avoid this type of scam?
- Think about who you give your mobile number to and why they need it.
- If there is a competition that is free to enter bear in mind that if it looks too good to be true it probably is. IE why would a business offer a free trip to New York in return for free text to a number?
- Be aware of “phishing”
- Some scammers will get access to lists of numbers that they believe to be worthwhile and will hit these numbers with a variety of calls or messages to test if these numbers are still correct and accessible. If you get a call or text requiring a response from a number that you don’t recognise, ask yourself who might this be and why do they need me to do whatever it is.
- Be conscious of who you give your mobile number to (even in good faith)
- Recent hacking attacks on the operators of loyalty schemes whereby credit card details were obtained by hacking of a database should be a warning that your data is not always kept securely by all those that you provide it to. IE Does the local shop that you provide your mobile number to store it on a secure inaccessible location for would be hackers? I would suggest not!
- Think very carefully of what activity you have ever engaged in via SMS with a business or other entity.
- Having worked for a business that provided premium rate SMS connections for businesses to mobile network operators, I can say that in 99%+ of cases whereby a customer contested that they had engaged with an SMS shortcode they had indeed done so and the provider of these services will always have a record of this as per the operating licencing with the industry regulators.
So, having outlined some of the types of scams that are prevalent at the moment, and how to avoid them, what is the best course of action if you do find that you have fallen victim to one of these scams? The best possible action that can be taken in this kind of circumstance is to contact your mobile network operator directly for their advice, in the first instance they may be able to put a halt on any future charges (be warned they will not refund you in the vast majority of cases as generally you have had to take some action to initiate the charge in the first instance!), also they may also be able to block certain numbers and services having access to your account or their network. Lastly and as I have already mentioned, prevention is better than cure, think twice before you take any action with your mobile number, it is a means by which you can accrue charges, so let the common sense approach prevail!
By Simon Bell
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Identify, Prevent and Deal with Mobile Premium Rate Scams (Part 1)
Over the past number of months a number of friends and family have either fallen victim of or almost fallen victim of premium rate scams, either calls or SMS. These scams are becoming increasingly devious in their design and are increasingly outside the remit of the various controlling regulatory bodies in each jurisdiction. The challenge for most people is identifying these scams where they exist and understanding the kinds of risks that you can be exposed to in order to take the best course of action.
For the most part, inbound Premium Rate SMS and Calls are so heavily regulated by mobile regulators and the mobile networks in each jurisdiction that they are virtually a thing of the past. As a result, the vast majority of Premium Rate scams experienced currently require an action to be completed by the victim, thus they are completely avoidable yet have become so deviously complex that they are difficult to avoid.
So how do you identify these types of scams?
Unfortunately there are no hard and fast rules around this, and in order to avoid detection and increase the longevity (and thus the profitability) of the scams they tend to adapt and change regularly. I can simply share some of my professional and personal experiences in order to give some clues as to what they look like,
- Missed calls from numbers starting with 00 – these are typically numbers selected to look like local numbers whereby the victim will innocently dial the number back and it is a premium rate charged number. A good example of this was in mid 2013 where a number of Vodafone Ireland numbers received a missed call from a number starting 003587….. This look innocuous enough and indeed was selected to look like a Vodafone Ireland Prefix, however if you look closer you will notice that this is actually a Slovenian number(and in that case was a premium rate one) that carried a connection charge as well as a per second charge.
- Similarly texts from numbers structured like this are devised to generate a belief by the recipient that it is a local number whereby either a call back or a text back will invoke a premium rate charge. In the case of an SMS it may also act as a Premium Rate SMS opt-in which can lead to Premium Rate MT (Mobile Terminated) SMS….which are much more difficult to control the cost of what is received.
- Texts received with instructions like, Call Me Back, Text Me Back, You Have Won A Prize etc. Again these can be made to look like they are originated from a perfectly normal number can result in either opt-ins to Premium Rate MT SMS subscriptions or Premium Charged calls.
As I mention there are these and many more, but the key to protection from these types of schemes is vigilance and common sense in how you deal with these. In the next part of this blog I will highlight some measures that you can take to avoid becoming victim of these scams in the first instance and the appropriate steps to take should you fall victim of one…to see the next part of the blog click here
By Simon Bell
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Magic Hat #9 – Disturbingly Drinkable
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In the last year or so I have been slowly but surely working my way through the selection of English craft ales available in my local supermarket. On New Year’s Eve being away from my usual haunt for buying beer and really short on options unless I wanted a tray of mass produced industrial rubbish I made a grab for a six pack of Magic Hat #9 that was hiding on the top shelf starting to gather dust!
I’ll be honest, it was a move of a desperate man, not willing to compromise on gassy generic but what I did get a pleasant surprise. Magic Hat is something I had seen in the US previously, both in bars and in supermarkets but had never sampled, all I knew about it is that it wasn’t from the mega breweries and would probably be a bit of a risk, but it was New Year’s Eve and if it did turn out to be terrible I could always get a resolution from it not to drink it again!
So what is Magic Hat?
Well, that’s actually a good question. The bottle carries the tagline “Not Quite Pale Ale” and strangely as vague as that sounds it actually describes perfectly what it is all about.
Like a pale ale, it is what I would describe as lightly sparkling, not gassy like a lager and is actually quite pleasant to drink, even disturbingly easy to drink. However, unlike a pale ale it has a really smooth citrus fruit finish, rather like a wheat beer but not quite as intense or syrupy. The flavour is hard to place and I can only best describe it as like Apricot and Orange. I am not usually a fan of fruit flavoured beer but in this case I have to make an exception, the fruit finish is delicate and doesn’t overpower the beer but adds a little to the experience and I really didn’t notice the 6 bottles disappearing over the course of the evening.
It is a slightly cloudy dark gold colour and pours really nicely and tastes as good from the glass as it does from the bottle, my preference as a bloke who doesn’t want the bother of the washing up however is to go straight from the bottle!
The verdict?
As I said, my choice was a little limited at the time of purchase and given another choice I possibly would not have chosen Magic Hat, however, it was my good fortune that my hand was forced a little and that I didn’t miss out on this! The beer was a really pleasant drinking experience, lightly tinged with an Apricot finish and almost soft in terms of texture and importantly no ill effects the morning after despite the quantity consumed, bonus!
The Score?
I have to call it a very strong 4/5
Availability?
Unfortunately coverage seems to be a little patchy in Dublin, I haven’t been able to get it in my local area whatsoever but hopefully that will improve with time!
Price
I believe it was around €9.99 for 6 bottles which is a little on the pricey side for the quantity involved however given the general purpose it serves in terms of sociable drinking and certainly not unacceptable.
My recommendation?
Definitely a beer for a Saturday night in when you have time to appreciate its quirkiness in your own time. Worth a shot, if you can find it!
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Mr Bell’s Craft Beer Blog
What’s it all about?
After many years experience I have decided to collate some of my thoughts on the various beers I have been drinking. This blog is a collection of review of the various beers I have previously and am currently sampling. I am not a professional journalist or reviewer so the views and opinions expressed here are just that!
The reason for the blog is to keep a collected reflection on the various beers that I have tried. As a father of 2 toddlers and being no longer in my twenties, I have changed my drinking habits from a quantity focus to a quality focus….mostly because I am less able to deal with the hangovers, and I am hoping to use this blog to give some views on reviews on the various weird and wonderful beers I am trying.
My approach is to try to bring the wine tasters’ mentality to the world of beer drinking but without the associated snobbery…..call it beer appreciation…..or a gentleman’s beer blog! That said, what you won’t find on this blog is reviews of some of those mass produced generic beers from the global super-breweries, everyone knows about those & has an opinion on them so I won’t give you mine!
Greatly appreciate any views, comments, guest posts and especially any free samples you can provide!
Cheers!
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Audio Boo Interview with Paul O’Mahoney
I recently attended the Dublin Web Summit with work and gave an interview to Paul O’Mahoney on Sage One which is one of the products I manage for Sage Ireland.
Have a listen here
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1016095-sageone-simon-bell-his-cupcakes-websummit
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Online Payroll – A Simple & Cost Effective Small Business Solution
Online Payroll – A Simple & Cost Effective Small Business Solution http://ow.ly/dP0wJ
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Sage Shortlisted In Two Categories In The Dot Net Visionary Awards 2012
Sage Shortlisted In Two Categories In The Dot Net Visionary Awards 2012
http://ow.ly/dP3t3
simondbell 