Tea with AK71: Cheating our fellow human beings 101.

A few years ago, I was involved in a motor vehicle accident. A motorcyclist crashed into the side of my car but claimed that I crashed into him. It was also "fortunate" for him that he had an instant witness in a car behind my car. The witness also happened to be someone familiar with the ways of insurance claims. I was helpless.

I made a police report after the incident and called my insurance company. I was called to the Traffic Police headquarters days later to make another statement. Strangely, the police officer seemed to know that "witness" as he asked me if the person was of a certain height, built, looks and if he wore glasses. A regular visitor?

Well, in the end, I received a letter from the Traffic Police for a fine of $200 and was given 9 demerit points. I was devastated. My perfect driving record was ruined. But what could I do? Friends asked me to appeal but I just decided to let it go. Just hope that I would not have such bad luck again.

I also found out later from my car insurance company that they had to compensate the motorcyclist some $15K for a broken toe! I am sure the toe eventually healed.  It was an expensive experience as my car insurance premium shot up the following year plus the fact that I paid to repair the damage to the side of my car where the collision took place.

I was told by the car workshop mechanic that such "accidents" were on the rise then. He told me that the claims would usually involve the same few people and after a while, the Traffic Police would investigate and make arrests. Apparently, such scams were not new and happened many years before as well. Just "suay" (bad luck) for me.

Why the sudden melancholic flashback? Well, I was getting my daily dose of news and these were a couple of articles that made me wonder why are there such people in the world:

Liyana, 24, said she "cheated" hundreds of men by "selling" her seductive pictures on social networking sites like Tagged and Facebook. "Through my online profile, I openly offer massage services. However, those offers are actually fake. In a day, I can cheat five to six men. Before even meeting me, they are willing to bank in 100 ringgit (US$33) to 150 ringgit into my account," she said, adding she disappears or give excuses to the men after receiving the money.

Read article here.

The public should also be wary of “fake accidents” where a pedestrian would would claim to have been knocked over by a car and would then demand compensation from the driver.

Read article here.

As the Chinese saying goes: 防人之心不可无. We must always be wary of others.

Equities in USA and Europe to do better in 2011.

Dr. Marc Faber shares his latest views on global equities in this interview with CNBC Asia last month.



I think what we should realise is that equities in USA and Europe could outperform equities in emerging markets by simply having relatively smaller corrections. It does not necessarily mean that they would outperform on the upside, they could just be less dramatic on the downside. Now, that is sobering.

However, Dr. Marc Faber's advice is still to stay in equities and commodities as these are expected to do much better than bonds and cash in the next decade.

"I am very negative about the world, because I think that what caused the crisis in 2008 was excessive credit growth, excessive leverage in the system, and now the private sector is de-leveraging, but governments are printing money, and through huge fiscal deficits are creating even more debt growth. So in other words, what killed the economy is now being applied to revive the economy, and I think this will lead to a disaster. But if you think it through and you believe in the disaster scenario I'm envisioning, then you will be better off in equities and in commodities than in government bonds and cash."