Posts Tagged ‘illegal’

Vietnamese Timber Suppliers Learn About Lacey Act

November 12th, 2010

Revisions to the American Lacey Act are being taught to Vietnamese timber suppliers in special workshops. The change in the law hopes to crackdown on the imports of illegal timber into the US from Asian countries.

Vietnam is the largest importer of furniture to the US, which means it is important they fully understand the revisions to the Lacey Act, or they will risk breaking the law. The Lacey Act is a centuries old piece of US legislation which was initially created to prevent the transportation of illegally captured wildlife across state lines. It has now been adapted to include timber products, and is the first law of its kind to prohibit the import, sale or trade of illegally harvested wood. Both suppliers and importing companies will be liable for any failures on the legality of timber imported into the US.

The event in Hanoi was co-organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the WWF’s Global Forest and Trade Network with support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Major attention was given at the event to combating illegal timber trafficking which is a hot topic at the moment.

Ha Cong Tuan, the Vietnam Directorate of Forestry Deputy General Director, confirmed Vietnam’s plant to adapt to the EU Action Plan. The EU ruling which took place earlier this year will effectively criminalise illegal timber trading and oblige EU member states to impose financial penalties on operators. Their tough stance reflects the extent of the problem, as it is believed that around 40% of the world’s wood production comes from illegally logged forests, which damages both employment and the eco-system.

Vietnam is the largest trader in US furniture and aims to sustain and expand its share through better management of the timber trade. The country is set to make around $3 billion from furniture exports this year. Cooperating in tackling illegal logging will benefit Vietnamese producers, because as demand increases, Vietnam can gain market access by increasing its supply of legitimate timber products.

Visit the timber suppliers Oregon Canadian for a range of softwood timber products.


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So Called Debt Collector Scams Seventeen Victims Out Of Money

August 16th, 2010

A bill collector in Williamsville recently pleaded guilty to fooling a local bank in a fraud that caused his nearly two dozen victims to lose $440,000. Noah Schapiro, the man who ran the fraud was informed by the State Supreme Court that he will most likely face a prison term of six to twelve years and will that he will be forced to sign confessions of judgment for his whole scam to seventeen debt investors and the Citizens Bank.

Talking in a soft tone that caused the judge to tell him periodically to speak up, Schapiro pleaded guilty to grand larceny and scheme to defraud charges. Pending his March 22 sentencing, he was remanded.

Financial Crimes Prosecutor, Candace K. Vogel and the State Police Investigator Therese Schroeder informed the judge that the mastermind of the ploy, a former stock broker stole $388,168 from his victims ranging from March 2008 through September 2009. The victims, of course, had been promised big profits in his debt collections funds.

According to Vogel and Schroeder, Schapiro was convicted in 1998 of investment fraud and spent his investment funds either on himself or to pay off debts from the past from former investors he had taken for money before. Vogel told the judge that the bill collection scam was just “one big Ponzi scheme.”

She alleged that Schapiro pulled off a check “kiting” scam to defraud the bank between May twentieth, 2009, and June eleventh, 2008 by filling out checks to other business on a bank account from Citizens Bank that he knew did not have the funds to cover those checks.

Businesses that are looking to hire out potential third party bill collections agencies are able to prevent this fraud from occuring by taking the following precautions. Know the company you are working with, acquire the contact information, address, and name of the person in charge of accounts receivable. Ironically, pulling a credit report on this person can be of assistance as well.

Mallory Megan works for a credit collection agency. Kick off your recovery services with a collection letter. Also published at So Called Debt Collector Scams Seventeen Victims Out Of Money.


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Commercial Manipulation

August 5th, 2010

Statutory rape and similar laws are written to protect children from abuse by older, predatory partners, teenagers. Any sexual activity involving teens and children under the age of consent is considered rape, even when both partners are willing.

Teachers and school counselors, for example, are legally obligated to report child abuse, which includes underage sexual activity and molestation, to authorities or a family member may bring charges because he or she disapproves of the relationship.

Any sexual relations with any individual under the age of consent is a criminal offense and punishments could range from community service up to the death penalty. Legal action is only taken when the age gap between the couple is socially unacceptable or if the older individual is in a position of authority over a minor such as teachers, ministers, priests, doctors and so on.

Statutory rape and similar laws are written to protect children from abuse by older, predatory partners, teenagers. Any sexual activity involving teens and children under the age of consent is considered rape, even when both partners are willing.

There are also a number of other acts that are prohibited between an adult and a person younger than the age of consent such as showing pornography to a minor or entice a minor to engage in pornographic activities prior to the age of consent. Age of Consent not only applies to straight individuals and couples but homosexuals as well.

Sex traffickers use a variety of methods to “condition” their victims including starvation, confinement, beatings, physical abuse, rape, gang rape, threats of violence to the victims and the victims’ families, forced drug use and the threat of shaming their victims by revealing their activities to their family and their families’ friends.

Sex trafficking on the other hand is one of the biggest concerns within and outside the United States. Young people are recruited into prostitution through forced abduction, pressure from parents, or through deceptive agreements between parents and traffickers. These children generally come from homes where they have been abused, or from families that have abandoned them and often become involved in prostitution as a way to support themselves financially or to get the things they want or need.

Underage Exploitation Child Abuse This article, Commercial Manipulation is released under a creative commons attribution licence.


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From The Illegal To Legal In Mp3 Music Downloads

January 28th, 2010

Free Mp3 music downloads are not as free as you think. There is a lot of printed information online and telling which sites are fact and which are pure fiction isn’t easy. Everyone wants to pay less, or nothing, for what they want. But have you ever asked what is in the freebies for the web owner? Even if you were duped into believing you were on a legal free site, your actions are still held up as your own responsibility.

Some of the free sites are actually legitimate. However, those that are not are truly not worth your time or energy. You can usually tell that a site that offers free music downloads but has a small selection of songs is generally here today but gone tomorrow. They close the site once they have achieved their goal.

Free sites that are virus laden are more interested in gaining access to personal information. While they may only charge 50 bucks to your credit card, if they charge 50 bucks to everyone’s credit card they can walk away with thousands of dollars in stolen money.

Mp3 music downloads that you have to pay for are really not that expensive. While you’re busy trying to figure out what is true and untrue about the site you could have been busy doing your thing through a completely legal site. Most competitive sites will offer you good music for a good deal.

If you’re paying over a dollar for your Mp3 music downloads then you are certainly overpaying. You can find sites that are only charging half that. While a dollar per download really isn’t expensive, it’s a small charge to ensure that you are legal and protected.

Most paid sites will back up your purchases. This means if you’re storing your downloaded music on a drive that becomes compromised, you will still have access to the music you have previously paid for. While the entire process of restructuring and transferring the files is annoying, at the very least it is not costly.

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