-NiE ,
ADVANCED Honesty
WHAT is a scam? A scam is a dishonest plan, usually to get money without offering anything in return. Scammers (people who carry out the scams) look for effortless ways to get something of value in the easiest ways. How do scams start? The scammer gathers some public information about a person. Sometimes, these types of information (like your name and address) can be found from a telephone book, for example. At other times, such information can be taken from business cards. The scammer then checks records to see who owns houses and where the person lives. The scammer tries to trick a person into buying some unnecessary products.
Critical thinking ● Measure
Creative thinking ● Imagine ● Brainstorm
11
Digital deception
NiE Activity 1 ● Identify ● Reason
23 AUGUST 2017
● Connect
Good food!
There are many types of scams out there. Here are a few:
Fake prizes, lottery scams, free gifts
Read these headlines about people who have fallen prey to scams. Their plights have appeared in The Star. If applicable, which categories would they fall under? Discuss your opinions in groups of four.
Internet merchandise
Type of scam
Twice entangled by scams Clerk lured into taking personal loans to pay processing fee for a ‘financial gift’ Money game scourge Poor wealth management experiences fuel money games
Online dating
Housewife poorer after falling for love scam
Phone scams
Woman loses RM32,500 to parcel scam AirAsia warns of ticket scams
Loan scams
On the receiving end of scams A glimpse at con jobs in Malaysia with call from unknown number and suspicious invitation
NiE Activity 2 Critical thinking ● Identify ● Reason
● Measure ● Organise
● Imagine ● Connect ● Brainstorm ● Invent
Communicating ● Oral ● Written
● Aural
Problem solving
Creative thinking
● Question ● Recreate ● Research ● Present
Collaborating ● Listen
● Compromise
● Contribute respectfully
● Attain goal
In December last year, Edgar M. Welch, a 28-yearold father of two, read online that Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in Washington, the United States, was harbouring children as sex slaves as part of a child abuse ring led by Hillary Clinton. The allegations were widespread across the web, Twitter and Facebook. The concerned father drove six hours from his home, arrived at the pizza restaurant and fired an assault rifle in the restaurant. Fortunately, no one was hurt in
the incident. As social media takes centre stage in our lives, we are bombarded with information overload. Do you believe everything you read on the Internet or on social media? Discuss these questions as a class: 1. How do you get your news? 2. If you get it from social media, can you name the sources where the information comes from? 3. What have you heard about fake news? Why are people concerned about it?
Read this article that appeared in The Star on June 14, 2017.
No, there’s no plastic in rice pack, says ministry JOHOR BARU: There is no fake rice in Johor as an analysis on a Thai fragrant rice brand available in hypermarkets here found no foreign element as alleged. Johor Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism
Would you have believed that fake rice was being sold at the hypermarket? How would you evaluate the facts? In groups of four, discuss the questions in this table. Next, share answers as a class.
Ministry (KPDNKK) director Khairul Anwar Bachok said the ministry took three samples of the rice for analysis following a 60-year-old man’s claim about buying “plastic-smelling” rice from a Kulai hypermarket. He said after the man’s claim went viral on social media, enforcement personnel collected samples of the rice from
Am I using a trusted website?
the hypermarket chain on June 7. Samples of the Thai fragrant rice from its 5kg and 10kg packs as well as rice from the brand’s packing factory in Jitra, Kedah, were sent to the Johor Baru Chemistry Department for tests and the results showed that there was no trace of plastic in the rice, he said.
Am I getting my news from Can I source for information What are some trusted a trusted newspaper or from a trusted sites I can verify this magazine? organisation? information from?
Who are some trusted people I can go to?
Had a story on fake rice been written and circulated, what impact do you think this story would have had on society? What steps should the government, media outlets and individuals take to address the problem? Write an essay exploring the issue of fake news. Support your essay with points taken from the class discussion, as well as the article on “fake rice”.