Suspicious iTunes charges on credit cards

Wayne Chan | 13 Mar, 2012 6:00 AM
SINGAPORE - At least six people have reported suspicious transactions charged to their credit cards through the App Store portal on iTunes.

They suspect that their iTunes accounts had been hacked into and their credit card information had been compromised.

One customer reported unauthorised transactions of up to S$7,000.

The six, who spoke to Channel NewsAsia, are customers of several banks, including DBS Bank, UOB, Standard Chartered and Citibank.

One of them, Ms Ong, was shocked to see S$266 charged to her credit card last month for purchases made through the App Store.

She had not made any purchases in two years.

Ms Ong said she had contacted her bank and it is now conducting an investigation.

UOB said it had investigated the unauthorised transactions and reimbursed the full amount to its customers.

Citibank said it was investigating the matter and providing assistance to the customers who contacted them.

DBS, Citibank and Standard Chartered also advised their customers to check their credit card statements for discrepancies and to report any suspicious activity.

Mr Ngair Teow Hin, chairman of the Security and Governance Chapter at the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation, said customers usually receive an email appearing to originate from Apple.com when their iTunes accounts are hacked.

By clicking on the link in the email and keying in their Apple ID, consumers unknowingly allow hackers access to their accounts, he said. Wayne Chan And Seet Sok Hwee


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Myanmar democracy leader's struggle debuts on film

Tue, Sep 13, 2011 | AFP



TORONTO - Myanmar's revered pro-democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is now also a movie protagonist after Luc Besson's "The Lady" premiered on Monday at the Toronto film festival.

The French director crafted a tender story of love and family tragedy, reaching beyond the political struggle by using private files obtained through sources close to Suu Kyi, her late British husband, and their two sons.

Suu Kyi returned to the country formerly known as Burma from Oxford in 1988 due to her mother's worsening health, launching a life in the political spotlight followed by the darkness of house arrest ordered by a military junta.

She would not see her husband Michael Aris again, as the junta refused to grant him an entry visa and she knew that if she left Myanmar she would never be allowed back. Aris eventually died of prostate cancer in 1999.

"No matter what, Aung San Suu Kyi is immortal," said Besson, of the opposition icon who was released by the junta in November 2010 after seven straight years of house arrest.

"There are thousands and thousands of people who give their life for their country and for democracy.

"And you don't ask yourself, 'Is it going to work? Are we going to win the war? Are we going to win democracy? You just fight," Besson added.

The daughter of a revolutionary general assassinated when she was only two years old and still revered by the population for leading Myanmar's fight for independence, Suu Kyi was called upon to lead the nation out from under the shadow of military dictatorship.

"The Lady," as she is affectionately known, picks up her story upon the return to Myanmar, chronicling her non-violent fight for democracy as protests erupted against the ruling generals only to be brutally crushed.

She delivered speeches to hundreds of thousands at Yangon's glittering Shwedagon Pagoda and took on a leading role in the opposition movement as head of the National League for Democracy.

Her popularity culminated in a 1990 election victory for the party, but the NLD were never allowed to take power and Suu Kyi has spent most of the past two decades under house arrest.

"I lived and breathed her every day for the last four years," said Michelle Yeoh, who embodies Suu Kyi's tranquil defiance in the film.

The Malaysian actress read the books she read and studied her heroes, including India's Mohandas Gandhi.

She also set out to learn to speak the language without a foreign accent, which was challenging because "there's no pause in the language, it's like a song, a melody that just goes on."

"When (Suu Kyi) went back to Burma, that was actually one of her biggest fears, that her Burmese sounded a little foreign because she'd spent 16 years abroad. So a little bit of an accent would probably have been okay (for me)."

During filming, Yeoh spent two days with Suu Kyi at her home in Yangon.

"She held out her arms and gave me the biggest hug," said Yeoh. "She's very slender but not for a moment do you feel that this is a very fragile woman on the verge of collapse. There was great strength."

Yeoh described her as disarming, with a great sense of humor, and "she moved very quickly. She had this amazing energy. I thought she would be very Zen, that she would float across the room. You could feel her energy."

"We never spoke about the film because in no way did we want to put her in danger," Yeoh added.

Screenwriter Rebecca Frayn said it took years to secure the trust of Suu Kyi's confidants and gain material for the script.

"Her husband Michael Aris (played by David Thewlis) had worked very discretely in support of his wife, so it was very difficult to get insight into what he'd actually done on her behalf," she said.

And because of the delicate situation in Myanmar, many people who helped to make the film asked not to be credited, fearing repercussions.

Besson shot the movie in Thailand near its border with Myanmar, as well as secretly in Myanmar itself, and used footage shot by pro-democracy activists.

He recalled shooting a scene recreating Suu Kyi's speech at Shwedagon, the rally in which she is most commonly depicted, with 15 members of the NLD movement in their 60s on stage with Yeoh.

"Three of four of them were crying," he said, because 20 years earlier they had been in the crowd watching Suu Kyi herself give the speech and said to him, "I'm very touched to be next to her today.

"That question, is it worth it to fight for something? I think it's worth it," he said.

Ref:Asiaone
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Kiasu mums now tag along on dates and even follow kids to parties

Posted on 11 Sep 2011



Some Singaporean mothers believe that hanging out with their kids is a good way to bond with them and ensure that they are safe at the same time. But STOMPer Mummy's Boy wonders if these parents are being too over-protective.

When a 13-year-old boy was found dead recently, after running away from home, many netizens became concerned about the safety of children when they stay out late at night.

The boy, Zhang Zekai, had been playing computer games at an Internet cafe when he got into a fight with two 16-year-old boys and died after losing his balance and hit his head on the ground.

While some criticise parents for not paying more attention to their kids, some Singaporean mothers believe the old way of upbringing may not work anymore.

In a report in The New Paper today (Sep 11), four mothers share how they bond with their kids -- they tag along on their kids' dates, accompany their kids to LAN gaming centres late at night, and two of them even take their kids to a Thai disco.

Ms Anne Chua, a 48-year-old entrepreneur, has been on most of her daughter Jenevieve Woon's dates with boys since the 17-year-old started dating last December.

Jenevieve said: Sometimes we go on double dates with my brother and his girlfriend. My mum knows my boyfriend and also my brother's girlfriend well, so we don't feel weird having her around."

Madam Alice Lee and Madam Marie Lim, on the other hand, took their sons, Amos Chung and Eugene Tay, to a Thai disco at Golden Mile Complex.

Madam Lim said: "Since he (her son Eugene) has reached the legal age to go clubbing, I wanted to let him experience it."

And when 10-year-old Erwin Nair asked his mother if he could go to a LAN gaming centre at 4am, instead of saying 'No', she decided to take him there to see what the attraction was about.

She said: "My children always wanted to go out late at night. They said that things are more exciting during that time. So I decided to explore things with them at night and see for myself what is so exciting."

STOMPer Mummy's Boy, who read the article, said:

"I think what these mum are doing for their kids is really cool, but I also wonder why they have to be so kiasu.

"I can't imagine my parents tagging along on my dates. Maybe as a girl it's ok. But being a guy, it's so weird!"