Latest news with #218
The Star
25-07-2025
- The Star
US officials: US$17mil lost in ATM scam that spread on TikTok
NEW YORK: It took less than three days for US$17mil (RM 71.71mil) to disappear from ATMs across New York in a scam that went viral on TikTok and that city officials say is linked to a youth jobs programme, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the matter. The withdrawals, using payment cards issued to thousands of young people in the programme, should have given users access to only that week's earnings – perhaps several hundred dollars at most. Instead, they opened a spigot of unlimited cash available in sums of US$10,000 (RM 42,185) , US$20,000 (RM 84,370) and even US$40,000 (RM 168,740) per ATM. There were as many as 30,000 cards issued to 14- to 24-year-olds who could not be paid via direct deposit. The fraudulent use, from July 11-13, is being investigated by the city agency that oversees the program and by the Police Department's Financial Crimes Task Force. Some of the young people in the programme were selling their cards for US$1,000 (RM4,218) apiece, according to the law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly about an active investigation. In videos on TikTok and Instagram around the time the scam was underway, some teenagers and adults boasted about it and encouraged people to sell their cards to them. 'We're making bread; we're printing money right now,' one man said in a video posted on TikTok. Referring to the jobs program, the Summer Youth Employment Program, he added: 'If you work SYEP, hit me up.' Other TikTok users warned people about falling for the 'SYEP scam'. A spokesperson for the agency that oversees the programme, the Department of Youth and Community Development, suggested in a statement that the young people whose cards had been used for illicit activity were victims of criminals who had exploited their naivete. 'We are deeply disturbed by scammers preying on our participants just as they started their work assignments to support themselves and their families,' the spokesperson, Mark Zustovich said. He also said no taxpayer funds had been lost to the fraud; it was not clear who would ultimately be responsible for absorbing the cost of the illicit withdrawals. Many elements of the scam remain unclear, including how it began, what made it possible, how many of the payment cards and ATMs were used, and who exactly made the withdrawals. Zustovich declined to comment on these specifics, including how much money had been taken. The jobs programme is the largest of its kind in the United States, with 100,000 participants this year. It offers young people, many from poor and minority families, what are often their first formal jobs and their first direct interaction with the financial system. Those enrolled in the programme are placed in various industries for six-week stints, with participants ages 16 to 24 paid the US$16.50 (RM69.60) minimum wage for up to 25 hours a week. Younger workers are paid less. About 70 community-based organisations operating under contracts with the city help place the young people in jobs. Participants with bank accounts are paid by direct deposit. Since 2003, those without bank accounts have received payment cards that can be taken to ATMs to obtain their earnings in cash. Roughly 30,000 were set up to be paid by card this year, according to the youth department. The fraud began on a Friday, city officials said. For many in the programme, it was their first payday ever. By that evening, companies that operate ATMs in the city began to get reports that their machines were being plundered, said Youssef Mubarez, chief operating officer of one such company, ATM World Corp. 'Students or other people who had the card just started going to ATMs and pulling out unlimited loads of cash, 10, 15, 20,000 dollars at a time,' he said. He noted that because of withdrawal limits, the money was taken out US$200 (RM843) at time. In at least one instance, he said, the withdrawals went on for an hour straight, with the owner of the store with the ATM oblivious to what was going on. His company estimates that US$400,000 (RM 1.68mil) was taken from its machines, including US$43,000 (RM 181,395) taken from one. The fraudulent activity surged the next night, Mubarez said. By early that Sunday, the cards had been deactivated, and the scam had been halted, the youth department said. In his statement, Zustovich said that this year, as in previous years, part of the jobs programme involved teaching participants financial literacy. In a series of Instagram posts, the department warned participants to beware of scams. 'Keep Your SYEP Money Safe!' the post said. 'Protect Your SYEP Card & Personal Information.' The messages were posted July 14, the day after the scam had been stopped. – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
City officials say sewer rate protest letters must follow state guidelines
City officials are notifying Bakersfield residents that letters protesting a controversial proposal to increase sewer rate must follow certain requirements under state law. Residents are organizing against the proposal but some information circulating in online forums is incorrect, city officials said. They are warning that only protest letters with the appropriate information will be accepted. City officials said they've received a number of emails regarding the rate increase but that state law requires certain steps for official submissions. "It needs to have a wet signature," said Evette Roldan, the city's wastewater manager, referring to a handwritten signature. "You can't have a photocopy, can't email it in, can't be an electronic submission. That sort of thing," Roldan said. "Coming to the council meeting, just speaking at the council meeting doesn't count as a protest." Letters notifying residents of the proposed increase were sent out April 11 under a state law known as Proposition 218 that requires jurisdictions to notify constituents. Under Prop. 218, if a jurisdiction receives protest letters from more than 50% of the impacted residents, the increase can't be enacted. In order to qualify as an official protest, letters must include an original or "wet" signature, the property address, the property parcel number and the name of the property owner. Protests for multiple properties owned by a single person can be included in one letter, but they must include the address and parcel number of each property. Letters do not have to state a reason for the opposition. Address parcel numbers can be found using the Assessor Property Search function on the Kern County Record Assessor's office website at Because letters must be signed in-person by the property owner, letters must either be hand-delivered to the clerk's office or sent by mail. Emailed copies of protest letters, including photos of signed letters, are not acceptable, nor are electronic signatures. Letters may be submitted to the city clerk at Bakersfield City Council meetings. Any such letters must be submitted to the city clerk before the end of the public hearing scheduled for May 28. Bakersfield residents are looking at a more than 300% increase in their sewer rates, raising the annual fee for a single-family home from $239 to $950. The increase is needed to cover what the city says is as much as $600 million in emergency upgrades, including a new treatment plant to replace the city's aging Plant 2 on Planz Road, originally built in 1958. The city council voted to send Prop. 218 notices after long deliberation at their March 26 meeting. The vote was split 3-2 with two members absent. If the city does not receive the requisite number of Prop. 218 protest letters, the proposed increase will still have to pass a vote of the city council. "Right now, it's basically out to vote in the public," Roldan said of the protest process. "If we receive 50% official, majority protests, it basically takes it away from the council. People (will) have spoken and they voted it down," Roldan said. "Absent the majority, it's a council vote." Angered by such a large increase so suddenly, several residents have expressed further frustration that instructions for submitting an official protest aren't clearer. "It doesn't say anything about whether it has to be handwritten or typed or whatnot. And the other thing is, it doesn't have a link to how to find your parcel number," said Johnny Olaguez, a resident who's trying to organize opposition to the increase. An unsuccessful candidate for the Ward 6 council seat last year, Olaguez posted a flier to social media calling on residents to attend the council's Wednesday meeting to give public comment on the increase. Olaguez said he plans to be there with pens and a stack of template letters to help people fill out their protests. "To have me jump through all these hoops to have to oppose this. I'm very knowledgeable and I know computers," Olaguez said. "But when you talk about, you know, grandma who's 80 years old living on fixed income. If you're going to have to go down to Kern County get her parcel number, write a letter, sign it, drop it off. That just seems like a little bit too much work."
New Straits Times
22-04-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
OCBC revises Brent forecast to US$67 per barrel, expects CPO at RM4,300 per tonne
KUALA LUMPUR: The escalating trade war will have an impact on global commodity prices, according to OCBC chief economist Selena Ling. The downward prices on Brent and WTI crudes since the start of the tariffs escalations has led OCBC to revise down its 2025 Brent oil forecast to US$67 per barrel from US$77, implying lower oil prices for the rest of the year. This is mainly on account of weaker demand and higher-than- expected supplies from the OPEC+ alliance. However, for crude palm oil, OCBC expect similar prices of RM4,300 per tonne in 2025 compared to RM4,218 per tonne in 2024. This reflects relatively stable supply conditions even as amid less certain demand outcomes and ongoing domestic policy changes namely for Indonesia's B40, Ling said at a press conference here today. She said the Malaysian economy entered the current period of global economic turbulence on strong footing. The economy grew a clip of 5.1 per cent year-on-year in 2024 and incoming data suggests resilient, albeit slightly moderating growth for for the first quarter, she added. "US President Donald Trump's tariff announcements have jolted economies into understanding that trading relationships will change substantially from the current status quo. "Importantly, no economy is off limits particularly if the US has a persistent trade deficit with it." Ling said the US has had a persistent trade deficit with Malaysia since as early as 2000 and was a cumulative US$24.8 billion in 2024. This contributed to a "discounted" reciprocal tariff calculation of 24% imposed on US imports from Malaysia effective April 5. The decision is paused for 90 days from April 9. Notwithstanding the outcome of its negotiations with the US, Ling said Malaysia's reciprocal tariff rate at 24 per cent is lower compared to regional peers such as Vietnam (46 per cent), Cambodia (49 per cent), Thailand (37 per cent) and Laos (48 per cent), allowing it to maintain its relative competitiveness for firms still geared to export to the US. Moreover, for firms that have adopted a "China +1" strategy, the relative attractiveness of Malaysia remains higher compared to China's 145 per cent tariff rate. "But this is not the end of tariff road for Malaysia. The exemptions of semiconductors and associated products has provided some temporary reprieve - about 46 per cent of Malaysia's exports to the US are still exempt from tariffs based on latest regulations as of April 14. "These include electronics and electrical appliances products, including electronic integrated circuits, photovoltaic cells, communication apparatus and automatic data processing machines." Importantly, she added, the Trump administration has not ruled out the imposition of semiconductor tariffs, which is a large overhang for the economy.
New Straits Times
22-04-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
OCBC revises down Brent oil forecast to US$67 per barrel, expects CPO at RM4,300 per tonne this year
KUALA LUMPUR: The escalating trade war will have an impact on global commodity prices, according to OCBC chief economist Selena Ling. The downward prices on Brent and WTI crudes since the start of the tariffs escalations has led OCBC to revise down its 2025 Brent oil forecast to US$67 per barrel from US$77, implying lower oil prices for the rest of the year. This is mainly on account of weaker demand and higher-than- expected supplies from the OPEC+ alliance. However, for crude palm oil, OCBC expect similar prices of RM4,300 per tonne in 2025 compared to RM4,218 per tonne in 2024. Featured Videos This reflects relatively stable supply conditions even as amid less certain demand outcomes and ongoing domestic policy changes namely for Indonesia's B40, Ling said at a press conference here today. She said the Malaysian economy entered the current period of global economic turbulence on strong footing. The economy grew a clip of 5.1 per cent year-on-year in 2024 and incoming data suggests resilient, albeit slightly moderating growth for for the first quarter, she added. "US President Donald Trump's tariff announcements have jolted economies into understanding that trading relationships will change substantially from the current status quo. "Importantly, no economy is off limits particularly if the US has a persistent trade deficit with it." Ling said the US has had a persistent trade deficit with Malaysia since as early as 2000 and was a cumulative US$24.8 billion in 2024. This contributed to a "discounted" reciprocal tariff calculation of 24% imposed on US imports from Malaysia effective April 5. The decision is paused for 90 days from April 9. Notwithstanding the outcome of its negotiations with the US, Ling said Malaysia's reciprocal tariff rate at 24 per cent is lower compared to regional peers such as Vietnam (46 per cent), Cambodia (49 per cent), Thailand (37 per cent) and Laos (48 per cent), allowing it to maintain its relative competitiveness for firms still geared to export to the US. Moreover, for firms that have adopted a "China +1" strategy, the relative attractiveness of Malaysia remains higher compared to China's 145 per cent tariff rate. "But this is not the end of tariff road for Malaysia. The exemptions of semiconductors and associated products has provided some temporary reprieve - about 46 per cent of Malaysia's exports to the US are still exempt from tariffs based on latest regulations as of April 14. "These include electronics and electrical appliances products, including electronic integrated circuits, photovoltaic cells, communication apparatus and automatic data processing machines." Importantly, she added, the Trump administration has not ruled out the imposition of semiconductor tariffs, which is a large overhang for the economy.
