Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Notify authorities
of ‘Nigeria scam’Question: I received one of those e-mail requests for transferring money, but it was not from Nigeria, it was from the Congo.
I read somewhere there was an address for reporting this scam. Can you tell me what that is?
Answer: The U.S. Secret Service is the agency that investigates the so-called "Nigeria scam," which has expanded into scams originating from other nations as well, including the Congo, Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast.
Instead of letters, the favored mode of solicitation these days is e-mail.
Despite repeated warnings from officials over the years, some people apparently are still falling for the scams, prompting the continued bombardment of the bogus letters and e-mails to individuals and businesses.
If you receive one of these "urgent" and "confidential" solicitations, you're advised not to respond. According to the Better Business Bureau, U.S. citizens or residents should label a bogus letter "no financial loss -- for your database" and fax it to the U.S. Secret Service Task Force handling Nigerian scam cases at 202-406-6930. You should forward scam e-mails to the task force at 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov.
419 refers to the part of the Nigerian law that deals with advanced fee fraud.
Tour guide certification
In addition to a basic 40-hour tour guide course mentioned in the Sept. 25 "Kokua Line," the former Tourism Training Council (part of the state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations' former Commission on Employment & Human Resources) also has developed an advanced tour guide program.Both training programs were turned over to Kapiolani Community College many years ago to be offered in the community service education and training programs of all community colleges in Hawaii, according to Sybil Kyi, executive director of the Workforce Development Council (previously known as the Commission on Employment & Human Resources).
The basic tour guide training is offered by all community colleges, and can also be given within tour companies by senior and "certificated" guides. However, certificates and pins are given only through the colleges that administer the testing program, Kyi said.
Certified guides are given a special pin to wear on their shirt lapels, while tour companies who have 100 percent of their guides certified are given a seal of recognition to display on their buses and to use in advertising.
Although the advanced tour guide training should also be offered by all community colleges, it has not been actively promoted in the last two years.
An eco-tourism training manual also has been developed, and Kaleo Patterson, consulting director for the "Interpret Hawaii" program at Kapiolani Community College, was informed of its availability and will obtain this additional training resource from the Hawaii Eco-Tourism Council, Kyi said.
"Hawaii is the only state in the United States that has a 'certificated' tour guide program, which is testimony to the value we place on quality service to our visitors," she said.
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Useful phone numbers
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com