Merry Amoy Christmas and Happy Monkey Year in Xiamen

 Warm greetings from Amoy!

We had quite a Christmas in Xiamen in 2015. They get livelier every year. Some of the buildings had gigantic Christmas decorations, some of my favorites being the gigantic Santa Clauses climbing ropes up the side of department store walls--like red-suited cat burglars. We were also very surprised to see a beautiful, nearly life-sized nativity scene on our busiest downtown main street (Zhongshan Rd.) A non-stop crowd ogled it, taking photos. Who’d have thought of this in mainland China when public nativity scenes are often banned even in the U.S.?

Lots of changes in 2016. Sue will be busier than ever with her English Corner, ladies’ studies, and teaching  And I’m not going to do TV work in 2016. I filmed 329 episodes in 2015, which on top of teaching, writing and everything else, was a bit much. This year, I hope to spend more time on  teaching, writing two books, one being “Off the Wall" (about our 27 years here, and published in Beijing), and one about the Hakka city of Longyan in West Fujian), and working more with XMU's part of the OneMBA program. I add a photo of our granddaughter, Kate, who just celebrated her first Christmas. Hard to believe she’ll be a year old in two months. We hope we can see her before she goes off to college! She’s becoming quite the little lady. Matt's already teaching her to play ukulele. He sent a video. What a grin when she strums it (Matt holding it for her, of course).

Enjoy Amoy!

Bill and Sue Brown

Dr. Bill's Amazon eBooks

"Discover Xiamen"

"Fujian Adventure"

Cartoon from my nightly TV program on Fujian's HXTV

Bill Brown Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com

8778413509 -- SCAM! (Phishing fraud ) Report to FTC!

Greetings from Amoy!

While in the U.S. recently, I got a robocall from  8778413509 saying "this call is in regards to the security software that we were installed on your computer last year. Now we see a red flag on our and saying that there is a security breach on it.. Please call 8778413509 .."

DO NOT CALL THEM! I don't have their so-called security software, so obviously it is fraud--probably a phishing scam to get into my computer. And please, ASAP, report fraudulent phone calls and scams to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The link is at the bottom of this post.

Amazing how many fraudulent emails and phone calls I get (and here in Xiamen, China as well; even the police fall for them). And amazing that scams like this phone fraud are allowed to continue (they've been using this same phone number for awhile).

NEVER reply directly to an unsolicited phone call or email--or give any personal information to anyone that phones you. If you recognize the company, hang up, find the official phone number, and then phone them. I've had friends and family ignore this and face big consequences.

CLICK HERE to report phone scams or fraud to the FTC!!

Click Here for FTC info on Tech Support Scams
FTC Phone Support Counselor: 877-382-4357

 Enjoy Amoy (Xiamen's historic name), with Discover Xiamen.

Dr. Bill's Amazon eBooks

"Discover Xiamen"

"Fujian Adventure"

Bill Brown Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com

BEWARE! Chase Fraud Alert Credit Card Fraud activityconfirmation.chase.com

Today I received an email from "Chase Fraud Alert" warning Confirmation of Recent Account Activity - Unable to Contact - Please Call

The Fraud Alert is a FRAUD, even though it linked to a legitimate--looking website, activityconfirmation.chase.com  and had the last 4 digits of my card. It gave the phone number to call, but also said I could phone the number on the back of my card.

I read online and various sites say this is legitimate, but it is a fraud. I did phone the number on my card, and Chase said the other number they gave is NOT Chase, and there was no problem at all with my account.

I'm pretty good at catching Phishing Attacks, but this one was really persuasive. A good reminder: never, ever phone the number sent to you in an email, or give info if you are supposedly phoned by a bank or any other group. Always call back, and only to a number you have in advance.

Be safe--and Enjoy Amoy!

Dr. Bill Brown
P.S. Try my books on Amazon.com !  "Discover Xiamen"  or "Fujian Adventure"

Below is the message I received:
 
Dear William N Brown:

As part of our commitment to help keep your account secure, we routinely verify activity that seems unusual based on your general account usage. We called you to help us verify recent activity, but we weren't able to reach you.

If we've already spoken with you about this recent activity, there's nothing you need to do at this time. Otherwise, we ask that you please call us immediately:

• You can reach us at 800-772-XXXX (deleted so none dials it!) from the U.S. or Canada, and a fraud advisor can assist you.
• Or, if you prefer, just call the number on the back of your Chase Freedom® card.
• Internationally, you can call us collect at 480-902-XXXX (removed so no one dials it!)

We are here to assist you anytime. Your account security is our priority. Thank you for choosing Chase.

Sincerely,
Chase Fraud Department

Is your contact information current? Make sure we can reach you if we notice suspicious activity on your account. Update your information by logging into your account at http://www.chase.com/


Bill Brown

 Xiamen University

www.amoymagic.com