Looking for Cheaper Gadgets?

My friend invited me to accompany her to Hong Kong for some Business Transactions last 2008. I told myself why not if my travel expenses are paid by my friend. We tour around Hong Kong and her aim is to buy cheaper mobile phones, iPods and a laptop as well. I was amused! Mobile phones like Nokia N-98, N-97 (these kinds of models were expensive especially back in 2008) were sold in Hong Kong for 500 to 800HKD ($ 50 to $80 USD). Then our guide informed us that if we want cheaper ones we better go to Shenzhen, China (it takes 30 to 40 minutes by train to Lo Wu Station from Hong Kong).

If you are a businessman, you can purchase these mobile phones, computers, HP laptops, car gadgets, PDA Palm, HP notebooks and other electronic devices, and sell it on regular price in your country; surely you will gain more profits. However, these products are fake or counterfeit. Yes, you might be able to get profit, but, the consequences of having to sell imitations could back fire. The law prohibits such business. Nevertheless, there are business owners that are not aware of the fact that the products they are selling are counterfeit.

I am not sure how everything works in China but I did enjoy looking and checking out the cheap electronic devices. I don’t think that there’s wrong about shopping for a personal device; On the other hand, selling the product for profit is not a good idea. Cheap merchandises, like the counterfeits are really tempting, just imagine owning an HP Computer for 50 or 75 percent of the original price. The only issue is, whether these devices would last long. It may seem like a good bargain, but is it?

Credit Card Embezzlement

Credit Card Embezzlement

I was in Macau, China in May of 2008, and bound to return home two weeks after my brief stay; unfortunately my return ticket was missing and probably got lost. So, the only alternative I have is to purchase a new ticket for my return. I not only need a new ticket but must find one that is cheaper. I then found out ways and some information I gathered are the following:

If I need cheaper ticket then I can purchase it only for 500 MOP ( $65), the regular price for one way ticket that time, Macau to Manila was 1,000 MOP to 1,200MOP ($130 or more).

The offer was too good and I did not have any second thoughts in turning it down.

I was on my way back home (to the Philippines) on May 19, when a Filipina on the same flight was held at the airline counter and was asked where she bought the ticket. Unfortunately, the ticket that was bought is what the immigration officers refer to as “hacked tickets”. I learned that electronic tickets (E-Ticket) are purchased by illegal agents in Macau using other card holder's credit cards. They hack pin numbers and card holder account numbers. Therefore, they call these E-tickets as Hacked Tickets. I myself was surprised not knowing that the ticket I just bought was a hacked ticket. If I have known that, I would never purchase the ticket in the first place. The moral of this story, not all cheap things are good, sometimes what you may think as a good bargain might bring you into trouble.