Amazon Phishing Scam

When you receive emails, always be careful. I received this email supposedly from Amazon which actually turned out to be a phishing scam. The email looked like it originated from Amazon but since I did not buy anything from Amazon recently, I was naturally suspicious.

 

Attached to the email is a zip file. I carefully downloaded the file and opened it but I did not install the file. If you download the file and open it, you will realize it contains a .exe file. It is never wise to open any email with a .exe or executable file.

On taking a closer look at the email by looking at the source, you can see the email originated from a site called axorcismal.com.

So, somebody actually spoofed the email from Amazon. Whatever the case, if you are in doubt, be careful when you open such mail.

The reason I post this up is I know more and more Malaysians are buying things from Amazon. Don't get conned into installing virus or worst still, a small program that fools you into revealing your login id and password.

Having said that, buying things from Amazon can safe you quite a bit of money especially for things that are not common. All it takes is some common sense, and be alert to scams.

Read about my experience of buying things from Amazon.

Buying From Amazon

The video below show the last screen before you make a purchase. Shipping options and prices are calculated so that you know how much it will cost in total. The total amount does not include custom taxes. Hope the video helps.

DIY Dry Box - How To Make A Dry Box

I mentioned that I'm somewhat of a DIYer and a photographer. Eventually, if you are both or keen to save some money, you will want to make a DIY dry box.

A DIY dry box is one of the easier projects you can do. A dry box or a dry cabinet is used to keep your camera and lenses free from fungus.

Fungus grows in humid conditions, so storing your camera or lenses in a camera bag for long is not really a good idea.

How To Make a DIY Dry Box

A DIY dry box is quite simple to make. Get a fairly air tight box, enough silica gel to act as dehumidifier or desiccant i.e moisture absorber, and you are done. It will cost around RM 50 or so.

If you want to be a bit more fancy, you can get a hygrometer to monitor the humidity level in your DIY dry box.

What I like about DIY dry boxes is their “modular” in nature. If you have more lenses or camera, get another box or switch to a larger box.

You can also bring a dry box with you on trips to keep your gear nice and dry.

Silica gel can be rejuvenated or regenerated for reuse, and will last for years if you don't over heat them.

How much silica gel is needed in a DIY dry box?

This depends on the amount of moisture in the air, and the size of your box.

Based on a box size of 16 cm x 16 cm x 10 cm, I usually put in 2 packs of 50 gram silica gel. It reduces the relative humidity, RH% from 75% to around 45%.

For a larger box of 20 cm x 20 cm x 29 cm, I found that 6 to 8 pack of 50 gram silica gel is better since the silica gel can absorb more moisture thus it takes about 2 months before I need to regenerate the silica gel. Read further below.

Regenerating silica gel

To regenerate, rejuvenate or some say re-charge silica gel, you need to heat the silica gel beads in a conventional oven at around 115 - 120 C for about 20 to 30 minutes.

You can also use a microwave oven on low heat.

Heating the silica gel beads on high with a microwave oven can cause it to crack because the moisture expands too fast within the beads.

Get indicating silica gel, those that has a dye to indicate whether they are wet or dry. As you heat them in an oven, or a microwave, you can see the color slowly change.

Silica gel with orange indicating dye is safer than blue indicating silica gel, which contains cobalt chloride (a carcinogen).

Orange indicating silica gel does not contain cobalt chloride is orange when dry, and green or colorless after they absorb moisture.

Blue indicating silica gel, is deep blue when dry, and pink when after it absorbs moisture.

Once they have changed color, remove them from the oven, let them cool, and repack them for use.

You can use plastic bags or plastic bottles.

How to adjust the humidity levels (RH%) of your DIY dry box

Too little silica gel in a large box, the humidity might still be too high.

If you have too much silica gel in a small dry box, then the humidity could be too low, so how to you adjust the humidity?

You'll need a hygrometer for this. You can get a hygrometer from ebay Malaysia.

Get extra silica gel but don't exposed them to air in the dry box.

DIY Dry Box Humidty Control

I keep the extras in a plastic bottle but do not open the bottle, so the silica gel is not absorbing moisture in the dry box. Vitamin bottles works great.

When I see that my hygrometer level starts to go up, I open the cover of the plastic bottle and allow the silica gel to get to work, absorbing more moisture.

That how you adjust the humidity in your DIY dry box. With extra silica gel, it helps you maintain the humidity at the same level for a longer time. Instead of regenerating them every month, it requires only 2 months once.

With this method, you can reduce the number of times you need to heat silica gel.

What about certain types dehumidifier

Certain type of dehumidifier creates salt containing liquid. I would not suggest using this type of dehumidifier in a dry box.

When you use this type of dehumidifier, you will notice there is liquid collected at the bottom. The liquid is a type of salt solution.

If such containers leaks, and that has happened to me, (fortunately though, it was in the clothes closet), your camera gear will be ruined.

A dry cabinet or a dry box

If money, space, and/or spousal agreement is not an issue, a dry cabinet might be a good choice. Your only issue would be how big a cabinet to get.

A dry cabinet is convenient. It works automatically. All you have to do is plug in a power socket, set the correct humidity level at around 45% +/-, load it with camera gear and it’s done.

I gone through the thinking about getting a more expensive but automatic dry cabinet but for now I am still using 2 DIY dry boxes. You can also travel with a small DIY dry box. Try doing that with a cabinet.

For a beginner or hobby photographer, with just have a camera, and one or two lenses which you use all the time, a dry cabinet might be overkill. I've kept some legacy lenses in the boxes I have, and they have been fungus free for years.

If you have the money, by all means, but why spend money on non essentials.

A small basic dry cabinet costs around RM 300. If you outgrow it, then you need to buy another dry cabinet.

Some spouse (ahem) might not appreciate you spending even more money on camera gear, let alone accessories like a cabinet. To them it looks like a display cabinet.

If you are in Malaysia, you can get silica gel here.

Amazon Shipping To Malaysia

I know quite a few of us in Malaysia (in fact more than a few) want to buy things from Amazon. However, most of us are concerned or have doubts about Amazon shipping to Malaysia; - how it works, shipping cost, returns, customs etc.

There are lots of questions about using a US address, a US credit card vs. local credit card, USD to RM conversion, and even multiple steps to buy e-books.

Disclaimer - This is my experience buying. Your experience will probably be different. There are different parties involved, Amazon, third party retailers, shipping companies etc. so things can happen along the way.

I've bought:-

• items shipped directly from Amazon to a Malaysian address
• items shipped to a relative with a US address
• both free and paid Kindle ebooks

Buying Physical Products

There are two types of products. Those that can be shipped direct to Malaysia, and those that cannot.

So far, I've not bought things that Amazon does not ship direct to Malaysia. Some items are restricted in terms of location the sellers are willing to ship to. The way to go about buying things that do not ship direct from Amazon involves using a third party shipping service.

There are many services that does this for a fee but then, your total cost increases but I'm getting ahead of myself. When you buy things from Amazon.com, some items are sold by Amazon while others are sold by another party using Amazon's infrastructure.

Some merchants do not want to ship to overseas for whatever reasons so you cannot buy that item directly. Recently I bought a new tool for my business and had it shipped directly to me. The item is not sold here and as far as I can tell, the best place to buy it is from Amazon.

I selected Amazon Global Expedited Shipping, which was the cheaper of the two available. The other option was Priority shipping which is faster. Estimated time was 10 working days for expedited. I used a Malaysian credit card plus a gift certificate for the purchase.

A few clicks and the order was completed. Over the next few days, I manage to track the package in Amazon's website under "Your Orders". So far so good.

By the time, the package arrived in Malaysia, I did not see further shipping updates on Amazon's website. You see, the item was shipped through i-Parcel, which is a shipping company that Amazon uses. So I keyed in the tracking number in I-Parcel's website and they showed the same status; consolidated arrived - pending custom clearance. 

Since I've waited four days with no status update, and with the estimated delivery being the following day, I decided to write an email to I-Parcel.com's customer service and ask for a local tracking number. An I-Parcel rep replied in about 45 minutes with a local tracking number but stated the item is still waiting custom clearance.

However, I decided to just submit the tracking number to Pos Malaysia's website just to see if the number is active. Lo and behold, the item is already in their care and they are attempting delivery, the same day I contacted them.

I had a feeling the item I bought will reach me a day early because I've read that Amazon is quite timely with their expected delivery time which is why I decided to act rather than to sit and wait.

Search for I-Parcel online and you'll notice a lot of comments some good, some not so good. Based on my observation, with I-Parcel (you'll see which service is doing the shipping when you checkout from Amazon at the point of ordering), will ship overland (by truck) in the US to a port city before it goes on a plane.

There, your item is consolidated with other items and flown by air to Malaysia or elsewhere. Once it reaches Malaysia, the consolidated items are again sent individually to the buyers. I-Parcel uses Pos Malaysia for the final delivery once your items reaches Malaysia.

For me, the item arrived a day early and I'm a happy customer.

Your mileage may wary so patience is required unless you want to pay more for faster shipping, then choose the faster more expensive option.

Buying Kindle E-books

If you are interested to know about e-books, I've written about buying Kindle e-books here on this post. By the way, you don't need a Kindle to read Kindle e-books. I don't have one myself since I try to limit my gadgets whenever if I can. I

n order to read Kindle e-books, all you need is a Kindle app which you can download and install on your phone, tablet or even a computer.

Note : I have a US address and a local Malaysian address in my Amazon account. This could be the reason buying things is a bit easier and may have a bearing on buying e-books. If you need a US address but don't know where to find one, perhaps you can choose a McD restaurant in New York. The addresses are here.

Just make sure you don't accidentally ship some physical products there. It is usually not a problem since upon check-out, Amazon will ask you where to ship the products too.

P.S. With a relative in the US, you must be wondering why I choose to ship direct.

Well two reasons.

First, if you want to save on shipping, Amazon shipping will be the cheapest especially if the item can be shipped direct. Second, if the item is damaged or dead on arrival (DOA), I think can ship the item back to Amazon at their cost.

If I had shipped it first to a US address, then reship it to me, I would probably have to bear the cost of sending the item back to the US. I'm not absolutely sure on this as I've not tried it. A few hours after I have my new business tool in my hands, I received several more emails from I-Parcel after I receive my parcel.

On a closer look, I saw it on Amazon's tracking status too. Crazy emails if you look at the date.

Hmm, maybe someone forgot to set the clock on their computer. Whatever. Anyhooo, I'm quite satisfied.

Returning an item

If an item is damaged, malfunctions or is DOA (dead on arrival), returns are quite easy. To return the items, log in to your Amazon account, look for items your bought and click on the "return button". Y
ou can request for refund or for a replacement.

To make sure you are not penalized when you return items a bit late, what you need to do is inform them via email to say that the item is out from the US and may take a bit longer to reach them. One time I received a defective item. It was shipped it to a relative in the US who was coming back to Malaysia.

However, it malfunctioned after using it for a few days and I was forced to return it for a refund. Fortunately for me, my relative was going back to the US. Unfortunately for him, he had to carry it all the way back.

Due to all the traveling, by the time the item reached Amazon's warehouse, it was out of the return window period (usually 30 days for the item to reach Amazon's warehouse for a full refund. Late delivery could mean partial refund). To make sure I won't be penalized, I wrote to Amazon to explain the situation.

No issue, great customer service from Amazon for being flexible. I think they do this because there could be people who buys things like cameras and other gadgets, go travel and don't have the opportunity to return a defective item.

So in my experience, if it is a few days out of the return time frame, you should be okay. This is another item I found that is worth getting from Amazon if you want to reduce paper in your life.

There is a huge price difference compared to getting it in Malaysia Even after adding the cost of shipping, it is still 44% cheaper. This has reduce the clutter around my home office. Great even if you are looking to get more hours in your week. All in all, I've had a great experience shopping with Amazon.

Here's a video that shows the buying process in Amazon.

Also be wary if you receive email that is supposedly from Amazon. Double check those.

There are phishing scams designed to trick you into revealing your login ID and password. Find out more about this scam here.

Amazon, the Amazon logo, AmazonSupply, the AmazonSupply logo, Kindle, Fire and all related logos are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.