Tag: Promotional-merchandise-agencies-Pune

Green Eggs and Hotels?

When I was
a kid, our neighborhood association in Houston
used to sponsor a program that you could sign up for that would make your house
a “Neighborhood Safe Zone.”  If
you volunteered, you got a small yellow sign to put in your front yard that had
a silhouette picture of a small child and the words, “Safety Zone” or
something emblazoned on it.  Anyway, if
you were a kid out playing with your friends and you ever got lost, you were
taught to find one of these Safety Zone houses and to knock on the door.  The home owner would then take it upon
themselves to make sure you made it home.

Today, I
don’t see those signs anymore.  I see
signs that point to registered sex offenders though, boy, times certainly
change. 

Recently in
my business travels I’ve noticed some other signs that say, “Member of the
Green Hotels Association.” 
Initially I thought, “Oh boy… there’s a hostel for hippies if I
ever saw one!”  But I looked up the
Hotel Association on line and found that some of them do some very interesting
and unique things for the environment. 
Some big, and some small…

For
example, one Pennsylvania Green Hotel actually has a 400 acre organic garden
they use to grow vegetables for their restaurant.  Another in Texas recycles their stained tablecloths to
make chef’s aprons and napkins for the tables. 
Many hotels are starting to use pourers for sugar and cream, small
dishes for butter and jellies, and pitchers for drinking water on tables in
banquet halls.  Trash is recycled, towels
and sheets are only replaced on request, you get the idea.

If you
travel and you’re interested in staying in one of these unique and innovative
“environmentally clean” hotels, here’s a list to help you
find one in your next travel zone.  There
are some other useful links to browse on that site as well. 

For more
tips on business travel, stop by my blog called “Traveling Business Class.”  You’ll be glad you did!

Could Your Company Be On the Hook For Fraud Committed By a Customer or Vendor?

Ahhh… the ever changing face of corporate litigation. It seems that victims of fraud and abuse are always searching for the deep pockets to recover their losses. Sometimes that means suing anyone and everyone who might have known about a fraud and may have (inadvertently or not) contributed to it.

A lawsuit against Wachovia Bank highlights this issue. The bank is being sued for its role in a$00 million fraud perpetrated by Suntasia Marketing Inc. Suntasia was shut down by the Federal Trade Commission
in July of last year. The FTC says Suntasia was running a scheme using telemarketers to offer
“free” memberships to discount buying groups and travel clubs.In order to take advantage of this “free” trial offer, victims had to give up their banking information. Later, the con artists withdrew money from the victims’ bank accounts without their authorization.

And Wachovia’s role in all of it? Wachovia Bank provided the bank accounts that Suntasia used to pull money out of victim’s accounts. As a customer of Wachovia, Suntasia was given the ability to make electronic withdrawals out of the accounts of victims. (With no banking relationship, Suntasia couldn’t commit the fraud.)

Wachovia is being sued
for playing an active role in the fraud by providing the banking
services. Why? The victims have alleged that Wachovia knew of the fraud that was being committed but allowed it to go on because the bank received hefty fees each time a victim disputed one of these fraudulent transactions.

Wachovia Bank allegedly allowed the fraud to go on, even though several officials of the bank apparently had knowledge of the schemes. It would appear that they turned a blind eye to criminal activity in favor of the revenue generated by fraud scheme.

There are times when third-parties are blamed for fraud schemes, but they had no knowledge or involvement in them. It’s not fair to blame these outsiders when their only real crime is doing business with a person or entity that was committing a fraud that they didn’t know about.

But a situation like this seems quite a bit different. If the bank had an active knowledge of the ongoing fraud, they also had to know that the fraud couldn’t be carried out without their banking services. This is a much more active role in the scheme, and I think Wachovia should bear some responsibility.

Be careful as you do business… If you become aware of a fraud or crime in progress, you would do well to distance yourself from the customer or vendor. Why risk your reputation and expensive legal costs in order to do business with questionable entities?