Here's a 'heads up' - I've not seen this kind of scam before.

 

I'm well aware that the German authorities are noted for tracking down those who download copyrighted material and issuing summary fines, but it appears that there are others out there who are prepared to 'try it on'.

 

I received the following e-mail (full headers provided) today:

 

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Message-Id: <2ygaUAomJoQnsMGAvpcWHDqVQbiYWkqcS2DGxlTfDGka@Janus-ag.de>

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From: Janus AG - Mahnstelle

To: "My namer"

Subject: My name - Abmahnung wegen Urheberrechtsverletzung

Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:06:54 +0200

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Sehr geehrer Herr My Name,

 

Laut Untersuchungen Ihrer IP Logs, hat unserer Mandant "Universal Music" festgestellt, dass Sie häufig urheberrechtlich geschütztes Material in Form von Musik heruntergeladen haben.

Ihre Ip-Adresse konnte zur folgenden Adresse zugeteilt werden,

 

My name

An address in 82496 Oberau (A house I do own)

 

Da dies gegen das Urheberrecht Verstößt fordern Wir Sie auf eine Mahngebühr in Höhe von 50? An uns zu zahlen.

 

Wenn Sie diese Gebühr bezahlen, entgehen Sie einem Mahnverfahren und einem Gerichtsprozess, (Urheberrechts Verletzungen sind kein Kavaliersdelikt).

 

Sollten Sie den ausstehenden Betrag jedoch nicht begleichen, sind wir gezwungen ein Mahnverfahren gegen Sie zu eröffnen.

 

Durch dieses kommen Anwaltskosten sowie Gerichtskosten auf Sie zu. Zudem haben Sie dann eine hohe Geldstrafe oder sogar eine Gefängnisstrafe zu erwarten.

 

Mit welcher Strafe Sie zu rechnen haben, hängt davon AB, ob Sie strafrechtlich bekannt sind.

 

 

Die offene Forderung über 169,40? Ist per Überweisung zu begleichen.

 

 

Als Verwendungszweck geben Sie unbedingt folgendes ein: VHC/216/83-AZ

 

 

Die von Ihnen zu zahlende Gesamtforderung setzt sich wie folgt zusammen:

 

Grundforderung unseres Mandanten: 124,79 Euro

Vorgerichtliche Inkassogebühren: 31,12 Euro

Vorgerichtliche Inkassoauslagen: 13,49 Euro

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Noch offener Gesamtbetrag (Stand: 03.08.2010): 169,40 Euro

 

 

Der geltend gemachte Betrag in Höhe von 169,40 Euro ist bis spätestens den 05.04.2012 unter Angabe Des Aktenzeichens VHC/216/83-AZ an:

 

 

Empfänger: Ida Janus

Kontonummer: 540728300

Bankleitzahl: 10077777

 

Für Auslandsüberweisung:

 

IBAN: DE19500100600835801600

BIC: PBNKDEFF

 

 

 

Nach Ablauf dieser First werden wir uns die Forderung abtreten lassen und ein gerichtliches Mahnverfahren gemäß §§ 688 ff. ZPO gegen Sie einleiten, wodurch erhebliche Kosten für Gericht und Anwalt, nötigenfalls auch Vollstreckungskosten für den Gerichtsvollzieher, entstehen.

 

Zudem riskieren Sie bei Durchführung eines gerichtlichen Vollstreckungsverfahrens auch den Verlust Ihrer Kreditwürdigkeit durch Eintragung in das amtliche Schuldnerverzeichnis, was für Sie zu erheblichen Schwierigkeiten führen kann, z.B. Bei der Bestellung von Waren oder dem Abschluss eines neuen Mobilfunkvertrages. Zahlen Sie deshalb in Ihrem eigenen Interesse innerhalb der gesetzten First.

 

 

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Frau Janus, Abteilung Mahnbescheid

 

Janus AG

 

Registriert und zugelassen

Vom Präsidenten Des Amtsgerichts Berlin

Nach § 10 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 RDG

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

Schwiebusserstr. 53

10965 Berlin

Telefon: +49-1805-88204486 (0,14 EUR/min) *

(Montag bis Freitag / 10.00 - 18.00 Uhr)

* aus dem deutschen Festnetz, Mobilfunkhöchstpreis 0,42 EUR/min

 

Vorstand: Frau Ida Janus (Vorsitzende),

 

Aufsichtsrat: Sarah Solberg (Vorsitzende)" 

 

It looks official.  It's a scam!

 

The originating e-mail address is false (the domain name hasn't been allocated, either.)

 

I do indeed own the  house they mention ... but the house is empty, has been empty for some time, (I live in Florida.)

 

There is no phone connected and I don't have an account with a German ISP ... so which IP logs did they check?

 

Most of the contact details in the e-mail are false, but presumably the BLZ and Kontonummer are correct ... or the scam wouldn't work.

 

I've reported the matterto the scammer'S bank (and asked for details of the account hlder - which I probably won't get.)  Alternatively, I've asked them to pass the matter on to the Berlin Police.

 

If anybody knows the e-mail address of any agency in Germany which investigates e-mail fraud, I'd be grateful to receive it.  In the meantime, if you get an e-mail like this, check it carefully!

 

Manuel de Vol

Here's a 'heads up' - I've not seen this kind of scam before.

 

I'm well aware that the German authorities are noted for tracking down those who download copyrighted material and issuing summary fines, but it appears that there are others out there who are prepared to 'try it on'.

 

I received the following e-mail (full headers provided) today:

 

Return-Path:

Received: from compute5.internal (compute5.nyi.mail.srv.osa [10.202.2.45])

By slots11b2p2 (Cyrus git2.5+0-git-fastmail-7802) with LMTPA;

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:07:15 -0400

X-Sieve: CMU Sieve 2.4

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Message-Id: <2ygaUAomJoQnsMGAvpcWHDqVQbiYWkqcS2DGxlTfDGka@Janus-ag.de>

Mime-Version: 1.0

From: Janus AG - Mahnstelle

To: "My namer"

Subject: My name - Abmahnung wegen Urheberrechtsverletzung

Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:06:54 +0200

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X-Truedomain: Neutral

 

 

Sehr geehrer Herr My Name,

 

Laut Untersuchungen Ihrer IP Logs, hat unserer Mandant "Universal Music" festgestellt, dass Sie häufig urheberrechtlich geschütztes Material in Form von Musik heruntergeladen haben.

Ihre Ip-Adresse konnte zur folgenden Adresse zugeteilt werden,

 

My name

An address in 82496 Oberau (A house I do own)

 

Da dies gegen das Urheberrecht Verstößt fordern Wir Sie auf eine Mahngebühr in Höhe von 50? An uns zu zahlen.

 

Wenn Sie diese Gebühr bezahlen, entgehen Sie einem Mahnverfahren und einem Gerichtsprozess, (Urheberrechts Verletzungen sind kein Kavaliersdelikt).

 

Sollten Sie den ausstehenden Betrag jedoch nicht begleichen, sind wir gezwungen ein Mahnverfahren gegen Sie zu eröffnen.

 

Durch dieses kommen Anwaltskosten sowie Gerichtskosten auf Sie zu. Zudem haben Sie dann eine hohe Geldstrafe oder sogar eine Gefängnisstrafe zu erwarten.

 

Mit welcher Strafe Sie zu rechnen haben, hängt davon AB, ob Sie strafrechtlich bekannt sind.

 

 

Die offene Forderung über 169,40? Ist per Überweisung zu begleichen.

 

 

Als Verwendungszweck geben Sie unbedingt folgendes ein: VHC/216/83-AZ

 

 

Die von Ihnen zu zahlende Gesamtforderung setzt sich wie folgt zusammen:

 

Grundforderung unseres Mandanten: 124,79 Euro

Vorgerichtliche Inkassogebühren: 31,12 Euro

Vorgerichtliche Inkassoauslagen: 13,49 Euro

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Noch offener Gesamtbetrag (Stand: 03.08.2010): 169,40 Euro

 

 

Der geltend gemachte Betrag in Höhe von 169,40 Euro ist bis spätestens den 05.04.2012 unter Angabe Des Aktenzeichens VHC/216/83-AZ an:

 

 

Empfänger: Ida Janus

Kontonummer: 540728300

Bankleitzahl: 10077777

 

Für Auslandsüberweisung:

 

IBAN: DE19500100600835801600

BIC: PBNKDEFF

 

 

 

Nach Ablauf dieser First werden wir uns die Forderung abtreten lassen und ein gerichtliches Mahnverfahren gemäß §§ 688 ff. ZPO gegen Sie einleiten, wodurch erhebliche Kosten für Gericht und Anwalt, nötigenfalls auch Vollstreckungskosten für den Gerichtsvollzieher, entstehen.

 

Zudem riskieren Sie bei Durchführung eines gerichtlichen Vollstreckungsverfahrens auch den Verlust Ihrer Kreditwürdigkeit durch Eintragung in das amtliche Schuldnerverzeichnis, was für Sie zu erheblichen Schwierigkeiten führen kann, z.B. Bei der Bestellung von Waren oder dem Abschluss eines neuen Mobilfunkvertrages. Zahlen Sie deshalb in Ihrem eigenen Interesse innerhalb der gesetzten First.

 

 

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Frau Janus, Abteilung Mahnbescheid

 

Janus AG

 

Registriert und zugelassen

Vom Präsidenten Des Amtsgerichts Berlin

Nach § 10 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 RDG

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

Schwiebusserstr. 53

10965 Berlin

Telefon: +49-1805-88204486 (0,14 EUR/min) *

(Montag bis Freitag / 10.00 - 18.00 Uhr)

* aus dem deutschen Festnetz, Mobilfunkhöchstpreis 0,42 EUR/min

 

Vorstand: Frau Ida Janus (Vorsitzende),

 

Aufsichtsrat: Sarah Solberg (Vorsitzende)" 

 

It looks official.  It's a scam!

 

The originating e-mail address is false (the domain name hasn't been allocated, either.)

 

I do indeed own the  house they mention ... but the house is empty, has been empty for some time, (I live in Florida.)

 

There is no phone connected and I don't have an account with a German ISP ... so which IP logs did they check?

 

Most of the contact details in the e-mail are false, but presumably the BLZ and Kontonummer are correct ... or the scam wouldn't work.

 

I've reported the matterto the scammer'S bank (and asked for details of the account hlder - which I probably won't get.)  Alternatively, I've asked them to pass the matter on to the Berlin Police.

 

If anybody knows the e-mail address of any agency in Germany which investigates e-mail fraud, I'd be grateful to receive it.  In the meantime, if you get an e-mail like this, check it carefully!

 

Manuel de Vol

The original posting's gone so I don't know what Ninita was asking, but:

If you set up your dish to look at the Astra satellite group at 28.2E (the satellites which also carry Sky TV) you can receive a large number of English Channels.  (inc: BBC1 - most regions - BBC2, ITV 1,2,3,4, Channel 4, Film 4. 4+1, more 4 and  a host of other movie channels as well as the BBC channels aimed at Europe.)

You may need a large(ish) dish, and the reception may not be good in heavy cloud/snow, but I live outside the 'theoretically possible' footprint and I get most of the UK channels most of the time using a 1-metre dish.

Where is ‘here’? (Where are you travelling from?)

Which government will your husband be working for?


We moved back to Germany from the US at the end of May and we brought two dogs with us.
We bought a house (found that within a few days of arriving), signed the contract before mid-June and moved in at the end of August. We still had some major building work going on (floor tiling) for a month or so, and there’s still a bit of decorating to do – though everything will be complete (it has to be) by mid-December.


Moving the dogs wasn’t much of a problem. – If you are coming from the US, be aware that you will need a certificate for each dog from an FDA approved vet (and there are only a few in each state) which says the animal is fit to travel. Your dogs will also need ISO microchips. (The microchip commonly used in the US is no longer – wef 1 July 2008 – acceptable for entry to the EU and you need the International Standards Organisation (ISO) chips. One of my dogs (a German dog) already had a Heimtierausweis and an ISO chip, the other had a bundle of immunistaion papers and a US chip. I bought an ISO chip for him (about $50) from www.pettravelstore.com and had my vet implant it.
You will need FDA/CAA approved travel kennels (one for each dog) if you’re travelling from the US. – If you’re travelling from elsewhere, you need the same sort of kennel but it will no doubt have a different specification. You will also need the appropriate EU forms to import the animals. (the forms are available online and theform you need depends on the country through which you intend to arrive in the EU. – We flew into Amsterdam, so we needed forms in Dutch and in English. – Had we flown into Germany, then we would have needed forms in German and English. If you are flying from the US, then I suggest you do NOT enter the EU through the UK. – DEFRA (UK authority) regulations for importing animals are a pain!

Once the animals are in the EU, everything gets easy.


The other thing to bear in mind when you are travelling with animals, is the weather (at both departure and destination.) The FAA will not allow US carriers to transport animals in extreme climatic conditions – if it’s too cold, the animals can’t travel and if it’s too hot, they can’t travel either. – Too hot probably won’t be a problem at this time of year, but you may have to adjust your routing to allow for cold weather.
I flew from Mississippi and got around the heat problem by routing through Detroit. We arrived in the EU at Schipol, where the animals were taken immediately from the aircraft to a ‘Pet Hotel’ to be fed and exercised (Schipol is, IMO, probably the best port for animals.)


I’d assumed I would get my dogs at Schipol and clear them into the EU. – Not so. The airline did that for me. They complained that the paperwork for the dogs wasn’t attached to the kennels (too right it wasn’t, it would probably have become detached) so the dogs were cleared into the EU without any paperwork . – You might want to attach copies (I wouldn’t attach the originals) of pet passports/immunisation certificates, together with the microchip numbers to the dog kennels.




House buying in Germany is somewhat more involved (and can take rather longer) than it does in many other countries. Germans do not buy and sell houses as frequently as do some other people and if you’re going to buy a house here, you should look on it as a long-term deal. – If you sell a house (at a profit) within 10 years of buying it, you will be liable for some pretty hefty taxes, so if you’re only going to stay here for a few years, bear that possible tax liability in mind. 


We spent 3 months living in temporary rented accommodation. We managed to find a place which allowed us to have the dogs with us – had we not done so, then we would have incurred some pretty hefty kennel bills (and in fact, because where we happen to be in a small place where there’s only one boarding kennel which was closed all summer for renovations, we would’ve been screwed.)
I don’t much like living in temporary accommodation – and I liked it even less with two dogs. Two dogs and two kids would’ve made life even more difficult.


If you buy a house which hasn’t yet been built, expect it to take 6 months from contract to completion (if the house doesn’t have a cellar) and 7 if it does. If the house is already built and completely ready for occupation, it will probably still take you a month or two. (Schlüsselfertig doesn’t always seem to mean what it says.)

Let me know (either by responding to this post or by e-mailing me at manuel@mdevol.com ) where you’re coming from and which government your husband will be working for and I’ll be able to answer more of your questions.

The software for this board (or at least, the software as it appears at my computer) is crap!

I'm a slow learner.  I've  been aware (for some years now) that I [my computer] and Expatica do have mutual 'problems'.

I've written to the Expatica staff, but I can't get an explanation ... I suspectthat I know the reasons and the only way I can get around the problem (well, the only way which is acceptable to me) is to compose my replies using an offlime text editor and post them on the board.

It appears (though nobody will confirm this) that unless I am prepared to open my computer to spyware (ad and tracking cookies) the Expatica forum software will 'bounce' my replies randomly.

That doesn't please me very much and it may bve one reason that this forum is so sparsely populated.