| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | Seems like a translation scam Thread poster: Dor Zigdon Lax
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Marco Dib
Brazil
Local time: 19:33
English to Portuguese
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No proper address, no phone number, no payment = No way!
| | | | Dor Zigdon Lax
Israel
Local time: 00:33
Member (2009)
English to Hebrew
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Comic relief | Sep 13, 2010 |
For the sake of comic relief, here's the last email of our correspondence:
***
Dear Mera,
I'm sure you are right, but I cannot verify this information anywhere. I could find nothing about "Paris Company for legal and Translation services", the address seems to be wrong (I could not find any DACOLO around Paris), the postal code has too many digits and is apparently not a Paris postal code, and the phone number you gave me seems to have the dialing code of R... See more For the sake of comic relief, here's the last email of our correspondence:
***
Dear Mera,
I'm sure you are right, but I cannot verify this information anywhere. I could find nothing about "Paris Company for legal and Translation services", the address seems to be wrong (I could not find any DACOLO around Paris), the postal code has too many digits and is apparently not a Paris postal code, and the phone number you gave me seems to have the dialing code of Riverside, California, whereas your IP checks out to be in Jordan.
In order to remove those doubts, I'm going to need verifiable contact information.
Best Regards,
Dor
***
Since then, I've heard no more from Mera Dolaranzo. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Do you think this is a scam? | Sep 21, 2010 |
Hi everyone! I need help with this email I received a few days ago:
"Dear Laura,
I am a registered translation agent with the Nigeria Government. My business is primarily on sourcing for certified foreign Translators to participate in tenders on commission basis. I am registered and licensed by the government to carry out this business activities. We receive 2% commission from our foreign partners on any successful tender awarded to them, and this 2% commission is paid ... See more Hi everyone! I need help with this email I received a few days ago:
"Dear Laura,
I am a registered translation agent with the Nigeria Government. My business is primarily on sourcing for certified foreign Translators to participate in tenders on commission basis. I am registered and licensed by the government to carry out this business activities. We receive 2% commission from our foreign partners on any successful tender awarded to them, and this 2% commission is paid to us immediately the total value of such tender is paid to our foreign partners. In this regard, we are not the end users of your services. We represent the Companies in any available tender.
Presently, the Dangote Group (the largest manufacturing company in West Africa) is inviting certified translators to bid for the huge translation services which include proofreading and editing. It is an international competitive tender(ICT).
-I have looked into your profile and I think your CV is very good for this tender.
I am very ready to work tirelessly with any good Translator in Europe or America. It is a great honor for any Translator or translation company to win a government or Big company tender here."
He gave me a telephone number and also sent me an attachment with the tender conditions. The document has the company's letterhead, signatures, seals, etc.
What do you think?
Thanks!! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kevin Fulton 
United States
Local time: 17:33
German to English
| Of course it's a scam! | Sep 22, 2010 |
Laurahds wrote:
Hi everyone! I need help with this email I received a few days ago:
I am a registered translation agent with the Nigeria Government.
-I have looked into your profile and I think your CV is very good for this tender.
I am very ready to work tirelessly with any good Translator in Europe or America. It is a great honor for any Translator or translation company to win a government or Big company tender here."
He gave me a telephone number and also sent me an attachment with the tender conditions. The document has the company's letterhead, signatures, seals, etc.
With very little effort I can produce a document with seals and signatures certifying that I'm a brain surgeon, even though I can scarcely apply an adhesive bandage to a minor scrape.
Job offers out of the blue like this, especially originating in places such as Nigeria or the Côte d'Ivoire, are usually scams. If you want to amuse yourself, respond, setting all sorts of ridiculous preconditions, but under no circumstances give out personal information.
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You're right Kevin, I thought so too.
Thank you so much for your answer.
| | | | Claudio_Gurg
Italy
Local time: 23:33
English to Italian
+ ...
| 2 scams in two days | Oct 4, 2010 |
I had two similar 'scam' offers in the last two days.
The first was by a so-called Spanish agency whose address was unverifiable. They were quite smart, they sent me a sample text and specified the price and the delivery conditions in a credible manner.... then they told me they would pay me by travellers' cheques, and then I understood.
The last one was by a certain Mr. Andrin Johnson, who gave no address, but my email displayed a warning message and I verified that his 'agen... See more I had two similar 'scam' offers in the last two days.
The first was by a so-called Spanish agency whose address was unverifiable. They were quite smart, they sent me a sample text and specified the price and the delivery conditions in a credible manner.... then they told me they would pay me by travellers' cheques, and then I understood.
The last one was by a certain Mr. Andrin Johnson, who gave no address, but my email displayed a warning message and I verified that his 'agency' was just a web directory. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: Requested editions not made.
| | Scam from XXX | Nov 4, 2010 |
Hi all,
Yesterday I received the following message:
Subject: [ProZ.com mail] NEED YOUR SERVICE !
You have been sent a message via ProZ.com.
Author: XXXXX
[NOTE: The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when
sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 41.184.20.84
Message type: Request for quote
hello
I am XXX from Chelsea,UK.
i will need the service of an English to Macedonia... See more Hi all,
Yesterday I received the following message:
Subject: [ProZ.com mail] NEED YOUR SERVICE !
You have been sent a message via ProZ.com.
Author: XXXXX
[NOTE: The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when
sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 41.184.20.84
Message type: Request for quote
hello
I am XXX from Chelsea,UK.
i will need the service of an English to Macedonian
Interpreter for my aged mum whom will becoming to grace a
wedding ceremony in Macedonial as the Special Guest Speaker
of the occasion on the Friday 12th and Saturday 13th of
December 2010.The duration will be from 2pm- 4pm on Friday
and 10am-12pm on Saturday. If available for these days and
hours, do not hesitate to get back to me with the fee
involved so i work towards booking the space.
Very Best Regard
Name;XXXX
e-mail: xxxxxxxx@xxx
mobile telephone Nr.
This smells awful lot like a scam. The guy has a Chinese name, he lives in England, his IP shows Lagos, Nigeria, 12th December is Sunday and 13th is Monday, when I Googled his e-mail and his phone Nr. the results lead to
sites that are related to scam.
So, beware...
[Edited at 2010-11-04 17:08 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| I have just received this, similar. Anyone else did? | Jan 26, 2011 |
I received this email today:
You have been sent a message via ProZ.com.
Author: xxxxxx [NOTE: The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 87.7.212.165
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Looking for a translator who can work for 0,025€ per
word.
We translate iPhone applications in 15 languages, but we
lack of Chinese.
If you're available, just feel free to contact me at
... See more I received this email today:
You have been sent a message via ProZ.com.
Author: xxxxxx [NOTE: The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 87.7.212.165
-----------
Looking for a translator who can work for 0,025€ per
word.
We translate iPhone applications in 15 languages, but we
lack of Chinese.
If you're available, just feel free to contact me at
[email protected]
Have a great day anyway,
xxxxxxxxx
I was surprised to received this because the translation work he needed is not even in my field! It was only after i asked then he mentioned that he became a translation provider of xxx translation company (partner, not the company itself). I also chased his IP which is in Russia while he claimed he's based in Italy. As you can see, he used gmail instead of work email. When I asked about the work volumn, he replied that it's hard to estimate. He even mentioned if I am interested he can send me a sample text and then i can decide to take the job or not. I am going to ask for a sample, and may be payment upfront, just to see what he says.
Do you think this is a scam? Did any of you receive similar messages? ▲ Collapse
| | | | | they paid upfront! | Feb 19, 2011 |
Catherine Whitehouse wrote:
I received this email today:
You have been sent a message via ProZ.com.
Author: xxxxxx [NOTE: The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 87.7.212.165
-----------
Looking for a translator who can work for 0,025€ per
word.
We translate iPhone applications in 15 languages, but we
lack of Chinese.
If you're available, just feel free to contact me at
[email protected]
Have a great day anyway,
xxxxxxxxx
I was surprised to received this because the translation work he needed is not even in my field! It was only after i asked then he mentioned that he became a translation provider of xxx translation company (partner, not the company itself). I also chased his IP which is in Russia while he claimed he's based in Italy. As you can see, he used gmail instead of work email. When I asked about the work volumn, he replied that it's hard to estimate. He even mentioned if I am interested he can send me a sample text and then i can decide to take the job or not. I am going to ask for a sample, and may be payment upfront, just to see what he says.
Do you think this is a scam? Did any of you receive similar messages?
As suggested, I asked for half payment upfront and they accepted. Full payment was prompt too! Just for some reason I couldn't remove my post. So therefore i added further explain here.
| | | | | by the way, how to check IP addresses? | Feb 19, 2011 |
by the way, how to check IP addresses?
thanks - Marie
| | | | Laurent KRAULAND (X)
France
Local time: 23:33
French to German
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B D Finch
France
Local time: 23:33
French to English
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| Call me over pernickety but ... | Feb 19, 2011 |
I find that alarm bells ring if the email offering me a job and claiming to be from an agency is impolite or badly written. I reckon that any agency good enough to offer me a job should be capable of writing a polite and well-written email. Anything that starts with "Hi, how are you doing", gets instantly deleted. However, I have just had a genuine offer (though not one that I accepted) that started with just that phrase.
Barbara
| | | | | There are worse cases | Feb 21, 2011 |
B D Finch wrote:
I find that alarm bells ring if the email offering me a job and claiming to be from an agency is impolite or badly written. I reckon that any agency good enough to offer me a job should be capable of writing a polite and well-written email. Anything that starts with "Hi, how are you doing", gets instantly deleted. However, I have just had a genuine offer (though not one that I accepted) that started with just that phrase.
Barbara
BD, IMO, I think you're being over-sensitive. I sometimes get email offerings starting with the phrase "Hi, how are you doing" which are legitimate companies/outsourcers with whom I correspond for the first time.
But what I cannot tolerate is an email I received just today thru Proz mailing with only one sentence:
"Request for English into Japanese translation"
That's all, no greetings, no company or personal names, no description whatsoever of deadline, how many words, in which field, and also 'Sincerely' or 'Regards' were missing.
Went straight to the waste bin who doesn't have the very least of business manners.
And FYI, the company had a BB record of 4.4 or something like that (I guessed from the domain name of the sender and checked on the BB).
| | | | | Same old red flag: unsolicited translation request from individual on the move for presentation | Nov 21, 2011 |
Fellow Translators,
Please be careful if you receive a translation request similar to this:
Am xxx from Havana,Florida but am presently in Ireland.
I actually need to make a presentation to some Hebrew group on the 5th of January,2012 in Juneau,Alaska.Therefore i need you to translate the presentation to Hebrew,so each participants can have a copy and they can follow through.I will also need the work to be delivered by/before Dec 17th,2011.
Let me know ... See more Fellow Translators,
Please be careful if you receive a translation request similar to this:
Am xxx from Havana,Florida but am presently in Ireland.
I actually need to make a presentation to some Hebrew group on the 5th of January,2012 in Juneau,Alaska.Therefore i need you to translate the presentation to Hebrew,so each participants can have a copy and they can follow through.I will also need the work to be delivered by/before Dec 17th,2011.
Let me know your rate and charges for a total of presentation of word.Presentation is attached.
Await your reply.
xxx
+44qqqqqqqqq
I have had a few these before and fell for one.
The signs for a scam here are:
1. unlikely circumstances (name/locations/language/topic [Lybia])
2. template: x from y currently in z presenting in q needing handouts in h.
3. unprofessional language, punctuation, capitalization.
There are many ways this can hurt you, from wasting your time on an unpaid test/translation to being subject to attempts to get your banking information, presumably to transfer the fees.
I systematically junk this kind of requests, but found no effective way of warning fellow translators. So, if you happen to see this, please spread the word.
Joab Eichenberg-Eilon ▲ Collapse
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