Scam? ATA Language Services Directory Lead: Calvin Kingston Thread poster: Alexandra Ribeiro de Carvalho
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A few days ago I've received a request through the ATA directory, from someone called Calvin Kingston (with the most generic Gmail email address you can think of) looking for an EN>PT translation, and their first email was as follows:
Message:
Hello,
Could you translate a document from English to Portuguese? Your quick respond will be highly appreciated.
Thank you.
Calvin
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I have to say their communications ha... See more A few days ago I've received a request through the ATA directory, from someone called Calvin Kingston (with the most generic Gmail email address you can think of) looking for an EN>PT translation, and their first email was as follows:
Message:
Hello,
Could you translate a document from English to Portuguese? Your quick respond will be highly appreciated.
Thank you.
Calvin
---
I have to say their communications have raised some red flags, but I've been going back and forth with them for the past couple of days to try to determine if this is a scam or a real job offer. Also leaving it here on the forum, to know if anyone has had a similar experience or knows anything about this person. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 04:07
Romanian to English
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| Today I received something similar | Nov 13 |
I sent it to the trash bin.
Very unusual message.
Stay safe
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I don't know if it's a scam or not, but lately I've been targeted by ‘customers’ via the ATA directory... Todo o cuidado é pouco!
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:
I don't know if it's a scam or not, but lately I've been targeted by ‘customers’ via the ATA directory... Todo o cuidado é pouco!
The ATA directory is fertile ground for scammers. Most of them are painfully obvious. This one not so much, so I intentionally sent him a very high quote (not insanely high as to be preposterous and immediately refused, just very, very high), which he accepted on the spot and even offered to pay 50% upfront. So I think I'm going with scam.
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SAMON UT
Cambodia
Local time: 16:07
English to Khmer (Central)
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That sounds suspicious. The generic Gmail address, vague message, and lack of details in their request are all red flags. Scammers often reach out with these kinds of generic emails, especially through directories like ATA. If you’re unsure, you could ask for more specific details about the project, like the document type, word count, and payment method. Real clients usually have no issue providing this info, but scammers tend to dodge these questions.
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SAMON UT wrote:
That sounds suspicious. The generic Gmail address, vague message, and lack of details in their request are all red flags. Scammers often reach out with these kinds of generic emails, especially through directories like ATA. If you’re unsure, you could ask for more specific details about the project, like the document type, word count, and payment method. Real clients usually have no issue providing this info, but scammers tend to dodge these questions.
I got all that information from them, even the document I was 'supposed' to translate (it came without even discussing confidentiality terms, as it usually does with scammers) and a fake postal address. So, just to make sure, I issued a 'provisional' invoice for the prepayment and they asked for my bank details (as scammers usually do, then when the money never shows up they ask you for a payment to release it from wherever), to which I replied, "no, has I've said before and is also stated on the invoice, prepayment has to be made via PayPal". I expect no further communication from them. Best case scenario, 1220 EUR magically pops up in my PayPal account in a couple of days.
For everyone to be on the lookout for yet another scammer, these are the fake details I received from them:
Name: Calvin Kingston
Email: [email protected]
Address: 75 John portman Blvd Ste 10N304B, Atlanta Ga., USA
Document to translate: a 118-page thesis (18488 words without bibliography, figures or tables) regarding the opioid crisis in the US; upon further sleuthing, this thesis was written by one Robert D. Capodilupo, and is freely available here: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/capodilupo/files/final_full_thesis_copy.pdf
[Edited at 2024-11-15 11:38 GMT]
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Apparently, scammers think that if they present us with a text that's many pages long at a time when almost all translators are complaining about a lack of work, we'll line up like ducklings in a row...
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