Question: how to spot a scammer/are they legit?
Thread poster: Despina Nifakos
Despina Nifakos
Despina Nifakos  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 17:37
French to English
+ ...
Sep 22, 2020

Hello everyone,

Recently, I was approached by what I thought was a potential client with an interesting translation project that turned out to be a total fraud. After a few email exchanges, rates and deadline agreements, my gut feeling was that it's probably too good to be true.

Now, we've all been there, we've seen it all; the shady emails, people asking unrealistic deadlines, and above all, the ones who demand unacceptable translation rates, belittling our expertise
... See more
Hello everyone,

Recently, I was approached by what I thought was a potential client with an interesting translation project that turned out to be a total fraud. After a few email exchanges, rates and deadline agreements, my gut feeling was that it's probably too good to be true.

Now, we've all been there, we've seen it all; the shady emails, people asking unrealistic deadlines, and above all, the ones who demand unacceptable translation rates, belittling our expertise and education.

Usually, I am quick to detect these types of requests, but this time, I almost got fooled.

Which brings me to my million-dollar question: How does one verify or confirm the legitimacy of a client, and what procedures do you, dear freelancer, undertake?

I'm starting to grow weary of guessing the real from the fake, but I am aware that this comes with the territory.

Your answers are greatly appreciated.
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Michael Newton
Michael Newton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:37
Japanese to English
+ ...
Spotting a scammer Sep 23, 2020

My experience with a Russian translation:
(1) The text to be translated is an academic text
(2) They offer you partial payment in advance (too good to be true, right?)
(3) They send you a check which is "accidentally" significantly over the originally agreed-upon fee. They ask you to deposit the
check and suggest that you "sort things out" later.
Recently I was almost scammed. I was supposed to be paid USD 750 in advance. I received a check for USD 4,500. The party
... See more
My experience with a Russian translation:
(1) The text to be translated is an academic text
(2) They offer you partial payment in advance (too good to be true, right?)
(3) They send you a check which is "accidentally" significantly over the originally agreed-upon fee. They ask you to deposit the
check and suggest that you "sort things out" later.
Recently I was almost scammed. I was supposed to be paid USD 750 in advance. I received a check for USD 4,500. The party said: "Omigosh, I sent you the wrong check. My mistake! Please deposit it. We'll arrange things later". I took the check to my local bank and was told that even though the check appeared very official, it was, in fact, a hoax. I also checked the address on the check. It turned out to be an empty building in Ogden, Utah. (Ogden, Utah seems to be a favorite scammer address). The party begged me to deposit the check a number of times. "This is not a scam". Yah, right. At least they lost USD 25.00 on the special delivery postage. Since this involved inter-state fraud, I sent the check to the local FBI office.
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Despina Nifakos
Robert Forstag
Adieu
 
Adam Dickinson
Adam Dickinson  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 17:37
Member (2016)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Also, look them up Sep 23, 2020

Echoing Michael's points, it seems that this particular check-overpayment scam is one of the more common ones. If a potential client seems overly willing (insistent, even) on sending an advance payment via check, it should set off alarm bells. ProZ has more details on this scam here: https://www.proz.com/about/translator-scam-alerts#2.1. The page also describes other common setups.<... See more
Echoing Michael's points, it seems that this particular check-overpayment scam is one of the more common ones. If a potential client seems overly willing (insistent, even) on sending an advance payment via check, it should set off alarm bells. ProZ has more details on this scam here: https://www.proz.com/about/translator-scam-alerts#2.1. The page also describes other common setups.

Another thing to do is to look up the sender and the source. I saw your post on the Agriculture Policy scam thread; I was sent the same thing on Monday morning. When I looked into it, the person's name turned up absolutely nothing on Google, and looking up excerpts of the source text led fairly quickly to the existing English and French versions, which led me to be suspicious: who is this person who doesn't exist on the internet, and why are they asking me to translate a report that's easily available in both languages already? I slow-walked the correspondence from that point and then found the multiple reports from other Canadian freelancers on this site later in the day.

One other option that (I think) someone else in that same thread mentioned is inquiring why the sender needs the translation. This should be done diplomatically, but is a reasonable request to understand the client's needs. A well-prepared scammer might be able to make something up, but if they give a vague answer that should be another warning: people don't generally ask for thousands of dollars of professional services for no reason.
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Despina Nifakos
 
IrinaN
IrinaN
United States
Local time: 16:37
English to Russian
+ ...
Why me? Sep 23, 2020

Hi Despina,

We build our clientele over many years. Good clients do not fall on our lap off the trees.

Why me? How did he find me, why did he choose me? What do I have to impress a potential well-paying client so strongly that he is ready to pay me top rates on a spot and bypass dozens of experienced translators with colossal relevant portfolios right here on Proz? Mind it, they hunt primarily very inexperienced people. I'm sorry to say but 2 years of working in fairly
... See more
Hi Despina,

We build our clientele over many years. Good clients do not fall on our lap off the trees.

Why me? How did he find me, why did he choose me? What do I have to impress a potential well-paying client so strongly that he is ready to pay me top rates on a spot and bypass dozens of experienced translators with colossal relevant portfolios right here on Proz? Mind it, they hunt primarily very inexperienced people. I'm sorry to say but 2 years of working in fairly generic fields will not bring high-end market players to your door just like that. This last note has nothing to do with undermining your talent and abilities; it refers to the real world only Just like top companies and publishing houses do not hire in-house translators and editors through mass mail. Did I state this subject as my working field? Did he request anything that would confirm my knowledge of the subject, my style, my uniqueness before offering me a payment upfront? Samples, tests? Would I be recruiting a translator this way if I were outsourcing? Just send h/h an email followed by a fat check? Wouldn't I want to know a few things other than h/h banking info first?

I could go on for another 3 pages... All those scams are so obvious that it takes me 5 seconds between seeing the message and deleting it with "Report Spam". It is mind-boggling that people still go into trouble of engaging in any kind of email exchange, negotiations, research etc. There are no serious clients on this planet who are willing to send the job to a stranger immediately and pay good rates without referring to at least half of the questions above in their first message. And the first exchange will never be enough. They would also address you by name, not "Hello".

As far as legitimate agencies aka bottom-feeders with their free tests for potential projects or database updates are concerned... Most of their requests will never materialize into any real jobs or real money but for different reasons. It's up to you to try and sift through many and try a few that may look better than others.

Finding good clients is a thorny road.

Good luck!
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Sheila Wilson
Kevin Fulton
Tina Vonhof (X)
Despina Nifakos
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Michele Fauble
Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:37
Member (2008)
Italian to English
How Sep 23, 2020

Despina Nifakos wrote:

How does one verify or confirm the legitimacy of a client, and what procedures do you, dear freelancer, undertake?



Early clues may be their poor English: common terms misspelled, badly constructed sentences, etc. Or if they say things like "Have a nice day" (which they must have learned, back in the 1970s, was a good thing to say).

Further clues:

- they use a gmail address
- they have no BlueBoard record at all, or a very poor one.
- they have a (supposedly) impressive, corporate-looking website with no business address or contact email address; only a box in which to write your message.
- if they do have a business address and you check where it is, using Google Earth, it turns out not to be a flashy office tower, but someone's bedroom in a back street of some godforsaken suburb in a place that's nowhere.

None of these clues will necessarily tell you that the client is legitimate or not, but they can help. There are others:

- They offer to pay you in advance,
- They ask you to provide your bank details, before giving you any work.

Here's an example of what I assume is a scam, just received today:

SCAM EMAIL BEGINS

Hi! My name is XXXX, a Recruiter from YYYY. I came
across your profile at ProZ while looking for candidates who might
be interested in a work from home position called ZZZ. We
are excited about the possibility of working with you!
To give you a background, we are currently looking for independent
contractors who would like to do part-time work in the comforts of
their own home or during their free time evaluating different
contents found in the internet. Position Summary:

• The main task is to review source sentences in English and
their pair machine translated sentences in the target language
(and vice versa), and score quality of the target translations. • Tasks need to be completed within 24 hours and are paid based
on reliably completed work. • This project requires stable Internet connection and can be
completed from a laptop, tablet or smartphone. • It is an ongoing project, repeating monthly or weekly,
depending on the language.
*Native Speakers of SCOTTISH GAELIC
*Must be at least Fluent in English

Note: Please click “qualify” for VISTULA FY21 project once
account is created.
Click here to apply!

----at this point there is a weblink on which only a fool would click-----

Submit an application now to secure your slot as priority will be
given to those candidates who confirm their interest as soon as
possible.
If you have any questions, I am more than willing to assist you.
Please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best regards,
AA BBB
Crowd Recruiting Specialist at XXX

SCAM EMAIL ENDS

When you check their BlueBoard record, you see an image of a blow-up woman doll.


[Edited at 2020-09-23 09:05 GMT]


Matthias Brombach
Despina Nifakos
P.L.F. Persio
Ariana Piantanida
 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:37
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Where to find exactly? Sep 23, 2020

Tom in London wrote:
When you check their BlueBoard record, you see an image of a blow-up woman doll.


Tom, maybe I´m not the only one here now who is very curious to see a profile on proz created by (or showing) a blow-up woman doll. Could you please elaborate on that a bit more? Thank you very much!


Jorge Payan
 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:37
Spanish to English
+ ...
That doll Sep 23, 2020

To quote them, "We are excited about the possibility of working with you!" The doll must be a kind of cryptic allegory to show you just how hot and bothered this person is getting at the prospect of working with you. Anyway, what can you expect from someone who goes by the name "XXXX"?

P.L.F. Persio
Despina Nifakos
Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Yolande Hivart
Yolande Hivart
Austria
Local time: 22:37
Member (2016)
German to French
My experience Sep 23, 2020

While working for the courts I had the occasion to translate some full blown out scams.
I had the feeling sometimes that it was people forced to work in a band and who had some remorse and let people with 2 cent left of integrity the chance to say "no".

-There are big spelling mistakes or they pretend to be from a country where they the next morning do not speak the language anymore, they change profession on the way, sometimes their cancer move around in the body.
-They
... See more
While working for the courts I had the occasion to translate some full blown out scams.
I had the feeling sometimes that it was people forced to work in a band and who had some remorse and let people with 2 cent left of integrity the chance to say "no".

-There are big spelling mistakes or they pretend to be from a country where they the next morning do not speak the language anymore, they change profession on the way, sometimes their cancer move around in the body.
-They have a big need to tell you that everything is 100% genuine, there is some fraud but they are not like the fraudulent, they can be trusted
-trust me, trust me, trust me.
-forged certificates that would make you laugh and ask if money grows on tree.
-by money scams, big troubles in the way inexplainable but it's never their fault
-one last time and the money will be here, why stopping now and losing all the efforts you had done up to now (starting will amounts you could waive away but like in casino, amounts ever increasing, when you cannot afford to lose little you are despaired for losing more than you can afford).
-you are being pushed from one person to the other (one representing the other)
-sending money to account names other than recipients
-being pressured, the accounts are never long open (or the bank could open a procedure because of money laundering and this would cause one of these unexplainable problems on the way where they accuse you of defaulting the payment to send to another name).
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:37
Spanish to English
+ ...
Prize for the weakest scam? Sep 23, 2020

I've ditched an interminable job for the duration to have a closer look at this and have a bit of fun, and if there were a prize for the most laughable, least believable and weakest scam, Tom's would certainly be in the running.

I can imagine this bloke earnestly hunched over his laptop, tongue out one side of his mouth, trying desperately to come up with some winning, persuasive, eager phrases, and failing miserably. A lot of it doesn't even make much sense:

"during
... See more
I've ditched an interminable job for the duration to have a closer look at this and have a bit of fun, and if there were a prize for the most laughable, least believable and weakest scam, Tom's would certainly be in the running.

I can imagine this bloke earnestly hunched over his laptop, tongue out one side of his mouth, trying desperately to come up with some winning, persuasive, eager phrases, and failing miserably. A lot of it doesn't even make much sense:

"during their free time evaluating different
contents found in the internet"

Free time is free time, pal.


"Tasks need to be completed within 24 hours"

Regardless of whether they're 1K or 10K?


"and are paid based
on reliably completed work"

Er, meaning ...?


"can be
completed from a laptop, tablet or smartphone"


Smartphone? I can just see myself editing a load of blaargh on my mobile with both thumbs.


"*Native Speakers of SCOTTISH GAELIC
*Must be at least Fluent in English"

Apart from the fact that it's fairly safe to assume that the vast majority of Gaelic speakers would be fluent in English, what's this about "at least fluent in English"?. At least fluent in the English language, but preferably in others too, or "better than fluent"? Surely you can't get much better than fluent?

And lastly, his job description ...

"Crowd Recruiting Specialist"


Wassat then? Sounds like he finds extras for films.
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Despina Nifakos
Kevin Fulton
Robert Rietvelt
P.L.F. Persio
 


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Question: how to spot a scammer/are they legit?







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