| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] > | Announcing a new feature: Translator scam alert center Thread poster: Enrique Cavalitto
|
|---|
| A valuable tool for all freelancers | Feb 24, 2012 |
Thank you, Enrique.
A translation sent to a scammer feels frustrating, humiliating...you send a part of your life, your effort and time to someone who does not think of all the years you spent studying or sacrifices you had to make and how difficult it is to earn you living.
I feel it will be a valuable tool for all of us,
All the best.
| | | | Enrique Cavalitto 
Argentina
Local time: 10:34
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER | Advance payment scam | Feb 24, 2012 |
Carrie Zhao wrote:
Thank you very much for initiating this - and my experience today can tell why.
A Sxxxx wrote to me on 02/11 with an assignment, with about 7,000 words, English to Chinese. Said she is a student and found my contact information on Proz.com. We agreed with the price and I tried to ask her to sign an agreement. She said you don't need to worry about it to work with me, I will mail you the check first.
And then on the glorious Valentine's day she mentioned that her father is at sick bed and she was home, meanwhile she has more documents with similar amount for me. And I really felt sorry for her father and hoped he would get well soon.
On 19th she got a message from her colleague that the other job is cancelled. But she already mailed out the check, and I should only keep the part for my assignment and mail the rest back.
i kept checking mails and did not get the check until yesterday - and was shocked to see a 2815 dollars on that which is way too much than the amount I expected, from a company named Seahorse Bioscience, Inc - instead of her personally. My instinct told me there must be something wrong - am I involved in money laundry, or is she using me to make money from the company?
My husband and I then decided that we would not accept this check, and require another one with the correct amount of money - which she refused of course - said the company is not willing to reissue the check - the extra fund is for her sick father. With my company experience I realized there is something seriously fishy. I then managed to call the company accounting department, and finally got reply from them that they did not issue the check with that check number. The accountant also mentioned that they got another similar phone call yesterday with the same question.
Oops, even worse than I thought - and I felt guilty when I was hesitating and asked myself what if her dad is really sick?! Well, I did trust her when she asked for it.... and now it is over.
BTW I hope only people registered at Proz.com could see this......
Thanks for sharing Carrie,
You can read more on this scam here
Regards,
Enrique
| | | | Enrique Cavalitto
Argentina
Local time: 10:34
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER | New menu option and alerts | Feb 24, 2012 |
Catherine GUILLIAUMET wrote:
However, I fully support Yolanda Broad's idea : the scam alert center needs to be clearly indicated on the tab line.
I must confess that I could not find it by myself when I tried to. I had to click on the link you provided in this message in this forum.
But I'm afraid that in some weeks or months, newcomers will have more difficulties to find it when the announcement will no longer be so obviously shown.
It might be wiser to insert it in a tab.
Thanks Catherine and Yolanda!
The new translator scam alert center has been associated with a new option "Scam alert center" in the "Knowledgebase" area of menu option "Education" in the top drop-down menu.
The option "Jobs and directories" was considered first, but in fact the fight against scams in an issue of education for the community.
The first alerts are been sent out and a new page has been designated in the wiki for the Translator scam alert reports. Remember that ProZ.com members can subscribe to receive these alerts via email.
Also, a link has been added to the scam alert center to provide users with a quick channel to report a scam to site staff for investigation/action. These requests will be answered and will also be used to generate alerts to the community.
By sharing critical information the community will help colleagues improve their defenses against these criminal activities.
Regards,
Enrique
| | | | | A new clue to remind the users | Feb 25, 2012 |
That's great to have this new feature in our forums! Thanks a lot! Enrique. That reminds me of something that might be done to help more users in our forum.
| | |
|
|
|
Janko Mesić
Local time: 15:34
Spanish to Croatian
+ ...
I think you forgot about the "test translation for a potential job" scam. I know there are those who won't agree that this is a scam, but it's a way for the scammers to get a full translation for free under the pretext of testing.
| | | | Trastec
Canada
Local time: 09:34
English to French
+ ...
| SCAM Alert centre | Feb 25, 2012 |
Hi Enrique & fellow translators
Compliment of the season .
That is a good idea to draft a list of clients who don't pay.
It will help so many translators.
A translator will have the opportunity to check the list before accepting the project.
| | | |
but how about alerting people about bad payers?
I had one in 2011 and I heard from another woman who got shafted by her.
She contacted me in the summer of 2011 on a Facebook page for translators and was looking for french to english. She was in france. So she sent me about 2000 words and I did them, but when I sent her the invoice and waited 60 days, there was nothign. I emailed and skyped and contacted her via facebook but never heard anything. Apparently she'd left on her ho... See more but how about alerting people about bad payers?
I had one in 2011 and I heard from another woman who got shafted by her.
She contacted me in the summer of 2011 on a Facebook page for translators and was looking for french to english. She was in france. So she sent me about 2000 words and I did them, but when I sent her the invoice and waited 60 days, there was nothign. I emailed and skyped and contacted her via facebook but never heard anything. Apparently she'd left on her honeymoon. When I skyped her a 'friend' was there...right. After a year, I heard from another woman who'd also gotten scammed. Apparently J.K. gets people to do her translations and then pockets the money. We both were owed about 300 euros and she suggested I contact the end client. She had done so and they were embarrassed enough that they paid her in part. I did the same but got no response. It wasn't so much the money but just how she was so slimy and dishonest. I want to make sure she's exposed! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | That is great! | Feb 26, 2012 |
Dear Enrique, That is great service for language professionals. Especially new comer in this sector will get more advantages.
It might really helpful to established people in the field.
| | |
|
|
|
| I was thinking here... | Feb 26, 2012 |
... what I should do to encourage the ProZ team to help us to protect us against scammers. Blue Board is an excellent feature but, as Henrique said, the names, addresses, companies are changed, and we never know who is behind the scenes again. Well, I am trying to protect myself everytime I rcv a direct msg instead a collective call for translators in ProZ. I ask the person to register in ProZ and wait for the qualification made by ProZ support team. I know that this feature does not exist yet. ... See more ... what I should do to encourage the ProZ team to help us to protect us against scammers. Blue Board is an excellent feature but, as Henrique said, the names, addresses, companies are changed, and we never know who is behind the scenes again. Well, I am trying to protect myself everytime I rcv a direct msg instead a collective call for translators in ProZ. I ask the person to register in ProZ and wait for the qualification made by ProZ support team. I know that this feature does not exist yet. But I try. Sometimes, the reaction is immediate. The person registers in ProZ and I myself check the phone and the existence of that person/company in the market. Other times, the person disappears and I so I am sure about their intention. I think we must have a strong instinct to distingh a good from a bad client. Unfortunately, the bad clients find professionals that accept their jobs and lost their time, efforts and tolerance.
I hope this new feature announced by Henrique could establish a new conscience level in our professional lives.
Thank you, Henrique ▲ Collapse
| | | | Caryl Swift
Poland
Local time: 15:34
Polish to English
+ ...
| An excellent feature! | Feb 26, 2012 |
Thank you!
| | | | Enrique Cavalitto
Argentina
Local time: 10:34
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER | Scammers who want to steal your translation | Feb 26, 2012 |
Marlene Blanshay wrote:
but how about alerting people about bad payers?
I had one in 2011 and I heard from another woman who got shafted by her.
She contacted me in the summer of 2011 on a Facebook page for translators and was looking for french to english. She was in france. So she sent me about 2000 words and I did them, but when I sent her the invoice and waited 60 days, there was nothign. I emailed and skyped and contacted her via facebook but never heard anything. Apparently she'd left on her honeymoon. When I skyped her a 'friend' was there...right. After a year, I heard from another woman who'd also gotten scammed. Apparently J.K. gets people to do her translations and then pockets the money. We both were owed about 300 euros and she suggested I contact the end client. She had done so and they were embarrassed enough that they paid her in part. I did the same but got no response. It wasn't so much the money but just how she was so slimy and dishonest. I want to make sure she's exposed!
Hi Marlene:
An agency who does not pay a translator because they hit hard times is a real problem and they should be reported, but the area for sharing this kind of information is the Blue Board.
Fake outsourcers who scam translators to steal their work are within the scope of the translators scam center, where a section is dedicated to scammers who want to steal your work.
Please note that when dealing with scammers a list of names is not really relevant, because they are fake and then are very easy to modify. The valuable information about scams is the knowledge of the methods used and also a good exposition to the kind of messages they send.
This is why the scam alerts distributed by means of this new feature include, when possible, the message received from the scammer. After reading several scam messages, linguists are likely to recognize the main threats on the spot.
Remember to subscribe to the alarm notifications (members only).
Regards,
Enrique
| | | |
Thank you, Enrique! It is essential as I have been targeted by these scams and thanks to Google I was directed to this forum which was a life-saver . Now there will be a direct link.
Thanks again.
Liliane
| | |
|
|
|
Shannon Summers
United States
Local time: 06:34
Member (2008)
French to English
| Helpful information but... | Feb 27, 2012 |
The information in this article is very helpful, however it is obvious that it was not written by a native English speaker, as there are many mistakes (spelling and grammar) or otherwise awkward constructions. I suggest that this be reviewed/proofread by a native speaker so that it is more in line with the quality and integrity expected from of a ProZ.com article.
| | | | Teresa Reinhardt
United States
Local time: 06:34
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
| Just my 2 cents | Feb 28, 2012 |
Thanks for trying to stem the tide,
I agree with Janko's and Shannon's comments/suggestions.
And I am steeling myself for another wave of scams
helped along by the meticulous descriptions of what to do (and what not).
I am equally concerned about the fact that anyone who is not a member/not
logged in can apparently flood my mailbox with mismatched job requests
(I don't really care if they are real or fake; so far, I have been able to tell ... See more Thanks for trying to stem the tide,
I agree with Janko's and Shannon's comments/suggestions.
And I am steeling myself for another wave of scams
helped along by the meticulous descriptions of what to do (and what not).
I am equally concerned about the fact that anyone who is not a member/not
logged in can apparently flood my mailbox with mismatched job requests
(I don't really care if they are real or fake; so far, I have been able to tell the difference). At the same time, I can be and am easily blocked from seeing details of jobs posted on ProZ if I happen not to fulfill one of the outsourcers' criteria... so it must be possible to "keep the riffraff out" if you want to.
It would also be nice to have a requirement that mass emails can only be sent to translators listed on ProZ if the sender has somehow verified his/her legitimacy (i.e., ideally, as a rule, they would have to be a listed outsourcer and/or another translator.) I would think anyone who has a legit translation job should be expected to sign in at least and should not mind doing so (revealing plenty of info to track them in the process.) Otherwise, our sometimes quite detailed info is just out there for anyone to misuse.
And lastly, I think it would be nice and helpful if you could publish the details for the services other than the BlueBoard; this is not about competition, none of them offer the kinds of services ProZ does. And I am sure there are many people out there who do not know about them.
Thanks! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 15:34
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Some of these facilities already exist | Feb 28, 2012 |
Teresa Reinhardt wrote:
I am equally concerned about the fact that anyone who is not a member/not
logged in can apparently flood my mailbox with mismatched job requests
Teresa, if you go into your profile, then go to General Settings > Email preferences, you have radio buttons that enable you to select who can send you e-mails via your profile:
o Allow anyone to send me messages via my profile page
o Allow only ProZ.com users who are logged in to send me messages via my profile
o Allow only logged-in ProZ.com members to send me email via my profile page
o Allow no one to send me messages via my profile page
Vetting options:
o Do not vet any messages sent to me via my profile
o I want staff to vet all messages sent to me via my profile (for members only)
So you can easily set these options to prevent unwanted direct e-mails.
Of course, if you do not want to be sent notifications of things that are posted as actual jobs, you will need to filter these under your 'jobs' notifications — though inevitably this may be a little trickier.
At the same time, I can be and am easily blocked from seeing details of jobs posted on ProZ if I happen not to fulfill one of the outsourcers' criteria... so it must be possible to "keep the riffraff out" if you want to.
I think that's a slight over-simplification, Teresa!
Job posters have a number of options they can use to target specific service providers; and each of us, via our profile, has a number of criteria set that allow this targeting to work.
However, it would be simplistic to imagine that the converse is equally true; naturally, scammers are not going to set criteria that might limit the number of people their scam will reach; and what extra criteria would you like to see used to filter incoming job offers? You can already choose not to receive 'only potential' job offers (but scammers won't use that anyway!)
The only criteria I can think of is for ProZ.com to put filters on certain key words like 'Western Union', which would flag jobs postings up for staff vetting before release.
However, I think the best way is for each of us to remain vigilant, and above all not to be naïve with offers that are "too good to be true" or business practices that are suspect.
[Modifié le 2012-02-28 05:12 GMT]
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Announcing a new feature: Translator scam alert center | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
| | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
