| Stron w wątku: < [1 2 3] > | Asking for opinions on a message I received Autor wątku: Iris Shalev
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Iris Shalev 
Izrael
Local time: 01:02
angielski > niderlandzki
+ ...
NOWY TEMAT
Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote: And I don't like the usage of "sense of trustworthy and reliability, with an almost ancient courtesy" which totally doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it's because my English is not that excellent, I can't understand the last part "an almost ancient courtesy". Would somebody kindly explain, or should I post this phrase on KudoZ? 
Yasumoto - I haven't got a clue what it means, but it's not your English that's the problem!
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Hiszpania
Local time: 23:02
Członek ProZ.com
od 2007
angielski
+ ...
| The level of English is not, on its own, a problem | Feb 4, 2010 |
Marian Vieyra wrote:
But this is how viruses are spread. Do not click on any link from an unknown source, identity theft is easy and very lucrative for these people. Only send bank details on your invoice. TM English is a sign the source is from abroad, (China, Nigeria, the homes of recent scams). Even if it is a bona fide job offer, how can you communicate effectively with someone who really doesn't know English? Better safe than sorry.
I agree that this whole email looks dodgy, to say the least.
Sorry for going off-topic, but I have to take issue with the idea that if a client writes in broken (or even MT) English, then they are automatically suspect. Are we only to be contacted by native English speakers? Are we to insist that all non-native speakers of English have an impeccable command of the English language? Surely, that's why we're in business ... isn't it?
Remember, end-clients can contact us through the site if they take the trouble to register. This has happened to me on several occasions with people needing their CVs translated into English.
Even if it's an agency contact, can we really expect perfect communication in English? I work regularly with an agency in Poland and some of the project managers write in grammatically incorrect English. I certainly don't bin their emails because of it.
| | | | Iris Shalev
Izrael
Local time: 01:02
angielski > niderlandzki
+ ...
NOWY TEMAT
Sheila Wilson wrote:
Sorry for going off-topic, but I have to take issue with the idea that if a client writes in broken (or even MT) English, then they are automatically suspect. Are we only to be contacted by native English speakers? Are we to insist that all non-native speakers of English have an impeccable command of the English language? Surely, that's why we're in business ... isn't it?
That's true. And the agency that swizzed me was American and had perfect English. That's probably why I didn't suspect them. But most scam emails do seem to be written in very awkward English.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Holandia
Local time: 00:02
Członek ProZ.com
od 2006
angielski > afrikaans
+ ...
| Not automatically suspect, but... | Feb 4, 2010 |
The poor English does not trigger any warnings for me. Some cultures are overly polite and their English teachers use books that date to before WWI, so naturally some of them will have an incorrect idea of how to address a real English person.
Iris Shalev wrote:
I would like to receive an offer for the translation of the text contained in the html pages telated to the following links.
[long list of links to separate pages of a website]
...
Of course, considering the request of a special care and the small quantity of the the text to be translated, I do not expect a normal offer/word.
It bugs me that they send such a long list of URLs but they claim that it will probably be less text than your usual minimum rate. How much work is there really?
Or... is the guy trying to say "don't give me a per-word rate, because I don't know how many words there are myself'?
If you accept the work I inform you that have no problem to pay in advance. Please send me your bank data to make the payement.
Advanced payment is always nice. Do you think he'll accidentally transfer EUR 30,000 instead of EUR 3,000 and ask you to return the balance, please? Or how else can he possibly scam you with advanced payment?
Are you and he in a country/ies where you can use PayPal or a similar service?
Since he wants you to take so much care with the translation, I'm sure he'll be happy with a generous deadline -- one that will extend beyond the amount of time it takes for a cheque to clear without a doubt.
There is just a name, no contact information whatsoever.
This alone does not make any warning bells go off either. Some people just don't realise how important a signature with lots of information is. I would just ask him for this information.
But... I also think you're right to steer clear of possible scams. Scammers are always more clever than we are, no matter how sneaky we may think we are in return.
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Samuel Murray
Holandia
Local time: 00:02
Członek ProZ.com
od 2006
angielski > afrikaans
+ ...
| How were you scammed, Iris? | Feb 4, 2010 |
Iris Shalev wrote:
The only time someone's actually offered me to pay in advance, it was a 'money whitewashing scam' that I only just escaped from.
Can you share your experience with us, Iris? How did it happen, and what happened?
| | | | Iris Shalev
Izrael
Local time: 01:02
angielski > niderlandzki
+ ...
NOWY TEMAT | Previous scam | Feb 4, 2010 |
Samuel Murray wrote: Iris Shalev wrote:
The only time someone's actually offered me to pay in advance, it was a 'money whitewashing scam' that I only just escaped from. Can you share your experience with us, Iris? How did it happen, and what happened?
I realised just in time that it was a scam, because of this ProZ.com thread:
http://www.proz.com/forum/business_issues/148586-scam_fraud_job_offer_:_translating_a_book_about_child_care_and_parents_obligations.html
I was going to accept the offer, when I accidentally discovered this thread on the forum. Life-saving! But unfortunately I wasn't so lucky with another scam agency, which didn't contact me through ProZ.com, but through another translators' website. It was discussed there.
I have emailed them asking for more info, and I also emailed the owners of the website in question. Until now, I haven't received an answer. I think that it's reasonably safe to email, as long as I don't disclose my bank information.
Thanks to all,
iris.
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Now, that one would ring alarm bells straight away with me because he's asking for info on the grounds it is to arrange payment, before any deal has been struck. Strange but true (because it would be so easy to avoid), scammers are usually a) in a real hurry to get your info (they haven't heard that slowly slowly catchee monkey!) and b) keen to stress how honest and decent everyone needs to be (!).
I know these things are hard to judge, and we have to be careful. But on the face of it, your email just sounds like someone probably unfamiliar with translation trying to do the right thing. Assuming the website isn't suspect, I would proceed with caution.
| | | | Iris Shalev
Izrael
Local time: 01:02
angielski > niderlandzki
+ ...
NOWY TEMAT
Charlie Bavington wrote:
I know these things are hard to judge, and we have to be careful. But on the face of it, your email just sounds like someone probably unfamiliar with translation trying to do the right thing. Assuming the website isn't suspect, I would proceed with caution.
I hope you're right, Charlie! The website seems fine. My computer hasn't been attacked by viruses. We will see if they answer me, and what they say!
Thanks again!
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Jessica Noyes
USA
Local time: 18:02
Członek ProZ.com
hiszpański > angielski
+ ...
| Furniture site | Feb 4, 2010 |
Iris Shalev wrote:
It's a website about design furniture.
This rings a bell for me. A couple of days ago I received a letter with an e-mail address that had a non-standard domain name. Being curious, I added www, and typed it into my browser; the resulting site was for a place that makes some very nice design furniture. It didn't compute, so I deleted the e-mail.
I think the handcrafted furniture site must have been hijacked.
| | | | Iris Shalev
Izrael
Local time: 01:02
angielski > niderlandzki
+ ...
NOWY TEMAT | would you credit that! | Feb 4, 2010 |
The website manager wrote back and told me that this person is indeed their manager, and gave me their post address, which is situated in London. They assured me the job offer is genuine.
I am glad to hear this, but I am still a bit suspicious/afraid of being swizzed again. Because 1. the email adres of this person is a gmail adress. 2. If they are in London, why is the English of their manager so bad? (The English of the website manager was fine, by the way.) 3. They stressed agai... See more The website manager wrote back and told me that this person is indeed their manager, and gave me their post address, which is situated in London. They assured me the job offer is genuine.
I am glad to hear this, but I am still a bit suspicious/afraid of being swizzed again. Because 1. the email adres of this person is a gmail adress. 2. If they are in London, why is the English of their manager so bad? (The English of the website manager was fine, by the way.) 3. They stressed again that they will pay me in advance if I forward them my bank details.
Well, we will see again what they say.
It's good to be able to discuss this with others! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Iris Shalev
Izrael
Local time: 01:02
angielski > niderlandzki
+ ...
NOWY TEMAT | steel furniture? | Feb 4, 2010 |
Jessica Noyes wrote:
This rings a bell for me. A couple of days ago I received a letter with an e-mail address that had a non-standard domain name. Being curious, I added www, and typed it into my browser; the resulting site was for a place that makes some very nice design furniture. It didn't compute, so I deleted the e-mail.
I think the handcrafted furniture site must have been hijacked.
Hi Jessica - I'm not sure I'm allowed to post the name of the site, but was it to do with steel furniture, handcrafted in Italy? And how can a site be hijacked? Does this mean that the website master is also in on it?
God, how complicated!
| | | | Grayson Morr (X)
Holandia
Local time: 00:02
niderlandzki > angielski
| Gmail not fishy in itself | Feb 4, 2010 |
Iris Shalev wrote:
I am glad to hear this, but I am still a bit suspicious/afraid of being swizzed again. Because 1. the email adres of this person is a gmail adress.
I own my own domain name and pay for web and mail hosting services, but I have my gmail account set up to pick up that mail and send replies. I much prefer this to a desktop mail client, and it lets me keep all my accounts in one place, but the downside is that many clients (depending on their e-mail software) will see that my mails are sent via gmail "on behalf of" my actual domain address. But I am legit!
I wouldn't let a gmail address on its own make you too suspicious.
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Iris Shalev
Izrael
Local time: 01:02
angielski > niderlandzki
+ ...
NOWY TEMAT
Grayson Morris wrote: I own my own domain name and pay for web and mail hosting services, but I have my gmail account set up to pick up that mail and send replies. I much prefer this to a desktop mail client, and it lets me keep all my accounts in one place, but the downside is that many clients (depending on their e-mail software) will see that my mails are sent via gmail "on behalf of" my actual domain address. But I am legit! I wouldn't let a gmail address on its own make you too suspicious.
Hi Grayson - yes, I do believe that you are legit! And you're right that it doesn't have to be suspect. But the company that cheated me before used a gmail address, so I am extremely suspicious right now. But the thing that bothers me most is that they are offering to pay me in advance and want me to send them my bank details. What if they do put 30,000 euro on my bank account and ask me to send it back..?
It's a minefield!
| | | | NMR (X)
Francja
Local time: 00:02
francuski > niderlandzki
+ ...
| Prepayment offered? | Feb 4, 2010 |
If you accept the work I inform you that have no problem
to pay in advance. Please send me your bank data to make the
payement."
How unusual.
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The website manager wrote back and told me
The one time I got scammed (a painful admission to make, maybe we're all suckers once when we're young) was because the job offer seemed legitimate after I did some superficial online "research".
This was back before gmail, and so the person contacting me had a hotmail account. Now that DID ring the alarm bells, so I asked for company reference information. The next time the PM wrote, he included a "signature" from a legitimate (ahem... Russian) translation agency. I checked out the website, etc. Everything seemed to add up. At the time, I didn't know what else to do. The PM even called me to discuss the job, which made it seem more legit.
But what would have happened if I had just tried to call them?
Anyone can write an eMail from any kind of domain and include an address and phone numbers and even a website (see below), anyone can call you and sound legit, but one of the tests is for you to call them. Why not? See what happens, explore the mystery...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
And while we're on the subject...
I was contacted the other week by a translation company that really has it all set up. They have a multinational website, they have pictures of their buildings, they have pictures of their "global account coordinator", they have a list of Fortune 500 companies as clients, they even have a 1-800 number to call (free, yay!).
But if you do the right research (like I did this time), you find out what they don't have:
Neighbors: I called another business in the same building, same suite(!) - they had never heard of them
An Office: I found out the address given was a virtual office, so I called the leasing agent - who had never heard of this company or its "global account coordinator"
Registration: I called the state's office for business registration, no registration
History: I checked the local and national BBB (Better Business Bureau) databases, nothing.
So I decided to delay ("sorry, I now have another project") and asked for more information as to how they calculate rates (which hadn't been agreed on) and how they prefer to make payment, etc. It really came as no surprise that they ignored every one of my questions and simply said "we look forward to working with you another time."
Hah! "Won't get fooled again!" 
| | | | | Stron w wątku: < [1 2 3] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Asking for opinions on a message I received | Trados Business Manager Lite | Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio
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