| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | Contacted by a non-registered person -- is this a scam or not? Thread poster: Kathleen Kownacki
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| Registered or not | Oct 17, 2018 |
Whether or not a potential client registered with ProZ is not enough to consider something as a scam. However, put with the other factors, it reads like a scam at a distance of 100 km! A Gmail address, poor English, use of lower case "i", becoming increasingly common, I must say, and sometimes from sources that should know better. When you add the volume of words on offer...
Don't waste any more time on it.
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5.62.41.35 > Privax LTD/Avast > HideMyAss.com = VPN
A client that uses a VPN to contact you isn't very reassuring, is it?
Suggestion: disallow the use of VPNs. Create a blacklist of all known VPN address ranges and keep them out of the job posting system. I'm sure new IP ranges will pop up from time to time, but that would be a good start anyway.
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Yes, the same text being recycled over and over since beginning of mankind (almost).
Google for example this phrase in quotes: "Though I'm proposing a certified bank draft,a cashier check or bank certified check."
Alles klar.
| | | | Lincoln Hui 
Hong Kong
Local time: 02:36
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Mirko Mainardi wrote:
5.62.41.35 > Privax LTD/Avast > HideMyAss.com = VPN
A client that uses a VPN to contact you isn't very reassuring, is it?
Suggestion: disallow the use of VPNs. Create a blacklist of all known VPN address ranges and keep them out of the job posting system. I'm sure new IP ranges will pop up from time to time, but that would be a good start anyway.
Good to hear that you are proposing ProZ ban all visitors from Mainland China.
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DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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| the nitty-gritty | Oct 17, 2018 |
The problem is no vpn or payment terms, but rather (1) techy abusers, (2) unaware users, and (3) how ProZ and other portals prevent and deal with potential threats
| | | | | Please don't | Oct 17, 2018 |
Lincoln Hui wrote: Mirko Mainardi wrote:
5.62.41.35 > Privax LTD/Avast > HideMyAss.com = VPN
A client that uses a VPN to contact you isn't very reassuring, is it?
Suggestion: disallow the use of VPNs. Create a blacklist of all known VPN address ranges and keep them out of the job posting system. I'm sure new IP ranges will pop up from time to time, but that would be a good start anyway. Good to hear that you are proposing ProZ ban all visitors from Mainland China.
Not looking for a flame, thanks Lincoln.
Also, please note I wrote "keep them out of the job posting system", not "ban all visitors from Mainland China". I hope you can appreciate the difference.
| | | | | Got the same email | Oct 17, 2018 |
While I'm naturally not a suspicious person, I was very leery of this. All the same exact correspondence you describe. No business address... she says she's a private researcher.. no details. I asked who she works for...
Checked the IP address, it came up as UK or Germany.
I said I need time. She wanted personal details for the check. Sounded fishy.
So I decided to enter the email address here... and lo and behold all the same m.o.
Also, the timing of the e... See more While I'm naturally not a suspicious person, I was very leery of this. All the same exact correspondence you describe. No business address... she says she's a private researcher.. no details. I asked who she works for...
Checked the IP address, it came up as UK or Germany.
I said I need time. She wanted personal details for the check. Sounded fishy.
So I decided to enter the email address here... and lo and behold all the same m.o.
Also, the timing of the emails made me think she was NOT in Texas but in Europe or elsewhere points east.
Glad I researched this here.
Thanks to all for the info.
Elli
[Edited at 2018-10-17 21:33 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Same thing here... the second email said August 25 for a month..then she asked again about charges | Oct 17, 2018 |
Elisa Butler wrote:
Hello group and thank you for this thread! I was also contacted by her and responded back last night asking for more information. This morning she sent me the 45-page document asking about payment (certified bank draft, a cashier check or bank certified check). After reading your comments, I wrote this back to her 10 minutes ago:
"Hello Alice,
Thank you for your reply and document. Is the deadline "starting from October 25, 2018" or ending? If it is due to be delivered on Oct 25, what is the ending project time of day?
I charge $0.12 per source word and payable via PayPal with 25% upfront, 25% in the middle, 50% after delivery.
I'd also greatly enjoy learning more about your company/organization and please feel free to contact me via skype or telephone if you have any questions or concerns.
Looking forward to hearing from you."
And immediately got this back: "I can only make payment with bank certified check or cashier check and i am sure the payment will clear before the translation" with no salutation or closing. Looks like I dodged a bullet thanks to this group!
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DZiW wrote:
The problem is no vpn or payment terms, but rather (1) techy abusers, (2) unaware users, and (3) how ProZ and other portals prevent and deal with potential threats
VPNs and payment details are just possible clues that something is wrong with an offer, your 1 and 2 are possible reasons why a scam might succeed. 3 concerns what can be done to help prevent it from happening. Apples and oranges.
At any rate, getting down to the "nitty-gritty", what's your solution then?
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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| dancing orange apples wrong | Oct 18, 2018 |
Mirko, usually it requires at least two to dance: a fraudster + a prospect victim, and also a host--in this case it's ProZ. De jure, if one (a translator or a ProZ representative) ignores the swindling here, he is but a hit-list accomplice.
The solution is self-obvious: (1) to educate users and (2) forbid or supervise all the NOT registered or NOT logged in"(?) offers.
| | | | Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 12:36
Dutch to English
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Any email from someone who has 'found me on proz.com' but not does not address me by name goes straight into the junk folder. The same happens with any 'agency' that does not have a company signature and contact information. If the offer/project sounds very attractive, I may ask for that information and further details about the project (word count, timeline). Payment details only come in at the very end.
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 14:36
Spanish to English
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| Many scams are run by "registered users" | Oct 18, 2018 |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne wrote:
Whether or not a potential client registered with ProZ is not enough to consider something as a scam.
This point really bears repeating. I've received quite a few scam e-mails from "registered users" of this site. So seeing that a sender of an e-mail is a "register user" really provides no insurance at all that the e-mail in question is not a scam.
Yet I would also note that I have received e-mails from "non-registered users" that turned out not to be scams.
So the point is to always be careful, and to look for telltale cues to a scam within the e-mails themselves (as noted by previous contributors to this thread).
Kind of surprising that, after all these years, the scammers have not bothered to more plausibly disguise their intentions.
[Edited at 2018-10-18 15:49 GMT]
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| The same scam | Oct 18, 2018 |
Hello everybody.
I had completely the same situation with the person named Michael Raupp. Turned out it was a total scam.
Be vigilant and ask questions. As typical scammers, the answers would not be as you expect them to be.
| | | | Frances Luscher
United States
Local time: 14:36
Member (2008)
Italian to English
+ ...
I have also just been contacted by Alice Peters.
I have received the check (from Maui Retreat Center) but since my suspicious antennae were all pinging and you confirmed my suspicions, I will not be cashing the check.
Thank you all for your help.
Frances Luscher
| | | | Christiane Fabbri
United States
Local time: 14:36
Member (2016)
French to English
+ ...
| Adding my 2 cents to the Advance/Overpayment - AP/Maui Retreat Center topic.... | Oct 27, 2018 |
I received virtually the same messages as those cited by other members - and ended up actually depositing a large check received (by Fedex one-day delivery) as advance payment. I thought the whole matter was a bit strange, but was not suspicious until 2 days later when I was advised that part 2 of the translation project had not been approved, and 2/3 of the total amount deposited was requested by "cashier check for the remaining money and make a deposit to the account of one of the sponsors tod... See more I received virtually the same messages as those cited by other members - and ended up actually depositing a large check received (by Fedex one-day delivery) as advance payment. I thought the whole matter was a bit strange, but was not suspicious until 2 days later when I was advised that part 2 of the translation project had not been approved, and 2/3 of the total amount deposited was requested by "cashier check for the remaining money and make a deposit to the account of one of the sponsors today and get back to me immediately with the full confirmation of the deposit with a deposit slip or confirmation slip..." !
Fortunately, then at last common sense clicked in ▲ Collapse
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