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SCAM ALERT: Freelancers and agencies, please beware of a scammer impersonating real translators
Thread poster: Lucia Leszinsky
Ana Lucia Amaral
Ana Lucia Amaral
United States
Local time: 22:17
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Translation Secrets - Pay attention on then. (Too) Jul 8, 2013

I received this e-mail now.



Dear Ana,

I would like to give you a short glance into TranslationSecrets.
We are a translation company that covers a wide scope of freelance translations. Our many clients from all over the world trust us to work on a variety of projects regularly. These projects are managed by our core group of project managers who work hard to deliver the highest quality translations. I am one of those project managers. TranslationSecr
... See more
I received this e-mail now.



Dear Ana,

I would like to give you a short glance into TranslationSecrets.
We are a translation company that covers a wide scope of freelance translations. Our many clients from all over the world trust us to work on a variety of projects regularly. These projects are managed by our core group of project managers who work hard to deliver the highest quality translations. I am one of those project managers. TranslationSecrets is a growing company in a burgeoning industry and are always in need of excellent translators to assist us in satisfying our clients’ needs.
TranslationSecrets pays reliably and is attentive to the needs of our translators so that our translators can produce highest quality translation possible.

Should you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.

Please sign and return the attached agreement at your earliest convenience.

This is our website:
www.translationsecrets.com
Now I will tell you our system, I work as a project manager for three years, I deal with 8 languages and I have a group of translators for each language, I ask the translator if he can give me the permission to use his CV with our clients if he agrees I send to him an agreement to sign it, and he becomes the most important translator in the team, our programming department makes an email and marketing the email with the translator's CV for our clients, then I receive the projects in this email, when I receive a project I ask the translator ( who gives me the permission to use his CV ) if he can take the project ( he has the Priority right ) if not I ask the group of translators.

So let me ask you can you give me the permission to use your CV with our clients??
If you agree please sign the attached file and send it back to me.

Waiting for your answer,

Best Regards,
Fatima Slum.
E-mail from: Fatma Slum
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Jessica Noyes
Jessica Noyes  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 22:17
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
More on the above person and question Jul 8, 2013

Hello, All,
I received an e-mail, worded a little differently, from the same person who contacted Ana Lucia. It was cc'd (not blind copied) to 92 different translators, and I could see all their addresses. If I hit "Reply All," I could reach all of them.
So here's my question. Should I reply to the group and warn them about this probable scammer? Is it my civic duty to do this for my colleagues? My concern was that the scammer might target and harass me on line in any numb
... See more
Hello, All,
I received an e-mail, worded a little differently, from the same person who contacted Ana Lucia. It was cc'd (not blind copied) to 92 different translators, and I could see all their addresses. If I hit "Reply All," I could reach all of them.
So here's my question. Should I reply to the group and warn them about this probable scammer? Is it my civic duty to do this for my colleagues? My concern was that the scammer might target and harass me on line in any number of ways in retaliation. Or, perhaps, she is really not a scammer, just a careless PM from a bona fide company. Thoughts?
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Johanne Jean-Maître
Johanne Jean-Maître  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 22:17
Member (2012)
English to French
+ ...
Thank you! Jul 8, 2013

Thank you!

 
Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member because it was not in line with site rule
Giuseppe Bellone
Giuseppe Bellone
Italy
Local time: 03:17
English to Italian
+ ...
Another strange e-mail from same company, or whatever it may be!! Jul 27, 2013

Hi,
more or less the same old story.

I've just received this, without any any decent opening/salutation at the beginning and neither at the end, not even the name of the company, which can only be seen in the e-mail address of sender, i.e. this one:
B.Khayat ([email protected]).

What do they think they are doing, thinking all the world is full of stupid people who can believe in fairies and dance happily around a bonfire in celebration of rec
... See more
Hi,
more or less the same old story.

I've just received this, without any any decent opening/salutation at the beginning and neither at the end, not even the name of the company, which can only be seen in the e-mail address of sender, i.e. this one:
B.Khayat ([email protected]).

What do they think they are doing, thinking all the world is full of stupid people who can believe in fairies and dance happily around a bonfire in celebration of receiving another strange job offer?

I asked them whether they were joking or perhaps thinking I was completely stupid!
And of course this is not the first e-mail I've received from them, several have arrived so far, all with strange, incomplete or almost impossible requests.

Be aware of this kind of offers!
They may be in good faith, BUT I really have a lot of DOUBTS!!!

Kind regards,

Giuseppe

-----

Here is their e-mail, which contained also a short Word text attached to be translated IMMEDIATELY!!!

"""" Hello ,



So, the document is 27 pages in total with 12,000 words. We are paying .035 U.S. cents per word. Please let me know if you agree on doing this. Here as an attachment is the PDF sample of the project. I need the first Paragraph ASAP



We would like you to translate the first Paragraph in order to evaluate your skills on the project.



Please let me know as soon as possible, as the sooner we get a response from you, the better it is.



Thanks, """""


[Modificato alle 2013-07-27 07:32 GMT]

[Modificato alle 2013-07-27 07:38 GMT]

[Modificato alle 2013-07-27 07:40 GMT]

[Modificato alle 2013-07-27 07:44 GMT]
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Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 10:17
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Not even I would take that rate Jul 27, 2013

.035 U.S. cents per word

For 12k words that comes out to about $4.


 
Andrea Riffo
Andrea Riffo  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 23:17
English to Spanish
+ ...
yay Jul 29, 2013

They finally contacted me last week, asking for permission to use my CV. I was starting to feel neglected.

Would it be too unprofessional of me to send this as a reply?


Greetings!

[Edited at 2013-07-29 05:32 GMT]


 
Giuseppe Bellone
Giuseppe Bellone
Italy
Local time: 03:17
English to Italian
+ ...
@Ariffo Jul 29, 2013

Hi,
I did more or less the same thing.)

This is my reply to the letter they sent:
...
Hi,
probably you are joking and we can have a nice laugh together.)
Have a nice, happy day.

Kind regards,
...

I really could not consider their offer seriously, so I acted accordingly!...
See more
Hi,
I did more or less the same thing.)

This is my reply to the letter they sent:
...
Hi,
probably you are joking and we can have a nice laugh together.)
Have a nice, happy day.

Kind regards,
...

I really could not consider their offer seriously, so I acted accordingly!)

Giuseppe
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Josephine Cassar
Josephine Cassar  Identity Verified
Malta
Local time: 03:17
Member (2012)
English to Maltese
+ ...
$0.035 per word Jul 29, 2013

Hi Giuseppe, what would you say if you receive part of a book with a quote for $0.008 per word? 195 pages. Literally like that-you are responsible for your taxes and-of course-conversion into €, by which time you will have practically nothing left. I could not find the company on ProZ.com unfortunately, and payment is after delivery as they are afraid you would not continue delivering the remaining parts and they would have to find another translator. It is the rate that bugs me, not the conte... See more
Hi Giuseppe, what would you say if you receive part of a book with a quote for $0.008 per word? 195 pages. Literally like that-you are responsible for your taxes and-of course-conversion into €, by which time you will have practically nothing left. I could not find the company on ProZ.com unfortunately, and payment is after delivery as they are afraid you would not continue delivering the remaining parts and they would have to find another translator. It is the rate that bugs me, not the content, or the opportunity and it is not a country one would think does these things-these prices appear in a certain way when you are a translator, but differently when you turn into outsourcer/agency/company. Good day to allCollapse


 
Giuseppe Bellone
Giuseppe Bellone
Italy
Local time: 03:17
English to Italian
+ ...
Hi Josephine Jul 29, 2013

It's not the exactly price that made me suspicious, it's the whole thing, starting from the phrasing of the e-mail; the lack of names and normal opening/closing of it and the whole offer, strangely written and very similar to others often received from this same e-mail address, only the name of self-called PM or similar names used in the address itself is always different every time, but the content is always similar and asking to act quickly and sending data.
Very strange requests in my
... See more
It's not the exactly price that made me suspicious, it's the whole thing, starting from the phrasing of the e-mail; the lack of names and normal opening/closing of it and the whole offer, strangely written and very similar to others often received from this same e-mail address, only the name of self-called PM or similar names used in the address itself is always different every time, but the content is always similar and asking to act quickly and sending data.
Very strange requests in my opinion,

Kind regards,

Giuseppe
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Diana Lavarini (X)
Diana Lavarini (X)
Italy
Local time: 03:17
English to Italian
+ ...
Beware of Tamara Nicole Aug 8, 2013

I received a translation request a few days ago for a short file, Guidance to Good Health.txt. I found out that it's an excerpt from a pdf book available on a Website. The sender wrote as Tamara Nicole, gave me an American address and phone number and I was almost starting to believe she was real, but of course when I sent her a Paypal invoice for the advanced payment she replied with the following message:

I just remembered that my transfer limit starts from USD 750. So, I will
... See more
I received a translation request a few days ago for a short file, Guidance to Good Health.txt. I found out that it's an excerpt from a pdf book available on a Website. The sender wrote as Tamara Nicole, gave me an American address and phone number and I was almost starting to believe she was real, but of course when I sent her a Paypal invoice for the advanced payment she replied with the following message:

I just remembered that my transfer limit starts from USD 750. So, I will transfer the payment to your account and I will have your word that you will return the excess money to me after the payment. I really need the job done and am really out of time. Please reply so I will know your decision.

Her email address and Paypal account is [email protected]

Ciao,
Diana
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Cecilia Negri
Cecilia Negri  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:17
Italian to English
+ ...
Tamara Nicole Aug 9, 2013

Diana I wish I had found this email from you some days ago. Same identical thing happened to me, but I believed her. And you can imagine how the story ended.

 
Stefania Greci
Stefania Greci  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:17
English to Italian
+ ...
pdfs are not 100% safe either Aug 9, 2013

Timothy Wood wrote:

It's never a good idea to offer your cv for download or even send it to a client in an editable format. Use PDFs. They are very easy to make, straight from Word.


Unfortunately, I don't think this would help either as there are free software on the internet that can "crack" pdf files.


 
Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member because it was not in line with site rule
Ivan Czar
Ivan Czar  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 03:17
English to Hungarian
+ ...
This is a scam Aug 9, 2013

Ana Lucia Amaral wrote:

I ask the translator if he can give me the permission to use his CV with our clients if he agrees I send to him an agreement to sign it, and he becomes the most important translator in the team, our programming department makes an email and marketing the email with the translator's CV for our clients...



Look, in your CV you have your contact data.
If I would receive your contact data then I would approach you directly... why would I pay extra money just for the profit of an agency?

The agencies know that, so they never-ever-on-earth will expose the contact data of their translators... they would lose that client for good.

My suggestion:
- use PDF printer such as BullZip, Adobe PDF
- use a watermark, some really big badass watermark, something like "for company XX"
- always set the PDF password protected, type lot of random letters in it for passwd...
- always set the PDF protection as "restrict editing" "restrict printing" and so on...

I hope this helps.
Ivan


 
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