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Most certainly a scam, beware
Thread poster: Jocelin Meunier
Marie Lamardelle
Marie Lamardelle  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:58
Member (2018)
English to French
scammer Apr 3, 2019

I got the same offer as you this afternoon, from this Crothers Ackman. I don't trust any e-mail when they don't give any information about how they found me and what their project is about.
Kind regards,
Marie


Christine HOUDY
Geneviève Benoit
 
Audrey Previtali
Audrey Previtali  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:58
English to French
+ ...
Contacted by the same person Apr 4, 2019

Same here. This person contacted me yesterday. He insisted on paying part of the work in advance, so I sent him an invoice with a simple IBAN number. Then I realized it could be a scam when he kept on asking further information. That's when I read you post, so many thanks !

 
Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:58
Spanish to English
+ ...
This is also no guarantee.... Apr 4, 2019

Marie Lamardelle wrote:

I got the same offer as you this afternoon, from this Crothers Ackman. I don't trust any e-mail when they don't give any information about how they found me and what their project is about.
Kind regards,
Marie


I have received a good many scam messages that include some version of the following in the initial paragraph:

“We found your information on the ATA website and have a project for you involving translation of a research paper on breast cancer.”

So be wary.


Katarzyna Slowikova
 
Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:58
Spanish to English
+ ...
I had no idea.... Apr 4, 2019

Sheila Wilson wrote:


2. PayPal is not an entirely safe way of receiving payments. It's fine for "trusted" clients, if a little costly at times. But a scammer has only to report to PayPal that they haven't received the services paid for and the funds will be returned to them, or at least taken from your account and held by PayPal while the matter is settled.


I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I had no idea that such a scam was possible via PayPal. I suppose that it would be easy enough to verify to PayPal’s satisfaction that a translation was delivered and receipt thereof acknowledged. But who knows how long it would take for PayPal to resolve the matter? And who knows if the money would actually be (re-)transferred in the end?

Anyway, I count myself lucky that this never happened to me. Knowing of such a possibility also means that the only really safe payment in cases of clients that cannot be fully trusted would appear to be MoneyGram/Western Union transfers (or similar).


Josephine Cassar
Daryo
 
Paweł Hamerski (X)
Paweł Hamerski (X)
Local time: 22:58
English to Polish
+ ...
The spammers are of the same Apr 4, 2019

mind

 
Yoana Ivanova
Yoana Ivanova  Identity Verified
Estonia
Local time: 23:58
English to Bulgarian
+ ...
PayPal is safe Apr 5, 2019

Robert Forstag wrote:

Sheila Wilson wrote:


2. PayPal is not an entirely safe way of receiving payments. It's fine for "trusted" clients, if a little costly at times. But a scammer has only to report to PayPal that they haven't received the services paid for and the funds will be returned to them, or at least taken from your account and held by PayPal while the matter is settled.


I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I had no idea that such a scam was possible via PayPal. I suppose that it would be easy enough to verify to PayPal’s satisfaction that a translation was delivered and receipt thereof acknowledged. But who knows how long it would take for PayPal to resolve the matter? And who knows if the money would actually be (re-)transferred in the end?

Anyway, I count myself lucky that this never happened to me. Knowing of such a possibility also means that the only really safe payment in cases of clients that cannot be fully trusted would appear to be MoneyGram/Western Union transfers (or similar).


PayPal is quite safe in that regard. You just have to show them that you delivered what was asked of you and they will not transfer back the money. Issues get resolved in no more than three days. It'll be too complicated for scammers to somehow prove that your translation was faulty or whatever in order to get the money back. Hence why PayPal hasn't yet been used in such scams.


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 21:58
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Do you have experience of that, Yoana? Apr 5, 2019

Yoana Ivanova wrote:
PayPal is quite safe in that regard. You just have to show them that you delivered what was asked of you and they will not transfer back the money. Issues get resolved in no more than three days. It'll be too complicated for scammers to somehow prove that your translation was faulty or whatever in order to get the money back. Hence why PayPal hasn't yet been used in such scams.

Are you speaking from personal experience, Yoana? I'd like it to be true but my husband has been on the other end a couple of times, as a buyer (of goods rather than services). Of course, he's not a scammer. so he had a legitimate reason for wanting his money back, but each time, PayPal were happy to refund it with no fuss and remarkably little firm evidence. They pretty much took his word for it. I imagine the suppliers weren't happy, but there was no communication with them and no more with PayPal on the subject.

That's why the idea of PayPal for advance payments worries me when scammers are possibly involved. The scammer has made you feel all warm and comfortable, with their money in your account. If something happens now that's fishy, you're far more likely to let it pass: "He's paid; he must be legitimate. Anyway, I have to do the work now that I've been paid."


Katarzyna Slowikova
Yolanda Broad
 
Katarzyna Slowikova
Katarzyna Slowikova  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:58
English to Czech
+ ...
Really...?! Apr 5, 2019

Yoana Ivanova wrote:



PayPal is quite safe in that regard. You just have to show them that you delivered what was asked of you and they will not transfer back the money. Issues get resolved in no more than three days. It'll be too complicated for scammers to somehow prove that your translation was faulty or whatever in order to get the money back. Hence why PayPal hasn't yet been used in such scams.



https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Refunds-and-cancellations/refund-scam/td-p/307292
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Shipping-Returns/Warning-of-PayPal-Return-Scam/td-p/25151510
https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/paypal-scams-and-how-to-spot-them/

That's just 3 of the first results after googling "paypal refund scam".
Btw. if you care to look at it, there's even a variant of overpayment scam listed as 3rd on the last website, though the description isn't great. Anybody who follows this forum will surely be able to figure out themselves how it works.

By Sheila:
That's why the idea of PayPal for advance payments worries me


For ANY payments!

[Edited at 2019-04-05 09:29 GMT]


Yolanda Broad
 
Rory Andrew Gale
Rory Andrew Gale  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:58
French to English
+ ...
got exactly the same email today Apr 7, 2019

I got exactly the same email today from [email protected] for exactly the same project. Emailed him back threatening to report him to the police and copied this thread into my email.

 
Katarzyna Slowikova
Katarzyna Slowikova  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:58
English to Czech
+ ...
Did he say thank you? Apr 7, 2019

Rory Andrew Gale wrote:

I got exactly the same email today from [email protected] for exactly the same project. Emailed him back threatening to report him to the police and copied this thread into my email.


He must have been grateful for so many practical tips.


Paweł Hamerski (X)
Liviu-Lee Roth
Yolanda Broad
Robert Forstag
 
Marie Le Guitton
Marie Le Guitton  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:58
English to French
+ ...
Same for me Apr 8, 2019

Dear all,

I also received a message from Crothers Ackman on Saturday at 19.38 CET...

Thank you for this post. It confirms what I thought.

Have a nice day!
Marie


 
Xiangqun (Shawn) Ye
Xiangqun (Shawn) Ye  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:58
English to Chinese
+ ...
just got similar request from a person name Shanna Apr 8, 2019

I just got a similar request of service translating from English to Chinese. I am surprised that I just registered Proz a couple of days ago and so soon got a job to do. Looks like this business is so easy. My first response is that it is a scam, so that I did google search with the term "proz service fraud" and got to this thread. I am still confused how that person got my email address and the email sent to me was through . Does mean that proz has some backdoor leak?
BTW, the email to
... See more
I just got a similar request of service translating from English to Chinese. I am surprised that I just registered Proz a couple of days ago and so soon got a job to do. Looks like this business is so easy. My first response is that it is a scam, so that I did google search with the term "proz service fraud" and got to this thread. I am still confused how that person got my email address and the email sent to me was through . Does mean that proz has some backdoor leak?
BTW, the email to me is ([email protected]). Anybody got same request from this email too?
Collapse


 
Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:58
Spanish to English
+ ...
Good point Apr 9, 2019

Katarzyna Slowikova wrote:

Rory Andrew Gale wrote:

I got exactly the same email today from [email protected] for exactly the same project. Emailed him back threatening to report him to the police and copied this thread into my email.


He must have been grateful for so many practical tips.


As others have also repeatedly indicated, I do not think it makes sense to convey too much detail about the obvious flaws in these scam attempts. We should not be helping scammers refine their attempts to defraud us and our colleagues.


Michele Fauble
Yolanda Broad
 
Sarper Aman
Sarper Aman  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 00:58
Member (2019)
English to Turkish
+ ...
And the Oscar goes to... Apr 10, 2019

That email address!

 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:58
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
You can be sure it is a scam when... Apr 10, 2019

You can be sure it is a scam when they are more concerned (sometimes overly concerned) about how they are going to pay you, when they are going to pay you, etc. and not very concerned, or concerned at all, about the translation.

Most normal private consumers are concerned about the quality of the translation, when it will be done, etc. and you have to pull teeth to get payment information from them.

[Edited at 2019-04-10 13:44 GMT]


 
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Most certainly a scam, beware







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