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translators-scammers.com – when scammers pretend they are chasing scammers
Thread poster: Tatiana Fröhlich
Tatiana Fröhlich
Tatiana Fröhlich
Germany
Local time: 14:11
Member (2013)
Slovak to Czech
+ ...
Apr 8, 2019

My client recently contacted me with the information that my e-mail address appeared on the translators-scammers.com with the statement that my CV was stolen from someone.
I am in translation business for over 22 years. I have my VAT number, I pay my taxes, I worked with hundreds of clients.
Since this listing damages my professional reputation – especially in case of new acqusitions – I tried to contact the translators-scammers.com. They offer the e-mail contact form, however, t
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My client recently contacted me with the information that my e-mail address appeared on the translators-scammers.com with the statement that my CV was stolen from someone.
I am in translation business for over 22 years. I have my VAT number, I pay my taxes, I worked with hundreds of clients.
Since this listing damages my professional reputation – especially in case of new acqusitions – I tried to contact the translators-scammers.com. They offer the e-mail contact form, however, they note that they might not read your e-mail. No information about the company or organization on the website itself. In Whois query the information of the registrant is hidden „for privacy“. After some deeper search I discovered that the same IP address is being used for other 3 domains, all of them are registered in Panama. You have no chance to protect your name or to require any sort of remedy and the European or US data or personality protection laws are useless too, since the company is within the exclusive jurisdiction of Panama.
I believe that it is necessary to protect both translators and translation agencies from scammers and frauds. Nevertheless, the information collected on this website should be taken not with a grain, but with a big lump of salt, because it takes just a minute for someone who wants to anonymously damage you and your reputation and with this site, there is no chance to protect yourself.

Be aware. Sometimes, the scammers are pretending to protect you from, ehm, scammers.
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Gaia Geminiani
 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:11
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
I'm a little confused. I actually find translator-scammers.com quite useful. Apr 8, 2019

It tells you if a scammer is trying to impersonate you, e.g. by approaching clients with your CV, etc.

For example, my name ('Michael Beijer') is listed on the site because a scammer has been masquerading as me for years now (and there is nothing I can do about it).

Years ago, when I still had my CV freely available on my Proz profile, someone downloaded it and has since been pretending to be me. I occasionally receive emails (to my real email address) from worried/su
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It tells you if a scammer is trying to impersonate you, e.g. by approaching clients with your CV, etc.

For example, my name ('Michael Beijer') is listed on the site because a scammer has been masquerading as me for years now (and there is nothing I can do about it).

Years ago, when I still had my CV freely available on my Proz profile, someone downloaded it and has since been pretending to be me. I occasionally receive emails (to my real email address) from worried/suspicious translation agencies, who are approached by someone who says they are 'Michael Beijer', but who are using the address '[email protected]', and whose English isn't great.

My only real email address is [email protected]
My only real websites are: beijer.uk wordbook.online

Here is what translator-scammers.com has on me:

Michael Beijer 25 Oakfield Road, Hastings [I no longer live here, btw], East Sussex, United Kingdom VICTIM (address modified) / 447475871820. See also Nicole Limonard.

Nicole Limonard 644 Oakfield Road, Hastings, East Sussex, United Kingdom ? See other “Oakfield Road

(http://www.translator-scammers.com/pdf/tsd-translator-scammers-addresses.pdf )

===========================

Linar Christopher [email protected] Michael Beijer (UK) / ASA "Michael Beijer"
Michael Beijer [email protected] Michael Beijer (UK) / ASA "Linar Christopher" / Note 64

(http://www.translator-scammers.com/pdf/translator-scammers-directory-offline.pdf )

===========================

NOTE 64 "Edward Mahana" introduces himself like this: "I’m a highly accomplished translator located in the United States".

He keeps a website (created on 31DEC2013, with HIDDEN registration data) with copy plagiarized from other translators (Michael Beijer, and others) and a profile on ProZ / xxxedward mahan (where he claims to have credentials for German to English translation by Asociación Argentina de Traductores e Intérpretes; AATI Directory doesn't show any member with this name). On this ProZ report, "Edward" is reported to steal sample translations from other translators and posting them as his own on his profile! ProZ profile has been deleted (11FEB2014).

Contacts (in email signature block):
162 lourmel street, Bridgeport,
CT 06706 United States (FAKE ZIP CODE)
NOTE: This same address is also used by the scammers from Lona Verbas / Professional Translator Team / See Note 69
Ph: (203) 212-8874 (landline)

On a older CV, his contacts were: 8386 Royal Oak Dr, Savannah, GA, United States / Ph: (912) 524-7932

Click to see this revealing image about "Edward"... (http://www.translator-scammers.com/images/scammer%20edward%20mahana.jpg )

===========================

All very useful info for anyone googling me to do their due diligence.

Michael
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Katarzyna Slowikova
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Yolanda Broad
 
Tatiana Fröhlich
Tatiana Fröhlich
Germany
Local time: 14:11
Member (2013)
Slovak to Czech
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Useful? Apr 8, 2019

The thing is that neither my email nor my CV were abused by someone, they list ME as a fraud. And I have very little chances to protect myself.

 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:11
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
aha Apr 8, 2019

maat ka re wrote:

The thing is that neither my email nor my CV were abused by someone, they list ME as a fraud. And I have very little chances to protect myself.


I may be wrong, but I think they are trustworthy, and are providing a useful (free) service. I assume a mistake was made and that you should be able to resolve it by contacting them.

I think the panama thing is just them trying to protect themselves from scammers. After all, I bet scammers (many of whom are also very tech savvy, sadly) would go to great lengths to get any info on them removed from such websites.

You could also try contacting them via: https://twitter.com/tsdirectory

Michael


Katarzyna Slowikova
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Tatiana Fröhlich
Tatiana Fröhlich
Germany
Local time: 14:11
Member (2013)
Slovak to Czech
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Good guys are never anonymous. Good guys do not act like police, judge and executioner in one person Apr 8, 2019

Well, there is very little what you can do. They inform you on their site that they might not reply to your e-mail. They are anonymous and they damage your reputation. They abuse your CV and your other personal data and they are not following the European or US laws on data protection. In any civilized country, you must have the chance to protect yourself.

 
Viesturs Lacis
Viesturs Lacis  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 15:11
English to Latvian
So have you actually contacted them? Apr 8, 2019

maat ka re wrote:

Well, there is very little what you can do. They inform you on their site that they might not reply to your e-mail. They are anonymous and they damage your reputation. They abuse your CV and your other personal data and they are not following the European or US laws on data protection. In any civilized country, you must have the chance to protect yourself.

You keep going on about their anonymity (which, by the way, is the standard MO of anyone who expects to harm the interests of criminals; I was briefly involved with an anti-fraud online community many years ago and this was exactly what happened, e.g. everyone was advised to choose an original nickname and request a change if it was traced to a real-life identity or otherwise compromised), the disclaimer that not all messages will be replied to (again, I don't see anything suspicious or wrong with this; one way communication was frequent for me back then as well) etc. but what, if anything, have you already done and was there any follow up?

You are wrong in asserting that there is "no chance to protect yourself". Since anti-fraud websites rely mainly on their reputation, it is normally not in their interest to display wrong or useless information or to ignore legitimate requests from wronged parties on either side. Your best bet in this situation would be to contact them, thoroughly explain the circumstances and ask for instructions on how to proceed from this point. Since the controversy relates to an allegedly fake CV, you should be prepared to be told to prove your identity, education and online presence, including client references. All of this should be done in a calm, level-headed and professional manner. For the sake of comparison - your posts in this thread come across to me as too confrontational, accusatory and legalistic, which would be a major turn-off for any recipient (who presumably is accustomed to all sorts of protests and attempts of intimidation) and only further their suspicions. You should remember that mistakes - and I view acting on false information as a mistake - happen much more often than deliberate targeting.


Jean Dimitriadis
Liviu-Lee Roth
Daryo
Ettore Peyrot
 
Tatiana Fröhlich
Tatiana Fröhlich
Germany
Local time: 14:11
Member (2013)
Slovak to Czech
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Re: Viesturs Lacis Apr 8, 2019

I wrote them an e-mail, I contacted them via Twitter and I filled out the e-mail form on their website. I did not receive any reply.
How would YOU feel, if this would happen to you?

Am I confrontational? Someone is damaging my reputation and I should be happy about it? And - not that anyone ever tried to contact me and to ask me whether their assumption is right or wrong - why should I send the copy of my ID or other highly personal data to someone who is anonymous and registe
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I wrote them an e-mail, I contacted them via Twitter and I filled out the e-mail form on their website. I did not receive any reply.
How would YOU feel, if this would happen to you?

Am I confrontational? Someone is damaging my reputation and I should be happy about it? And - not that anyone ever tried to contact me and to ask me whether their assumption is right or wrong - why should I send the copy of my ID or other highly personal data to someone who is anonymous and registered in Panama? Would you do it?
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Yolanda Broad
 
Kaspars Melkis
Kaspars Melkis  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:11
English to Latvian
+ ...
they look like scammers to me Apr 8, 2019

And in case it is a mistake and they are just overzealous vigilantes, how would you even prove to them that you are who you claim to be? Send a copy of your ID to an anonymous entity?

I don't buy that their anonymity is because they are worried that they can get hacked by scammers. It would exactly be the reason to avoid countries with dubious reputation and register where there are strong protection of your rights.

My question to those who have been included in their l
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And in case it is a mistake and they are just overzealous vigilantes, how would you even prove to them that you are who you claim to be? Send a copy of your ID to an anonymous entity?

I don't buy that their anonymity is because they are worried that they can get hacked by scammers. It would exactly be the reason to avoid countries with dubious reputation and register where there are strong protection of your rights.

My question to those who have been included in their lists: Did you know that you were impersonated? You would know if some agency complained to you about some jobs you didn't do or maybe by finding your CV online but by a different name and/or e-mail? Did this site contact you before they added impersonators on their list?

Because in the case of Michael Beijer it seems they assumed(?) he has been scammed just because he changed address. And they have no rights to publish even his previous address.

Maybe they just have a honeypot address with invitations to translators to send their CVs. And then they decide by their own methods which CVs are fake. Which obviously is a flawed process and with no way to rectify the mistakes, the supposed value can be negative.
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Tatiana Fröhlich
 
Corbett AM
Corbett AM  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 13:11
French to English
+ ...
Keep at them Apr 8, 2019

Maat should not have to prove his identity to anyone by sending them anything, as Viesters said he might have to do. TS should track down the person who contacted them, accusing Maat of being a fraud, and sort them out (I hope this person's wrongdoing comes back to bite them on the arse). I'd say Maat you're being defeatist more than confrontational as Viesters says you're being (but who could blame you if you were feeling confrontational?).

I'd keep at them on Twitter as it's mor
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Maat should not have to prove his identity to anyone by sending them anything, as Viesters said he might have to do. TS should track down the person who contacted them, accusing Maat of being a fraud, and sort them out (I hope this person's wrongdoing comes back to bite them on the arse). I'd say Maat you're being defeatist more than confrontational as Viesters says you're being (but who could blame you if you were feeling confrontational?).

I'd keep at them on Twitter as it's more public than sending them an email. I think they say they may not reply to emails so people aren't sitting around waiting for a response but I'd stick to twitter and even here at Proz as someone at Proz might help (that is, if they're not too busy putting up polls like the one about nail biting habits the other day) seeing as they are so concerned about spammers as well.

I hope the client who told you about this is not too spooked and that other clients who might be more likely to panic don't find out before this is (hopefully) resolved.

Good luck!
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Katarzyna Slowikova
 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:11
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
I trust them. Apr 8, 2019

No, they did not contact me, but I am happy they posted the info, with details of the email address the scammer is using to contact people while pretending to be me, because if anyone is approached by this scammer, and then bothers to google their email address ([email protected]) in the context of due diligence, they will quickly learn that it's a scammer.

Whenever I am approached by a new client or agency, I run a search on their names, company name, etc, in all the well
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No, they did not contact me, but I am happy they posted the info, with details of the email address the scammer is using to contact people while pretending to be me, because if anyone is approached by this scammer, and then bothers to google their email address ([email protected]) in the context of due diligence, they will quickly learn that it's a scammer.

Whenever I am approached by a new client or agency, I run a search on their names, company name, etc, in all the well-known online databases for these purposes. Translator-scammers.com is a well-known source of useful info on scammers operating in our industry. I am actually surprised more people here are unfamiliar with them.

I always check these databases:

▶http://www.translator-scammers.com/translator-scammers-directory.htm
▶http://www.paymentpractices.net/
▶https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4871593/ ('Black Sheep (Translation Companies With Payment Issues)')

▶https://www.proz.com/blueboard/
▶https://www.proz.com/about/translator-scam-alerts

▶https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3415770/ ('Unacceptable Translation Rates Naming & Shaming Group')

▶http://translationethics.blogspot.com/
▶http://translationethics.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html#.UpnNVeLW9qw ('Translation agencies blacklist')
▶https://www.facebook.com/translationethics/

▶https://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistedtranslationagencies/?ref=br_rs

Michael

---------------------
Btw, even slator.com (known for having very good research staff) has an article on them: https://slator.com/industry-news/group-exposes-thousands-of-fake-translator-profiles-created-by-scammers/


[Edited at 2019-04-08 14:49 GMT]

[Edited at 2019-04-08 14:51 GMT]

[Edited at 2019-04-08 14:56 GMT]
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Katarzyna Slowikova
Mohammad J.
 
Viesturs Lacis
Viesturs Lacis  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 15:11
English to Latvian
Re: maat ka re Apr 8, 2019

maat ka re wrote:

I wrote them an e-mail, I contacted them via Twitter and I filled out the e-mail form on their website. I did not receive any reply.
How would YOU feel, if this would happen to you?

I would put my emotions aside and see if there's anything that can be done. If a first letter along the lines of "Good afternoon, a client of mine has advised me that my e-mail address [email protected] has been placed in your database, I am surprised and worried about this error as I have always been honest with all existing and prospective clients, could you advise me on how to get myself removed from the list as it is harming my reputation and relationships with my clients" would get no response I would then explore alternative options.

Am I confrontational? Someone is damaging my reputation and I should be happy about it?

You know there is a middle ground between a) being happy about wrongful accusations and b) going on a counter-attack with your own accusations of fraud and whatnot? In your situation, I would remind myself that this is a well-known website that has been around for years and is treated as legitimate by many industry players, including ProZ.com and Slator, therefore it is not unreasonable to grant them the benefit of the doubt. I would not assume any malicious intentions towards me on their part, whereas you seem to have chosen to take away just that even in the absence of any tangible evidence.

And - not that anyone ever tried to contact me and to ask me whether their assumption is right or wrong - why should I send the copy of my ID or other highly personal data to someone who is anonymous and registered in Panama? Would you do it?

Obviously, that would depend on what exactly they would ask for. Some information I would send gladly and perhaps even proactively, some as a last resort depending on how the previous communications have gone, and at some point I would probably decide to cut my losses and set up an alternative e-mail address - which is something I should have been prepared to do all along. What I would do at all times is ask myself "how does this look on the other side?" - it's not about me knowing I'm not a scammer, it's about convincing another person to believe my explanations. Since T-S, in their own words, do not act on mere allegations, I conclude that whoever is responsible for your e-mail being placed in that database has been able to build a prima facie case of insincerity which you now must refute. To do so, you would want a proof that a scammer wouldn't be able to provide. A privacy-safe example would be third-party verification: would any of the "prestigious agencies" referred to in your profile agree to directly vouch for you to third parties "we have successfully collaborated with this person, they are who they say they are and they have documented all the necessary credentials to our satisfaction"? Another possibility mentioned on the T-S website itself is notarized identity verification.


Jean Dimitriadis
Katarzyna Slowikova
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:11
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
btw Apr 8, 2019

Kaspars Melkis wrote:

And in case it is a mistake and they are just overzealous vigilantes, how would you even prove to them that you are who you claim to be? Send a copy of your ID to an anonymous entity?

I don't buy that their anonymity is because they are worried that they can get hacked by scammers. It would exactly be the reason to avoid countries with dubious reputation and register where there are strong protection of your rights.

My question to those who have been included in their lists: Did you know that you were impersonated? You would know if some agency complained to you about some jobs you didn't do or maybe by finding your CV online but by a different name and/or e-mail? Did this site contact you before they added impersonators on their list?

Because in the case of Michael Beijer it seems they assumed(?) he has been scammed just because he changed address. And they have no rights to publish even his previous address. [Btw, they never post the actual address, they always change it a bit]

Maybe they just have a honeypot address with invitations to translators to send their CVs. And then they decide by their own methods which CVs are fake. Which obviously is a flawed process and with no way to rectify the mistakes, the supposed value can be negative.


 
Tatiana Fröhlich
Tatiana Fröhlich
Germany
Local time: 14:11
Member (2013)
Slovak to Czech
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Re. Michael Beijer Apr 8, 2019

Once again: They posted my name, my e-mail address, my CV including my personal information and labeled it as fraud.

I talked to my lawyer and since there is a law protecting both personality and good reputation in Germany, we will file the announcement with the German police.


 
Tatiana Fröhlich
Tatiana Fröhlich
Germany
Local time: 14:11
Member (2013)
Slovak to Czech
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Re: Viesturs Lacis Apr 8, 2019

Something like: There’s a grain of truth in every rumor, right?

(double facepalm)


 
Viesturs Lacis
Viesturs Lacis  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 15:11
English to Latvian
Seems unlikely Apr 8, 2019

Kaspars Melkis wrote:
they look like scammers to me

Where is the scam though? Scammers usually ply their trade to get some material benefit out of it. What benefit does keeping a huge public list of e-mail addresses and allegedly fake documents provide? Has anyone reported e.g. being asked for money in return for adding or deleting entries to their database? They don't seem to be running any paid advertisements either (many a shady website finances itself this way).

And in case it is a mistake and they are just overzealous vigilantes, how would you even prove to them that you are who you claim to be? Send a copy of your ID to an anonymous entity?

In another comment, I have suggested third party verification as a safe method of establishing one's credentials. I have no idea if they would consider it acceptable but this is what I would attempt in such a situation.


 
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