| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Possible scam posted as job, not found in jobs list (now squashed) Thread poster: Cristina Pereira
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Lucy Leite 
Spain
Local time: 04:47
Member (2008)
English to Portuguese
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| Scam confirmed! | Aug 5, 2009 |
Hi everyone
I contacted the real company and they told me they didn't know such person and that I should contact local authorities immediately. So what we have here is someone requesting a job on behalf of a serious company who knows nothing about it. This is a crime!
I sent Proz a support ticket, because although they deleted the job post supposedly because they couldn't confirm company contact information, Dr M. has surely hooked many people who may as well have start... See more Hi everyone
I contacted the real company and they told me they didn't know such person and that I should contact local authorities immediately. So what we have here is someone requesting a job on behalf of a serious company who knows nothing about it. This is a crime!
I sent Proz a support ticket, because although they deleted the job post supposedly because they couldn't confirm company contact information, Dr M. has surely hooked many people who may as well have started the job. I believe Proz should send an email to everyone who received this job post and warn them against this hoax.
Take care,
Lucy ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Warning has been sent | Aug 5, 2009 |
Lucy Leite wrote:
I believe Proz should send an email to everyone who received this job post and warn them against this hoax.
Take care,
Lucy
I got a message from Proz where I was prompted to "check the
information about this company that is available on the Internet".
The guy(?) sent me two pdf files and agreed to my price.
But his(?) ingenuity leaves much to be desired: the letters in the aol e-mail address are transplaced, the mail from GB (supposedly) came around 4 AM GMT, grammar is quite feeble for somebody calling him(?)self a doctor...
| | | | Lucy Leite
Spain
Local time: 04:47
Member (2008)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Fishy details | Aug 5, 2009 |
These same details called my attention, Valery! So I just googled his name to find several pages explaining his scam.
What is pretty serious, though, is that he seems to have paid for his Proz membership... I wonder where he's getting at.
Good to know Proz sent an email to everyone, though!
| | | | | what is even more serious | Aug 6, 2009 |
Is the fact that although several Proz users (including myself) have alerted Proz staff and the real company has confirmed the abuse, this person still has a Proz profile...where a small note says something like "this user's contact information could not be verified". As I said in another thread, is that enough?
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One of his email address shows that he was in Nigeria at the time he wrote me email, other emails he covered the ip address.
| | | | Peter Moor
United States
Local time: 22:47
Dutch to English
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| USPS Postal Inspection and FBI: Nigerian Scam! | Aug 12, 2009 |
Well, as a relatively new member (since March of '09) I was not aware of this "warning" post area within ProZ, so I went with this Dr. Murray's job offer and wasted 4 days of translating time. BTW, there is no question that this is a scam. Bank, USPS, FBI and police confirm it. Apparently a Nigerian scheme...
Murray's "modus operandi" in my case was:
1. Play translators out against each other repeatedly to find who will take the job for the least money (person who will overlo... See more Well, as a relatively new member (since March of '09) I was not aware of this "warning" post area within ProZ, so I went with this Dr. Murray's job offer and wasted 4 days of translating time. BTW, there is no question that this is a scam. Bank, USPS, FBI and police confirm it. Apparently a Nigerian scheme...
Murray's "modus operandi" in my case was:
1. Play translators out against each other repeatedly to find who will take the job for the least money (person who will overlook some telltale signs, like legit British company w/o Murray on staff, check sent from Texas address but actually mailed in NC, etc.)
2. Send them a [fake] cashier's check, "by mistake" for way more than the agreed amount. In my case a $3,650 check for a $1,000 job.
3. Email that they made a mistake, and for me to please send back the difference by Western Union (NEVER DO THIS!!!)
4. Keep sending emails about the funds.
Anyway, no harm done (other than my lost time) but please be on the look-out for this type of too-good-to-be-true and "fishy-looking" situations.
Filed a police report, bank fraud report, FBI report, USPS Postal Inspection report (Note that these scam folk try and manage to avoid the postal inspection by using UPS or another delivery company!), but law inforcement all say that even though they have people working on this 24/7, the chance for apprehension is remote...since they are outside of the US.
Also know that Western Union money can be picked up anywhere, even from the internet. Don't think that they have to walk up to a Western Union office (as I thought.)
One comment about Proz' involvement and responsibilities. In my opinion they (ProZ) should be willing to stick out their neck and post WARNINGS, liability or not. Do not allow this type of membership to be "complete" without VERIFIED phone number, address, etc. Something should be able to be done. This type of scams are prevalent now, and ProZ needs to protect its members better than how they do this today ("not verified, check website). I called the NY office yesterday and they appeared to be caught completely off guard...
Hopefully no-one else in our community got scammed on this one in a way where they actually sent money... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Also tricked.... | Aug 13, 2009 |
I have also wasted 4 days of translating time, fortunately, no majer harm has been done.
| | | | CGT
Canada
Local time: 22:47
French to English
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Dear colleagues: it is surely to my entire dismay this morning that something told me by intuition to check on this doctor's contact. I received an e-mail asking me to translate two files (8 pages and 45 pages) from English to French.
I have written directly to website to see if they know him and also to two UNDP/UNICEF authors mentioned in one of the files - still awaiting a response from either one of them.
It is when I asked for advance payment by directing banking ... See more Dear colleagues: it is surely to my entire dismay this morning that something told me by intuition to check on this doctor's contact. I received an e-mail asking me to translate two files (8 pages and 45 pages) from English to French.
I have written directly to website to see if they know him and also to two UNDP/UNICEF authors mentioned in one of the files - still awaiting a response from either one of them.
It is when I asked for advance payment by directing banking process that I noticed a 'hesitation' sign advising me that check payment would be sent by postal mail and in that regard, I responded that even if check was certified, it did not guarantee payment and asked again for immediate payment via e-mail which transfers funds immediately to your account via password. Response : OK.
Still waiting....
This e-mail address has a deleted profile on proz - I will say here that since offering my services via this website since their existence on the web, I have never seen such a case where as one of you mentions in your message that this person even took the time to pay for membership.
Incredible that there are such scoundrels on the web using honest people who are simply trying to work in this field.
Thank you proz for your undivided support. ▲ Collapse
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Cristina Pereira
Local time: 03:47
Member (2005)
English to Portuguese
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TOPIC STARTER | Fortunately, the scam was recognized in time | Aug 14, 2009 |
Well, just to say that fortunately (it seems) no-one lost money even if they lost time with this person. Let's hope we can always recognize the signs and share our concerns with one another.
I wish a great weekend to all,
Cristina
| | | | | +1 translation in French ^^' | Aug 16, 2009 |
Got scammed too... No money involved, but I'm extremely short on money lately and this was a major chance at making both ends meet. I lost 4 days of work that I could have spent on another job, although it paid less (obviously, it would have paid way more than 0$ after all). Time is money, eh.
I usually am more careful with the Internet, but this was my first contract on ProZ so I kind of overlooked the signs... Once bitten twice shy, assuredly.
Please do not hesitate t... See more Got scammed too... No money involved, but I'm extremely short on money lately and this was a major chance at making both ends meet. I lost 4 days of work that I could have spent on another job, although it paid less (obviously, it would have paid way more than 0$ after all). Time is money, eh.
I usually am more careful with the Internet, but this was my first contract on ProZ so I kind of overlooked the signs... Once bitten twice shy, assuredly.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can help in bringing this scammer down. I'm still playing nice with him and waiting for the check; maybe the paper can help for legal action.
P. S. UNAIDS sure will have plenty of translations to choose from, now...
[Edited at 2009-08-16 03:08 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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