| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | How do people here protect themselves from CV scams? Thread poster: Josephine Gardiner
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Hello All,
I'm fairly new here, and have only recently started charging for my translations (my background is editing/journalism). Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.
I've been reading some of the articles/posts on Proz about scammers who ask for people's CVs and then disappear, stealing the information, or adapting it to take another job using the original translator's details, qualifications and reputation. Apart from all the security worries about my details fa... See more Hello All,
I'm fairly new here, and have only recently started charging for my translations (my background is editing/journalism). Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.
I've been reading some of the articles/posts on Proz about scammers who ask for people's CVs and then disappear, stealing the information, or adapting it to take another job using the original translator's details, qualifications and reputation. Apart from all the security worries about my details falling into the wrong hands, there's the added anxiety that somebody might be doing bad translations under my name.
I used to send my CV out without a second thought, but now I'm feeling nervous. I have not put my CV for public view on my Proz profile, and I do know about the BlueBoard, but small jobs come up in all sorts of ways, and you often have to act fast to get the job.
If the client does not have a website, for instance, would you write to them asking them to provide more information before sending your details/CV? Is there any way you can protect your CV from plagiarism/misuse? Would it be worth putting some sort of message for clients on my profile, saying something like 'I always talk to clients in person before accepting a job. If you have been sent my CV and you have not spoken to me, then it was sent without my permission and you should not have received it'?
Anyway, I'd be very interested to hear how more experienced people deal with this. Thanks. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | By not publishing their cv | Oct 18, 2012 |
None of my friends (all experienced translators) publishes his cv. Only available on request. And even then, not to everybody, only to clients they're already working with.
Most of them aren't even a member of a translation forum, but are ATA members, etc.
| | | | Edward Vreeburg 
Netherlands
Local time: 10:03
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
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| there is no stopping them | Oct 18, 2012 |
It's like Nigerian scams.... as long as clients can be fooled to believe some high-end native and experienced translator would actually work for a low paying Indian or Chinese (and yes, I'm using Indian and Chinese as an example) and provide top quality at 1/4 of the price.... these scams will keep popping up and they will either steal, copy or simply invent those references and forward them to clients...
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Ed
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 09:03
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| CV only for clients you're already working with??? | Oct 18, 2012 |
christela wrote:
None of my friends (all experienced translators) publishes his cv. Only available on request. And even then, not to everybody, only to clients they're already working with.
Most of them aren't even a member of a translation forum, but are ATA members, etc.
I can appreciate a need to be careful (more careful than I am, I'm sure) but where is the sense in only giving your CV to people you already work with?
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| Perhaps I'm naïve, but... | Oct 18, 2012 |
I spend hours, even full days trying to get my information out there on the web to solicit requests for translations. My contact information - not to mention anything you want to know about my background - is out there and has been for a long time. You can see it on my ProZ.com profile, my website, my LinkedIn profile, and many other places, not to mention on hundreds of agency sites where I have registered as the years have gone by. I also post my CV in two languages in pdf form. When I Google ... See more I spend hours, even full days trying to get my information out there on the web to solicit requests for translations. My contact information - not to mention anything you want to know about my background - is out there and has been for a long time. You can see it on my ProZ.com profile, my website, my LinkedIn profile, and many other places, not to mention on hundreds of agency sites where I have registered as the years have gone by. I also post my CV in two languages in pdf form. When I Google my name I find dozens of pages on myself, and so will my prospective clients. This is what I work towards. It's marketing. It's how I get work.
Everyone has their own approach to freelancing, but I must disagree with the mysterious Christela who only knows translators working from somewhere deep underground. That doesn't hold water for me. I am only a translator as long as I have something to translate, and that means finding clients.
It must be terrible to have your identity hijacked, but I don't know how someone could do so using your CV. (I have no doubt that someone will clear this up for me and I honestly am curious to know.)
All I can speak from is experience: I have not yet fallen for a 'scam' in the seven years that I have been translating and becoming increasingly visible to clients.
Gotta go – work’s just come in. But if you are serious about getting work, you’ll have to ‘put yourself out there’ at some point in some way.
All the best!
[Edited at 2012-10-18 14:20 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jessica Noyes
United States
Local time: 04:03
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
This is only the tiniest of deterrents, since scammers can easily retype text, but if they receive your resume saved as an image, they may move on to lower hanging fruit.
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Sheila and Veronica have a point. If you only give your cv to people you already know, then you cannot find new clients.
Moreover, Gardiner, a way to let clients know it's the real you is by your email address. Let them know which one you use. Scammers can't fake your email address. Unless they hijack that as well, which probably won't happen if you are careful. My email or facebook had not been hijacked in years, ever since I started being careful (no clicking on dubious links). They can... See more Sheila and Veronica have a point. If you only give your cv to people you already know, then you cannot find new clients.
Moreover, Gardiner, a way to let clients know it's the real you is by your email address. Let them know which one you use. Scammers can't fake your email address. Unless they hijack that as well, which probably won't happen if you are careful. My email or facebook had not been hijacked in years, ever since I started being careful (no clicking on dubious links). They can however come up with emails that sound very similar with yours, but it won't be the same. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Not a real risk | Oct 18, 2012 |
I think there is more risk of CV scams when you are an established, recognised translator with many years of experience. However, people who have been in the market for very long and have a long, good track of quality --and therefore an established customer base-- do not really need to supply CVs too often, do they?
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Ana Myriam Garro (X)
Local time: 05:03
English to Spanish
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| @ Jessica: I fully agree | Oct 18, 2012 |
Jessica Noyes wrote:
This is only the tiniest of deterrents, since scammers can easily retype text, but if they receive your resume saved as an image, they may move on to lower hanging fruit.
That is exactly what I have done in addition to changing part of the wording of my previous CV stolen by scammers. I think that it is quite unlikely that scammers may re-type the whole CV, or at lest that is what I hope.
| | | | Josephine Gardiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:03
Spanish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Thanks for your replies so far... | Oct 18, 2012 |
@Christela - Most of the work I've done so far has been for people I already know, or their contacts, but I don't see how I can avoid sending out my CV altogether if I want to get a wider range of work...
@Veronica - it is reassuring to know that your experience has been trouble-free. I think what got me worried was reading the posts in the 'scams' forum on this site. There are some scary stories there from people who have had CVs stolen and/or plagiarised. I think this would be a p... See more @Christela - Most of the work I've done so far has been for people I already know, or their contacts, but I don't see how I can avoid sending out my CV altogether if I want to get a wider range of work...
@Veronica - it is reassuring to know that your experience has been trouble-free. I think what got me worried was reading the posts in the 'scams' forum on this site. There are some scary stories there from people who have had CVs stolen and/or plagiarised. I think this would be a particular problem for new or less-established translators - if people are getting jobs on the back of your CV, and submitting bad translations in your name, then your reputation is trashed before you even get going!
@Jessica - by 'save your resume as an image' do you just mean as a PDF? Also I wondered if there was any way to put some sort of hidden identifier on the CV, so that if someone retyped it, they would miss it?
A couple of other things - I read somewhere else here that having a gmail address is 'unprofessional' and 'a warning sign'. This is news to me (I have a gmail address). I knew hotmail was considered dodgy, but gmail? Should I push the boat out and set up a simple website? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 01:03
English to German
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In memoriam | Freebie email addresses | Oct 19, 2012 |
J. Gardiner wrote:
A couple of other things - I read somewhere else here that having a gmail address is 'unprofessional' and 'a warning sign'. This is news to me (I have a gmail address). I knew hotmail was considered dodgy, but gmail? Should I push the boat out and set up a simple website?
The crux with those freebies is that the recipient's server might not like them, especially when the messages contain attachments. My office is on cable entirely, and I can't count the cases when urgently awaited translations or edited texts never arrive or with a 12 hour delay because the cable company's filters will block them, even if they were sent from colleagues who I have been working with for years. This always results in many hours of waiting and wasted time, plus extra email correspondence with the sender. This costs me a lot of money, and I have no understanding why professional, self-employed translators use free email domains that are favored by spammers.
I don't know about phone companies or cable providers in other countries, but aren't proper email addresses included with any paid internet connection?
| | | | Jessica Noyes
United States
Local time: 04:03
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
I actually meant to scan it, and turn it into a jpeg or the like, and then attach it that way.
Good luck!!
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 01:03
English to German
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In memoriam | One more aspect regarding gmail and consorts | Oct 19, 2012 |
J. Gardiner wrote:
A couple of other things - I read somewhere else here that having a gmail address is 'unprofessional' and 'a warning sign'. This is news to me (I have a gmail address). I knew hotmail was considered dodgy, but gmail? Should I push the boat out and set up a simple website?
I don't accept projects from outsourcers who don't have a consistent, identifiable email address. I want to be able to track them down, should the need arise to chase payments.
| | | | 564354352 (X)
Denmark
Local time: 10:03
Danish to English
+ ...
| CVs are personal documents | Oct 19, 2012 |
I was horrified when I discovered my CV was freely available on the Internet by googling after I had innocently uploaded it to ProZ.com. I do NOT want my detailed personal background to be easily found by any Tom, Dick or Harry out there, and I had to go to some trouble to get not only ProZ.com but also Google to remove my CV. They did so without any grumbling, I must add, it just took Google a little while to comply with my request.
In my view, a CV is a personal document, just as ... See more I was horrified when I discovered my CV was freely available on the Internet by googling after I had innocently uploaded it to ProZ.com. I do NOT want my detailed personal background to be easily found by any Tom, Dick or Harry out there, and I had to go to some trouble to get not only ProZ.com but also Google to remove my CV. They did so without any grumbling, I must add, it just took Google a little while to comply with my request.
In my view, a CV is a personal document, just as your academic and/or professional credentials are, and you should choose carefully who you give it to.
It is a personal choice, but I would definitely recommend that you set up a simple website and use that as your business card. Then you can decide what you consider to be a presentation of you as a business entity rather than you as a private person.
Like Nicole, I look for identifiable email addresses before responding to anybody who wants to work with me, and in addition, I choose not to respond to or contact any potential client who does not have a website that I consider representative of a professional collaboration partner. For instance, I would not want to be associated with an agency whose website screams 'unprofessional' to the world at large. But hey, that's just me.  ▲ Collapse
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J. Gardiner wrote:
Should I push the boat out and set up a simple website?
100% yes!
Just my personal opinion, but I tend to distrust the abilities of someone who has been 10 years in business and does not have an own website and domain for email. Isn't this person getting enough work to pay a website designer for an interesting website and to pay the --very low in fact-- rates of a hosting company? Doesn't this person keep his/her emails in his/her own computer and they keep floating in the cloud forever? Lots of things I would not think about with an own domain.
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