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Detecting and reacting to false job offers and other scams

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Reference: Translator scam alert reports


Contents

Overview

  • This article is dedicated to scams, including those presented as translation jobs. The objective is to present them to translators in order to help them recognize these fraudulent activities and thus be better prepared to handle them. It is claimed that about 10% of all adults have been victims of scams. Scams come in many shapes and forms: many target the weak and the desperate, but there are some rather sophisticated scammers that find victims among educated people, who often believe that this could not happen to them.

There are three broad categories of scams affecting translators:

Scammers inside the language industry, aiming to steal your work

These scammers aim to get free translations by sending a job offer with contact data that later proves to be fake, and just disappearing after receiving the translated job. This kind of scammer usually knows enough about the industry to look and sound like a real outsourcer. Your standard risk management procedures will, in most cases, allow you to spot them.

  • In some cases, the scammers will create a fake agency for the purpose of this con. No online footprint, no feedback from other translators, and a recently created web presence are usually a warning of this type of scam.
  • In other cases, the scammers will claim to be project managers working for a real and prestigious outsourcer.
    • Sometimes they will write to you from a free email domain such as @gmail.com or @yahoo.com. While it is OK for a translator to use this kind of email address, you should be suspicious of an outsourcer, especially a previously unknown one, who contacts you using a non-institutional domain. You should contact their official email to verify that this address belongs to an employee before taking any further action.
    • Sometimes the address resembles that of the legitimate organization. For instance a great agency can have a domain @great-agency.com and the scammer will write from the address @great_agency.com or @greatagency.com. * You should visit the web page of any new contact and check the correct email domain at the "contact us" tab.

Scammers targeting freelancers in general, aiming to steal your money

This kind of scammers are not translation industry insiders, but may try to engage you in fake job offers as an excuse. They are not interested at all in the fruits of your work, they just want to get your money. They will string you along with what is usually a very good offer, and at some point ask you to make a payment or transfer to concrete the deal.

  • They may send you forged checks in excess of the agreed-upon amount and then ask you to wire back the excess payment (your loss once the checks are bounced) or request that you buy a discounted tool (and once you sent the payment you will never again hear of them).
  • One frequent telltale sign of these scams is that the author goes to an exaggerated amount of trouble to make their offer look "authentic" with all sorts of details that a real enquirer wouldn't actually use.
  • Most genuine inquiries I get just tend to say: "How much would you charge to translate this document into French?" or possibly "How much would you charge to get me this document translated by the 14th?". They don't tend to say: "I'll be needing a document translating into French because my mother, who's just come out of hospital after breaking her leg on holiday, is an avid trainspotter and needs to apply to her local French council for a wheelchair licence allowing her to use SNCF ramps more than the statutory 4 times a day, but sadly her French is limited, despite having lived in the country for over 4 years..."
  • Other warning signs are:
    • The alleged outsourcer is not interested in you expertise. You may read "Reply back with the language pair you are most comfortable working with."
    • The job characteristics are unrealistic, such as "The project fields of expertise vary from technical, legal, commercial, medical, poetry & literature."
    • Unusual requirements such as "you will need to be able to read your email at least twice a day for urgent updates about the project."

Common online scams

This category will be standard scammers completely unrelated to translation, including dating scams and phishing schemes. For the more conventional scams, you should be suspicious of anybody who:

  • Offers you something for nothing. If it looks too good to be true, then probably it is fake.
  • Asks you to pay for handling expenses or to buy some tool in order to get access to a very convenient opportunity in a contact that was not initiated by you.
  • Asks you not to tell anyone about the dealing.
  • Tries to rush you into a decision.

As a rule of thumb: If the promise seems too good to be true, it most probably is fake. Do not respond to this type of scam, not even to "waste their time" or "game them back". You will be labeled a likely victim, and fraudsters will share or sell on your details to other fraudsters.

Further reading

Nigerian scam

This scam is at least as old as the end of the 19th century, when victims were invited to help smuggle out of a Spanish prison the child of a wealthy family (that would later handsomely reward the child's rescuers). Of course the poor "Spanish prisoner" remained in his non-existent dungeon year after year, scam after scam. The Nigerian scam started in the 1980s and, according to experts, the scammers manage to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars per year from their victims. It is also known as the "419 scam", where "419" makes reference to the relevant article of the Nigerian Criminal Code.

How it works

  • Scammers will send a message apparently personalized (but in fact sent to many) promising an enormous amount in exchange for helping the scammer send a fortune (usually in the range of several million Dollars) out of their country (usually Nigeria or other African country).
  • The recipient of the message is offered a large share of this fortune in exchange of their help.
  • Details differ but some frequent variances are:
    • A bank clerk or government official who has stolen or found a fortune.
    • The relative of a deceased millionaire (usually a deposed dictator or someone killed in a dictatorship) who has access to a hidden inheritance.
    • The executor of a large fortune belonging to someone terminally ill or already deceased, without descendants (next-of-kin variant).
    • A soldier who stumbled upon a hidden treasure
  • If the victim answers the message and agrees to play along then some problems will arise. Some paperwork will be needed, some officials will have to be bribed, etc. and the victim will be requested a sum to afford them (a small amount when compared to the expected reward).
  • If this payment is made new problems will arise requiring the transfer of additional "small payments that will enable the immediate transfer of the promised fortune".
  • This will continue until the victim runs out of money (or of patience), but some victims have been even enticed into traveling to the country (usually in Africa) where the alleged fortune waits for them.
    In this case the trouble can (and reportedly did) escalate into kidnapping and violence. Both the FBI and the British Met Police — Scotland Yard are clear in highlighting and warning towards the risks and dangers of this escalation. See Further reading below.

Real life examples

The following emails were received by ProZ.com members and submitted via support:

Dear XXXX,
I am Barrister ZZZZ, a solicitor at law, personal attorney to Mr.P.B. XXXX , a national of your country, who  used to work with Shell Development Company in Lome Togo.  Here in after shall be referred to as my client. On the 21st  of April 2004, my client,his wife and their only daughter were involved in a car accident along Nouvissi express Road.
All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy here to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts to locate his real relatives,I decided to contact you since you have the same last name with my late client. I have contacted you to assist in repartrating the fund valued at US$8.5 million left behind by my client before it gets confisicated or declared unserviceable by the Security inance Firm where  this huge amount were deposited.
The said bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of  kin or have his account confisicated within the next twenty one official working days. Since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the relatives for over 2years now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you.
Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer.I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for claim.
All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the  law.
If you are in interested, please contact me through my email address {email address here} so we can commence on all arrangements and I will give you more information on how we  would handle this project. Please treat this business with utmost confidentiality and send me the Following information.
 (1) Full names:
 (2) Private phone number:
 (3) Current residential address:
 (4) Occupation:
 (5) Age and Sex:
Awaiting to hear from you.
Best regards,
ZZZZ Esq.
New Campaign (Save a student)
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country has a high illiteracy rate and a low GDP. We will raise funds online for Language studies students of Nigeria who can't afford to pay their tution. There are volunteers in Nigeria.  But in order to raise funds they need to create a gofundme.com fundraising campaign. Gofundme has only 2 withdrawal options- wepay and stripe. Wepay is supported in US and Canada. And Stripe is supported in UK, Australia and  a few European countries. So it's very difficult for Nigerians to raise funds online.
Stripe is possibly supported in your country. Can you create a gofundme account for the volunteers? You can send money via western-union after withdrawing the funds from Stripe. We can pay you 10% of the total raised funds  for your services. If you agree to help the Nigerian volunteers to create a gofundme campaign, just send us an email to [email protected] and let us know.
Though it will take a few more weeks for you to get approved as a Lingo24 translator, you are already a member of Lingo24. And we will be grateful if you agree to help our volunteers."
Dear Friend,
I am Mr.Jack Alex, I want to know if you can allow me invest my money in your company as your partner.
I have been into real estate business for many years until my recent retirement following my doctor's advice for me to avoid any form of stress because of my failing health.
please tell me, can you invest my money for me? if you agree, we shall both share the total annual profit.
I am contacting you for this Because I do not want any of my family member to be aware of this, I therefore demand you treat this very confidential.
I will give you details of the funds and the transfer as soon as I receive your response.
I seek for your corporation and sincerity towards this business. Please contact me immediately via email: [email protected] with your complete names ,age,occupation, address, and numbers (Phone and Fax)
Most Regard.
Mr.Jack Alex,
22997736478
Hello Dear,
How are you today? I hope by the special grace of God you are doing wonderfully well! I will like to apologize for contacting you in this manner over a transaction of this magnitude since we all know that  the internet is not a safe means of communication but it was due to a matter of necessity, i had to do  a thorough search on the internet and finally came across your email.
I will rather start by introducing myself, I am Mrs. Olga Patarkatsishvili, the wife of late multimillionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, he was found dead at about 10.45 pm, Tuesday February 12, 2008 at our Surrey mansion in United Kingdom, at the age of 52, a month after running unsuccessfully for the Georgian presidency.My husband was one of the "oligarchs" who made a fortune from the privatization of state-owned industries during the Yeltsin era and eventually found a haven in Britain, where he was recently linked to a possible bid for West Ham football club. My marriage to Badri came as a surprise.
http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=11794
I hope after reading through the above websites, you will see that me and my little son is in a very tough and difficult situation, as we are currently battling with my husband's wife, business partners, Georgian authorities, cousin and his solicitors over his wealth because he did not leave any will behind, this has made life so frustrating for me and my little son David.
Everything he left for us secretly which includes, banks accounts (both foreign accounts) and properties were confiscated except for a profiling cash amount of Ten million eight hundred thousand United States dollars that he deposited as diplomatic baggage with a European firm shortly before he died.
I have all documents relating to these deposit and every other information to proof my legitimacy, this I will definitely sent to you only once you prove to me that you are genuine, honest, transparent and dedicated to help us. We want you to stand as a beneficiary to retrieve the above quoted sum as my representative.
Please Do email with these [email protected] for more details many thanks.
Thanks for your understanding.
Remain blessed,
Mrs. Olga Patarkatsishvili

Further reading

"Advance payment" / "overpayment" scam

This scam has been known to affect nearly every online freelancing sector, from graphic designers and web developers to translators and writers. The scheme is simple: you are offered a job, half of the payment in advance, but the scammer sends you an excessively large payment and asks for a partial refund. By the time you realize the payment was fake, your money is already lost.

How it works

  • A scammer contacts the victim under the pretense of requiring some service that the victim offers.
  • The scammer sends the victim a counterfeit (or value-less) bank check, money order or traveler's check for that service. This often causes the victim to believe that they have already been paid, in whole or in part, for the service that has been discussed. In some cases, the victim may even "cash" the check with a local bank, and the local bank may accept the check for a time. This reinforces the victim's belief that they have already been paid.
  • The scammer then convinces the victim to send some amount of money "back" to the scammer. This payment is requested for a supposedly compelling reason, either because there has been an accidental overpayment, or because plans have changed, some emergency has come up, etc. Often the victim is told that they can keep a portion of the money for the inconvenience caused.
  • Rather than reversing the payment they have received, the victim is convinced to send or wire money back to the scammer from their own account or funds.
  • The scammer's initial forgery is later discovered, by the individual or by the bank. If a transaction had initially gone through, it is reversed by the bank, and the victim is out whatever amount they sent to the scammer.
  • This scam has also been carried out under the pretense of needing testers for services provided by payment intermediaries Western Union and similar providers. See the Western Union scam.

A variant that targets translators and interpreters

  • A language service provider is contacted by a person requesting their services as a translator or interpreter.
    • For interpreters, the order is usually an in-person interpreting gig that requires some travel and possibly an overnight stay.
    • For translators, the project is generally above the 10.000 words, and the scammers tend to use the same documents repeatedly (see below).
  • A quotation is asked and the payment is offered by check or money order in advance.
  • Payment is promptly received in one or more checks, but the amount paid is far higher than the necessary amount (for instance double or triple) and the professional is asked to send back the excess amount.
    • In some cases the professional is asked to wire the excess money to a third person, that will "use it to cover for other expenses of the event", or "who is funding the project".
  • If that money is wired, it may be considered lost, and the professional may be in trouble for depositing fake or stolen checks.
  • A variant has been reported where the "agency" claims that their contact in another country has made the transfer via PayPal, and sent the wrong amount.
    • Once again, after the "excess payment" is sent back via Western Union, the "client" requested from PayPal the reimbursement of the payment arguing that they had not received the translation.
    • PayPal automatically reimburses clients, so the translator lost the money sent back and the time devoted to the translation.

In case of a supposed advance payment, wait for the money!

If a customer agrees to send you an advance payment for some job via check, money order, bank transfer, or digital money transfer, make sure you wait until the money is in your account before starting the job. Check your banking or online payment processor's conditions to annul, cancel or refund payments. Keep in mind that:

  • Fake checks can take up to 15 days to bounce
  • Certain types of bank transfers will appear "valid" but can be voiced or annulled within 15 days
  • PayPal payments are retained by PayPal for 21 days

Before starting the project, ensure that the payment that you have received is legit and cannot be "reversed" by the sender.

Source text files often used to conduct this scam

  • 2017 EC economic report
  • Brochure on sexual education for teenagers
  • Investigative report on sex trafficking
  • "Handbook on Pig Production"
  • "Search for Philip K. Dick" by Anne R. Dick
  • "The Political Economy of Capitalism" by Bruce R. Scott
  • "On The Concept Of Culture And Some Cultural Fallacies" by David Bidney
  • "Fundamentals of Business Profitability"
  • "Agricultural Restructuring in Europe: A Case Study"
  • "Research Project on Agricultural reforms in EU"
  • "Community development lecture on organic farming"
  • "Public Organisations Procedures Research"
  • "The impacts of climate change in coastal marine systems"
  • "Analytical paper on the economic scale and growth of the collaborative economy France"
  • "Support of workplace diversity policies: The role of race, gender, and beliefs about inequality"
  • "La desigualdad de ingresos de Francia en perspectiva histórica"
  • "Educación y crecimiento económico: Del siglo XIX al XXI"
  • "Ökologischer Landbau und weltweite Nahrungsmittelversorgung"

Real life examples

The following emails were received by ProZ.com members and shared to site staff:

Can I submit my document for translation from English to Turkish? And are you free to handle it right now? Its a community development lecture On Organic Farming which i organize to support the youth going into farming and animal production as a business and i want it translated/submitted before July 30th. Please respond back if you can meet up with this deadline.
Hi,
I am XXXX XXXX from Chelsea, UK.I will need the service of an English to French Interpreter while i will be coming to grace a wedding ceremony in France as the Special Guest Speaker of the occasion on the Friday 16th  and Saturday17 of July 2010.The duration will be from 2pm- 4pm on Friday and 10am-12pm on Saturday. If available for these days and hours, do not hesitate to get back to me with the fee involved so i work towards booking the space. 
Very Best Regards
XXXXX XXXX
Good Afternoon to you i really do want to know if you still translate as a job kindly get back to me through my email to let you know what job i have for you in respect of my personal use. Regards 

---

Thanks for the email and also the fee it is quite ok for me kindly drop this details for me to get you 50% then after you are done i will balance up thanks 
Bank name: 
Account name: 
Account number: 
IBAN: 
BIC: 
Bank Address: 
Regards Joyce
Hello, My name is Nancy, I´m contacting you in regard to an English, content document with 11,643 words (44 Pages). I need this document translated to Spanish. I would like to know if you are interested and available to get this done for me. Please get back to me as soon as you can. Thank you.

--- 

Hello. The document to be translated into English is attached to this email. the document is worth 11,643 words (44 Pages). Could you confirm your charges per page, per source word or for the entire translation. My budget per word rate is $0.16 subject to your price quote. The deadline for this Project is 1 month starting from March 2, 2020. Kindly get back to as soon as possible to discuss further on this project. What would be your preferred mode of payment because I'm proposing certified bank draft, cashier's check or bank certified check ? Please do not hesitate to confirm if this is okay with you? I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

---

Hello, There is death in the family of my sponsor, so we are going to have a little delay with the Phase 2 Due to the incident of my sponsor. I just received a message from the Management that the Phase 2 should be withheld and postponed till 2nd week of November, 2019. The Phase 1 would be used for the first part of the seminar coming up July 2019 and the Phase 2 is for the second part of the seminar coming up in November. For this reason, we would only work on the phase 1 for now and get it ready before the due date. Please I want you to take all your full payments for the phase 1, I'm giving you $100 more for your stress and your extra time for the work. And for the remaining money for the Phase 2, Kindly make a deposit of the phase 2 money to the account of the sponsor......I will send you the account details shortly thank you!
Hi,
I am XXX from Liverpool, UK.I will need the service of an interpreter while i will be coming for a 4days program in SPAIN(Madrid).The service would be for duration of 2hours 10am-12pm daily from, June28 Monday through July1 Thursday,2010.  
I would want you to get back with the price quote for the  service , so i could make deposit payment to reserve this spot for me from your schedule.I will furnish you every necessary further informations needed.
Waiting to read back from you at your best convenience.
 
----

Hello again, 
All you will be doing for me is to interpret my speeches from English to Spanish without interpreting back to English. Consecutive interpretation will be okay for such purpose i guess!!!.Incase you stay a bit far from the location, include the charge for you accomodation and transportation in your final quatation and do get back to me asap. I will like you to know that I would have loved to come to your location and pay cash for your sevices but it will be time consuming and stressful for me, so I want you to know that the only method that will be easy and safe for both of us is to send you an international certified bank Cheque or money order which you will receive between 2-3 working days and thereafter you can proceed to the bank.
Kindly get back to me with the following information for payment.
Name to be written on the Cheque
Your full address to send the Cheque
Phone Number
Regards,
XXXX
Hello,
How are you doing today? And I'm contacting you regarding an French content in which I want to get translated into German, So kindly get back to me if you available so I can forward the document to you asap for the quote, I found your contact at American Translators Association, Thank you.

---

Hello, Thank you for getting back to me. Please find attached the document, check the word count and get back to me with your charges/quote, so we can proceed afterwards. I will need it ready in a month from now. Regards.

--- 

Good then. I already discussed with my sponsor about this and was told to send your details so they can get 75% of the payment to you via check and send you the balance as soon as you are done. Kindly get back to me with the details below so they can mail out a check to you for your payment by Monday.
Full Name:
Mailing Address:
Cell number:
Regards.
Admin.
John Leonard.
Bonjour,
je m'appelle Henrie Hart, je dispense des cours de gestion en Marketing. J'ai eu vos coordonnées sur internet en recherchant un traducteur. Actuellement en voyage à Séville, j'aurai besoin de vous pour la traduction d'un document d'environ 20 pages du français vers l'anglais pour une présentation. Si cela relève de vos compétences, je serai ravis de vous envoyer le document pour un devis.
Cordialement
Henrie

---

Votre prix semble relativement bas comparé à d'autres traducteurs et he l'apprécie vraiment. Je veux une traduction parfaite et précise. 50% du paiement (1 400 euros) seron envoyés à l'avance afin que vous puissiez procéder à la traduction dès que vous recevez le paiement et le solde à la fin du projet. Si vous acceptez 50% dès le départ, ma méthode de paiement préferée consiste à effectuer un virement bancaire ou un virement bancaire sur votre compte. Tout ce dont vous avez besoin maintenant, ce sont vos coordonnées bancaires. 
Pour virement bancaire / virement bancaire
Nom de banque:
Adresse postale de la banque:
Nom du compte:
Numéro de compte:
Numéro IBAN:
Je vais envoyer un bon de commande. avant que le paiement soit effectué

Further reading

"Pay to work" scam

This scam targets mainly online freelancers and online job-seekers of any kind. You will be offered excellent working conditions, be led through a lengthy recruiting process and, after you have been strung along for a considerable time, informed that there is one last requisite to start working, and that requires a one-time investment or a reimbursable payment on your part.

How it works

  • In this scam people are offered the opportunity to make a good living from their homes and they are requested to make a starting investment to have access to this opportunity.
  • A variation of this scam involved an in-house position abroad. See: Employment abroad
  • Once this first investment is made, the client will cut all contact.
  • In some cases, the fine print involves the authorization of monthly charges to the victim's back account or credit card.

Some known variants of this scam claim to be offering jobs for:

  • Google
  • Facebook Foreign Language Consultant
  • Wockhardt Pharmaceutical [1]
  • AOSC International [2]
  • ALRISE Biosystem [3]
  • Bayer Pharmaceutical [4]
  • Penguin Random House [5]

Variant: Tool required / Systran scam

  • A translator receives an email from an alleged translation agency stating that they are recruiting service providers in the translator's language pair and/or specialty.
  • When the translator answers, the "manager" of the "agency" interviews them, sends a test translation and reports that all translators working for the agency have to use a not-very-common CAT tool, usually Systran (note: Systran is a legitimate company and is not related in any way with the scammers). As the translator does not own it, the agency offers to sell it at a heavily reduced price (as a "subsidy" from the agency to get the translator in their work force).
  • After receiving a passing grade in the test translation, the translator is requested to send the payment for the CAT tool in order to receive and start working immediately. Of course if the payment is sent no word will be ever received from the "agency" again.
  • Some warning signs:
    • The "agency" show little interest in the translator's experience or qualifications.
    • The payment is requested to a personal account.
    • The agency appears fake (recent and unprofessional website, no online footprint) or the email address does not match the real company's contact.

You should never pay a company to hire you, for whatever reason presented to you.

Real life examples

The following emails were received by a ProZ.com member and submitted via support:

Subject: Directory contact form {alleged name of outsourcer}
If you're a hardworking English to Romanian Translator and you'll like to work with us on our current project.Let me know as soon as possible then i'll give you details of the job.

---

Dear XXXX,
Thanks for your feedback..We require the business version of Systran and the cost is $389 but because of this project we decided to offer to translators for $290 and we can send it to you once you make payment by Paypal or Wester Union. I have attached our agreement form kindly review sign it and send it back to me. We make payments twice a month by Paypal,Western union and Direct bank deposit. I look foward to work with you. Thanks 
Regards,
 
---

Dear XXXX,
I'll briefly give you details about the job then you can choose to continue or not.We have a long term project for translations and to topic areas are:Business, Medical, Legal,Technical,Humanities,History,Arts,Politics,Economics,I.T e.t,c 
we pay about 0.16 euro per word source.and we can offer as much as 3000 words 4 days in a week depending on how much work you can handle.And because of the kind of companies and the kind of project we are doing.We also require that you get Systran software...Even as you start work and we can send one for you at very good discount rate or you can get it by your self from a shop close to you.We make payments by Western Union,Paypal and Direct bank deposit.I'll be expecting your feedback on this so we an start the process.Thanks
 Regards,
COMPANY: WOCKHARDT PHARMACEUTICALS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY .
Job Type: Part-Time, Full-Time, Freelancer.
Hourly Rate: $65/Hour-$65/Hour.
Training Rate: $45/Hour.
Location: Work from Home.
If interested, follow the steps below to schedule your interview session:
You've been assigned to JOEL WILLIAM (Hiring Coordinator) of WOCKHARDT, he would be conducting an online interview with you.
To contact him, set up a screen name via Google Hangout and add up the Company Hiring Manager([email protected]) and instant message him to proceed with the job interview
Interview Scheduled: Mondays - Fridays
Venue: Online Via Google Hangouts
Time : 9:00 AM-6:00 PM EST
Training is available.
Your verification code is (TRA/WK11_11). This would serve as your identification number throughout the online hiring process. This is an online work from home and working hours are flexible.
Subject: INTERVIEW INVITATION!!! ALRISE BIOSYSTEM TRANSLATION/INTERPRETATION
Dear Translator/Interpreter,
After a quick review of your profile on ATA-American Translators Association, I write to present ALRISE Biosystem Job Offer. ALRISE Biosystems GmbH is always looking for outstanding individuals willing to participate and actively support the company's positive business development. If you enjoy working in a highly motivated team and possess skills as well as experience to enhance ALRISE's technology and business, this position is for you. Our flexible working environment had helped us build a dynamic and inclusive workplace that operates on trust and respect and allows you to live the life you want to live. We’re in search of individuals, companies irrespective of the current business type for an Interpreting job position.
The information below is a briefing about our company; the job and instructions to assist you to get aboard our work team. If truly you’re interested; read further and follow the instructions as stated below, IF NOT please ignore this message. As a responsible company, we act where the needs are greatest and where we can have maximum impact. Together, with our employees and partners, we help provide better health for all.

Variant: Translators association certification scam

  • A translator receives an email from an alleged translation agency stating that they are recruiting service providers in the translator's language pair and/or specialty.
  • When the translator answers, the "manager" of the "agency" interviews them, sends a test translation and reports that all translators working for the agency have to be certified by a local professional association due to the nature of the work.
  • After being screened and welcome aboard, the translator is requested to send the payment for the association certification.

Real life examples

Emails received by ProZ.com members and submitted to site staff:

Dear,
Thank you for your email .
We are happy to inform you, FEA Translation and Language Solutions confirm acceptance on said subject concerning the cooperation with you, we agree to pay reasonable rate per source word. We, FEA Translation & Language Solutions accept to cooperate only with WTACA verified members.
 
WTACA is an international Organization focusing on translation certifications, for more details you can visit their web site www.wtaca.eu.tc
 
Could you please send us a scanned copy of your WTACA membership, as soon as we receive it, we will send you our database form for translators which we would appreciate you completing, signing and returning to us. 
 
We would be delighted that you join us as a new Translator, your role is critical in fulfilling the mission of our Company.
 
We, FEA Translation and Language Solutions are here to support you so, please know that you can call on us to assist you. We are looking forward to start working together.
 
We recognise that our greatest asset is our translators; It is our people who deliver brilliant work. Who give the company its personality, who shape its culture, and who innovate. That´s why we believe in treating our people with respect, looking after their welfare and allowing them the freedom to be themselves, to flourish, and maximise their potential moreover to produce the best results for the Company & clients. It is our policy to assist our people to enable them to achieve their aims and aspirations.
 
We are enthusiastically looking forward to this project and we would be pleased about having the opportunity to work together. Your satisfaction is important to us. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
 
All the best, 
Team External Partners

The alleged association, WTACA, had in its page an admission fee of €100 to join as a member. Some time after this was published in ProZ.com, both the "agency" and the "association" webpages were no longer accessible.

Further reading

Dating scam

A classic grift repurposed for the age of the Internet, this scam hinges on creating real feelings on the victim in order to get their money.

How it works

  • The scammer creates a fake personality complete with pictures (young and attractive), personality and history.
  • Posing as this person, the scammer contacts the victim posing expressing interest in exploring a possible romantic relationship.
  • This may happen in a dates site, by addressing a database of emails or contacting the victim in an Internet site or chat room.
  • The victim responds and the pair begins corresponding regularly, discussing family, job, shared passions and other issues designed to earn the trust and the affection of the victim,
  • Once the illusion of a genuine and meaningful relationship has been established, the scammer will begin asking the victim for money.
  • Typical reasons to request money include the cost of the airfare to meet the victim, or a family medical emergency.
  • If the victim complies and sends money, a new necessity will arise, and the victim will be strung along indefinitely.

Real life examples

The following emails were sent to ProZ.com members and reported to site support:

Hello dear new friend,
How are you today? I hope you are fine.
My name is Khady,I am kind, God fearing, caring, flexible, responsible, curious, easy-going, romantic and sensual. I prefer active way of life style. My dream is to spend time and share life with a partner, who will be my lover and friend,if you're interested with my proposal here is my email address {email address} I will be waiting for your email.
On my replying back I will reply you with some pics of me for more correspondence. Hope to hear from you.
Thanks, Khady.
hello
My name is cynthia i saw your profile today at www.proz.com and i love it also became intrested in you,i will also like to know you more,and i want you to send an email directely to my email address so i can give you my picture for you to know whom i am. Here is my email address{email address} i believe we can move from here.my love distance or colour does not matter but love matters alot in life.i waiting to recive your lovely reply soon, 
Yours Love.
Miss cynthia

Further reading

"Secret Shopper / Wester Union testing" scam

This scam involves a promise of easy, profitable remote work by making purchases or money transfers on behalf of a service evaluation company. You will be promised a swift reimbursement which will never arrive; or be sent a fake payment that bounces after you have already sent your own money.

How it works

  • Scammer contacts you impersonating a service evaluation company such as Secret Shopper, allegedly to employ you as a tester of quality of the services of money transfer company, usually Western Union.
  • You will receive a check, cash it, keep an amount per transaction as your fee and use the remaining money to make wire transfers to another contact in order to evaluate the service of the money transfer company and to report on them.
  • The checks or money orders used to pay you are forgeries or stolen, and they bounce even if originally accepted by your bank.
  • You will lose the amount you sent in the "test transfers" (and may also have legal problems because of the bad checks you deposited in your bank).

Real life examples

 I am an agent working with Secret Shopper® Europe We are currently searching
 for English speakers in EUROPE to help us with our survey. Currently, we have
 been paid to evaluate the services of a prestigious company which is the 
 WESTERN UNION.
 
 JOB SUMMARY:
 The WESTERN UNION is a company that offers money transfer services. The sole
 aim of this job is to evaluate the services of WESTERN UNION in your area.
 We have received a lot of reports about their poor services. Hence i will give you a
 detailed job description in key points.
 1. You are to locate a western union office you intend to evaluate.( If you need a list
 of WESTERN UNION in your area please specify.)
 2. A cheque would be sent to you to enable you have funds that would be transferred
 to another mystery shopper like you who would be evaluating another western union
 office in his / her location 
 3. You deposit the cheques into your account.
 4. You deduct your wage of 200Eur
 5. You transfer the remaining funds(after the subtraction of your wage and possible bank
 charges) to the name and address that would be attached to the cheque.
 *NOTE* during the transfer process, you observe key things that would be sent to you
 inform of a questionnaire via email/post to enable you give us a detailed feed back of the
 whole process.
 6. After the transfer, you fill out the questionnaire and give a general comment about the
 whole process. The reports would be based on how true/false the complains of these worried
 customers. Materials needed for the evaluation would be posted to you.
 Hence your duties would be to go to a WESTERN UNION outlet in your locality as a customer.
 You do not require any experience in this field as detailed guidelines would be given to you
 to ensure a successful completion.
 This role would pay 200Eur per Evaluation.
 First Name: 
 Last Name:
 Age: 
 Address:
 City: 
 Country:
 Postal Code: 
 Mobile Number:
 Home Phone: 
 Current occupation:
 Email Address:
 We await your urgent response. Thank you for your help, we look forward to working with you.
 
 Best Regards,

Variant: Payment protection services

  • The scammer will contact you offering you a job position (you did not request) in a Payment Protection services company, after reviewing your CV (that you didn't submit). The job is a part-time assignment with good salary and commissions and all you have to do is receive in your accounts the payments from the "buyers" and, once the transaction was cleared, to keep your remuneration and to wire the remaining amounts to the "sellers".
  • You will receive checks or similar instruments that you will deposit in your bank account and the bank will credit the money, then you will transfer the payments to the "sellers".
  • Later, the checks will be found to be forged or stolen and you will lose all the money you transferred and you will have legal problems for handling bad checks.

Real life examples

Joel Greenwood.
Judd Financial Services Pty Ltd 
 
 Hello,
 my name is Joel Greenwood and I am Judd Financial Services hiring manager. We have found and carefully reviewed your CV and decided to 
 offer this job to you.
 
 Our services:
 When buying-selling operations via the Internet are concerned, the buyer and the seller don't know each other (they may be placed in 
 different corners of the world) - it is very important both to the buyer and the seller for their deal to be made safe. Payment Protection 
 means receiving money, documents, goods (it might be both the seller's and the buyer's) concerning the transaction to a reliable, experienced, 
 impartial person - our Payment Protection agent. The agent will hold all the documents and money until all the terms of the deal are satisfied 
 and only then release them to the intended receiver.
 
 Why we need Payment Protection agents:
 Having a Payment Protection agent in every country we can quickly transfer funds inside a country without wasting time on the international bank
 transfers, and continue our rapid growth rather than overwhelming our own bank account with inbound and outbound transactions leading to severe 
 hold times and possible service interruption. It is time that is of significant importance to our clients.
 
 Career and Benefits:
 Your main task will be receiving money transactions to any bank account you would like to use for the purposes of this job; and then forwarding 
 these transactions to the next party of the Payment Protection process according to our instructions. You will benefit from the commissions, 
 which are 5-7% of each transaction and depend on the quantity of the completed transactions and the speed of your work. Besides, you will be paid 
 a basic salary of 1500 USD per month.
 
 For your convenience there will be no paychecks, your commission will remain in your account after every successfully completed transaction. The 
 money transfer fee is not included in your commission, meaning that you will deduct it from the received amount, not from your commission. Also 
 you receive 5-7% of the transaction amount.
 Normally the amounts that we process vary from 2,000 USD to 10,000 USD or its equivalent, but can go higher on special occasions.
 
 Job details:
 As the financial activity in your area is not too high, a Payment Protection agent will be processing approximately 1-2 transactions per week. Each
 transaction requires approximately 4-5 hours of the agent work. Our manager always calls the agent beforehand to provide all the instructions.  
 Therefore, with the due time management, the agent is able to combine this job with other activities (e.g. primary job or studies).
 
 If you are ready to proceed, please reply to this e-mail [email protected] and our hiring manager Paul Kings will contact you shortly.
 
 Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need more information.
 
 Yours Sincerely,
 Joel Greenwood,

The contract they will offer you if you accept their job offer is:

Payment Protection Agent Employment Agreement
 Judd Financial Services Pty Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”) on the one hand and _________________ (hereinafter referred to as “the 
 Contractor”) on the other hand, together called Parties, have concluded the present Employment Agreement (further - Agreement) as follows.
 Payment Protection Agent
 Duties, Term of the Agreement and Compensation
 1. DUTIES:
 1.1. The Company assigns and the Contractor undertakes the responsibility to provide the following services to the Company in the context of the 
 present Agreement:
 · To receive protection payments from the clients of the Company to his personal bank account;
 · To effect protection payments to the Company’s partners via Western Union / Money Gram or another mentioned money transfer system.
 1.2. The Contractor will report directly to the senior manager and to any other party designated by the senior manager in connection with the 
 performance of the duties under this Agreement and shall fulfill any other duties reasonably requested by the Company and agreed to by the Contractor.
 2. COMPENSATION:
 2.1. The Contractor’s basic salary will be 1700 EUR per month. The Contractor will also benefit from the commissions, which are 5-7% of every 
 transaction and depend on the quantity of completed transactions and the speed of the Contractor’s work. 
 2.2. The Company shall have the right to decrease the Contractor’s commission in case the payment processing terms were violated by the Contractor. 
 In this case the Contractor’s commission will be decreased at a rate of 3% per day.
 3. BENEFITS PACKAGE AND PROFESSIONAL ADVANTAGES
 3.1. The Contractor, being the independent Party, independently bears responsibility for execution of services in the context of the present Agreement.  
 Therefore the Contractor agrees that the Company shall not render the latter an employee, partner or agent with the Company for any purpose.
 3.2. The parties have agreed to consider any messages sent each other by means of facsimile or email communication to be legal.
 4. TERM AND DURATION OF THE AGREEMENT:
 4.1. No person, but the account holder, who is the Contractor, shall have the authority to the withdrawal of any money from the account, which is 
 to be requested from the Company. The company’s sole purpose to such bank information: account number, routing number, BSB/sort code, account name 
 and address, is to deposit only. The account holder, who is the Contractor, will have the authority to withdrawals of any kind in order to  
 satisfactorily complete the “duties” of the Contractor, who declares full responsibility of any requests to withdraw money for the Company according 
 to the instructions provided by the Company. The Contractor acknowledges honesty and specific times to complete the tasks for the Company. The 
 Company and The Contractor understand that all the money deposited to the Contractor’s bank account by the Company’s clients belong to the Company. 
 No personal investments will be required on behalf of the Contractor to execute the Contractor’s duties according to the provisions of the present
 agreement. No information, which will be provided to the Company, shall be distributed to third parties for any reasons and if doing so, the
 Agreement will be breeched by the Company.
 4.2. The present Agreement signed by the means of facsimile or e-mail communication, stands good in law. The present Agreement shall remain in force 
 from the moment if it’s signing by the Parties (“____“________________ 2010) for the period of 1 (one) year, unless terminates earlier (with 1 (one)
 week before notice required) in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

"Wallet lost abroad" scam

Another con that precedes the Internet, the scammer will usually impersonate an acquaintance of yours in order to request your help.

How it works

  • The scammer contacts the victim reporting that, while abroad their wallet was lost and they need help to pay hotel and other critical bills. Time is pressing because plane home leaves soon and victim is asked to lend money (usually via Western Union), to be sent back as soon as the scammer gets back home.
  • Reason for the trip is never work (where company would be expected to provide help), but rather personal (a conference, vacations).
  • Scammer may be impersonating a third party (who may be known to you) after having stolen elements of this party's identity (such as access to their email address).
    • In this case the request may come from someone you know, and if you request confirmation via email you may get it (from the scammer).
    • If you are close enough to the person asking for help you should be able to ask questions that only that person may know.
    • If you are not close to the person, then ask yourself why is they are asking help from you.
    • In a case reported in a forum the scammer asked the translator to perform a fake job and then used the "trust bond" created over such assignment to "ask for help" when wallet was "stolen".

Real life examples

The following emails were sent to ProZ.com members and reported to site support:

I'm writing this with tears in my eyes, I came down here to United Kingdom for a short vacation unfortunately i was mugged at the park of the hotel where i stayed,all cash,credit card and cell phone were stolen off me but luckily for me i still have my passport with me. I've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and my return flight leaves in few hours from now but am having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let me leave until i settle the bills.I'm freaked out at the moment.
I need your help, I have nothing left on me right now and I lucky to have my life and passport with me it would have been worst if they had made away with me passports.Well all I need now is just $2,550 you can have it wired to my name via Western Union I'll have to show my passport as ID to pick it up here and i promise to pay you back as soon as I get back home. Here's my info below: 
 NAME : xxxx
 STATE : xxxx
 COUNTRY : xxxx 
As soon as it has been done, kindly get back to me with the confirmation number (MTCN),I promise to refund the money back including the TRANSFER CHARGES. Let me know if you are heading to the WU outlet now????"
How are you doing? Hope all is well with you. Iam so sorry i didn't let you know about me leaving for a conference in England. i really hate to do this but i need a favor from you because i lost my wallet on my way back to the hotel from the conference venue and i had all my valuables in it and now i am in a mess. Kindly raise me a loan of $3,200 so i can settle my bills here and get back home before things get out of hand. I'll really appreciate it if you could do whatever you can to help me, I'll refund whatever you can come up with as soon as i return. Kindly help me to sen the money through Western Union, using the details below.
 Receiver's name: xxx
 Address: xxx
 Zip code: xxx
 State: xxx
 Country: xxx
As soon as you have it sent, please don't forget to send me the Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN) including the details of the transfer. I wait to read from you as soon as you have it sent today.

Further reading

"Employment abroad" scam

This scam involves an excellent in-house position in another country, usually targeting Americans and offering work in the UK. After a long screening process and a confirmed offer, the victim will be asked to make a reimbursable payment to concrete the work visa request or the moving process.

How it works

  • The scammer contacts the victim offering him/her a golden opportunity of employment abroad. Salary and perks are very attractive and working conditions are described as ideal.
  • Payment in advance is offered. You could expect to receive checks in excess of the promised account, see Advance payment / Overpayment scams in this page.
  • If you reply to the mail you will receive even better news and at some point you will be told that some small payment is needed due to red tape.
  • A typical example is the request that you send a given amount to an account in London, to be reimbursed to you on the next day, as a requirement from the British government to test solvency of applicant before issuing a work visa. Obviously, this is a fake requirement and after paying you can say goodbye to the payment and to the employment.

Real life examples

The following emails were sent to ProZ.com members and reported to site staff:

 LangHam Hotel London
 1C Portland Place Regent Street
 London
 W1B 1JA
 United Kingdom
 +44 702 408 2990
 +44 702 405 6338
 
 The LangHam Hotel urgently needs the services of devoted and hardworking workers, who are ready 
 to work after undergoing enlistment training in all sectors. Qualified persons should contact us 
 immediately for job placement here at the LangHam Hotel as the Hotel Management intends to increase 
 its man power base due to increasing number of customers in the Hotel. 
 
 PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
 Employment Type: Full Time
 Monthly Salary: £3,950.00 GBP
 Preferred Language of Resume/Application: English Years of Work Experience: 1years minimum
 
 SALARY INDICATION/ALLOWANCES & BENEFITS
 • BASIC MONTHLY SALARY: £3,950.00 GBP only. Travel Insurance, Medical Insurance.
 • HAZARD/INCONVENIENCES: £275.00 GBP (Monthly).
 • HOUSING & FURNISHINGS: £2,850.00 GBP (Yearly).
 
 Two months’ salary of 7,900GBP (Inclusive of all allowances & benefits) shall be paid in advance before 
 employee relocates to new job location.
 
 • All payments of salary after assumption of duty in Marriott Hotel London shall be made in full to the 
   salary account of the Employer.
 
 This is in line with the British Expatriate Financial Statutory Laws.
 
 AVAILABLE POSITIONS
 ************************
 
 WELDING INSTRUCTORS AND INSPECTORS, CONFERENCE & BANQUETING OPERATIONS MANAGER, FOOD & BEVERAGE TEAM MEMBERS, 
 STORE KEEPER, ACCOUNT MANAGER, CASHIER, BARTENDER, HOST/HOSTESS, ASSISTANT MANAGER OF FRONT OFFICE, RECEPTIONIST, 
 DOOR PERSON, LOBBY ASSISTANT, PART-TIME GUEST RELATIONS ASSISTANT, ASSISTANT FLOOR HOUSEKEEPER, HOUSEKEEPING SERVICES 
 COORDINATOR, ROOM ATTENDANT, CLEANER, FOREIGN/INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS AND TEACHERS, RESERVATIONS CLERK, 
 RESERVATION MANAGER, COMPUTER OPERATOR, INTERNET SERVICE EXPERT, NURSE.
 
 IF you are interested in this opportunity provided my LANGHAM HOTEL LONDON LONDON them you can contact us with CV on 
 this very Email Address [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 
 
 Regards
 Management
 LangHam Hotel London

Notice the following:

  • IP address is from Nigeria, not the United Kingdom.
  • LangHam Hotel turns into Marriott Hotel somewhere along the message.
  • Very broad offer, lots of specialties required, and all positions are offered high salaries.
  • Three email addresses, two of them are fake, the third is a free @gmail.com address.
  • Payment in advance is offered.

Phishing "data verification" scam

Phishing scams use fake emails or fake websites to fake a trusted service provider, like your bank or email service. Their intent is to get your login information to impersonate you and/or steal from you.

How it works

  • You get an email allegedly from a bank or other service provider claiming that due to some exceptional circumstance you need to reply supplying critical data to allow the supplier "to solve some critical problem that compromise the delivery of their service".
  • The alleged reason may be congestion of service, changes of the operational environment, detection of unlawful activities, etc.
  • The email may have convincing graphics that emulate the look-and-feel of the alleged institution.
  • The links may ask you for your user name and password of your Internet bank account.
  • Some of the links can also direct you to dangerous places where you may get a trojan virus or spyware.
  • Some warning signs:
    • Your service provider will only email you from the official company domain.
    • Company emails will address you by name or username, not as "user", "customer" or "friend".
    • As a rule, no serious organization of any kind ask you to provide your password via email or any external form.

Real life examples

Fake emails allegedly from bank or payment processor

Subject: Account Upgrade Notice
Dear Standard Bank customers,
This message has been sent to you from Standard Bank because we have noticed invalid login attempts into your account. Due to this we are temporarily limiting and restricting your account access until we confirm your identity. In order for your online account to remain active, you would have to upgrade your online account. Please use the button below to update your online banking account. Failure to adhere to this process may cause your online banking account to be suspended. Please go to [LINK].
 
Thank You 
 
Disclaimer | Conditions of access | Privacy and security statement | Site specs | Security centre | PAIA | Fica | NCA |
© 2010 Standard Bank is a licensed financial services provider in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act.  
Subject: Warning! Your PayPal account was limited!

Dear Customer,
Warning! Your PayPal account was limited!
As part of our security measures, we regularly activity in the PayPal screen to learn recently you were contacted after finding a problem on your Account. at the request of information from you for the reason follows: What's the problem? - Our system detected unusual charges to a card Credit linked to your PayPal account.
Click To Confirm 
PayPal Email ID: 5138-8872
Department of examining the accounts of PayPal.
The PayPal Corp. Copyright 1999-2012. All rights reserved

Sincerely,
PayPal 

Fake emails allegedly from email service provider

Dear Valued Member,
Due to the congestion in all Yahoo users and removal of all unused Yahoo Accounts,Yahoo would be shutting down all unused accounts,You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Info below after clicking the reply botton, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.
 UserName: ............................................
 Password:..............................................
 Date Of Birth: ........................................
 Country Or Territory:...............................
After Following the instructions in the sheet,your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.Thanks for your attention to this request.We apologize for any inconvinience.
 Yahoo! Customer Care
 Case number: 8941624
 Property: Account Security
 Contact date: 2009-04-28
 While Viewing: http://info.yahoo.com/legal/e1/yahoo/
 Form Name: http://help.yahoo.com/l/e1/yahoo/security/comentarios.html

Reporting scam/phishing emails received via ProZ.com mail

To report any abuse or email spam/scams/phishing through your ProZ.com mail service, follow the steps outlined here.