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is it a scam?
Thread poster: Pavlos Xirogiannidis
Monika Coulson
Monika Coulson  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:19
Member (2001)
English to Albanian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
His wife speaks only Albanian, Jun 13, 2005

so what are you guys talking about? Or do you think he has many wives and he takes turns when he travels? That is a lot of traveling and a lot of wives too! I am feeling sorry for him now...

Monika


 
Stephen Franke
Stephen Franke
United States
Local time: 06:19
English to Arabic
+ ...
Same attempted scam twice this year about Interpreter suppport in Arabic Jun 17, 2005

Greetings.

This same basic scam was tried twice this year for escort/interrpeter service in Arabic English. Same situation where the wife allegedly speaks an entirely different language from that of the poster.

When they are contacted directly, most freelancers see through this charade fairly soon and easily, especially when the requester could not provide exact dates of the itinerary, flight information, or the name of the hotel where they would be staying during thei
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Greetings.

This same basic scam was tried twice this year for escort/interrpeter service in Arabic English. Same situation where the wife allegedly speaks an entirely different language from that of the poster.

When they are contacted directly, most freelancers see through this charade fairly soon and easily, especially when the requester could not provide exact dates of the itinerary, flight information, or the name of the hotel where they would be staying during their visit. When queried on such basic points, silence followed.

Conversely, amazing to note that several language service agencies in southern California took that note seriously when they were contacted and made strenuous efforts to find and arrange/reserve local freelancers as escort/interpreters.

HTH.

Regards,

Stephen H. Franke
San Pedro, California
(Temporarily at Camp Pendleton, CA, advising and training some Marine units preparing for deployment to Iraq)
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laura_g
laura_g
Local time: 13:19
English to Spanish
He's still scamming!! Jun 22, 2005

Hey Everyone!!

Yesterday, i received the following email:

>I am Archdeacon Christopher Kwame. I am an English speaking clergy from Nigeria. I will be coming over to Scotland on vacation from 5th to 15th of July 2005 for a 10 day vacation with my Spanish wife, daughter and son of the ages of 3 and 5 years old respectively. My wife Rev. Lora only speaks Spanish and my native language because her mother comes from Nigeria. She will require the services of a Spanish interpr
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Hey Everyone!!

Yesterday, i received the following email:

>I am Archdeacon Christopher Kwame. I am an English speaking clergy from Nigeria. I will be coming over to Scotland on vacation from 5th to 15th of July 2005 for a 10 day vacation with my Spanish wife, daughter and son of the ages of 3 and 5 years old respectively. My wife Rev. Lora only speaks Spanish and my native language because her mother comes from Nigeria. She will require the services of a Spanish interpreter, 5 hours daily for 10 days because I will not always be with them on most occasions due to other church functions which I must attend. Please acknowledge if you can offer this service and give me a price quotation. We will like to pay in advance of our visit so she can be assured of an interpreter during her shopping and sightseeing because she is not yet acquainted with Scotland. An early reply will be appreciated.
>
>Remain Blessed,
>
>Archdeacon Christopher Kwame
>
I thought this looked a bit strange but when i put his name in google, i couldn't find anything....However when i put his wifes name on google it told me that this is an email scam. This is obviously because he always changes his name, but uses the same name for his so called wife!!

Just thought i'd let you all know that he is still scamming!!

Laura
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Cristina Moldovan do Amaral
Cristina Moldovan do Amaral  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:19
Member (2002)
English to Romanian
+ ...
I got the same e-mail this morning!! Jun 23, 2005

Dear Miss Zali,

I am Archdeacon Christopher Kwame. I am an English speaking clergy from Nigeria. I will be coming over to Berlin in Germany on vacation from 5th to 15th of July 2005 for a 10 day vacation with my Germany wife, daughter and son of the ages of 3 and 5 years old respectively. My wife Rev. Lora only speaks Germany and my native language because her mother comes from Nigeria. She will require the services of an German interpreter, 5 hours daily for 10 days because I will
... See more
Dear Miss Zali,

I am Archdeacon Christopher Kwame. I am an English speaking clergy from Nigeria. I will be coming over to Berlin in Germany on vacation from 5th to 15th of July 2005 for a 10 day vacation with my Germany wife, daughter and son of the ages of 3 and 5 years old respectively. My wife Rev. Lora only speaks Germany and my native language because her mother comes from Nigeria. She will require the services of an German interpreter, 5 hours daily for 10 days because I will not always be with them on most occasions due to other church functions which I must attend. Please acknowledge if you can offer this service and give me a price quotation. We will like to pay in advance of our visit so she can be assured of an interpreter during her shopping and sightseeing because she is not familiar with Germany. An early reply will be appreciated.

Remain Blessed,

Archdeacon Christopher Kwame


I am starting to get sick and tired of this!!!
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zh.xlation
zh.xlation
Local time: 09:19
English to Chinese
+ ...
How Can We Stop This Interpretation Job Scam? Jul 27, 2005

Thank you all for the posting and thank goodness I decided to spend a few minutes checking the forum. I am a brand new member to freelance and Proz.com. Being in localization for 10 years, I really should know better though. This was going to be my first freelance job and everything sounded so perfect! I cannot imagine what I would do if I fell for the scam!!!

I did call this guy (he gave me the number of 01123-4803-9140-200, but I'm sure he's got many other ones) and talked t
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Thank you all for the posting and thank goodness I decided to spend a few minutes checking the forum. I am a brand new member to freelance and Proz.com. Being in localization for 10 years, I really should know better though. This was going to be my first freelance job and everything sounded so perfect! I cannot imagine what I would do if I fell for the scam!!!

I did call this guy (he gave me the number of 01123-4803-9140-200, but I'm sure he's got many other ones) and talked to him for almost half an hour. (What a dummy I am to waste time and phone cost on him. But at least I did not wind up having to pay HIM!) Everything sounded great but it started to feel weird when he said he's at a church service (11pm "Ghana" time, on a Tuesday? I'm no church goer but I don't think that's a reasonable time to attend a mass.) and his wife is not available because she's in the service... He offered to send the check, gave me the hotel address he supposedly will be staying at, etc... So it seems that he's getting better and better prepared.

Guys, thanks again for posting the warnings!!! I would be so sad if my first job turns out to be a scam!!

Is there anyway we can somehow stop this person/organization???
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NancyLynn
NancyLynn
Canada
Local time: 09:19
Member (2002)
French to English
+ ...

Moderator of this forum
Improvements Jul 29, 2005

I got this today:
Good day,

I saw your information at the American Translators Association's Online Directory of Translation and Interpreting Services and I will like to engage for your service as an interpreter for my daughters who are coming to your region in Ontario, CANADA for 5 days conference meeting and your personal assistance as an interpreter will be needed for thier stays over there for only 4hrs daily. This will come up between 27th to 30th of August 2005. you will be needed to interprete French into English language for them only whenever they are going out for shopping and visiting some other beautiful places. could you get back to me on time with your service rate for the period of 4hrs / 5days if your service will be available.
Note all neccessary for food, travelling, accomodation and other expenses will be arranged as soon as they arrive. so let me know your total rate for the the whole period and also let me have your full name and address so that full payment can be send to you in advance via check. so please e mail me the following informations for the payment.

NAME;
ADDRESS;
PHONE NUMBER;

Thanks and I will be looking forward to hearing back from you soonest.


The last time, the language was far more tortuous, and the holiday too: the wife and kids were spending not 5, but 10 whole days in my village. I notice this time they were careful to say "your region in Ontario" which makes more sense than the lonely crossroads I live at, surrounded by corn fields and dairy cows

Nancy


 
botkiller
botkiller
English
but is there a way to get money back and stop them? Aug 9, 2005

Hi everyone:

my question is, is there a way to stop this person? he has used the same number twice now (my girlfriend was hit with the same number on an email with different name), but people have actually talked to this guy! Does that mean anything at all? there has to be something that can be done besides reporting it to the FBI and IC3. Has anyone heard anything about this?

thanks.


NancyLynn wrote:

I got this today:
Good day,

I saw your information at the American Translators Association's Online Directory of Translation and Interpreting Services and I will like to engage for your service as an interpreter for my daughters who are coming to your region in Ontario, CANADA for 5 days conference meeting and your personal assistance as an interpreter will be needed for thier stays over there for only 4hrs daily. This will come up between 27th to 30th of August 2005. you will be needed to interprete French into English language for them only whenever they are going out for shopping and visiting some other beautiful places. could you get back to me on time with your service rate for the period of 4hrs / 5days if your service will be available.
Note all neccessary for food, travelling, accomodation and other expenses will be arranged as soon as they arrive. so let me know your total rate for the the whole period and also let me have your full name and address so that full payment can be send to you in advance via check. so please e mail me the following informations for the payment.

NAME;
ADDRESS;
PHONE NUMBER;

Thanks and I will be looking forward to hearing back from you soonest.


The last time, the language was far more tortuous, and the holiday too: the wife and kids were spending not 5, but 10 whole days in my village. I notice this time they were careful to say "your region in Ontario" which makes more sense than the lonely crossroads I live at, surrounded by corn fields and dairy cows

Nancy




 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:19
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
www.419eater.com Aug 11, 2005

Scroll down to the bottom and you can read letters from people who turned the tables on these scammers (very funny!):

http://www.419eater.com/html/letters.htm


 
lokilo
lokilo  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:19
French to English
Now he has an agent... Aug 12, 2005

I got one today, and was pretty happy (considering I'm just trying to get established as a freelancer). The agent included page numbers and format, but the smile turned to a gnarled expression when I got to this part:

...

I would want to know how much you will require having this book translated on behalf of my client, and also referrals to some remarkable publishers that you know of. My Client will also like to pay in advance as his family and I will be coming over to
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I got one today, and was pretty happy (considering I'm just trying to get established as a freelancer). The agent included page numbers and format, but the smile turned to a gnarled expression when I got to this part:

...

I would want to know how much you will require having this book translated on behalf of my client, and also referrals to some remarkable publishers that you know of. My Client will also like to pay in advance as his family and I will be coming over to the U.S because he intends supervising the publication of the book there personally and at close range to avoid piracy of the book before its launch in your country, as it has already sold over 3.4 million copies in Africa alone.

I expect to have a quote from you as soon as possible as the date scheduled for the book launch is drawing close.

Yours truly,

Mr Kwesi Cudjoe

!!!!!!

Cujo??!! His agent is a vicious dog?? I checked WorldCat: figures, not one book by Dr. Opokwu, his client. It looked good though. Just for the hell of it, I requested that he return a sample page, preferably from the middle of the book. What can I say... summer is drawing to a close but I still want to have fun.

--L
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