| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Traveller check overpayment scam Thread poster: Bureau Babel - Bérengère Brulebois
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Hello everybody,
I almost was the victim of a scammer named Micheal XXX, as I realised by reading the forum, he uses different surnames.
Here are the Emails I got after applying for a job he offered on ProZ:
Hello,
My Name is Micheal XXX,Am out of town to Sweden,I appreciate the time you take out to send your write up.I will be coming to France in 2weeks.I need translator to translate up to 15,700 source of words for me from German into French... See more Hello everybody,
I almost was the victim of a scammer named Micheal XXX, as I realised by reading the forum, he uses different surnames.
Here are the Emails I got after applying for a job he offered on ProZ:
Hello,
My Name is Micheal XXX,Am out of town to Sweden,I appreciate the time you take out to send your write up.I will be coming to France in 2weeks.I need translator to translate up to 15,700 source of words for me from German into French.I agree with your quote 0.10euro/word. Part payment will be issued out before commencement of work for i do understand it is necessary since we working online.
Your information is need for background check, please send in this information:
FULL NAME:
CONTACT ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP-CODE:
VALID PHONE:
MOBILE NUMBER:
HOURS FOR AVAILABILITY:
Best Regards
________________________________________________
Hello,
Thanks for your quick response,I am glad to have you as my freelancer translator.Your total is euro 1570 is acceptable,I will offer 30 percent downpayment will be issued out before commencement of work for i do understand it is necessary since we working online and balance after completion of project.Deadline is 2weeks.Please note that i will be paying with Euro Travelers Check,the text format is word and i am expecting the best from you.
Here is my information to issue out invoice
Name. Micheal Sutton
Address..65, vallingby,
Stockholm.
Sweden
Please confirm your Information to issue out payment
_____________________________________________________
Hello,
How are you today? The payment was sent yesterday by 9.15pm swedish time.There was a mistake as my client Issue 3000 Travelers check on your name which include my traveling agent fees to you.I dont think there is anything to worry about for the trust i have in you.You will cash at your bank and send the excess funds to my agent for my trip to France via western uinon. Once you cash and have your fees of 30 percent downpayment and balance after completion of project ,I will keep you update for the project.Please watch out for the payment and let me know when you recieve it.Thanks for your understanding.
Best Regards.
___________________________________________________
At that point I already new there was something wrong with this guy. So today I got the checks and could see straight away that they were forged. Some help to find out if traveller checks are forged:
http://www.pfiffige-senioren.de/gefaelschterreisescheck.jpg
I went to the police and thanked the guy for his understanding!!!
So watch out for this guy offering you a job and paying with traveller checks.
Best wishes
Bérengère
[Bearbeitet am 2011-05-24 18:51 GMT]
[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2011-05-25 11:08 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ingrid MOUAN (X) 
France
Local time: 00:25
English to French
+ ...
| Overpayment scam 2 | Aug 31, 2011 |
I have just received the same e-mail from a Sonia XXXX for a 15000 word translation from English to French after answering a job offer on proz.
"Hello,
How are you today?The payment was sent today by 12.45pm time.There was a mistake as my client Issue 3000 euro Travelers check on your name which include my traveling agent fees to you.I dont think there is anything to worry about for the trust i have in you.You will cash at your bank and send the excess funds to my age... See more I have just received the same e-mail from a Sonia XXXX for a 15000 word translation from English to French after answering a job offer on proz.
"Hello,
How are you today?The payment was sent today by 12.45pm time.There was a mistake as my client Issue 3000 euro Travelers check on your name which include my traveling agent fees to you.I dont think there is anything to worry about for the trust i have in you.You will cash at your bank and send the excess funds to my agent for my trip to France via western union. Once you cash and have your fees of 40 percent down payment and balance after completion of project.Please watch out for the payment and let me know when you receive it.Let me know if i can forward the document to you today.I will print out the order , sign and return back to you via email tomorrowThanks for your understanding.
Best Regards"
What can I do? They have my resume, name, adress, phone number!Do I have to tell the police before the money arrives...if it arrives?
I feel so stupid....
Best regards,
Ingrid ▲ Collapse
| | | | rossant
France
Local time: 00:25
English to French
+ ...
| again and again | Aug 31, 2011 |
So it looks I'm not the only one who got in touch with this person. Unfortunately I already sent my adress, but wanted to check, because like most of you said: poor english, and suspicious excess payment.
Thanks for cascading the info.
Good luck to all,
Regis
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Hello Ingrid,
I waited until the checks arrived and as they were forged (it was very obvious), I went with them and the enveloppe to the police (without touching the checks...there could be fingerprints on them). I also printed the originals of the emails, where you can see the sender IP address, and brought all of it to the police. They then try to find the sender of the checks and track him down. That's all you can do...
Don't worry about your resume or address and stuff, th... See more Hello Ingrid,
I waited until the checks arrived and as they were forged (it was very obvious), I went with them and the enveloppe to the police (without touching the checks...there could be fingerprints on them). I also printed the originals of the emails, where you can see the sender IP address, and brought all of it to the police. They then try to find the sender of the checks and track him down. That's all you can do...
Don't worry about your resume or address and stuff, they won't do anything as they only want easy money and as soon as they realise you found out about their trick, they won't bother you again.
The guy tried to reach me several times after I got the checks and so I just wrote him that I knew it was a trick and he never bothered me again.
Don't feel stupid, it happens all the time... and it's good you realised it was a trick before loosing any money
Best regards
Bérengère ▲ Collapse
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| Sounds awfully familar... | Sep 2, 2011 |
I have also been contacted by this person, called himself Peter S. this time, but the wording of the e-mails was almost identical. When they wrote me that the payment would be in travellers cheques I wrote back that I do not accept them, and so far have not heard from the person again.
However, even though both the job posting and the poster seem to have mysteriously dissapeared from proz.com, I had googled the person who had originally "posted the job", who was a lawyer with a Berl... See more I have also been contacted by this person, called himself Peter S. this time, but the wording of the e-mails was almost identical. When they wrote me that the payment would be in travellers cheques I wrote back that I do not accept them, and so far have not heard from the person again.
However, even though both the job posting and the poster seem to have mysteriously dissapeared from proz.com, I had googled the person who had originally "posted the job", who was a lawyer with a Berlin based law firm and checked the address of the job poster against their website, which was identical.
Even if I do not hear from the scammer again, should I inform the lawyer or the firm about my suspicions that someone stole their identity? Or take any other action? What would you suggest?
Thanks a lot for your advice.
Britta ▲ Collapse
| | | | | do what you feel like doing... | Sep 2, 2011 |
Hi Britta,
I would go to the police and they can check the law firm and take appropriate action. I wouldn't contact the firm directly as you never know...
If they are clean then the police will talk to them and warn them about the people using their identity.
However that's my personal point of view, don't do it if you don't feel confortable with it...
wishing you a nice evening<... See more Hi Britta,
I would go to the police and they can check the law firm and take appropriate action. I wouldn't contact the firm directly as you never know...
If they are clean then the police will talk to them and warn them about the people using their identity.
However that's my personal point of view, don't do it if you don't feel confortable with it...
wishing you a nice evening
Best regards
Bérengère ▲ Collapse
| | | | Miriam Neidhardt (X)
Germany
Local time: 00:25
English to German
| Peter S. @BritNigg | Sep 3, 2011 |
Hi everybody,
Ich habe dieselbe Mail von Dr. Peter S. bekommen, die Ausschreibung bei proz gemeldet und deshalb ist sie gelöscht worden. Ferner habe ich den echten Dr. Peter S. in Berlin informiert, dass seine Identität geklaut wurde - er rief sofort zurück und war völlig von den Socken, hatte sich schon über die Bewerbungen von Übersetzern gewundert.
Hab darüber ... See more Hi everybody,
Ich habe dieselbe Mail von Dr. Peter S. bekommen, die Ausschreibung bei proz gemeldet und deshalb ist sie gelöscht worden. Ferner habe ich den echten Dr. Peter S. in Berlin informiert, dass seine Identität geklaut wurde - er rief sofort zurück und war völlig von den Socken, hatte sich schon über die Bewerbungen von Übersetzern gewundert.
Hab darüber auch in meinem Blog geschrieben: www.neidmare.de/fieser-scammer
Gruß, Miriam ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Name changed to Eileen Garton! | Oct 3, 2011 |
Hello Guys
received this email today and exactly the same one afterwards ...(with the same errors)
Morning Nathan,
Sorry for the delay.Am out of town to Spain,I will be coming to Germany in 4weeks.I need translator to translate up to 15800 source of words for me from English to German, Subject Area is Business management.plaese let me know the total charges for this project.I attach file sample.Part payment will be issued out before commenceme... See more Hello Guys
received this email today and exactly the same one afterwards ...(with the same errors)
Morning Nathan,
Sorry for the delay.Am out of town to Spain,I will be coming to Germany in 4weeks.I need translator to translate up to 15800 source of words for me from English to German, Subject Area is Business management.plaese let me know the total charges for this project.I attach file sample.Part payment will be issued out before commencement of work for i do understand it is necessary since we working online.
Here is my address..
Name..... Eileen Garton
ADDRESS.. CALLE DE SANTIAGO RAMON Y CAJAL, 12
CITY..... HUMANES DE MADRID.
ZIP CODE. 28970
STATE.... MADRID,
COUNTRY.. SPAIN
Your information is need for background check, please send in this information:
FULL NAME:
CONTACT ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP-CODE:
VALID PHONE:
MOBILE NUMBER:
HOURS FOR AVAILABILITY:
Regards
second email:
Hello Nathan,
Thanks for your quick response,I am glad to have you as my freelancer translator.Your total is euro 750 is acceptable,I will offer 40 percent down-payment will be issued out before commencement of work for i do understand it is necessary since we working online and balance after completion of project.Deadline is 3weeks.Please note that i will be paying with Euro Travelers Check and i am expecting the best from you.
Please confirm your information to issue out payment
Thanks for stealing my time ''Mis(ter)'' Eileen Garton.
I'm glad not to have accepted this job. Thanks for your help people! ▲ Collapse
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| "There was a mistake..." | Oct 3, 2011 |
"There was a mistake...", i.e. you accepting to be paid in advance by a completely unknown person you did not qualify in advance as a genuine customer from a genuine company with a genuine business need.
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[Edited at 2011-10-03 14:02 GMT]
| | | | Greta Bertan (X)
Italy
Local time: 00:25
English to Italian
+ ...
I have received the same e-mail yesterday.
First of all I could not recall having applied for such a job, but I did not care at first.
Then I was offered an anticipated payment, and, today, in a new e-mail an Euros Traveller Cheque Payment.
The e-mail text is more or less the same as yours.
Thanks for having posted your advice!
Greta
| | | | | No reason whatsoever... | Oct 7, 2011 |
...for a legitimate business or professional to pay in traveler's checks! If anyone approaches you with this proposal, simply delete and forget!
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| He also calls himself William | Oct 7, 2011 |
Hello,
I was victim of the very same one I think, and he asked the same information, although my bank account cancelled the paypal transfer (as I made him give me a paypal account instead of Western Union).
Léonie Lalancette
Here are the information I have on the client:
Am in properties and also construction, WVS properties is the name of my company,i work on short time business and financing is my major.
<... See more Hello,
I was victim of the very same one I think, and he asked the same information, although my bank account cancelled the paypal transfer (as I made him give me a paypal account instead of Western Union).
Léonie Lalancette
Here are the information I have on the client:
Am in properties and also construction, WVS properties is the name of my company,i work on short time business and financing is my major.
My business address is as follow..
11 Romero Lane
Los Lunas
New Mexico
87031, Us
5755517304 ▲ Collapse
| | | | | He's back in the job posting 582686 on 14/10/2011 | Oct 18, 2011 |
I received the same letter and realize it was a scam. I submitted a quote for a job posting http://www.proz.com/job/582686. Don't outsourcers have to provide credentials before posting? Unfortunately, I had already sent my business registration info and bank details in my quote. Do any of you think they can be misused in any way? Maybe I should warn my bank...
Anyway, this message is to warn ... See more I received the same letter and realize it was a scam. I submitted a quote for a job posting http://www.proz.com/job/582686. Don't outsourcers have to provide credentials before posting? Unfortunately, I had already sent my business registration info and bank details in my quote. Do any of you think they can be misused in any way? Maybe I should warn my bank...
Anyway, this message is to warn everyone that this scam is still going on. In the future, I will steer clear of all "clients" who offer to pay by Euro travelers checks!
Jaila ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ariella Baltié (X)
France
Local time: 00:25
English to French
Hi,
I've received similar emails but this time the name has changed.
I realize it was a scam when he offered me to pay with Euro Travelers Cheque.
Here is the last email I received (I replied that I only accept bank transfer):
"Thanks for your quick response,I am glad to have you as my freelancer
translator.Your total is euro 1450.19 is acceptable,I will offer 40%
payment will be issued out before commencement of work for i do
unders... See more Hi,
I've received similar emails but this time the name has changed.
I realize it was a scam when he offered me to pay with Euro Travelers Cheque.
Here is the last email I received (I replied that I only accept bank transfer):
"Thanks for your quick response,I am glad to have you as my freelancer
translator.Your total is euro 1450.19 is acceptable,I will offer 40%
payment will be issued out before commencement of work for i do
understand it is necessary since we working online and balance after
completion of project.Deadline is 3weeks.Please note that i will be
paying with Euro Travelers Check and i am expecting the best from you.
Please provide your information to issue out payment
FULL NAME:
CONTACT ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP-CODE:
VALID PHONE:
MOBILE NUMBER
Feel free to ask question.
Regards"
I hope that he won't bother me again.
[Edited at 2011-12-20 09:32 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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