Scams send via Proz. What to do? Thread poster: Jeff Whittaker
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Jeff Whittaker 
United States
Local time: 23:33
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
I keep getting these kinds of obvious scam messages through Proz (obvious due to the details of the message and the fact that the sender has a new - and mostly empty - profile).
Should we click on the link at the bottom and report this as spam?
What the hell is a Law PhD? No private individual is ever going to send you a 228,000 word document...
-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:44 PM
To: Jeff
Subj... See more I keep getting these kinds of obvious scam messages through Proz (obvious due to the details of the message and the fact that the sender has a new - and mostly empty - profile).
Should we click on the link at the bottom and report this as spam?
What the hell is a Law PhD? No private individual is ever going to send you a 228,000 word document...
-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:44 PM
To: Jeff
Subject: [ProZ.com mail] PhD Translation
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You have been sent a message via ProZ.com.
Author:
Author's Profile:
Author's IP address:
Message type: Request for quote
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Dear Jeff,
I found your contact at ProZ.com.
I need to translate my Law PhD from French to English. It has aprox. 228.000 words, legal language very technical, international law and arbitration.
The main purpose of the translation is to publish the thesis in a major English Editor, who required, as a condition for publication, a native speaker English language, already edited for publication.
The translation would be needed in April 2013.
Would you be interested? Which would be your rates for this job?
Sincerely yours,
[Edited at 2013-01-30 00:57 GMT]
[Edited at 2013-01-30 00:58 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sarah McDowell
Canada
Local time: 22:33
Member (2012)
Russian to English
+ ...
| Maybe it's not a scam | Jan 30, 2013 |
There is a possibility it is genuine. What makes you think it is a scam?
| | | | Trinh Do
Australia
Member (2007)
English to Vietnamese
+ ...
| Doesn't quite sound like a scam | Jan 30, 2013 |
Normally, PhD people do research and want to publicise their work. As English is a lingua franca, it is very common to translate theses into English. The person is only enquiring about the rates. 228,000 words is a normal amount of words which correspond to ~570 pages. 'Actually, this requires 10-12 months to complete the work. So it's best to contact the client to discuss about the deadline. Could be a great customer for your reference.
Best to suggest payment per chapter for peace... See more Normally, PhD people do research and want to publicise their work. As English is a lingua franca, it is very common to translate theses into English. The person is only enquiring about the rates. 228,000 words is a normal amount of words which correspond to ~570 pages. 'Actually, this requires 10-12 months to complete the work. So it's best to contact the client to discuss about the deadline. Could be a great customer for your reference.
Best to suggest payment per chapter for peace of mind and if it is genuine, eases the financial burden for the customer. You can retain a good relationship with the customer.
Good luck!
[Edited at 2013-01-30 09:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Yolanda Broad
United States
Local time: 23:33
Member (2000)
French to English
+ ...
MODERATOR | Sounds like messages I get from some of my best future clients | Jan 30, 2013 |
Hi Jeff,
Why not explore the proposal further? Start by getting more information on the client, and try to talk on the phone with the person. I've gotten some really good jobs through direct contacts via my profile. In fact, contacts from private individuals through my profile has brought me some of my most interesting work.
Yolanda B.
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Steven Segaert
Estonia
Local time: 06:33
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
| If it is a scam, I would be fooled | Jan 30, 2013 |
What the hell is a Law PhD?
While 228 000 words is a lot, I have heard of (and actually touched one) law PhD's before.
My only problem would be that I couldn't possible translate that many pages of specialised material in just two months.
| | | | XXXphxxx (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:33
Portuguese to English
+ ...
| Ask to see it | Jan 30, 2013 |
Such a thesis would normally be capped at around 100k words so the length this person is quoting does beg some questions. If you have any interest at all in pursuing this I'd ask to see the file, which should give you a better indication of how genuine this enquiry is.
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 23:33
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
It is a combination of things that make me certain this is not genuine.
1) The person created a new and EMPTY ProZ profile just for this job.
2) The domain name used in the e-mail address does not exist.
3) The person uses a very Anglo-Saxon name, uses a Brazilian e-mail service and wants a translation from French.
4) The English is deliberately obfuscated to look as though it were written by someone with poor English skills. Even a non-native speaker (or MT) would not ... See more It is a combination of things that make me certain this is not genuine.
1) The person created a new and EMPTY ProZ profile just for this job.
2) The domain name used in the e-mail address does not exist.
3) The person uses a very Anglo-Saxon name, uses a Brazilian e-mail service and wants a translation from French.
4) The English is deliberately obfuscated to look as though it were written by someone with poor English skills. Even a non-native speaker (or MT) would not use such a strange word order.
4) No individual person is going to contact you via e-mail and give you a $40,000 translation project. This person is playing off of people's greed.
5) Clients do not ask "what are your RATES?". They generally say - how much would this cost. Clients rarely say "will be needed by..." and if they do, they rarely pose a decent deadline.
6) Such a person with an advanced educational degree (especially one in law) would know the term "thesis" or "dissertation" and would certainly not refer to their work as the non-existent "Law PhD".
etc. etc.
I believe this is an overpayment scam.
[Edited at 2013-01-30 14:09 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 23:33
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Hi Yolanda,
Unfortunately, I have not had the same luck as you. Virtually all contacts from private individuals have proven to be either scam artists or people wanting something done for a ridiculous rate and I end up wasting a lot of time.
Yolanda Broad wrote:
Hi Jeff,
Why not explore the proposal further? Start by getting more information on the client, and try to talk on the phone with the person. I've gotten some really good jobs through direct contacts via my profile. In fact, contacts from private individuals through my profile has brought me some of my most interesting work.
Yolanda B.
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Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 23:33
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
It is a combination of things that make me certain this is not genuine.
1) The person created a new and EMPTY ProZ profile just for this job;
2) The domain name used in the e-mail address does not exist.
3) The person uses a very Anglo-Saxon name, uses a Brazilian e-mail service and wants a translation from French.
4) The English is deliberately obfuscated to look as though it were written by someone with poor English skills. Even a non-native speaker (or MT) would not ... See more It is a combination of things that make me certain this is not genuine.
1) The person created a new and EMPTY ProZ profile just for this job;
2) The domain name used in the e-mail address does not exist.
3) The person uses a very Anglo-Saxon name, uses a Brazilian e-mail service and wants a translation from French.
4) The English is deliberately obfuscated to look as though it were written by someone with poor English skills. Even a non-native speaker (or MT) would not use such a strange word order;
4) No individual person is going to contact you via e-mail and give you a $40,000 translation project. This person is playing off of people's greed.
5) Clients do not ask "what are your RATES?". They generally say - how much would this cost. Clients rarely say "will be needed by..." and if they do, they rarely pose a decent deadline.
6) Such a person with an advanced educational degree (especially one in law) would know the term "thesis" or "dissertation" and would certainly not refer to their work as the non-existent "Law PhD"
etc. etc. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Cheung00
Australia
Local time: 13:03
English to Chinese
+ ...
| I have received a similar email! | Feb 4, 2013 |
I believe it can be a scam.
I received an email with a document attached for my reference, they are asking me to translate without even asking for a quote. And they said they found my email address from Proz.com, but I've checked my account and found out that my email addresses are only visible to myself. So how could they have found me here?
It maybe possible for someone inexperienced to forget to ask for a quote. But how did they find my email address? I feel relucta... See more I believe it can be a scam.
I received an email with a document attached for my reference, they are asking me to translate without even asking for a quote. And they said they found my email address from Proz.com, but I've checked my account and found out that my email addresses are only visible to myself. So how could they have found me here?
It maybe possible for someone inexperienced to forget to ask for a quote. But how did they find my email address? I feel reluctant to open the file to find out more about it. I'm curious though... ▲ Collapse
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