Is it normal to let other people send out your CV? (MOD: pls check existing threads on Languagemet)
Thread poster: Helena Chavarria
Helena Chavarria
Helena Chavarria  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:40
Member (2011)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Dec 7, 2013

The following was sent to me via my website (the company is not on the Blue Board, nor a member of ProZ). My first reaction was to ignore the message because I found it a bit strange, but I would appreciate it if someone could give me their opinion.

The company is based in the Gaza Strip and judging by their website, it all seems quite legal. It's just that I don't fancy letting other people do what they want with my CV.


Ms. Helena Chavarria,

Hell
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The following was sent to me via my website (the company is not on the Blue Board, nor a member of ProZ). My first reaction was to ignore the message because I found it a bit strange, but I would appreciate it if someone could give me their opinion.

The company is based in the Gaza Strip and judging by their website, it all seems quite legal. It's just that I don't fancy letting other people do what they want with my CV.


Ms. Helena Chavarria,

Hello,

On behalf of (name of company), we kindly invite you to join our elite group of skilled translators from all over the globe. In case you concerned, please kindly read the Permission Sheet attached carefully. Once you cap it off, just print out the Permission Sheet, sign it, scan it and send it back again with your CV and Cover Letter. (Note: You can use any way possible including Electronic Signature to sign the Permission Sheet).

We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Best Wishes,

Project coordinator
(Person's name)

Attached file:

Authorization and Agreement
We in (name of company) invite you to be a close member of our team, so can you give us permission/ authorization and agreement in order to send your CV to our clients?
If yes, we will remove your contact details to avoid direct contacts with clients. In this case, we will use a free email which will be put inside your CV in order to receive projects and therefore we will reply on your behalf.
We can also email your certificates if needed to clients on your behalf. We will give you the projects and in cases when you are not available, we will give the projects to other translators.
If you agree, you will be considered as a close team member and consequently you will be eligible for any developmental plan. This is part of group work based on mutual cooperation because the translation market is full of competition.
Please let me know so that we start work. If you agree, sign this authorization and agreement document.
Your name
Your signature
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Tony M
Tony M
France
Local time: 15:40
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
NO! Dec 7, 2013

This is a known scam, and you should avoid any contact with these people.

It has been well documented already in these forums, you might try searching on e;g. "gaza Strip" and see if you can find earlier references.

At best, it is a firm with some highly questionable business practices; at worst, it is an out-and-out scam.

Personally, I would NEVER let anyone send out my CV for ANY reason whatsoever; at best, for certain sites I belong to, I allow my
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This is a known scam, and you should avoid any contact with these people.

It has been well documented already in these forums, you might try searching on e;g. "gaza Strip" and see if you can find earlier references.

At best, it is a firm with some highly questionable business practices; at worst, it is an out-and-out scam.

Personally, I would NEVER let anyone send out my CV for ANY reason whatsoever; at best, for certain sites I belong to, I allow my CV to be displayed on the site, but in a public space where I can go and check it.

I'm afraid there are certain countries with such a bad reputation for being scam hosts, I avoid any contact at all with them — in the unlikely event it might have been a legitimate business proposition, then it's my loss; but I prefer to be safe rather than sorry.
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Marinus Vesseur
Marinus Vesseur  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 07:40
English to Dutch
+ ...
High risk... Dec 7, 2013

.. of abuse. As Tony said, this is most probably a scam. This is how it works: They use your cv to bid on jobs all over the world. The end client gets the impression that they are dealing with a pro and they place the order. The scammer delivers a crap translation and charges the end client. By the time the end client finds out that the translation is no translation at all the money will have disappeared. Now the end client starts looking for you, wanting their money back.

Never sha
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.. of abuse. As Tony said, this is most probably a scam. This is how it works: They use your cv to bid on jobs all over the world. The end client gets the impression that they are dealing with a pro and they place the order. The scammer delivers a crap translation and charges the end client. By the time the end client finds out that the translation is no translation at all the money will have disappeared. Now the end client starts looking for you, wanting their money back.

Never share your cv with anyone you cannot trust 100%. Better still: use no cv at all, but refer a potential client or colleague to your ProZ profile.

HTH

- Marinus
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philgoddard
philgoddard
United States
German to English
+ ...
Part of the problem Dec 8, 2013

is that they use so many different names. They are listed on BlueBoard, but perhaps not under the name you searched for. Strangely, there are plenty of entries that say they're above board, but I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

 
Barbara Bonatti Divers
Barbara Bonatti Divers  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:40
English to Italian
when in doubt... Dec 8, 2013

Presumably your CV is not directly available from either your ProZ profile or website.
This is probably to allow you a reasonable screening of potential clients and protection of your personal details.
Going along with these people's request would mean that all your precautions so far were in vain.
don't do it.


 
Helena Chavarria
Helena Chavarria  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:40
Member (2011)
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
My CV does not appear on the Internet Dec 8, 2013

Barbara Bonatti Divers wrote:

Presumably your CV is not directly available from either your ProZ profile or website.
This is probably to allow you a reasonable screening of potential clients and protection of your personal details.
Going along with these people's request would mean that all your precautions so far were in vain.
don't do it.


No, as far as I know, my CV cannot be accessed by anyone, although whenever an agency asks me to send it to them, I'm never sure whether to believe they are really interested in hiring my services. But that's another story

Thank you everyone for confirming my doubts.

[Edited at 2013-12-08 10:40 GMT]


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:40
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
This rings a bell Dec 8, 2013

Helena Chavarria wrote:


Authorization and Agreement
We in (name of company) invite you to be a close member of our team, so can you give us permission/ authorization and agreement in order to send your CV to our clients?
If yes, we will remove your contact details to avoid direct contacts with clients. In this case, we will use a free email which will be put inside your CV in order to receive projects and therefore we will reply on your behalf.
We can also email your certificates if needed to clients on your behalf. We will give you the projects and in cases when you are not available, we will give the projects to other translators.


Hi Helena,

this sounds like the emails a well-know scammer agency sends out to translators.

I've received similar emails several times from that agency, and ended up telling them to stop molesting me, because I don't want my CV, let alone my certificates being misused.

Regarding the promised projects, they send jobs out to multiple undisclosed recipients, and don't care whether you have told them to take you off their mailing list.

Entering a "free email address" into your CV is an open attempt to defraud not only you but also any potential client they might get. Surely you don't want to be part of a fraudulent agency.

[Edited at 2013-12-08 11:19 GMT]


 
James (Jim) Davis
James (Jim) Davis  Identity Verified
Seychelles
Local time: 18:40
Member (2022)
Italian to English
@Marinus Dec 8, 2013

"By the time the end client finds out that the translation is no translation at all", but if the end client is a source language speaker in the source language, he will probably never find out that the translation in the target language, a language he/she doesn't know is poor quality.

 
Wolf Kux
Wolf Kux  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 11:40
Member (2006)
German to Portuguese
+ ...
Some Reputation sites ... Dec 8, 2013

... where you could find out reputations:

http://translationethics.blogspot.se/p/blog-page.html?showComment=1383303855552&goback=.gde_1536857_member_5808527361792032771#.UnOKshCgSF8
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... where you could find out reputations:

http://translationethics.blogspot.se/p/blog-page.html?showComment=1383303855552&goback=.gde_1536857_member_5808527361792032771#.UnOKshCgSF8
http://translationpayments.com/
http://translatorleaks.wordpress.com/
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/the-hidden-costs-of-cheap-translation-0574651#!
http://www.jrdias.com/jrd-translator-scammers.htm


Before answering such emails, it could be wise to ask on those sites.

Few days ago I've also got a contact from a "palestinian woman" with very much translations to be done. I asked those sites above, and on one of them I found out that this "woman" is a scam.

Since contact was by Skype, I asked why her name is on this scammer sites, and got as answer a redirection to her profile on Proz. Since at this profile I found a half dozen words only, I did not answered any more this woman.

HTH

Wolf Kux
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Tony M
Tony M
France
Local time: 15:40
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Have you reported this? Dec 8, 2013

Wolf Kux wrote:

....I asked why her name is on this scammer sites, and got as answer a redirection to her profile on Proz. Since at this profile I found a half dozen words only, I did not answered any more this woman.


Have you reported this via a Support Request?

If this woman is a known scammer, then it is surprising her profile still exists on ProZ.com — so site staff may be unaware of the fact. Unless, of course, her profile has been left there so as to carry a scammer warning.


 
João Roque Dias
João Roque Dias
Portugal
Local time: 14:40
English to Portuguese
The "Permission Sheet" scam... Dec 8, 2013

The "CV marketing" scam, initiated by scammers in Palestine, is still around.

This time, instead of "Authorization and Agreement", scammers call it "Permission Sheet"...

However, this is just a façade: these people don't want to "market" you or your CV! They just want to use your professional credentials (because they have NONE) to market THEMSELVES!

The last round of this scam is being circulating by a "Arcadia Language Company", aka "Arcadia Langu
... See more
The "CV marketing" scam, initiated by scammers in Palestine, is still around.

This time, instead of "Authorization and Agreement", scammers call it "Permission Sheet"...

However, this is just a façade: these people don't want to "market" you or your CV! They just want to use your professional credentials (because they have NONE) to market THEMSELVES!

The last round of this scam is being circulating by a "Arcadia Language Company", aka "Arcadia Languages Company" and "Arcadia Languages - Translation": the victims are, in fact, signing off their professional credentials to a Gmail address, without any verifiable names, addresses, entities behind it...

Click to see the Arcadia "permission" letter

Click to see another "authorization and agreement"

You can read more about this scam in Note 51 of the TRANSLATOR SCAMMERS DIRECTORY



[Edited at 2013-12-08 15:43 GMT]
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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:40
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Priceless Dec 8, 2013



Thank you, Wolf, for these links. They help us and our colleagues to stay a little safer.


 
Peter Shortall
Peter Shortall  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Romanian to English
+ ...
Even if not a scam, not a great idea Dec 9, 2013

I received a similar request a few months ago, not from an agency in the Gaza Strip but from an agency I knew well and had worked for for years. The difference was that the agency said it would delete my name and contact details so that I couldn't be identified. Although I wasn't worried about it being a scam, there were other good reasons why I decided not to let the agency do this, which you can read about in the thread I started here:
... See more
I received a similar request a few months ago, not from an agency in the Gaza Strip but from an agency I knew well and had worked for for years. The difference was that the agency said it would delete my name and contact details so that I couldn't be identified. Although I wasn't worried about it being a scam, there were other good reasons why I decided not to let the agency do this, which you can read about in the thread I started here:

http://www.proz.com/forum/business_issues/252682-agency_wants_to_send_my_anonymized_cv_to_clients.html
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Tim Friese
Tim Friese  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:40
Member (2013)
Arabic to English
+ ...
I dealt with this 'agency' too Dec 10, 2013

They are scammers from head to toe. Run away!

 


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Is it normal to let other people send out your CV? (MOD: pls check existing threads on Languagemet)







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