| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | identity theft goes escalating Thread poster: Marianne Abdul Wahid
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Hi everyone!
As happened to some other fellow translators, my name and CV were used by a scammer to send out emails in my name, and Proz.com has already issued a scam alert in this respect.
I now wanted to share with you how the exchange of emails between the scammer and an agency (which fortunately contacted me and understood they had to do with a scam - we still have a very good working relationship) has been escalating the past few days. I am therefore copying you t... See more Hi everyone!
As happened to some other fellow translators, my name and CV were used by a scammer to send out emails in my name, and Proz.com has already issued a scam alert in this respect.
I now wanted to share with you how the exchange of emails between the scammer and an agency (which fortunately contacted me and understood they had to do with a scam - we still have a very good working relationship) has been escalating the past few days. I am therefore copying you the email exchange (read from the bottom to the top). You can see the scammer is alternately using different emails: [email protected], [email protected]
I have on purpose hidden the name and email of my contact at the agency.
You also see that if the scammers are taking great care to sound professional when applying for a job on our behalf (that might be the reason they are initially using other identities and CVs), they grow pretty ridiculous afterwards.
Enjoy reading!
Marianne
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marianne Pasty
Sent: 23 May 2013 17:30
To: XXX
Subject: Re: FW: identity
I have carried out more than 15 projects for your behalf, small and big, and you claim that I am a scammer. This is a plot few fraud companies like yours use to avoid paying their translators. I know that you are in a big financial problem and you try not to pay translators like me. As translators registered in translation forums, we keep writing to each other about your theft, soon you will regret for your satanic deeds.
On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 3:22 PM, Marianne Pasty wrote:
No, Just to know who is the real Marianne are !!! After 2 years of working with you, and after 15 years working of translation field, you came now to tell me that there is another Marianne
On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 3:15 PM, XXXX wrote:
Why so you can pose as her again,
Please keep sending your ridiculous emails they are being forwarded directly to the police. Bye the way on the email below your English is deplorable.
Rgds
XXXX
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marianne Pasty
Sent: 23 May 2013 13:02
To: XXXX
Subject: Re: FW: identity
send me her email :@ .. You are laying. I ma Marianne and you are a thief.
On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 2:57 PM, XXXX wrote:
Not at all we know that you are not the real Marianne PastyJ
bye
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marianne Pasty
Sent: 23 May 2013 12:46
To: XXXX
Subject: Re: FW: identity
You will be destroyed XXXX.
You stole my money. You won't pay any one. You are a big stoler.
I'll sue you. Just be ready to that.
On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 12:34 PM, XXXX wrote:
Hi we can only pay the real Marianne Pasty. It is the company policy not to pay people involved in Identity theft. All your emails are now with the police.
Rgds
XXX
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marianne Pasty
Sent: 22 May 2013 17:10
To: XXX
Subject: Re: FW: identity
Did you fix your problems!! or just you wasted my time??
Regards,
On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 5:07 PM, Marianne Pasty wrote:
What you suppose now to fix this problem !!!!
On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 3:11 PM, Marianne Pasty wrote:
XXX,
I called my friends and they told me that you ignoring them and didn't pay like me.
So, we decided to start from now our steps to sue you and tell the translation market about you.
The only way to stop that is to pay for us.
You have 2 hours to pay me first then we will check the others step by step.
BTW, My brother told me that he can call the Interpol about you. So, you can decide the best for you and us.
And as I told you. I am the one who worked with you, and I have the right to be paid.
We can ask every one worked with you and give you bad rate in proz to send us his/her story with you.
Regards,
On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 1:49 PM, Marianne Pasty wrote:
XXX,
It is not my problem. It is special to you. I just know that this is my email and you sent me the jobs and I deliverd you the files on time. So, you have to pay me now.
This my email and this my Paypal: [email protected].
Please pay my money and solve your problems alone.
On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 1:32 PM, XXX wrote:
And also this whole situation came about because of one of the translators you know
XXXX
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marianne Pasty
Sent: 21 May 2013 11:11
To: XXX
Subject: Re: FW: identity
By the way I know more than 7 translators that they need a money from you. We will write about you any where we can and we will tell all the translators about your company, then there is no one will help you so, you will be out of the market and your company will be destroyed and you will lose your job.
You have to pay me and my friends to avoid these problems.
I waited my payments more than 5 months and now you tell me no money!! Is it easy!!
Bye
On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 1:00 PM, XXX wrote:
I know and I truly am sorry but it’s a complete nightmare for us as well right now as we have the police checking everything – apparently there is a massive scam going on which they know about and they are examining all emails etc.
I am sure it will all be sorted out very soon but in the meantime our hands are tiedL
XXX
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marianne Pasty
Sent: 21 May 2013 10:49
To: XXX
Subject: Re: FW: identity
Hey, Are you kidding me ???
Which email that contacted you instead of me, XXX!! ???
Give it's email to me to contact him / her or any scam he / she is.
I worked with you with more than 15 project and now you tell me that I am a scam!!!!!
Could you explain !! I think that if you need to steal the money, you should stole it without doing that!!
Now after getting your jobs you tell me that I am a scam !!!!!
Marianne
On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 12:21 PM, XXX wrote:
Hi Marianne or whoever you are – yes we met with our accountant and also our lawyer – and also now the police – it seems that we have been the subject of identity fraud- please see below so all of our payments have been put on hold by the police until further investigation
[Bearbeitet am 2013-05-28 09:01 GMT]
[Bearbeitet am 2013-05-28 09:02 GMT]
[Bearbeitet am 2013-05-28 09:04 GMT]
[Bearbeitet am 2013-05-28 13:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | identity theft | May 28, 2013 |
Dear Marianne,
Thank you very much for sharing this theft with us.
I will hide my CV.
Best
Melanie Di-Costanzo
| | | | | that's interesting Marianne | May 28, 2013 |
so they've even gone to the effort of setting up a paypal account in your name?
Have you contacted paypal about this? I'm sure that they have some kind of system in place for paypal accounts being used fraudulently or for the purpose of fraud.
Plus if I remember rightly, paypal ask for ID documents and now ask for a bank account and a credit card number to register for an account so there must be some information available somewhere which will identify this person (although I don't ... See more so they've even gone to the effort of setting up a paypal account in your name?
Have you contacted paypal about this? I'm sure that they have some kind of system in place for paypal accounts being used fraudulently or for the purpose of fraud.
Plus if I remember rightly, paypal ask for ID documents and now ask for a bank account and a credit card number to register for an account so there must be some information available somewhere which will identify this person (although I don't know if it's different for an individual as I set my account up as a business).
Bizarre exchange of e-mails. I must say though that I always cringe a little when I see someone commenting on a scammer's English. This may serve to eventually educate them into using correct English and may make them harder to identify... ▲ Collapse
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That's a good idea....stupid I didn't think about it before. I just sent an email to Paypal, will see what they reply.
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| I know how it came to this | May 28, 2013 |
I actually found out that the initial email sent by the scammer to that agency with an old modified CV of mine was the one I used many months ago to apply for a translation project at Languagemet (that was before everyone posted stuff about them...now I know!)
I was stupid enough to say "ok" when Languagemet asked me if they could forward my CV to clients of them. Never again!!!!!
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Marianne Pasty-Abdul Wahid wrote:
I actually found out that the initial email sent by the scammer to that agency with an old modified CV of mine was the one I used many months ago to apply for a translation project at XXXX (that was before everyone posted stuff about them...now I know!)
I was stupid enough to say "ok" when XXXX asked me if they could forward my CV to clients of them. Never again!!!!!
So you are absolutely sure that it was the CV you sent to the "agency" in question? I would bring this to the attention of proz.com's staff in case they can and will take firm action against that agency's membership and/or job postings in proz.com.
| | | | JaneD 
Sweden
Local time: 03:45
Member (2009)
Swedish to English
+ ...
| Sad for Marianne, but funny too | May 28, 2013 |
Marie-Helene Dubois wrote:
Bizarre exchange of e-mails. I must say though that I always cringe a little when I see someone commenting on a scammer's English. This may serve to eventually educate them into using correct English and may make them harder to identify...
I agree, but I really can't pass over "You are a big stoler" - that's just priceless!
Otherwise, I'm very sorry to hear about this, Marianne, and glad that your agency contact was on the ball. It's interesting that you can trace where they must have got your CV from; hopefully having tried to use it unsuccessfully they won't bother you any further.
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Marie-Helene Dubois wrote:
Plus if I remember rightly, paypal ask for ID documents and now ask for a bank account and a credit card number to register for an account so there must be some information available somewhere which will identify this person
They've probably stolen/cloned those details too.
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kiara kiaora wrote: Marie-Helene Dubois wrote:
Plus if I remember rightly, paypal ask for ID documents and now ask for a bank account and a credit card number to register for an account so there must be some information available somewhere which will identify this person
They've probably stolen/cloned those details too.
but somewhere along the line, the details need to be genuine because they genuinely want to access the money that they are trying to scam.
If someone can find who is getting the money, then they've found the scammer.
There's no point setting up a whole scam, only to have the money earned from it paid into someone else's account that you have no access to.
Languagemet is a known source of identity theft though. They operate under other names too. There are plenty of posts about this company that can be searched for on this, and many other, forums.
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In reply to Tomás: well, I am sure that the scammer used the specific email I have sent to languagemet to apply for a project. There is no mistake on that since there were some specificities in that email I didn't mention in any other.
But no, I cannot say languagemet = scammer, they might have forwarded my details to other guys (they asked me for my permission to do so and got it) who then set up the whole thing.
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 03:45
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Marie-Helene Dubois wrote:
but somewhere along the line, the details need to be genuine because they genuinely want to access the money that they are trying to scam.
There's no point setting up a whole scam, only to have the money earned from it paid into someone else's account that you have no access to.
I fear you have rather missed the point, Marei-Helene!
You can use false details simply to set up the PayPal account — but of course you never actually withdraw money to that 'real false' bank account; what you do is get money sent to your (seemingly legitimate) PayPal account, then you transfer it from there to another PayPal account, this time one you CAN withdraw from to your own criminal account!
Naturally, as soon as any transactions have taken place, PayPal ought to have some kind of traceability on that; however, it's anybody's guess whether such a large, faceless corporation would pay any attention to tracing requests from us as private individuals.
However, there is another aspect of the PayPal account system that puzzles me, which is that in order to associate a PayPal account with a bank account, they perform a small 'dummy' transaction, the code from which you then use as part of the loop to confirm the bank account.
It seems to me, therefore, more likely that the wrongdoer will have set up a PayPal account with no associated bank account; you can do this with minimal ID details, and I don't think there is any verification other than simply checking the e-mail address. This account can still, of course, be used to send money to another account, to which this time the criminal does have access.
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 03:45
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
... of these emails, sent by the scammer, should tell any agency that it must be a scammer/identity thief. No translator in good standing would ever use this type of threats and such a disrespectful tone, let alone insult the client.
It's good, Marianne, that your client has contacted you, probably based on your previous polite and professional email exchanges/collaboration.
If the "agency" in question is located in the Middle East (which I suspect having been approach... See more ... of these emails, sent by the scammer, should tell any agency that it must be a scammer/identity thief. No translator in good standing would ever use this type of threats and such a disrespectful tone, let alone insult the client.
It's good, Marianne, that your client has contacted you, probably based on your previous polite and professional email exchanges/collaboration.
If the "agency" in question is located in the Middle East (which I suspect having been approach by them several times myself), then you might check out this site:
http://www.interpol.int/en/Crime-areas
It also provides a direct contact link, and they do deal with cyber crime activities. Just forward all details, including the scam agency's details, to them and let them handle it.
[Edited at 2013-05-29 07:38 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| Delicious (but sad) story | May 29, 2013 |
Thank you, Marianne, for sharing this gem! Your scammer was one of the first ones to be featured on my Translators Scammers Directory. You are not alone and I keep adding new scammers every day.
| | | | JohnRick (X)
Sweden
Local time: 03:45
English to Swedish
| This happened to me recently - languagemet | May 31, 2013 |
Hi Marianne/all,
I have also discovered that languagemet is the culprit, based on what has happened to me recently.
First - I just deleted my ProZ-account, but created a new one briefly just to post in this thread. Moving on:
Based in Sweden I have also posted my profile on Translation Directory and apparently my CV/resumé was available for download there. I have now erased all profiles by the way.
Yesterday I got a call on voicemail from someone in... See more Hi Marianne/all,
I have also discovered that languagemet is the culprit, based on what has happened to me recently.
First - I just deleted my ProZ-account, but created a new one briefly just to post in this thread. Moving on:
Based in Sweden I have also posted my profile on Translation Directory and apparently my CV/resumé was available for download there. I have now erased all profiles by the way.
Yesterday I got a call on voicemail from someone in UK claiming he is loosing money, and it just dawned on me that it has to be identity fraud since he referred to my name and got my number. Another serious company in Belgium mailed me yesterday asking me if I was responsible for the emails below, and I politely answered that I was not and we have had discussions on how to solve this. They had used my letter/CV in this case as well (but different e-mails of course) I have been approached by Languagemet with the same questions as Marianne received regarding accepting forwarding of CV etc. I was just as stupid, Marianne, and agreed to them forwarding. I have now collected all correspondence in a folder. I have though, several emailaddresses, including a Skype ID, and all these "people" should work for languagemet:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
sooy3930 [[email protected]]
...
Skype-id (fake): translation.world10 / Sozy
(maybe it is possible try to set something up with the help of this?)
Joâo - I have also forwarded this info to you via your site. Feel free to get back to me anytime. Let me know what else I can possibly do. ▲ Collapse
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waww! I just had a look at that Directory and the entire site is amazing! Really good job...I see I'm way from being alone!
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