Scam Report from "Suzan Lizzy"
Thread poster: WeeBey
WeeBey
WeeBey  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 11:48
French to English
+ ...
Dec 6, 2013

Hi all,

I was contacted by a Suzan Lizzy by email for a job. Watch out for [email protected] and [email protected]!!! She agreed immediately to my rates and said she could only pay by money orders.

I received money orders in the mail like a month later, so I too these to the bank . There were two money orders, for the amount of $770.00 U
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Hi all,

I was contacted by a Suzan Lizzy by email for a job. Watch out for [email protected] and [email protected]!!! She agreed immediately to my rates and said she could only pay by money orders.

I received money orders in the mail like a month later, so I too these to the bank . There were two money orders, for the amount of $770.00 USD each, when I told her I would do the job for only $560 CAD. I thought that was really odd.

This Suzan Lizzy person told me there was an accounting mistake and I should send back the balance via Western Union. This immediately raised my suspicion: I asked the bank about possible fraud, ID theft or any other risks involved, and the teller warned me about scams that start out this exact same way. This usually has further consequences, such as being flagged as fraudulent with your bank, ruining your credit history… etc.

So I went to a Money Mart location to see if they could cash these money orders and check if those were real. They called the US postal office to check the serial numbers/amount etc., and the money orders turned out to be fake. They confiscated them immediately.

I am glad I was extremely careful in the way I handled this matter.

Everything about it was suspicious, starting with the fact that when I asked this lady to give me more information about herself and her business, I only received vague, evasive one-line answers. She wanted to send me pictures of herself (???!!) — and she did but that was of no use to me in order to identify her as a real person with a legit business.

I asked for anything that could help me identify her, social profile, anything. I finally managed to get a Facebook ID to compare against the pictures she sent. It was the same person as in the pics, but the profile is most likely fake.

Not to mention that in those pictures, she is “working out” on an exercise ball. This was highly unprofessional and I don’t think anybody in their right mind would send pictures of themselves in such an "awkward” position to someone they are trying to do business with!
Also, she is supposedly a sociologist. The article she sent me to translate is very well written, but the writing style in her emails is completely different, almost broken English. I had the bright idea to google that article, and no doubt about it, it appears on a few different websites, the same word for word.

Anyway, I would hate for this to happen to a fellow-translator, so watch out people!
Stay aware that there are warning signs in these cases... use your best judgement when something fishy like this happens to you.
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Barbara Bonatti Divers
Barbara Bonatti Divers  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:48
English to Italian
thanks! Dec 6, 2013

This is a really useful post, thanks!

 
WeeBey
WeeBey  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 11:48
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
You're welcome Dec 6, 2013

It's always good to watch out when a client tells you they can only use money orders.

There are a lot of scams with money orders, so be super careful with those!

Most clients will be happy to use Paypal, a wire transfer or send you a cheque, and get it done and over with...

Never start a job until you are paid first. In the case of money orders, to prevent fraud your bank will most likely hold the money order for a couple of weeks in order to clear i
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It's always good to watch out when a client tells you they can only use money orders.

There are a lot of scams with money orders, so be super careful with those!

Most clients will be happy to use Paypal, a wire transfer or send you a cheque, and get it done and over with...

Never start a job until you are paid first. In the case of money orders, to prevent fraud your bank will most likely hold the money order for a couple of weeks in order to clear it -- if you are asked to send money back, DO NOT DO IT!

Wait until the amount is cleared and lands in your account, however long it takes, and even if the client is pressuring you with deadlines!
That's the only way to avoid scams like this one.
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John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 06:48
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
Cheque? Dec 6, 2013

Cheques can be just as bad. Basically, anything paper can easily be forged.

What is amazing is that this "Advance payment" scam has been going on since time immemorial - there must be enough people that get caught in it that it's worth while for the perpetrators to keep it up.


 
Miguel Carmona
Miguel Carmona  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:48
English to Spanish
Those old, well-known scams... Dec 6, 2013

John Fossey wrote:

Cheques can be just as bad. Basically, anything paper can easily be forged.


That is right, even cashier's checks, which are checks issued by the banks themselves, can easily be forged. Authentic cashier's checks are purchased by banks' customers to give to other parties as payment for services, goods, etc.



John Fossey wrote:

What is amazing is that this "Advance payment" scam has been going on since time immemorial - there must be enough people that get caught in it that it's worth while for the perpetrators to keep it up.


Amazing indeed.

One would assume that everybody knows about those old scams. It is almost unbelievable that they still make news.

[Edited at 2013-12-06 18:18 GMT]


 
kevin werner
kevin werner
United States
Suzan Lizzy Dec 18, 2013

I to have had run in with this very same person (suzanlizzy39@yahoo and suzanlizzy20@yahoo. Has anyone else? Was wondering where she might have said she was from? I know she is using a photo of a well known ex. glamour model by the name of Ashley Sage Ellison, supposedly retired and living in the UK?

 
WeeBey
WeeBey  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 11:48
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Yeah Dec 19, 2013

I had no idea those pics were of a retired model, but after googling the name, yes, it's her indeed.

I looked up the IP address from the the email headers, and it's from Nigeria.


 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 07:48
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
A 3-step scam-protection program Dec 19, 2013

WeeBey wrote:

I am glad I was extremely careful in the way I handled this matter.


This 3-step program will protect you from most scams:
  • When contacted by an unknown entity with a business proposal you should first ask yourself if this deserves further evaluation, otherwise delete immediately.

  • If you move beyond that point, the next step is getting verifiable contact information and verify it. If you can't be sure of the other part's identity (especially if the urgency of the matter makes identification impossible) then delete immediately.

  • Once you get confirmed ID of the contact, you should verify creditworthiness in the BlueBoard and other similar tools.


Learn more about scams in our scam alert center.

Regards,
Enrique


 


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Scam Report from "Suzan Lizzy"







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