Translation - art & business » Scams »
Paypal may withdraw the funds received...
Thread poster: psicutrinius
psicutrinius
psicutrinius  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:53
Member (2008)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Jun 16, 2010

I have received an alert about a scam coming from Nigeria. I am not really much concerned about the scam itself (and I know that there is a specific forum or thread about scams), but there is a part (in bold below) which really concerns me.


==============================================

Dear Translators,

You reply to an email offering you some translation jobs for a publishing
company in Nigeria. They will tell you that the client is in the US... See more
I have received an alert about a scam coming from Nigeria. I am not really much concerned about the scam itself (and I know that there is a specific forum or thread about scams), but there is a part (in bold below) which really concerns me.


==============================================

Dear Translators,

You reply to an email offering you some translation jobs for a publishing
company in Nigeria. They will tell you that the client is in the US or UK
and that client is to pay you directly onto your PAYPAL account (because
they only want translators with Paypal). Then you receive the money from a
fake client in the US and start working on the text. Then the publisher in
Nigeria will ask you to send the difference to him (once you deduct your
fees for the translation) via Western Union.

After about 3 weeks, you receive an email from PAYPAL telling that your
account is frozen because the client did not receive the goods (i.e. the
translation). Obviously the guy in the US is in touch with the one in
Nigeria. Since PAYPAL automatically reimburse clients without checking
anything, you get in the red on your PAYPAL account because they send the
money back to the client in the US. Then you loose your money and you get
collection agencies harassing you to give the money back;

BIG SCAM. I would not have worried had I not known about PAYPAL policy
consisting of paying back the client no matter what. I told them the guy did
receive the translation but they replied that services are not covered by
their insurance, only goods.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If my read of the paragraph in bold above is correct (no matter the Nigerian part), that is, if any client can skip payment by just claiming that he has not received the "service" and you cannot do anything about it (as this seems to evidence), this is -for us translators- a fundamental flaw in Paypal... if I have understood it right.

Any comments / views on the matter?

psicutrinius



[Editado a las 2010-06-17 17:08 GMT]

[Editado a las 2010-06-17 17:11 GMT]

[Editado a las 2010-06-17 18:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 05:53
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
Wiki page started on this subject Jun 16, 2010

A ProZ.com Wiki articles was started on the issue of Detecting and reacting to false job offers and other scams.

You are welcome and encouraged to add to this article to create a resource that will help translators in this subject area.

Kind regards,
Enrique
 


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Paypal may withdraw the funds received...







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