Another Nigerian Scam Thread poster: George Rabel
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Yesterday, I received the following proposal through Proz mail:
"Hello, good day to you. There is a
document I will like you to work on for me. I want it
translated into Spainish. The source language is English. Let me know if you
are available so I can forward the document.
Thanks.
XXXX"
A few weeks ago, I received the EXACT same proposal from a different sender.
I did reply to the first one requesting the document, delivery... See more Yesterday, I received the following proposal through Proz mail:
"Hello, good day to you. There is a
document I will like you to work on for me. I want it
translated into Spainish. The source language is English. Let me know if you
are available so I can forward the document.
Thanks.
XXXX"
A few weeks ago, I received the EXACT same proposal from a different sender.
I did reply to the first one requesting the document, delivery date, etc., and received the document with the following reply:
"Thanks for your reply. Here is the document, its attached. I will like
it delivered in about 3 weeks. Let me know if you will be able to
finish in time and what it will cost me. Thanks.
XXXX"
I quoted a price for the translation of the document, a 50 plus-page PDF entitled "Business Sustainability Framework" loaded with graphics.
He agreed to my price (which wasn't cheap), and offered to send me a cashier's check. I replied with a service contract, and that's the last I heard from him. That is, until yesterday's e-mail from someone else, who replied as follows with my request for the document:
"Thanks for your reply. Here is the document, its attached. I will like
it delivered in about 3 weeks. Let me know if you will be able to
finish in time and what it will cost me. Thanks.
XXXX"
Oh, I forgot to mention that the IP addresses of both pointed to... Nigeria.
[Edited at 2012-03-31 15:37 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Natalie 
Poland
Local time: 12:38
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER
Hopefully, you have notified the site staff so that the scammer could be blocked? If not, please post the IP here.
Thank you,
Natalia
| | | | George Rabel
Local time: 06:38
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Natalie wrote:
Hopefully, you have notified the site staff so that the scammer could be blocked? If not, please post the IP here.
Thank you,
Natalia
Hi natalie,
Here's the IP:
Author's IP address: 41.151.93.224
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 12:38
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER
Taking care of this!
Natalia
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 12:38
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
In a way this is even funny. One would assume that the scammer is able to remember to which translators s/he has sent the spam before. 
It's good that you've reported it.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 12:38
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Their name is Legion | Apr 1, 2012 |
Thayenga wrote: In a way this is even funny. One would assume that the scammer is able to remember to which translators s/he has sent the spam before. It's good that you've reported it.
I don't think it's a case of "the scammer", but a whole army of freelance scammers out there...
| | | | JaneD
Sweden
Local time: 12:38
Member (2009)
Swedish to English
+ ...
| What's their site called? | Apr 1, 2012 |
neilmac wrote:
I don't think it's a case of "the scammer", but a whole army of freelance scammers out there...
I wonder if the site where they chat, ask questions about the best way to scam and so on is called ScamZ? Can you become a certified ScamZ scammer if you can provide good evidence of scamming a certain number of people?
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 12:38
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
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| yes, but I still fail to understand – what's the scam? | Apr 2, 2012 |
I must be naive but I still don't see what they get, or may get, out of it.
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 12:38
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| A province of South Afrika | Apr 2, 2012 |
Samuel Murray wrote: George Rabel wrote:
Author's IP address: 41.151.93.224
Oh, I forgot to mention that the IP address pointed to... Nigeria. I suppose Nigeria is a province of South Africa: http://www.projecthoneypot.org/ip_41.151.93.224
Do the South Africans know this?
| | | | kchansen
Local time: 12:38
English to Danish
| Advance overpayment scam | Apr 2, 2012 |
Michael Korovkin wrote:
I must be naive but I still don't see what they get, or may get, out of it.
Not necessarily naive, you just don't have the proper criminal mindset.
It's probably an advance overpayment scam. Proz has a Wiki page on various scams at http://wiki.proz.com/wiki/index.php/Detecting_and_reacting_to_false_job_offers_and_other_scams. The overpayment scam is described under 3.
If you accept the job, the scammer will insist on paying part of the fee in advance, to prove his good intentions. Thing is, he will absolutely have to pay by cheque.
So he sends you a cheque for maybe 10 times the agreed amount (for example, €5,000 when you should have received €500), followed by a frantic email telling you there has been a terrible mistake, and could you please cash the cheque and send the excess amount back to him by Western Union. It is extremely urgent for some reason (maybe he won't be able to go to a conference, or something like that).
You cash the cheque for €5,000 and send him the 4,500, and a few days later the bank finds out that the cheque was forged or stolen and reverses the transaction. The scammer is left with 4,500 euros of your money and you are left with a hole in your pocket and possibly time wasted doing the translation. If you are really unlucky the police will also charge you with cashing forged or stolen cheques.
| | | | Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 12:38
English to German
| Scam, the (un)known animal | Apr 2, 2012 |
Michael Korovkin wrote:
I must be naive but I still don't see what they get, or may get, out of it.
Just answer such a message and wait for the next steps.
Or read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_fraud
"Check cashing" variant.
[Edited at 2012-04-02 10:11 GMT]
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