Possible scam? Thread poster: Bruno Depascale
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Bruno Depascale 
Italy
Local time: 18:18
Member (2009)
English to Italian
+ ...
I have just received this email from an agency not registered on the blueboard that requires 70.000 words translated in 10 days:
Dear Mr. Depascale,
We are looking for a translator to help us translate some or
all of a cell phone user's manual from English to Italian.
The number of English words to be translated is about
70,000.
The delivery time will be about ten days after we receive
the manual from the client.
If you are available ... See more I have just received this email from an agency not registered on the blueboard that requires 70.000 words translated in 10 days:
Dear Mr. Depascale,
We are looking for a translator to help us translate some or
all of a cell phone user's manual from English to Italian.
The number of English words to be translated is about
70,000.
The delivery time will be about ten days after we receive
the manual from the client.
If you are available to help with this project, could you
please confirm your per source word rate and the average
number of English words per day that you are able to
translate into Italian?
I don't know if I can post the name of the agency here... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | A bit too much? | Sep 25, 2012 |
I have owned some mobile phones, and no user manual I have seen has more than roughly 5000 words. 70,000 words does not sound right in this context.
| | | | Diana Coada (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:18
Portuguese to English
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| Search the agency | Sep 25, 2012 |
in the TRC and PP lists and see what comes up.
Other than that, Tomas has made a very good point.
| | | | Yolanda Broad
United States
Local time: 12:18
Member (2000)
French to English
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MODERATOR | Please create a Blue Board record | Sep 25, 2012 |
Dear Bruno,
On the face of it, this does not appear to be a scam. That does not mean, however, that you have necessarily been contacted by a reputable agency, or that the job is legitimate. To determine that, you need to do further research. For starters, since no Blue Board record exists, please create one. Also, take a look at articles in the ProZ.com Wiki which cover the topic ... See more Dear Bruno,
On the face of it, this does not appear to be a scam. That does not mean, however, that you have necessarily been contacted by a reputable agency, or that the job is legitimate. To determine that, you need to do further research. For starters, since no Blue Board record exists, please create one. Also, take a look at articles in the ProZ.com Wiki which cover the topic of risk management. See http://wiki.proz.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page And do an Internet search for the agency in question, to see if there have been reports elsewhere.
Note that outsourcers cannot be named in the forums, so please do not name the agency here.
Yolanda Broad ▲ Collapse
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 09:18
English to German
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In memoriam | I was thinking the same. | Sep 25, 2012 |
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
70,000 words does not sound right in this context.
That's the number of words that I need to explain each and every screw and bolt in a 12-tower gigantic printing press.
| | | | Henry Hinds
United States
Local time: 10:18
English to Spanish
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In memoriam
If they expect you to do an average of 7,000 words per day, could you do that? It would seem to be an unrealistic expectation.
| | | | | Contact information | Sep 25, 2012 |
Hi Bruno,
Thanks for not posting the name of the agency in this forum. On the other hand your first risk management concern should be to get contact information from this agency, verifiable and as complete as possible, and then to verify it. If you get a land phone line, pay them a call. Google everything!
Regards,
Enrique
| | | | | I received the same e-mail.... | Sep 25, 2012 |
Hi Bruno,
I received the same e-mail today. I checked in the Blue Board but the agency is not listed there and it only has an (almost empty) Proz profile. So I checked on Google and found out that they have a website stating that they've been working as a translation agency since 1984.
I replied to them, I made my offer but I'll ask for more info about them in case they contact me again.
The request doesn't seem to be unrealistic, as he asked me to take a p... See more Hi Bruno,
I received the same e-mail today. I checked in the Blue Board but the agency is not listed there and it only has an (almost empty) Proz profile. So I checked on Google and found out that they have a website stating that they've been working as a translation agency since 1984.
I replied to them, I made my offer but I'll ask for more info about them in case they contact me again.
The request doesn't seem to be unrealistic, as he asked me to take a part or all the job. Of course, it is impossible to complete the entire job in 10 days.....
Hope this helps!
Marika ▲ Collapse
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| A tiny piece of advice | Sep 25, 2012 |
Bruno Depascale wrote:
The number of English words to be translated is about
70,000.
The delivery time will be about ten days after we receive
the manual from the client.
Personally I think it is always a risk to translate all or part of a large manual for an agency the community has not reported anything about in so many years and who is a new customer for you. It would be safe to ask for an advance payment of at least 1/3 of the total order.
Have you checked for how long the website domain has been in posession of this firm? You can easily do it with any WHOIS service.
| | | | Bruno Depascale
Italy
Local time: 18:18
Member (2009)
English to Italian
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TOPIC STARTER | Thank you very much for your help! | Sep 25, 2012 |
Indeed, I have replied to them asking half payment before starting the job.
I have also proposed a 20-days deadline.
However, I have the strong feeling they are trying to deceive us. I have consulted the WHOIS service and it says the website has been created in 2001...
I will also made a BB entry.
Thank you again!
| | | | | "Some or all" | Sep 26, 2012 |
The client probably wants to hire several suppliers to work on different parts of the document. It does not look suspicious, does it?
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