| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] | SCAM warning: David Baker Secret Shopper® Thread poster: Ines Cunha Jorge
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Marina Steinbach
United States
Local time: 17:34
Member (2011)
English to German
| GMail is able to filter the e-mails with "secret shopper", why not ProZ? | Jan 25, 2012 |
Tony M wrote:
However, on what other basis could mails be filtered? I doubt the system is sophisticated enough (yet?) to filter on actual e-mail content — and even if it were, imagine the endless task of manually programming filter terms like 'secret shopper'; just like virus signatures, it could only ever be re-active.
GMail is able to do so, i.e. filter the e-mails with the terms "secret shopper", and move them into my spam folder. And imagine: I’m not even paying them a penny for this service!
Tony M wrote:
Paying members do have the option to have e-mails sent via their profile vetted by staff first; this does seem like a good idea, though I can't help thinking that if everyone took up the option, the whole system might get a bit bogged down!
I am a paying ProZ member and expect to receive my e-mails regarding job offers as soon as possible. Does this make sense to you?
Tony M wrote:
In this instance, the mail was sent from an active ProZ.com profile — in this situation, I guess it wouldn't be difficult for the site to simply remove that profile; did you report this mail as scam, so that they know to take action? I see the profile is still there, which seems surprising. However, these people have got nothing to lose, they will just create new profiles...
Of course these criminals have nothing to lose. They just repeatedly try to send bogus checks to inexperienced translators, who might be so naive – or desperate - to present them to their banks. In some states in the US this already is a crime and you might end up in prison for trying to cash such a check!
Tony M wrote:
I think we all have to accept that one way or another, such messages are going to arrive in our in-boxes, and it really behoves each one of us to be vigilant and take responsibility for our own security; I really don't think we can expect ProZ to expend massive resources in some kind of almost certainly futile attempt to 'nanny' us all.
I cannot accept this kind of dubious attitude. This is in my opinion very unprofessional.
Tony M wrote:
Please see the relevant article about how to spot a scam — which ought to be mandatory reading for all new members at least!
Of course I have read all the articles on this subject. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be aware of this problem. And, please don’t talk to me as if I were an ignorant newbie. I am a paying ProZ member and would like to be treated as such.
Regards,
Marina Steinbach
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 23:34
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | To answer some of Marina's points... | Jan 25, 2012 |
Marina Steinbach wrote: Tony M wrote:
However, on what other basis could mails be filtered? GMail is able to do so, i.e. filter the e-mails with the terms "secret shopper", and move them into my spam folder. And imagine: I’m not even paying them a penny for this service!
Yes, but the whole Gmail behemoth is a lot bigger and richer than ProZ.com, I feel sure — and I for one am rather uneasy about the fact that they read ALL my e-mail traffic and use key words extracted therefrom to send me targeted advertising (and who knows what else?) They have acces to a vast amount more traffic worldwide, plus people flagging up spam, so it is going to be easier for them to implement spam-detection algorithms. And even if you're "not even paying them a penny", you can be sure that the advertising revenue they get must make it very largely worth their while!
I wouldn't actually mind someone at ProZ.com reading any mails I might get coming through the profile system — but I am much more concerned about Gmail 'reading' (even anonymously) all of my general mail; after all, if they can filter out keywords for advertising purposes, they could also do so on other words for State surveillance, for example. I'd like to try the experiment, with some dummy mails containing words like 'hijack' and 'bomb', and just see what happens...
I am a paying ProZ member and expect to receive my e-mails regarding job offers as soon as possible. Does this make sense to you?
Of course! And I feel sure the system is in place to vet mails as swiftly as possible (though I don't know how office opening hours are handled? Given different time zones around the world, that could lead to quite some delay, unless this service is manned 24/7)
However, I repeat: if I want to receive my profile e-mails as swiftly as possible, then all I have to do is vet them myself, using my own intelligence and experience.
Of course these criminals have nothing to lose. They just repeatedly try to send bogus checks to inexperienced translators, who might be so naive – or desperate - to present them to their banks.
'Naïve' and 'desperate' are words that I used in a previous forum posting, and was firmly taken to task for daring to suggest that it really ought to be a case of caveat traductore
Tony M wrote:
I really don't think we can expect ProZ to expend massive resources in some kind of almost certainly futile attempt to 'nanny' us all.
Marina Steinbach wrote:
I cannot accept this kind of dubious attitude. This is in my opinion very unprofessional.
I think you are being very unfair to accuse ProZ.com of being 'dubious' and 'unprofessional' — it seems to me they are bending over backwards to do all they can to protect us, but ultimately, it just isn't possible to protect people from their own naïvety / desperation / stupidity ... whichever you prefer. Let's face it, we all know "there's no such thing as a free lunch" — so all these 'too-good-to-be-true' offers are specifically designed to appeal to people eager to make an easy buck.
Of course I have read all the articles on this subject. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be aware of this problem. And, please don’t talk to me as if I were an ignorant newbie. I am a paying ProZ member and would like to be treated as such.
Really! I'm not talking to you as if you were anything — I'm simply answering a post in a thread in an open forum that might be read by people with varying levels of experience, and I hope you'd agree that the more this kind of information gets aired, the better the chances of the unwary receiving the warning.
Please tell me where are the instructions for how to treat paying ProZ.com members differently from the non-paying ones?
Basically, I have to say I don't really understand what you're complaining about? Since as you say you are already fully clued-up about all this, you obviously have no need of this forum; if you are just using it to criticize ProZ.com, then might I politely (and with all due deference to your elevated 'Paying Member' status!) suggest that would be more appropriately done privately in a support request. As a Paying Member, you can be assured your request will receive priority treatment.
| | | | Pierre Bancov 
Local time: 23:34
Member (2008)
Japanese to French
+ ...
| What to do ? | Jan 26, 2012 |
OK, this guy contacted me too, but what next ?
I mean, sure, this is a scam, but can I for instance accept the job and go to the local police station to file a complaint with the fake checks or something ?
| | | | majose
Australia
Local time: 07:34
English to Spanish
+ ...
| SCAM warning: Home Schooling article | Jan 28, 2012 |
Hi all,
Please note that I have received a request for translation of a Home Schooling article and it turned out to be a scam. I got sent travellers checks from an address in Belgium for an amount much bigger than the amount owed.
The email came from [email protected]
I reported the incident to the local police but I wanted to warn all translators that work online.
I guess I now learnt the lesson an... See more Hi all,
Please note that I have received a request for translation of a Home Schooling article and it turned out to be a scam. I got sent travellers checks from an address in Belgium for an amount much bigger than the amount owed.
The email came from [email protected]
I reported the incident to the local police but I wanted to warn all translators that work online.
I guess I now learnt the lesson and I will never again accept payment by check and will only use Paypal.
Regards to all and happy translating...
Maria
[Edited at 2012-01-28 06:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Eva Chastain (X)
Local time: 23:34
English to French
+ ...
| Tom Baker seems to be famous | Feb 20, 2012 |
Hello,
I got an email from him this morning. I was almost scammed one day, so now I can recognise a scammer when I see one... I asked him his company address and the VAT number just for joking... no answer... what a surprise!
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:34
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Thayenga wrote:
If nothing else in this email, the words "You transfer the balance" clearly reveal the scam nature of this "job".
[Edited at 2011-11-18 09:35 GMT]
And "the Western Union" is another giveaway. The name of the company is "Western Union" not "the Western Union".
| | | | Flora GR (X)
Local time: 23:34
English to Spanish
+ ...
Hello everybody,
I got this "offer" three days ago, it sounded weird and after a few clicks I ended up here, so I'll add my first scammer to the list that almost saved my life (I'm joking but only because I was lucky enough...)
His message:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonjour,
J'ai besoin d'un traducteur qui comprend l'anglais/français pour
m'aider à trad... See more Hello everybody,
I got this "offer" three days ago, it sounded weird and after a few clicks I ended up here, so I'll add my first scammer to the list that almost saved my life (I'm joking but only because I was lucky enough...)
His message:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonjour,
J'ai besoin d'un traducteur qui comprend l'anglais/français pour
m'aider à traduire un récent projet.
Etes-vous disponible pour le moment, afin que nous puissions procéder?
Quel est votre responsable?
Je m'attends à votre réponse urgente.
Cordialement,
Hello,
I need a translator who understands English/French to help me with
translating aproject.
Are you available at the moment,so we could proceed?
What is your charge?
I expect your urgent response.
Best Regards
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I answered saying that I needed more information, so I got a second message:
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Salut,
Merci pour votre réponse
Je vais être venir en France en 2weeks.I besoin de traducteur pour traduire en place à 15.700 source de mots pour moi de l'anglais vers le français.
Je vous propose 0.10euro/word. En cas d'accord, le paiement partiel sera émis avant le début des travaux car je ne comprends que c'est nécessaire, car nous travaillons en ligne.
Votre information est nécessaire pour vérification des antécédents et de la confirmation donc j'ai besoin de vous pour me fournir votre nom complet et l'adresse et le numéro de téléphone mobile.
J'attends votre réponse urgente.
Cordialement
John Yates
+447956968663 (SMS uniquement)
+442081446028
Hi,
Thanks for your reply
I will be coming to France in 2weeks.I need translator to translate up to 15,700 source of words for me from English into French.
I am offering 0.10euro/word. If agreed, Part payment will be issued out before commencement of work for i do understand it is necessary since we working online.
Your information is needed for background check and confirmation hence i require you to provide me with your full name and address and mobile phone number.
I await your urgent response.
Best Regards
John Yates
+447956968663 (sms only)
+442081446028
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He gave the same number as "Guy Fernandez Secret Shopper" and "Tom Barker Secret Shopper", which are some nice guys that appear in an earlier post.
That's it, thanks to everyone who shares and good luck to you all! ▲ Collapse
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Hi,
I received the same offer from Mr. John Yates (with the same gmail adress)
I'm new so I thought it was a good opportunity for me. I'm not very good at recognizing scammers, it's the second time it happens to me.
Anyway, I actually translated something for him, but I found out it was a scam since then, so I never gave back the text.
[Modifié le 2012-05-14 21:09 GMT]
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| Secret Shopper in South America | Jun 8, 2012 |
I received the same proposal yesterday for french speakers in Europe through Translatorsbase. I answered that I was in Brazil and they said that they pretend to do the same survey in South America.....
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » SCAM warning: David Baker Secret Shopper® | Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
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