Scam involving collecting account information
Thread poster: Lota
Lota
Lota
United States
Local time: 08:41
Member (2007)
English to Polish
+ ...
Sep 18, 2018

In the last year I have received proposals of translation (it was Polish to English), large documents whose word counts were so high that the translations would amount to thousands of dollars. I am US based.
My preference is to be paid by PayPal but the potential "clients" had a problem with PayPal ("PayPal screwed me and I had to shut my account down" etc.). The only way they wanted to pay me was through a bank transfer. I must admit that I am not comfortable sharing it with complete stra
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In the last year I have received proposals of translation (it was Polish to English), large documents whose word counts were so high that the translations would amount to thousands of dollars. I am US based.
My preference is to be paid by PayPal but the potential "clients" had a problem with PayPal ("PayPal screwed me and I had to shut my account down" etc.). The only way they wanted to pay me was through a bank transfer. I must admit that I am not comfortable sharing it with complete strangers.
I looked into these situations some more and I found the following:
1. In one of these scams the document provided to me had been lifted off internet and had new surnames pasted into it as authors of the paper. One of the names was one potential client who claimed that she was associated with one of the more prominent universities in the US. A quick search revealed that she was not findable at that university.
2. Another situation: a large translation from a related field, no PayPal payment is acceptable to the client, he wants my bank account info. and my address. In short, all that he will be missing would be my mother's maiden name! I also noted that he joined ProZ.com in the same month that he sent me his request. I proposed that he give me his phone number at work which would be a landline, and in such a way that I can find it myself in some directory and I would be calling him.
I did not hear back from him.

I had a few more similar ones this past year, what they have in common is they were large documents (thus appealing to me) and no PayPal possibility...
What do you think?


Thank you.
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Alessandra Ogna Meza
Alessandra Ogna Meza
United States
Local time: 11:41
English to Italian
+ ...
Annaa Riggs is a SCAM Sep 18, 2018

Hi! That happened to me as well, and unaware of the risk I gave the bank account info, same you have on a check you would use to pay anywhere they accept checks. They deposited $10.000 through n my account, with the intention to have me returning the difference and be accountable for it on my bank. They actually sent checks to my bank, the bank unaware deposited the checks on my account. When I saw that money I called them immediate and ina matter of 10 min. The fraud department shut down the ac... See more
Hi! That happened to me as well, and unaware of the risk I gave the bank account info, same you have on a check you would use to pay anywhere they accept checks. They deposited $10.000 through n my account, with the intention to have me returning the difference and be accountable for it on my bank. They actually sent checks to my bank, the bank unaware deposited the checks on my account. When I saw that money I called them immediate and ina matter of 10 min. The fraud department shut down the account and open another one for me. If you ever find yourself in this situation, DO NOT TOUCH THE MONEY cause you will be accountable for it. Fraud department explained me that they do it all the time.Collapse


 
Katarzyna Slowikova
Katarzyna Slowikova  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 16:41
English to Czech
+ ...
Curious how it'd work Sep 18, 2018

@Lota: It smells totally fishy, except for the wire transfer/PayPal part. PayPal scams are very common - just google it. Plus one type of PayPal scam I haven't found in the results, and actually the only one I knew about up until now, is based on PayPal buyer protection whereby the buyer annuls the transaction after getting the purchased good/service (common on gambling websites etc. where you buy some "credits", "points" or whatever they're called... the scam has a specific name that I forgot).... See more
@Lota: It smells totally fishy, except for the wire transfer/PayPal part. PayPal scams are very common - just google it. Plus one type of PayPal scam I haven't found in the results, and actually the only one I knew about up until now, is based on PayPal buyer protection whereby the buyer annuls the transaction after getting the purchased good/service (common on gambling websites etc. where you buy some "credits", "points" or whatever they're called... the scam has a specific name that I forgot). I am not aware of any scams involving bank wires.
But for sure, I wouldn't touch it, if I were you. I would be tempted though to exchange a couple of emails with them to find out how the scheme works. Maybe they didn't intend to scam you, just to create some fake academic credential for that person...?

@Alessandra - I don't see any mention of a check. Otherwise it would be most obvious scam attempt. Or do you mean the scammers promise you wire but trick you into giving them all the info and send you a check instead? Is it then possible to have the amount "deposited" straight into your account without you agreeing to it?
Sorry, but I know checks ONLY from the overpayment scams, never handled any myself, so my knowledge on how they work is limited. And in the description of the scam it's always described as the check being sent by post to the victim which then decides (or not) to take it to the bank and deposit it.
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Natalie
Natalie  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 16:41
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...

MODERATOR
SITE LOCALIZER
Hi Lota Sep 18, 2018

Are you aware of https://www.proz.com/about/translator-scam-alerts ?

You can find plenty of useful information there, and also subscribe to notifications.

Natalia


Lota
 
Lota
Lota
United States
Local time: 08:41
Member (2007)
English to Polish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
I was not aware / thank you! Sep 18, 2018

That is a great source of information! Thank you, Natalie.
Best wishes!
Lota


 


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Scam involving collecting account information







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