Scam Alert : Melanie Landon
Thread poster: Stéphane PIVARD
Stéphane PIVARD
Stéphane PIVARD
France
Local time: 08:00
English to French
+ ...
Nov 16, 2019

Good evening,

I want to signal a scam as you can see here :


"A ProZ.com user visited your ProZ.com profile and sent the following message.

Author: Melanie
[NOTE: The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 84.17.42.104

-----------

Hello,
Kindly confirm your availability to translate a document
from English to French.
Thank yo
... See more
Good evening,

I want to signal a scam as you can see here :


"A ProZ.com user visited your ProZ.com profile and sent the following message.

Author: Melanie
[NOTE: The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 84.17.42.104

-----------

Hello,
Kindly confirm your availability to translate a document
from English to French.
Thank you"

After several mail exchanges, they propose you a 50% in advance payment but will never be done.

It was already mentionned in another post, but I would like to insist on it, as a pretty new translator, to not fall other people into their trap.

Thank you.

Best regards.
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Liviu-Lee Roth
Fatine Echenique
Kevin Fulton
César TORNIER
Céline Zanardo
 
Paweł Hamerski (X)
Paweł Hamerski (X)
Local time: 08:00
English to Polish
+ ...
I don't see a scam. When somebody offers me 50% downpayment I gladly accept Nov 19, 2019

it and wait for the developments. Nobody mentioned a cheque yet and if will I will ask 'what is this"?

 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 07:00
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
I agree, but ... Nov 19, 2019

Paweł Hamerski wrote:
I don't see a scam

I agree that the message in the post doesn't have to be a scam. But a lot depends on the exchanges that followed. I inagine they clarified things.


 
Céline Zanardo
Céline Zanardo  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 08:00
English to French
+ ...
FRAUD ALERT!!! Dec 2, 2019

"Melanie Landon" offered me to translate a project, and told me that she would pay me half of the project at the beginning and the other half at the end.
She sent me an e-mail every two weeks saying that the transfer procedure to my account was very long. After a month and a half, my bank received a 9983 euro check. First, I didn't understand where that check came from, then "Melanie" sent me this:

I have just been informed there was a mix-up with the amount you will be gettin
... See more
"Melanie Landon" offered me to translate a project, and told me that she would pay me half of the project at the beginning and the other half at the end.
She sent me an e-mail every two weeks saying that the transfer procedure to my account was very long. After a month and a half, my bank received a 9983 euro check. First, I didn't understand where that check came from, then "Melanie" sent me this:

I have just been informed there was a mix-up with the amount you will be getting, you got the amount for the event planner while the event planner got the advance payment for the translation. Kindly keep an eye on your account and let me know as soon as you have the funds available in your account.

I just confirm it was a check deposit for €9983, the mistake was from my sponsor and he is away on vacation. I will appreciate you confirm the amount and get back to me co we can work out something.

I did not answered, but I'm pretty sure they would have ask me to do a bank transfer of the difference.
My bank called me this morning saying the check was a stolen one.
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Liviu-Lee Roth
Stéphane PIVARD
expressisverbis
 
Nina Michael
Nina Michael
United States
Local time: 03:00
Member (2010)
Italian to English
+ ...
This is definitely a scam, I got the same email Jun 3, 2020

Hi, I also received the same email (word for word) from someone named Ana De Queiroz. This person also offered me 50% up front with almost no information and requested detailed bank information. The document she sent was a PDF of a case study on Agriculture (no other information was provided). I did a search and it looks like others on ProZ have had similar suspicious emails for similar subject matter. I sent her a detailed contract and she took two days to reply. When she did, there was a fake ... See more
Hi, I also received the same email (word for word) from someone named Ana De Queiroz. This person also offered me 50% up front with almost no information and requested detailed bank information. The document she sent was a PDF of a case study on Agriculture (no other information was provided). I did a search and it looks like others on ProZ have had similar suspicious emails for similar subject matter. I sent her a detailed contract and she took two days to reply. When she did, there was a fake address (I looked it up, it took me to the middle of a street in Utah) and an obviously fake signature in the signature line.
I have reported this person to the relevant authorities. Definitely a scam.
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expressisverbis
 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
Overpayment? By cheque? Again? Jun 3, 2020

Take a look at the topic titles here. 11 or 12 of them are "Scams", and 99% of them are the same, overpayment. While I find it hard to believe that people STILL fall for a scam that is so old it's on a Zimmer frame, whereby bogus potential customers willing to take any price insist on "paying" up front, in a profession where this is practically unheard of, would it be so hard for the site to help by adding a tab in the Big Green Line up above here saying "Common payment scams" with a simple expl... See more
Take a look at the topic titles here. 11 or 12 of them are "Scams", and 99% of them are the same, overpayment. While I find it hard to believe that people STILL fall for a scam that is so old it's on a Zimmer frame, whereby bogus potential customers willing to take any price insist on "paying" up front, in a profession where this is practically unheard of, would it be so hard for the site to help by adding a tab in the Big Green Line up above here saying "Common payment scams" with a simple explanation of the like of overpayment cheques, instead of everyone having to write in continually about the Fred Bloggs scam, the Ernest Fickenburger scam, the Rita Shufflebotham scam, the Dr Arthur S. Thorpe scam .....?

Just a thought.
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Michele Fauble
Sheila Wilson
IrinaN
expressisverbis
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Liviu-Lee Roth
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
 
expressisverbis
expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 07:00
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
It seems she has been here last year... Jun 6, 2020

and she strikes again...

https://www.proz.com/forum/scams/338801-did_this_happen_to_you_before.html


 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
Thanks ... Jun 9, 2020

... to the site for its efforts in this regard. Maybe in a few years one of those inspiring, tireless, challenge-embracing, go-getter "Meet the Team" luminaries we read about here will take action.

Or maybe not. Until then, just be very careful, everyone.


 
expressisverbis
expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 07:00
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
We are on our own Jun 9, 2020

Mervyn Henderson wrote:

... to the site for its efforts in this regard. Maybe in a few years one of those inspiring, tireless, challenge-embracing, go-getter "Meet the Team" luminaries we read about here will take action.

Or maybe not. Until then, just be very careful, everyone.


and need to do the checks by ourselves.


Liviu-Lee Roth
 


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Scam Alert : Melanie Landon







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