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Beware of a new "student" scam!
Thread poster: Gudrun Wolfrath
Jan Krupicka
Jan Krupicka
Czech Republic
Czech to English
+ ...
:-( Oct 27, 2015

Got this, too.

I am disgusted--I was in Nepal when the quakes struck this April and, now, this greedy bastard is trying to exploit the poor victims. If only there were a way to get back to him.


 
Paweł Hamerski
Paweł Hamerski
Poland
Local time: 07:23
English to Polish
+ ...
It's a high time somebody should tell him? it's already translated Oct 27, 2015

(and is available for free in some obscure Web corner).
You can embelish it a bit, etc.


 
Hania Pietrzyk
Hania Pietrzyk
France
Local time: 07:23
Member
French to Polish
+ ...
idem for me, Oct 27, 2015

I have received this same message today with same text (STD) from John Mc Cullen,
176 Courtlandt Ave, Bronx, NY 10451-5001


 
Agnieszka Rewilak
Agnieszka Rewilak
Poland
Local time: 07:23
English to Polish
+ ...
I got it too Oct 28, 2015

Hi,
the same John wrote to me - English to Polish translation, aprox. 9 pages of text about adolescents.

I had a weird feeling when I read that he's paying with travelers cheque...

Have a good day without scam!
Aga


 
Alejandro Cavalitto
Alejandro Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 03:23
Member (2008)
English to Spanish
+ ...
I have sent out an alert about the "John Mc Cullen" scam Oct 28, 2015

Hello,

Thanks for reporting these scams. I have sent out an alert about the "John Mc Cullen" scam from the scam alert center at http://www.proz.com/about/translator-scam-alerts/ . You can find information on how to detect and react to scams aimed at translators there.

The best way to fight against scammers is to raise awareness about them, so no one falls for t
... See more
Hello,

Thanks for reporting these scams. I have sent out an alert about the "John Mc Cullen" scam from the scam alert center at http://www.proz.com/about/translator-scam-alerts/ . You can find information on how to detect and react to scams aimed at translators there.

The best way to fight against scammers is to raise awareness about them, so no one falls for their scams. With that in mind, ProZ.com members can subscribe to the scam alerts and past alerts are available in a dedicated page, http://wiki.proz.com/wiki/index.php/Translator_scam_alert_reports

Thanks again for reporting these scams. Making them public is crucial to protect all translators from them.

Best regards,
Alejandro
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Julie Byrne
Julie Byrne  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:23
English to German
+ ...
Thank you for pointing this one out! Feb 10, 2016

Mariya Thompson, thank you for pasting the text here. That gave me the link through to this forum and the warning that it's a scam. I was suspicious of the email (bad English) and the fact that this "Davis Parez" wanted to send a cheque. My clever husband suggested copying part of the text into the search engine, and there it was.
So thank you for confirming my suspicion!
And, as above, hope you all have a scam free day!
Julie Byrne
Fast Efficient Translations
UK


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Not me Feb 10, 2016

Ty Kendall wrote:

I don't think it's possible to be in this business for five minutes without being scammed.


Nobody's tried to scam me in 24 years. I'm feeling left out.


 
Marie Rollet
Marie Rollet  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:23
Member (2016)
English to French
Davis Parez Feb 10, 2016

Hi,

I got a text message this morning from a certain Davis Parez offering translation work. No indication of a company or what the work is about. Just short message and a gmail address.

I found his name mentioned on someone else's post on this thread so it confirms my suspicions but has anyone been contacted for work via text in the past? it just seems very unprofessional to me but I may be wrong.


 
Andrea Muller (X)
Andrea Muller (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:23
English to German
+ ...
@Marie: I had the same SMS today Feb 10, 2016

I had a text from DavisParez(z), too. I was suspicious about it, mainly because Parez was spelled differently in the sender name and in the gmail address.

As I never heard of scams initiated by SMS, I tried to text them back to say they had the wrong language pair, but I couldn't, as no number came up, so there was no way I was going to email them and provide them with my email address. Then I wondered whether I am getting too suspicious and I just posted something about this on a
... See more
I had a text from DavisParez(z), too. I was suspicious about it, mainly because Parez was spelled differently in the sender name and in the gmail address.

As I never heard of scams initiated by SMS, I tried to text them back to say they had the wrong language pair, but I couldn't, as no number came up, so there was no way I was going to email them and provide them with my email address. Then I wondered whether I am getting too suspicious and I just posted something about this on another forum. Now I am glad that I found your post and that I am not turning paranoid after all.

I think SMSs can be ok if the clients are private individuals. I had one or two genuine clients who initially contacted me by SMS and they turned out ok.

One of them just did not feel comfortable about using email. In the end I managed to persuade him to use someone's email account, so he could send me the document a lot quicker. And then he used an email address which was all random letters and numbers! But there was nothing suspicious about the document itself and he paid exactly the agreed amount into my bank account before I started the translation, so it was all fine.
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Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:23
Spanish to English
+ ...
The biggest red flag Feb 14, 2016

Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz wrote:

I'm always distrusftul of that kind of English, especially if a native-like name is used. Native speakers of various languages, including degree holders, including language degree holders, are capable of brutally murdering their respective languages, but some things in those e-mails still flash the warning lights.

[Edited at 2013-06-25 06:07 GMT]


Absolutely. The sh*tty English in such mails is the biggest red flag of them all.


 
Alice Gallori (X)
Alice Gallori (X)
France
Local time: 07:23
English to French
+ ...
Davis Parez Mar 1, 2016

Hey,
I got an SMS from this name today, offering a translation job and asking me to email back for job details.
The sender was DavisParez and the adress [email protected]
Obviously I deleted the text.
Thanks for posting here so I could be sure it was a scam.
Cheers
Alice


 
Audrey Anzil
Audrey Anzil  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 07:23
English to French
+ ...
Just got the "Davis Parez(z)" sms too Mar 1, 2016

Hi,

Thank you for this thread! I just received a text message from a mysterious Davis Parez(z) asking how much I charge etc. I wanted to check on him on Google, LinkedIn etc, but it turned out his name appeared on here.
Has anyone ever sent an email to his gmail address? What happened?
How did you find out it was a scam?

Thanks,
Audrey


 
Emilie Combaudon
Emilie Combaudon
France
English to French
+ ...
Davis Parez/Parezz Mar 3, 2016

Hi everyone,

I received the same SMS "Am Davis and i need your services as an Translator..." on the 1st of March.
I answered by email asking if that person could send me the text to translate.
I was suspicious like many of you, so I decided not to answer back.
However this Davis sent me two emails to dun me. And the text was really consistent, like 6794 words...
So thank you all for this post, because I think I would have answered him positively.

... See more
Hi everyone,

I received the same SMS "Am Davis and i need your services as an Translator..." on the 1st of March.
I answered by email asking if that person could send me the text to translate.
I was suspicious like many of you, so I decided not to answer back.
However this Davis sent me two emails to dun me. And the text was really consistent, like 6794 words...
So thank you all for this post, because I think I would have answered him positively.

Emilie
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Tamra Ross
Tamra Ross
Canada
Still going strong Oct 17, 2018

FYI: this scam is still going strong. I am an editor in Canada and received an offer for this job today. The text remains verbatim what was send out years ago.

I expect most editors would reject it since a quick check indicates that the document comprises two online articles taken verbatim and is at the very least, copyright infringement (and some of the statements in the article are seriously judgmental and lack credible sourcing): it is on those grounds that I was first going t
... See more
FYI: this scam is still going strong. I am an editor in Canada and received an offer for this job today. The text remains verbatim what was send out years ago.

I expect most editors would reject it since a quick check indicates that the document comprises two online articles taken verbatim and is at the very least, copyright infringement (and some of the statements in the article are seriously judgmental and lack credible sourcing): it is on those grounds that I was first going to reject the job. Then I found this thread.

I also doubt many editors are accepting cheques these days. Still, it's probably a tempting job for younger editors and translators so I hope that at least a few will see this thread and avoid the scam and a potential financial loss, if not a loss of valuable work time.

The sender, in my case, was named Brian Mercer and he indicated that the purpose of the article was for a pamphlet as an "initiation" of his dead wife to benefit children and orphans. He found me through an online director of editors, so I imagine they are using the same tacticts to target translators, and that they are probably changing the sender name and email account regularly.

The document was 6794 words in rtf format (laugh), has an listed author of Eijjy olobe, and a modification date in 2015. The sender of the email, despite his English-sounding name, clearly struggles with English.
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Beware of a new "student" scam!







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