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Are these scams?
Thread poster: Ronnie J Rigdon
Ronnie J Rigdon
Ronnie J Rigdon  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:24
Member (2014)
French to English
Sep 30, 2014

I recently received an email from a "James Speed" stating (in bad English) that he wanted me to translate an articles for him. The exchange went as follows:

Hi
Will like you to help me and translate an article, but first i need to know your language combination.
Hope to hear back from you.
James.
--------------------
Dear James,

As requested, my language combination is French to English (NOT English to french).

Cheers!
<... See more
I recently received an email from a "James Speed" stating (in bad English) that he wanted me to translate an articles for him. The exchange went as follows:

Hi
Will like you to help me and translate an article, but first i need to know your language combination.
Hope to hear back from you.
James.
--------------------
Dear James,

As requested, my language combination is French to English (NOT English to french).

Cheers!

Ronnie
---------------------
Hi . Thanks for your update.. Here's the attached of the document i want you to translated to English. Get back to me with total price and how many days/weeks will it take you to finish it?
Brown.

(I did download the document to get a word count and it seemed to be an article on terrorism with the last page in English. Not wanting to aid and abet anything, I sent the following message.)
-----------------------
Dear James,

Before I commit to anything, may I ask what this article is for?

Ronnie
-----------------------
Its for personal media
-----------------------
(The smell of rat was getting stronger and I had already decided not to do it when I saw this in my inbox.)
-------------------------
Hi, Got your contact from online forum that you are an excellent translator, I will like you to translate an article for me, but first I need to know your language combination.

Awaiting to hear back from you.
Sandra.
---------------------------

Color me cynical but I'm beginning to think these are both scams. Any thoughts? ▲ Collapse
 
Yolanda Broad
Yolanda Broad  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:24
Member (2000)
French to English
+ ...

MODERATOR
Search this forum! Sep 30, 2014

Yes, they are both the same (old, old) scam. Search this forum for "article on terrorism." I just did and turned up 196 postings on the issue.
 
Woodstock (X)
Woodstock (X)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:24
German to English
+ ...
Imaginative they are not Sep 30, 2014

It's definitely a scam.

Here are a couple of resources for you:

Proz scam alert center - http://www.proz.com/about/translator-scam-alerts/
Translator Scammer... See more
It's definitely a scam.

Here are a couple of resources for you:

Proz scam alert center - http://www.proz.com/about/translator-scam-alerts/
Translator Scammers Directory - http://www.translator-scammers.com/translator-scammers-directory.htm
As you can see, the directory list is long and growing.

Good thing you checked here first before becoming yet another victim. Proz has been very pro-active on this problem for some time, but there are still too many of our colleagues who seem unaware of it, unfortunately. ▲ Collapse
 
cranium
cranium
French to English
+ ...
Spyware Sep 30, 2014

See this thread http://www.proz.com/forum/scams/262354-email_scam_targeting_translators.html Sounds like you may want to have your computer tested for infection, since you opened the file.
 
Alison Jenner
Alison Jenner  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 15:24
German to English
+ ...
Clearly a scam Sep 30, 2014

Even without checking whether it's a scam elsewhere: someone is asking you to translate something for them but doesn't know what your language combination is? Delete without a second thought.
 


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