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A possible scam regarding a philosophy/metaphysics text?
Thread poster: Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 00:05
Member (2012)
Russian to English
+ ...
Aug 4, 2015

The client called me about a new translation - they contacted me through my website, not Proz.com profile.

Here is the message I received:

From: [email protected]>
Subject: Phylosophy/methaphysics/Relegion

Message Body:
I am looking for a book deal, it includes 15 chapters + 4 index pages avg.of 8-10 pages per chapter. each page about 550 words.
There is some flexibility wit... See more
The client called me about a new translation - they contacted me through my website, not Proz.com profile.

Here is the message I received:

From: [email protected]>
Subject: Phylosophy/methaphysics/Relegion

Message Body:
I am looking for a book deal, it includes 15 chapters + 4 index pages avg.of 8-10 pages per chapter. each page about 550 words.
There is some flexibility with time, if that can reduce the price.

-----------------------------------------
The attachment contained about 4400 words of a Word file that had obviously been converted from a scanned PDF. There were lots of line breaks and double spaces between characters. Also, the client did not say that they were the author of the text. I'm assuming that it is a scam, probably an overpayment scam. What do you think? ▲ Collapse
 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 02:05
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
The simplest anti-scam tool Aug 4, 2015

Hi Sarah,
Ask for verifiable contact details and verify them.
If the "client" is a scammer, you will never hear of them again.
Regards,
Enrique
 
Giovanna Alessandra Meloni
Giovanna Alessandra Meloni  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 07:05
Spanish to Italian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Verifiable contact details Aug 5, 2015

I agree with Enrique, ask for verifiable contact details.
 
Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:05
Spanish to English
+ ...
Well now, let's see... Aug 5, 2015

They want you to translate a book about "Phylosophy" and "Relegion"???

An alternative way of approaching this would be to express interest in the project and offer an absurdly high rate. If they immediately accept and offer to send you a check, then it is all but certain that an "overpayment scam" is in the works....
 


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A possible scam regarding a philosophy/metaphysics text?







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