Scammers' profiles on Proz Thread poster: Katharina Gutner
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Katharina Gutner
Germany
Local time: 10:57
Member (2017)
Russian to German
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Dear Freelancers,
has anybody an idea why Proz.com allow scammer profiles at this portal said to be serious?
The scammers are even allowed to post jobs here - how could it be?
Are the job offers not vetted any more (as before)?
Best regards
Katharina Gutner
[Edited at 2022-05-21 16:50 GMT]
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I'm not sure why you call them scammers. They are known for paying low rates, but it is not the aim of Proz to control rates. That's our own matter. A good, old-fashioned 'no' usually does the job.
I can't find the other two profiles you mention.
Proz does not 'allow scammer profiles'. If they are informed of a scammer profile, it is removed.
Some jobs are ve... See more I'm not sure why you call them scammers. They are known for paying low rates, but it is not the aim of Proz to control rates. That's our own matter. A good, old-fashioned 'no' usually does the job.
I can't find the other two profiles you mention.
Proz does not 'allow scammer profiles'. If they are informed of a scammer profile, it is removed.
Some jobs are vetted, others not. See https://www.proz.com/faq/jobs.html . ▲ Collapse
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PS: This topic will probably be removed if you don't remove the link to that company, as the forum rules do not allow named outsourcers to be discussed.
| | | | Sadek_A 
Local time: 12:57
English to Arabic
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Unserious job postings are a disease around here.
As far as I remember, I previously suggested charging every job poster a symbolic, tiny amount per posting, as a means of proving their seriousness.
But, again, the loudest voices around here continue to challenge any proposed improvement to the flawed status quo in the job board.
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Katharina Gutner
Germany
Local time: 10:57
Member (2017)
Russian to German
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TOPIC STARTER | Evidence of the scam: Translation Scammers Directory and their notice about Proz | May 21, 2022 |
Here is the translation scammers directory:
http://www.translator-scammers.com/translator-scammers-directory.htm
The mail of the above-mentioned outsourcer is listed in the directory,
and I was the stupid one who was deceived.
Thus I think it is my duty to report the case here, isn't it?
| | | | | Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: Requested changes not made within 24 hours. | | What happened exactly? | May 21, 2022 |
What exactly happened? It's not quite clear.
The place to report it is not in the forums unless you are certain they are 'genuine' scammers and not a legitimate outsourcer. A payment issue does not automatically make an outsourcer a scammer.
If you have worked for them, you can create a Blue Board post, and if they didn't pay by the due date, you can file a non-payment report at the same time. This can get an outsourcer banned from posting jobs. If you haven't worked for them, you can't create a Blue Board post, but you can always contact site support if you have concerns about an outsourcer or other profile.
Translator-scammers contains lots of emails, mostly Gmail and Outlook addresses, which almost no decent outsourcer would use, but I don't know if the site vets non-payment reports. What I'm saying is that Proz can't just delete a profile because of a Translator-scammers entry, as we don't know how reliable it is. It could also be abused.
| | | | | Due diligence | May 21, 2022 |
Katharina Gutner wrote:
XXXXXXX Translators offers a quite normal rate for Germany. They posted a job on 10.05.2022, received offers from Proz members, and than disappeared.
Of course, Proz does not need to control rates, but perhaps check their contact e-mail in the Scammer Directory or if the company really exists? Of remove unserious service providers?
Concerning the two others: I did not work for them, but they offered me their services. The problem is not their rates, but that they do not perform any translation at all, just running Google or other translation machines.
So what can we do in the future?
Check every job offer whether the outsourcer's e-mail is not in the Translation Scammers Directory?
It sounds easier than it is to vet a company. The Scammer directory may be a source, but how reliable is it? It would be nice if Proz could keep bad players out, but they would need access to the entire world's official business registers and/or credit rating agencies, and even a genuine company can turn out to be a bad payer. Unfortunately, we have to do our own due diligence. We need to check the Blue Board, www.zahlungspraxis.de/uebersetzer/ , www.paymentpractices.net/ , https://whois.domaintools.com/ , official company registers, bankruptcy registers and whatever we can find. If we are unsure if a prospective client is genuine, we can always ask for prepayment.
[Edited at 2022-05-23 13:07 GMT]
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Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 04:57
Japanese to English
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| Scammers/bad agencies | May 22, 2022 |
These agencies can be kept out by giving them a big fat "1" on the Blue Board.
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Honesty is not a requirement if you want to be active on this site, whether as outsourcer, translator...
Much dishonesty is tolerated (and not even in any way discouraged) by this wonderful site. Just look at the members (paying or otherwise) who claim expertise or even native languages which are clearly false... Why shouldn't outsourcers resort to the same dubious tactics?
Yellow Pages - that's all ProZ is. Learn to treat it as such. There are scammers everywhere.
... See more Honesty is not a requirement if you want to be active on this site, whether as outsourcer, translator...
Much dishonesty is tolerated (and not even in any way discouraged) by this wonderful site. Just look at the members (paying or otherwise) who claim expertise or even native languages which are clearly false... Why shouldn't outsourcers resort to the same dubious tactics?
Yellow Pages - that's all ProZ is. Learn to treat it as such. There are scammers everywhere.
Good luck!
C ▲ Collapse
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 09:57
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
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| I really don't understand what happened... | May 22, 2022 |
Where did you get that link above? From https://www.translationdirectory.com/?
Did the "scammers" contact you via this portal?
If yes, you must report it on that portal first. Of course, you can always make others aware of any possible scam on other forums as Proz.
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 04:57
Japanese to English
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| Scammers profile | May 24, 2022 |
"Much dishonesty is tolerated on this site". This is why I stopped paying the membership fee.
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Erzsébet Czopyk
Hungary
Local time: 10:57
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
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SITE LOCALIZER | Scammers are here even in the middle of the night | May 25, 2022 |
I have posted an urgent job approx. an hour and a half ago.
the job was posted as restricted to proZ.com members and freelancers only.
Within 10 minutes I received this e-mail:
"Hi,
My name is Andrei, and I am the Global Key Account Manager at N*******.
Allow me to address this letter as I would enjoy starting long-term and fruitful cooperation by assisting you with any type of language services due to our reliable list of qualifie... See more I have posted an urgent job approx. an hour and a half ago.
the job was posted as restricted to proZ.com members and freelancers only.
Within 10 minutes I received this e-mail:
"Hi,
My name is Andrei, and I am the Global Key Account Manager at N*******.
Allow me to address this letter as I would enjoy starting long-term and fruitful cooperation by assisting you with any type of language services due to our reliable list of qualified linguists who have strong knowledge of various fields of expertise.
We can cover the Scandinavian segment as well as the Central and East European market, and we have great translators for Baltic and Asian languages.
We offer solutions such as Translation, Proofreading, QA, DTP, Transcription, and Subtitling. Regarding CAT tools, we have extensive experience working in Memsource, Trados Studio, MemoQ, Matecat, AutoCAD, CorelDraw, SubtitleEdit, and EZtitles.
Thank you for your consideration, always glad to hear from you."
Dear Mr C*******,
First, may name is not „Hi”
„We can cover the Scandinavian segment as well as the Central and East European market, and we have great translators for Baltic and Asian languages.”
May I ask you that your sudden appearance in the middle of the night was not connected to a job which I announced on the ProZ.com platform an hour ago and related to those Scandinavian languages in the job description? If yes, may I ask how you were able to see the job which was restricted to freelancers only?
May I ask you what is the purpose to abuse me with the „collaboration offer” if I clearly indicated "no agencies please"?
Is the Global Key Account Manager of the translation office does not understand that I cannot and/or do not wish to collaborate with anyone else but freelancers
because I strongly believe that any other office just will raise the costs and the translators will receive pennies/peanuts at the end?
So, how and from where you had the idea? Is that crystal clear that you saw my job announcement so there is a serious data protection issue around ProZ.com."
Hmmmmm... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anne Maclennan
Local time: 10:57
Member (2010)
German to English
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| Scammer site | May 26, 2022 |
I have just consulted the home page at the URL provided by several contributors. The comment about the responsiveness of various professional sites, such as this one was interesting. They do not seem to think very highly of the speed of response by ProZ to their warnings. One site was also criticised and another site seems to respond more quickly and effectively. Is it not time that Proz really earned its fees and responded at least as quickly and effectively as the most responsive site mentione... See more I have just consulted the home page at the URL provided by several contributors. The comment about the responsiveness of various professional sites, such as this one was interesting. They do not seem to think very highly of the speed of response by ProZ to their warnings. One site was also criticised and another site seems to respond more quickly and effectively. Is it not time that Proz really earned its fees and responded at least as quickly and effectively as the most responsive site mentioned on the scammer directory's home page? ▲ Collapse
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