| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Has anyone else received this hilarious request? Thread poster: Tom in London
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So, that's today's excitement over with.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:46
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
George Trail wrote:
I actually got an email just now saying that. It was just so empty and barmy and everything. Needless to say, I deleted it straight away.
Was there some trick involved here? Of course I didn't reply.
If I had replied, whoever it was (presumably not "Paul") would know that I exist.
What then?
Whoever did this, it was for a reason.
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Tom in London wrote: Madeleine MacRae Klintebo wrote:
Just registered on ProZ and sent a mass mail to all in the UK, and possibly beyond.
The profile now appears to have been removed. So what was his game?
But it probably involves payments of some kind - for work permit or, more likely, to use your bank account to receive dubious payments.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:46
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Moral: there ought to be some sort of filter to prevent unknown people from joining Proz temporarily for the purpose of carrying out a scam.
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Darn it! So the job has gone. I was thrilled to think that Paul had picked little me, and now I've lost my chance ...
Jenny
| | | | Thayenga 
Germany
Local time: 06:46
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Teresa Borges wrote: Mailand wrote: Now you made me feel REALLY bad - I didn't get it, so I really must be a nobody .... not even scammers contact me!  And I always considered myself perfect Personal Assistant material. ... so far!
Neither did I. And I thought that Paul would surely be delighted having me as his PA. What a let-down?
| | | | | Was he a paying member? | Jan 12, 2014 |
I checked his profile when I got the email and if I remember rightly, he had a paid profile. It seems like a lot of money to pay for a day's membership!
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Tom in London wrote:
Moral: there ought to be some sort of filter to prevent unknown people from joining Proz temporarily for the purpose of carrying out a scam.
I think Proz should set a time limit for a profile remaining bare of some minimum basic information on the user/member. Say they set it to three months. Two weeks before this time expires, the individual will receive an e-mail with a receipt confirmation request, informing them of the situation.
If the person neither confirms receipt nor completes the profile in two weeks, the profile will be automatically deleted. There is no point in keeping ghosts just to show a larger number of users/members.
If the person confirms receipt, however fails to complete that minimum (TBD) information required, their access to some Proz features (e.g. sending messages to anyone through Proz, and possibly others) should be cut. If they just want to watch, let them do so, however preventing them in advance from using the system to send spam.
An example would be profile #99111. Though It could be legit, I doubt so; it sounds like a prank. That person's name, if said aloud, especially with European Portuguese pronunciation, sounds exactly like "Mary Liked the Immoral Pleasures" in Portuguese.
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Oliver Walter
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:46
German to English
+ ...
| I also received it | Jan 13, 2014 |
The email was sent to me on Saturday 11 Jan at 18:14 GMT but I didn't see it until about 27 hours later (because I didn't look at my emails earlier).
Before searching the Proz forums to see whether it was already a subject for discussion (and finding it here), I decided it was probably a fraud because
1. he gave nearly no information about the (supposed) job, and not even his surname (or is it W . . . e?);
2. it was sent via Proz and the sender's profile didn't exist, so... See more The email was sent to me on Saturday 11 Jan at 18:14 GMT but I didn't see it until about 27 hours later (because I didn't look at my emails earlier).
Before searching the Proz forums to see whether it was already a subject for discussion (and finding it here), I decided it was probably a fraud because
1. he gave nearly no information about the (supposed) job, and not even his surname (or is it W . . . e?);
2. it was sent via Proz and the sender's profile didn't exist, so either he had caused it to be removed or Proz staff had decided there was something rather suspicious about it and deleted it.
The sender's IP address (76.79.xxx.xxx) is located in Los Angeles - not very interesting.
(I use en.utrace.de to tell me where an IP address is located, especially if I want to see where an obvious spam or scam email really came from. I've recently received emails claiming to be from the UK Royal Mail but actually from Italy, Japan, Estonia, and other countries.)
If he reads this forum thread, I wonder what his reaction will be. Probably he'll decide that translators are not easy to deceive and he'll try other types of people (or is it possible that he has fooled a Proz member who is not contributing to this thread?). I hope he'll tell us, but I'm sure he won't!
Oliver ▲ Collapse
| | | | Woodstock (X)
Germany
Local time: 06:46
German to English
+ ...
| @Jennifer: Don't be deceived by "appearances" | Jan 13, 2014 |
Jennifer Gordon wrote: I checked his profile when I got the email and if I remember rightly, he had a paid profile. It seems like a lot of money to pay for a day's membership!
These scams are often perpetrated not by individual, small-time con men/women but members of highly professional (if semi-literate), organized gangs who make millions on scams and fraud in general, if not worse. A Proz membership fee is peanuts to them. I've done a little research on this topic, so it really is best to report them to the proper authorities, no matter how insignificant they may seem to us. Make no mistake, these people are criminals, and not to be laughed off.
Here is a link to various e-mail addresses to report some types spam/scams.
http://www.spamlinks.net/track-report-addresses.htm#isp
Edited to add:
There are many "e-mail based job scams" - here is one link on the subject. http://www.bobbear.co.uk/page8.html
It's not exactly the same, but the principle is similar. An excerpt:
"These criminals do not always use a website - they may simply use a contact email address. They send tremendous amounts of spam offering a part time job of "Regional Assistant" or "Local Manager" or "Finance Assistant" or some such bogus title. The job always consists of accepting stolen or just plain counterfeit funds into your account, (which they may stress doesn't need to have existing funds in it), and forwarding it on to the criminals using Moneygram or Western Union less a percentage for yourself. There may be all sorts of "sweeteners" included in the spam such as "prospects of promotion", "professional advice", "pension scheme", "travel expenses" etc, etc. All totally bogus, of course. The initial contact email address is often a Yahoo or AOL, or Gmail or Hotmail address, but whatever it is, the 'job' is fraudulent and illegal and will end up with you losing a lot of money and possibly facing criminal charges. Don't fall for it!"
[Edited at 2014-01-13 14:57 GMT]
| | | | Usch Pilz
Local time: 06:46
English to German
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