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Complaint about recently delivered technical translation task!
Thread poster: Clarisa Moraña
Clarisa Moraña
Clarisa Moraña  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:20
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Apr 1, 2017

Dear colleagues


I've just received an email, apparently sent by a Proz colleague (I've already written him, as I'm sure I've not worked for him). The text is as follows:


Dear Clarisa Moraña,

You recently did a very important technical translation task for one of our most important customers. We are always expecting top quality from our providers, especially in such a important projects.

However, our QA department c... See more
Dear colleagues


I've just received an email, apparently sent by a Proz colleague (I've already written him, as I'm sure I've not worked for him). The text is as follows:


Dear Clarisa Moraña,

You recently did a very important technical translation task for one of our most important customers. We are always expecting top quality from our providers, especially in such a important projects.

However, our QA department checked your delivered translation and sadly I must say the quality was really unacceptable.

Considering this issue and inconveniences made to us, please be so kind and transfer appropriate compensation to our bank account ASAP

Details:

Johnie Bravo Bank Plc.
Address: Foolsday avenue 9, Riga, LV-1009, Latvia

SWIFT: FL2017DAY
IBAN: FLD2017A192837465523413

Please see your translation with corrections below!

To avoid such unpleasant situations in the future, we strongly recommend to use professional, reliable and experienced TranslatePRO translators through: NAME@TRANSLATION AGENCY

Hope to hear from you soon,

TranslatePRO Team and Managing Director

SIGNED



Of course, for a fools day joke, it is not a joke, and I won't accept returning any amount of money to Mr. Johnie Bravo, as I think he must earn a lot of money from his TV show, and I'm sure I've never worked for that translation agency. The person who did so -a bad joke or whatever- certainly is from Proz.com, as I've seen that another similar post complaining about the situation has already been deleted.

I've already sent an email to the colleague whose name is in the email I've just received.

Kind regards

Clarisa
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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 20:20
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Fool's Day Apr 1, 2017

Hi Clarisa,

well, his address says it all.

If I remember correctly, there was not a single English street name in Riga. Someone is obviously trying to pull your leg.

Have a nice - fool-free weekend.


 
Clarisa Moraña
Clarisa Moraña  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:20
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
This is not a joke! At least, not for me. Apr 1, 2017

Thayenga wrote:

Hi Clarisa,

well, his address says it all.

If I remember correctly, there was not a single English street name in Riga. Someone is obviously trying to pull your leg.

Have a nice - fool-free weekend.


First, I'm a translator based in Argentina. Today is not fool's day in our country. I don't find it funny at all.
Second: The email went directly to my spam folder. Why?
Third: it contain some suspicious attachment. Are they sending a virus?
Fourth: At least, three translators have received the same email.
Finally: I have no contact, I don't know the translator nor the translation company sending me the email. Not even from linked in.

A complete non sense. If it was a joke, it is a real bad joke.


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 19:20
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Not funny at all, IMHO Apr 1, 2017

Clarisa Moraña wrote:

Thayenga wrote:

Hi Clarisa,

well, his address says it all.

If I remember correctly, there was not a single English street name in Riga. Someone is obviously trying to pull your leg.

Have a nice - fool-free weekend.


First, I'm a translator based in Argentina. Today is not fool's day in our country. I don't find it funny at all.
Second: The email went directly to my spam folder. Why?
Third: it contain some suspicious attachment. Are they sending a virus?
Fourth: At least, three translators have received the same email.
Finally: I have no contact, I don't know the translator nor the translation company sending me the email. Not even from linked in.

A complete non sense. If it was a joke, it is a real bad joke.

This is presumably being sent to people:
1) Who have never lived in the UK and don't have any idea about April Fools Day (here in Spain the equivalent is 23rd December);
2) Have never been to Riga either;
3) Don't have English as their native language (maybe not even as a working language - I don't know);
4) May have worked for this company recently, so there could conceivably by such concerns;
5) And may be in such a panic about receiving it that they don't take in the significance of that particular street name and bank name.

Unless I'm the only one suffering from a temporary loss of humour, this could be extremely distressing to some people. It isn't funny to cause anyone distress, in my book.

Tell me, Clarisa, how did this arrive? Was it a message sent through your ProZ.com website? If so, that person's profile has to be deleted by staff, I think. It's a gross misuse of the directory.


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 20:20
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Sarcasm vs. funny Apr 1, 2017

Clarisa Moraña wrote:

Thayenga wrote:

Hi Clarisa,

well, his address says it all.

If I remember correctly, there was not a single English street name in Riga. Someone is obviously trying to pull your leg.

Have a nice - fool-free weekend.


First, I'm a translator based in Argentina. Today is not fool's day in our country. I don't find it funny at all.
Second: The email went directly to my spam folder. Why?
Third: it contain some suspicious attachment. Are they sending a virus?
Fourth: At least, three translators have received the same email.
Finally: I have no contact, I don't know the translator nor the translation company sending me the email. Not even from linked in.

A complete non sense. If it was a joke, it is a real bad joke.


Sorry, I guess my sense of sarcasm didn't come through.

I know that this is extremely dangerous and can cost you or any other translator a lot of money. That is, if he or she has indeed accepted work from that agency.

So thank you for making this known to us.

And yes, it's good that you've contacted our colleague.

If this is coming from someone here at ProZ (not the person whom you have contacted to warn him), the the profile should be deleted immediately.


[Edited at 2017-04-01 16:17 GMT]


 
Adam Warren
Adam Warren  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 20:20
Member (2005)
French to English
And here's a fourth victim Apr 1, 2017

My commiserations to Clarisa and all of you. It was a nasty shock to receive the e-mail, but the address was obviously, and reassuringly fake. Even so, I agree that the ProZ.com staff should discipline the agency that sent the e-mail, rather than peremptorily striking out the complaint. A listening ear to legitimate unease among translators would not come amiss.

With best wishes,

Adam Warren (IanDhu - Translator 41189)


 
Natalie
Natalie  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 20:20
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...

MODERATOR
SITE LOCALIZER
Did you get the email through ProZ.com? Apr 1, 2017

IanDhu wrote:
...I agree that the ProZ.com staff should discipline the agency that sent the e-mail, rather than peremptorily striking out the complaint.


If yes, have you submitted a support request?



[Edited at 2017-04-01 17:42 GMT]


 
Heike Fetting
Heike Fetting  Identity Verified
New Zealand
Local time: 08:20
Italian to German
+ ...
Big scam Apr 1, 2017

I received the same email and was not amused.
I did some research and found that the web address is linked to an archived website of a Latvian translation agency which appears not to exist anymore, at least not under that name. The name of the sender (and "Team and Managing Director") appears to be the name of a genuine translator. I am now wondering whether that company's/translator's names have been used without their knowledge. Maybe they have been scammed themselves? In any case, I agr
... See more
I received the same email and was not amused.
I did some research and found that the web address is linked to an archived website of a Latvian translation agency which appears not to exist anymore, at least not under that name. The name of the sender (and "Team and Managing Director") appears to be the name of a genuine translator. I am now wondering whether that company's/translator's names have been used without their knowledge. Maybe they have been scammed themselves? In any case, I agree with you and this matter should be reported and investigated as it is certainly not funny.
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Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 20:20
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Scam! Apr 1, 2017

It only takes reading the first two lines to notice it is a scam.

Report the matter immediately to Proz.com so that they can throw the scammer overboard.


 
Natalie
Natalie  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 20:20
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...

MODERATOR
SITE LOCALIZER
Once again Apr 1, 2017

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Report the matter immediately to Proz.com so that they can throw the scammer overboard.


Reporting makes sense ONLY in case messages have been received through ProZ.com.

ProZ.com is unable to take care of any scam received via any other website.


 
Clarisa Moraña
Clarisa Moraña  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:20
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Throw the scammer overboard? Apr 1, 2017

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:

It only takes reading the first two lines to notice it is a scam.

Report the matter immediately to Proz.com so that they can throw the scammer overboard.


I believe the sender was not the same person who signed the email. If this was a joke, even though it is clear in the third line, it was not funny to me. I don't think the profile should be banned, nor that he person should be punished. But I think that whoever did so, should be a little bit more cautious when sending foolsday jokes.

And I never worked for that company, nor the translator.

Have a great weekend!

Clarisa


 
Sonya Gerisch
Sonya Gerisch  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:20
German to English
Received the same spam email Apr 2, 2017

I received the same spam email. I also know of at least one person who received it in German as well. I also did not find it humorous at all. I responded to the sender advising that I did not appreciate it.

If the alleged sender was spammed himself, then he needs to put out a statement on the forums saying so. If he obtained our email addresses through Proz and was somehow trying to use this as a poor attempt to obtain translation work, then Proz needs to ban this person for abuse.
... See more
I received the same spam email. I also know of at least one person who received it in German as well. I also did not find it humorous at all. I responded to the sender advising that I did not appreciate it.

If the alleged sender was spammed himself, then he needs to put out a statement on the forums saying so. If he obtained our email addresses through Proz and was somehow trying to use this as a poor attempt to obtain translation work, then Proz needs to ban this person for abuse. Absolutely!

I would appreciate it if a moderator or someone from Proz could advise us one way or the other. I have my computer guy looking into it because I was afraid my website was hacked and was being used to spam others! This is simply not humorous at all! I would be happy to provide Proz technical support with the email header info.
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Rebecca Hendry
Rebecca Hendry  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:20
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Another victim (in the UK) Apr 2, 2017

I received it too, and had the same reaction: anxiety and concern followed by annoyance. It's in very poor taste.

I was sent it twice, to two email addresses, one of which I haven't used for work for at least 10 years. Whoever is sending these emails has a long list of translators' contact details on file.

I was sent it directly, not through Proz, so although I don't expect Proz to take any action I do think it's important to be able to share our experiences here.


 
Enrico C - ECLC
Enrico C - ECLC  Identity Verified
Taiwan
Local time: 03:20
English to Italian
+ ...
Got it too Apr 2, 2017

I received it over the weekend.

I was about to post it too when i saw this thread. Just some lowlife trying to make some bucks.


 
Paul Malone
Paul Malone  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 20:20
Member (2004)
French to English
+ ...
We are not amused! Apr 2, 2017

It didn't even arrive on the right day, I got it today!

 
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Complaint about recently delivered technical translation task!







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