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Unsolicited Email Response - You sent me your CV because???
Thread poster: Dylan J Hartmann
Dylan J Hartmann
Dylan J Hartmann  Identity Verified
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...

MODERATOR
May 29, 2017

So, I've been getting a fair few unsolicited emails from linguists in my language pair. I generally apologise politely saying that I work alone and don't need anything more to worry about etc. etc. (my direction is Thai-English).

Today I received a very formal unsolicited email from a gentleman which said:
"Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to introduce myself as an accredited and experienced freelance translator and researcher.

With a multicultural background and as an Arabic Native speaker, I have been working as a freelance translator for more than 8 years. I have worked on a variety of projects translating from Arabic into English and vice versa acquired experience in many areas from technics, medicine to finance, legal and marketing. I am now looking for new challenges in my career."


Arabic!? What was he thinking? Do many of us freelancers run agencies that handle multiple languages in our free time or had this guy just spammed the whole ProZ listing?

So, at 1:00am in the morning my response was as frank as could be:
"I’m a freelance Thai>English translator…. why would I ever need your Arabic services?

You haven’t done very good research for an 'accredited researcher'….dumbass"




[Edited at 2017-05-29 15:42 GMT]


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 21:51
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Why bother to insult the writer? May 29, 2017

I imagine he's bought a list of translators' email addresses, sold by someone who's unscrupulous enough to earn a living that way. It's that scammer who deserves your insults. The one who wrote to you is behaving very stupidly, that's for sure. But ignoring the email is far simpler, IMO. And it doesn't provide confirmation that the email is indeed genuine and belongs to a practising translator. That information could lead to you being targeted even more should it get back to the scammer.

 
Maija Cirule
Maija Cirule  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 23:51
German to English
+ ...
I fully understand your response May 29, 2017

DJHartmann wrote:

So, I've been getting a fair few unsolicited emails from linguists in my language pair. I generally apologise politely saying that I work alone and don't need anything more to worry about etc. etc. (my direction is Thai-English).

Today I received a very formal unsolicited email from a gentleman which said:
"Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to introduce myself as an accredited and experienced freelance translator and researcher.

With a multicultural background and as an Arabic Native speaker, I have been working as a freelance translator for more than 8 years. I have worked on a variety of projects translating from Arabic into English and vice versa acquired experience in many areas from technics, medicine to finance, legal and marketing. I am now looking for new challenges in my career."


Arabic!? What was he thinking? Do many of us freelancers run agencies that handle multiple languages in our free time or had this guy just spammed the whole ProZ listing?

So, at 1:00am in the morning my response was as frank as could be:
"I’m a freelance Thai>English translator…. why would I ever need your Arabic services?

You haven’t done very good research for an 'accredited researcher'….dumbass"




[Edited at 2017-05-29 15:42 GMT]


From time to time, I receive messages from the dumbest persons possible, mainly from PMs requesting my Europass CV, "best rates", use of their CAT tools and other "requests", that are explicitly specified as don'ts in my profile. It seems that these people are dumb, blind and illiterate and feel themselves as VIPs to boot. I simply block their addresses but sometimes consider the possibility to express my feelings:)


 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:51
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
Yes it is a list not the translator himself May 29, 2017

Sheila Wilson wrote:

I imagine he's bought a list of translators' email addresses, sold by someone who's unscrupulous enough to earn a living that way. It's that scammer who deserves your insults. The one who wrote to you is behaving very stupidly, that's for sure. But ignoring the email is far simpler, IMO. And it doesn't provide confirmation that the email is indeed genuine and belongs to a practising translator. That information could lead to you being targeted even more should it get back to the scammer.


I have been receiving at least 5 per day for 10 years now, in various pairs. I simply delete them..

[Edited at 2017-05-29 17:17 GMT]


 
Dylan J Hartmann
Dylan J Hartmann  Identity Verified
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...

MODERATOR
TOPIC STARTER
Yes, I can see your point, it's the list. May 29, 2017

While my name (and I suppose many of our names) has been added to a list, would any agency even bother to read unsolicited emails sent by aspiring translators?

I didn't intend to be insulting, dumbass is a more 'endearing' term for someone who has performed something totally ridiculous.

So, he's done two silly things: unsolicited email
... See more
While my name (and I suppose many of our names) has been added to a list, would any agency even bother to read unsolicited emails sent by aspiring translators?

I didn't intend to be insulting, dumbass is a more 'endearing' term for someone who has performed something totally ridiculous.

So, he's done two silly things: unsolicited emails to freelancers in totally separate language combinations and spam 'potential' agencies....
Collapse


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:51
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Useless effort May 29, 2017

All these emails are spam from known spammers. I encourage you to report these emails to a blacklist, such as SpamCop.

 
Tradupro17
Tradupro17
United States
Local time: 17:51
English to Haitian-Creole
+ ...
Now I understand why May 29, 2017

since I recently joined ProZ.com, I have been getting plenty of weird emails, some accusing me of emailing them with my photo soliciting God knows what, phony companies or outsourcers with any language pairs not even close to mine. I wonder, how safe is our information? Not to mention that I am feeling pressured to put more and more out there in the hope of getting some work.

 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:51
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Just have a look, whether you can find your applicant here: May 29, 2017

DJHartmann wrote:

Arabic!? What was he thinking? Do many of us freelancers run agencies that handle multiple languages in our free time or had this guy just spammed the whole ProZ listing?


http://www.translator-scammers.com/translator-scammers-directory.htm

Perhaps you can even find your own name there, somehow associated with a gmail adress...


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:51
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Blindly May 29, 2017

Emails of the kind mentioned are sent out in bulk by translators who are trying to find work for themselves by emailing thousands of names about which they know nothing. It's the "scattergun" approach. Maybe one person in 1,000 will reply. The other 999 are just annoyed.

 
Dylan J Hartmann
Dylan J Hartmann  Identity Verified
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...

MODERATOR
TOPIC STARTER
aha! So, I was right to treat him with contempt! May 30, 2017

Matthias Brombach wrote:

DJHartmann wrote:

Arabic!? What was he thinking? Do many of us freelancers run agencies that handle multiple languages in our free time or had this guy just spammed the whole ProZ listing?


http://www.translator-scammers.com/translator-scammers-directory.htm

Perhaps you can even find your own name there, somehow associated with a gmail address...



And we find our gentleman emailer there!

For the record, my name isn't there! Thank goodness


 
Meta Arkadia
Meta Arkadia
Local time: 04:51
English to Indonesian
+ ...
Intelligence? What intelligence? May 30, 2017

Matthias Brombach wrote:
Perhaps you can even find your own name there, somehow associated with a gmail adress...


I couldn't even access the website, let alone find my name. And I tried VPN as well.



I don't spam, and I don't use gmail.

Cheers,

Hans


 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:51
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Then, why not ... May 30, 2017

DJHartmann wrote:
And we find our gentleman emailer there!


... offer him a (fake) job? Of course in a language combination he does not offer. You will see, how quickly he will have learnt another foreing language in no time ...

[Edited at 2017-05-30 05:36 GMT]


 
Dylan J Hartmann
Dylan J Hartmann  Identity Verified
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...

MODERATOR
TOPIC STARTER
What do they do? May 30, 2017

I'm still unaware how this scam works...

Is it that someone sends him translation jobs, he hires another translator to do it, delivers to me, gets paid, and then stiffs the person who actually did the work?


 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:51
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
How it works: May 30, 2017

DJHartmann wrote:

I'm still unaware how this scam works...


In http://www.translator-scammers.com/translator-scammers-info.htm#scam
under "The scam explained" there is a graphic showing you how it works.
And it works: mostly with unexperienced outsourcers and "vendors" like I was a couple of years ago, when I was assigned a (quite small) job by a fake agency. The whole bluff collapsed when I was contacted by the real agency whose identity was stolen by the scammer, and together with proz we could even find the original true job poster, who was cheaten by the scammer, too. Finally, my loss was small and I learnt my lesson to apply some sort of risk management with job offers from unknown agencies.
Rule of thumb: gmail adress (or domain / host) = ring your inner alarm bells...


 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:51
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
What is wrong with gmail? May 30, 2017

Matthias Brombach wrote:

DJHartmann wrote:

I'm still unaware how this scam works...



Rule of thumb: gmail adress (or domain / host) = ring your inner alarm bells...


I am using gmail (albeit under my own paid domain name, got 3 of them), so I am a scammer? Thank you very much!

What is this nonsense? (and no, I am not on the list).

[Edited at 2017-05-30 09:17 GMT]


 
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Unsolicited Email Response - You sent me your CV because???







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