Legality of Payment Process. I want to make sure that the steps are normal or legit.
Thread poster: Angel L Perez Rosado
Angel L Perez Rosado
Angel L Perez Rosado  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 18:38
Spanish to English
+ ...
Sep 14, 2017

Dear sirs, I was contacted by a person who got my information from one of my web pages. Offering a translation job for an article on the next killer flu, it was 11-pages long, and I made my offer and expressed my terms for the job, and they were accepted. This person claims to represent a Health Management Company, which exists on line and has about five different offices around the world.
So far, so good; now what is calling to my attention and here is where I need assistance is the
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Dear sirs, I was contacted by a person who got my information from one of my web pages. Offering a translation job for an article on the next killer flu, it was 11-pages long, and I made my offer and expressed my terms for the job, and they were accepted. This person claims to represent a Health Management Company, which exists on line and has about five different offices around the world.
So far, so good; now what is calling to my attention and here is where I need assistance is the following; the person tells me that their finances department will contact me with instructions on how to process a check with the new check image scanning feature on my banking app so that once the job is reviewed and approved the funds will be made available for deposit. This part I know can work like this, so no problem, now the finances department contacts me with a check which complies with the modern requirements for check deposit, but the check is from a different jurisdiction than the person that hired me. Second, the person sends me a check for a larger amount telling me to deposit it and then send the remaining amount to another individual who was supposedly hired for the publishing of the work I am to translate. This deposit is to be made to the Western Union account for which they will provide me the information later when the check is deposited. My concern is that I have never needed to use Western Union services other than an occasional money order and the general belief that this entities services are usually used by scammers and people to launder money and fund illegal activities.

My question will be if this has been employed in prior scams? Has anyone been paid this way because it is a needed process across some jurisdictions? Should I approach these persons directly risking losing a strong job opportunity? I am to the various business options of this profession at an international level, so if anyone cares to enlighten me, please proceed.

I will appreciate any information provided to me from forum members. Thanks.
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Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 23:38
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
This is the key part of the matter Sep 14, 2017

Angel L Perez Rosado wrote:
...Second, the person sends me a check for a larger amount telling me to deposit it and then send the remaining amount to another individual who was supposedly hired for the publishing of the work I am to translate.

I do not need to read any further: nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody, especially unknown people, will pay more than the agreed amount. This is a clear scam. My advice is that you interrupt all communication with this person and forget about the matter altogether.


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 23:38
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
The scam explained Sep 14, 2017

Here: https://www.proz.com/about/translator-scam-alerts/#advance_payment_overpayment_scam

 
Marjolein Snippe
Marjolein Snippe  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 23:38
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Fake check scam Sep 14, 2017

This is a very common scam; if you deposit the check, at first it may seem that all is well, but later (may be weeks later), the bank will find out the check is false, and the money that was at first deposited, is taken away from your account. By that time, if you have already transferred the "extra" amount, you will have lost the money you transferred with nothing in return.

See for
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This is a very common scam; if you deposit the check, at first it may seem that all is well, but later (may be weeks later), the bank will find out the check is false, and the money that was at first deposited, is taken away from your account. By that time, if you have already transferred the "extra" amount, you will have lost the money you transferred with nothing in return.

See for example http://www.fraud.org/fake_check_scams

This is what proz.com says about this type of scam, on http://wiki.proz.com/wiki/index.php/Detecting_and_reacting_to_false_job_offers_and_other_scams

A different kind of scammers are not related to translation but may try to engage you in fake job offers as an excuse, but they are not interested at all in the fruits of your work.

They may for instance send you forged checks in excess of the agreed-upon amount and then ask you to wire back the excess payment (your loss once the checks are bounced)


I hope you have not done any translation work for this client yet.
They are not real clients, and will not pay you (but try to steal from you instead).
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 23:38
Spanish to English
+ ...
Let me get this straight ... Sep 14, 2017

"Second, the person sends me a check for a larger amount telling me to deposit it and then send the remaining amount to another individual who was supposedly hired for the publishing of the work I am to translate."


WHY in the name of God are you asked to act as paymaster for somebody you've never worked for before, sending money to someone you've never heard of before?

Tomás and Marjolein have kindly outlined how it works for you, but this scam's so old now it's
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"Second, the person sends me a check for a larger amount telling me to deposit it and then send the remaining amount to another individual who was supposedly hired for the publishing of the work I am to translate."


WHY in the name of God are you asked to act as paymaster for somebody you've never worked for before, sending money to someone you've never heard of before?

Tomás and Marjolein have kindly outlined how it works for you, but this scam's so old now it's got a stick, chronic arthritis and a dodgy prostate.

[Edited at 2017-09-14 16:17 GMT]

[Edited at 2017-09-14 16:18 GMT]
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Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 23:38
Member
English to French
Very common indeed Sep 14, 2017

The forums are filled with this kind of scam, but it's not translator-specific.

I was approached with a similar scenario when I advertised a couch on a second-hand selling site. The extra money was to pay the moving company that would pick up the couch. Through Western Union, of course.

This scam can be adapted ad nauseam.

Philippe


 


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Legality of Payment Process. I want to make sure that the steps are normal or legit.







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