| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Increase in scamming attempts? Thread poster: Philippe Etienne
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Hello there,
Have you noticed whether crooks are more active on the internet, now that many people are stuck at home, exploring the Web without experience or without being aware of the various forms of swindles?
I don't know if it's a coincidence, but besides the usual junk mail to become friends, meet eastern girls, win loads of money or save people's lives, I was targeted manually twice this past week by people I assume are scammers.
-Wallapop: somebody i... See more Hello there,
Have you noticed whether crooks are more active on the internet, now that many people are stuck at home, exploring the Web without experience or without being aware of the various forms of swindles?
I don't know if it's a coincidence, but besides the usual junk mail to become friends, meet eastern girls, win loads of money or save people's lives, I was targeted manually twice this past week by people I assume are scammers.
-Wallapop: somebody is interested in some second-hand equipment I'm selling, but wants us to communicate through e-mail ([email protected]). Their wallapop profile is no longer active.
-My website: Misty McAuley ([email protected]) has filled my contact form and wants me to fill in a form via a link to "start our cooperation"
Sponsored Facebook ads about once-in-a-lifetime discounts seem on the increase too, with real contextual replies from the "supplier" to practical questions from interested parties. Latest one: roltone/roltonecuir with a recently registered website on whois, not a single address on their website and suspicious payment page
Fortunately , I still get genuine requests as well, such as an offer this morning from a UK agency to translate 125 words of marketing text for USD5.
I think that more than ever, we need to ask ourselves whether it is safe to click a link, provide personal data, reply to a message or disclose private information. Scammers are not affected by the lockdown and may seize the opportunity to tap into an added pool of inexperienced internet surfers.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
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I haven’t noticed any increase on scamming attempts so far, but on the other hand I have been flooded with CVs of freelance translators seeking work opportunities. I wouldn’t be surprised if a good percentage of those are fakes. I don’t even open them because I run a micro-enterprise specialized in translations from and into European Portuguese and most (all?) of those CVs are from translators who don’t have Portuguese as a working language…
| | | | Aline Amorim 
Brazil
Local time: 10:52
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Teresa Borges wrote:
I haven’t noticed any increase on scamming attempts so far, but on the other hand I have been flooded with CVs of freelance translators seeking work opportunities. I wouldn’t be surprised if a good percentage of those are fakes. I don’t even open them because I run a micro-enterprise specialized in translations from and into European Portuguese and most (all?) of those CVs are from translators who don’t have Portuguese as a working language…
Me too @Teresa. i work with Brazilian Portuguese.
| | | | | Scammers preying on people's coronavirus worries | Mar 23, 2020 |
I received a scam email, stating that they (the scammers) had access to my computer and would infect me and all my contacts with coronavirus if I didn't send them a specified amount of money.
Edited to add: This is just another version of an already-established widespread scam.
[Edited at 2020-03-23 21:38 GMT]
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 15:52
Spanish to English
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| You're kidding ... | Mar 23, 2020 |
... aren't you, Elizabeth? I tell tall tales myself, but to quote John McEnroe, you cannot be serious. They threaten you with the virus by e-mail? So are you joking, or are they daft?
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I couldn't make this stuff up.
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 15:52
Spanish to English
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| Reproduction | Mar 23, 2020 |
Would you mind copying the body of the e-mail you got here? Got to see this!!
Thanx!
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It's probably best that I delete this now, as it's pretty horrible.
[Edited at 2020-03-23 13:19 GMT]
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 15:52
Spanish to English
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| What you EAT? | Mar 23, 2020 |
Thanks, Elizabeth. Nasty stuff all right. Particularly that chilling phrase:
" ... believe me, if I want to affect, I can."
When people are this bent on affecting, what can you do to stop them affecting? Damn these affectors. There are just so many of them about these days, running around all over the place affecting people.
But quite practical, when all's said and done. "Kolya" even lends a friendly helping hand with the trickier parts of a p... See more Thanks, Elizabeth. Nasty stuff all right. Particularly that chilling phrase:
" ... believe me, if I want to affect, I can."
When people are this bent on affecting, what can you do to stop them affecting? Damn these affectors. There are just so many of them about these days, running around all over the place affecting people.
But quite practical, when all's said and done. "Kolya" even lends a friendly helping hand with the trickier parts of a payment process you may not be familiar with. You've got to admit it's being made easier for you than it was for Dirty Harry being forced to run around telephone kiosks in San Francisco with a bag full of money.
Still, unlike Harry, you can just forget about this tosser. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 15:52
Member (2002)
English to Russian
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MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 15:52
Spanish to English
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I did have password 349578104920580322856490312893470827213574632109857678999 for an application, but I changed it immediately as soon as I heard about Elizabeth's e-mail, in case the mysterious Kolya got hold of it and affected me with his, her or its affections.
It's a crying shame because it was so practical, with those last three easy-to-remember digits, 999.
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 15:52
Spanish to English
+ ...
Is it just on my PC, or is there a glitch? The main forum pane shows 10 Replies but 0 Views for this thread, for example, but this is the case on other threads too, 0 Views but X Replies. How can you have any Replies with 0 Views?
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Natalie
Poland
Local time: 15:52
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER
The system is recovering consciousness after an upgrade of servers during the weekend, so various glitches will be possible during a day or two.
| | | | | Thanks for the link! | Mar 23, 2020 |
Thanks a million for this link, Natalie, I was already starting to cry for coming too late to see this great piece of parody.
(For other latecomers: search for "1fab" - the user name that posted the message.)
What do you think is the point of those Greek letters every now and then? The text will surely still be googlable, unless the characters change in every message...? Is this the case? Or is it just a mark of the genre like those letters cut out from newspapers that the good old blackmailing messages were composed of?
| | | | | It's just a twist on an already-existing scam | Mar 23, 2020 |
Katarzyna Slowikova wrote: Thanks a million for this link, Natalie, I was already starting to cry for coming too late to see this great piece of parody. (For other latecomers: search for "1fab" - the user name that posted the message.) What do you think is the point of those Greek letters every now and then? The text will surely still be googlable, unless the characters change in every message...? Is this the case? Or is it just a mark of the genre like those letters cut out from newspapers that the good old blackmailing messages were composed of?
I've actually had this scam numerous times before, as have many other people. This is just a new twist using the coronavirus.
Those Greek letters occur in many of their messages. I don't think there's much significance to be attributed to them, unless we think we can somehow track these scammers down using detective work? Unlikely. They are as impossible to trace as the telephone scammers we are so familiar with.
[Edited at 2020-03-23 21:34 GMT]
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