| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Agency exploiting the fact that we care about children Thread poster: Tom in London
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:13
Member (2008)
Italian to English
I have just received an email from an agency, using an address that was presumably phished from Proz.com. Very prominent at the top is a picture of children suffering in the Third World, plus a quote from Nelson Mandela.
Then there's an invitation for you to join this agency by *paying for membership* !! With no guarantee whatever that you will ever get any work.
Then at the bottom it says (the bad English and mistakes are theirs, not mine):
"We also believ... See more I have just received an email from an agency, using an address that was presumably phished from Proz.com. Very prominent at the top is a picture of children suffering in the Third World, plus a quote from Nelson Mandela.
Then there's an invitation for you to join this agency by *paying for membership* !! With no guarantee whatever that you will ever get any work.
Then at the bottom it says (the bad English and mistakes are theirs, not mine):
"We also believe in social causes and support the Fundraiser XXXX, a foundation to help less fortunate children to have education for a brighter future. Please check out the website at XXXXX and see if you would also like to participate in donating. Even 1 USD can contribute to help change the life of these children, building not only a strong community in ZZZZZ but also helping build lives of those in need. Our community is here for you to make an income on your developed skills, and we hope you would like to give a child with less opportunity that ability as well through education."
NOTE: this is just BS. They simply invite you to give to charity if you want to. There is no committment to anything either by them, or by you.
In my opinion this is a particularly tasteless form of scamming that tries to exploit our admiration for Mandela and our concern about children to seduce us into paying a translation agency for....nothing.
Needless to say I did NOT click on any of the links.
Has anyone else received this?
[Edited at 2016-01-25 09:19 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jessica Noyes 
United States
Local time: 04:13
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
The same thing came through my mail this morning. I have all images blocked, though, so I missed out on the visuals.
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 04:13
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| I received something similar | Jan 25, 2016 |
Jessica Noyes wrote:
The same thing came through my mail this morning. I have all images blocked, though, so I missed out on the visuals.
But it was from a translation portal similar to proz, other than a translation agency.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:13
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
jyuan_us wrote: Jessica Noyes wrote:
The same thing came through my mail this morning. I have all images blocked, though, so I missed out on the visuals. But it was from a translation portal similar to proz, other than a translation agency.
It didn't seem like a portal to me, just an agency.
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Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 04:13
Spanish to English
+ ...
| I just got it too... | Jan 25, 2016 |
Apparently they are using the ProZ directory.
In case you aren't stupid enough to pay to possibly get one of the "thousands of jobs posted every month" (probably taken from ProZ), they do offer you a convenient paypal button to donate to "hungry children".
[Edited at 2016-01-25 14:30 GMT]
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 04:13
Spanish to English
+ ...
I just checked and that's exactly what they are doing - copying job posts from Proz. For example, there is a Dutch to Slovenian job and an English to Tigrinya on Proz and on this site. There is even the French to Japanese project that was just posted on Proz.
I sent a report to ProZ about this issue.
I also think that most of the resumes/profiles on the site may be fake as well (trick to get you to sign up?). For example, if you search for French translators, you get 3... See more I just checked and that's exactly what they are doing - copying job posts from Proz. For example, there is a Dutch to Slovenian job and an English to Tigrinya on Proz and on this site. There is even the French to Japanese project that was just posted on Proz.
I sent a report to ProZ about this issue.
I also think that most of the resumes/profiles on the site may be fake as well (trick to get you to sign up?). For example, if you search for French translators, you get 350 pages, but the vast majority of them, over 320 pages have not logged in for a year or more.
[Edited at 2016-01-25 14:56 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | They fooled us. | Jan 25, 2016 |
A long time ago, I worked for an A company. It was a well-known and legitimate establishment in the translation industry. It required me to install a cutting-edge software the company developed to handle its files. I did it. Along the project, I observed the application behavior. It stole my data and information and sent them to its server. Several months after completion of the project, a W company representative contacted me and revealed that the A company sold my information and data to her c... See more A long time ago, I worked for an A company. It was a well-known and legitimate establishment in the translation industry. It required me to install a cutting-edge software the company developed to handle its files. I did it. Along the project, I observed the application behavior. It stole my data and information and sent them to its server. Several months after completion of the project, a W company representative contacted me and revealed that the A company sold my information and data to her company.
Another real story, Google notified me about abnormal internet traffics from my computer to reach Google Translate server without my concern. Responding the notification, I, then, monitored my traffic and found that a software from a reputable company used my internet connection and IP address to connect to Google Translate server and then sent the extracted data to the W company' server. I uninstalled the software and Google never contacted me again.
Both stories were real.
SOME legitimate, well-known, and reputable companies also do dirty practices, although their methods are subtle. These experiences teach me a lesson that individual end users, which never require me to install any application, are the safest customers.
[Edited at 2016-01-25 15:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Iris Schmerda
France
Local time: 10:13
Member (2016)
French to German
+ ...
| Got the same | Jan 25, 2016 |
I just got the same message, even with my full name in it.
Unfortunately, a few years ago I created a profile on this site.
As the site was completely useless, I wanted to remove the profile later, but never managed to find out how that works.
I even wrote a message to them for that. They answered that they would remove the profile, but today, almost two years later, it is still there ...
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 04:13
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
[Edited at 2016-01-25 19:02 GMT]
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 04:13
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
[Edited at 2016-01-25 19:03 GMT]
| | | | | Delete all the info of your profile, Iris | Jan 25, 2016 |
Iris Schmerda wrote:
I just got the same message, even with my full name in it.
Unfortunately, a few years ago I created a profile on this site.
As the site was completely useless, I wanted to remove the profile later, but never managed to find out how that works.
I even wrote a message to them for that. They answered that they would remove the profile, but today, almost two years later, it is still there ...
Iris, an alternative is to access your profile on this site and "edit" all the information.
Just leave it empty or with an "x" or something like that, including your name, or at least part of it. I think most sites do not allow you to change your name. You can even leave a link to your ProZ profile or personal website too.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:13
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Iris Schmerda wrote:
Unfortunately, a few years ago I created a profile on this site.
Did you pay for "membership"?
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Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 01:13
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
+ ...
| I received it | Jan 25, 2016 |
Tom in London wrote:
Has anyone else received this?
And my reaction was the same as yours.
[Edited at 2016-01-26 17:54 GMT]
| | | | Iris Schmerda
France
Local time: 10:13
Member (2016)
French to German
+ ...
| Never paid for it | Jan 26, 2016 |
Thank you Romix.
I just checked and saw that I had removed all information from the profile, so it can't be found on Google. I had even changed my email adress into one that doesn't exist anymore ... therefore I usually don't get any messages from them.
But the message yesterday was to my right email adress, and even with my full name. Probably impossible to know if they had taken the information from this still existing profile or from elsewhere ...
That's how it is.... See more Thank you Romix.
I just checked and saw that I had removed all information from the profile, so it can't be found on Google. I had even changed my email adress into one that doesn't exist anymore ... therefore I usually don't get any messages from them.
But the message yesterday was to my right email adress, and even with my full name. Probably impossible to know if they had taken the information from this still existing profile or from elsewhere ...
That's how it is.
No Tom,
I never paid for any membership with them.
The profile is a free one, so I can't even access any of their jobs.
Only paying members can see the details of jobs or bid on them.
I set this up several years ago, not knowing that it would be completely useless. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Juliano Martins
Brazil
Local time: 05:13
Member (2008)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| I received... | Jan 26, 2016 |
... the same email.
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Agency exploiting the fact that we care about children | TM-Town | Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business
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