Is it common to receive unsolicited email from legit agencies? Thread poster: Kristina Love
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Kristina Love 
United States
Local time: 18:39
Spanish to English
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I just realized today when going through my Spam folder that I had been contacted by several agencies who were inviting me to apply for specific jobs.
Going by the the Proz.com profile of sender, they had decent Blue Board ratings and legit looking websites.
One of the companies mentions on their profile that they are being impersonated by a scam, but the email I got had the correct/authentic domain.
My main suspicion about impersonators stems from the fa... See more I just realized today when going through my Spam folder that I had been contacted by several agencies who were inviting me to apply for specific jobs.
Going by the the Proz.com profile of sender, they had decent Blue Board ratings and legit looking websites.
One of the companies mentions on their profile that they are being impersonated by a scam, but the email I got had the correct/authentic domain.
My main suspicion about impersonators stems from the fact that the emails are not really well-written, contain a few spelling errors, etc. But that could simply be because the person working for a real agency isn't a native English speaker.
And they aren't very glamorous jobs - not ones I'd be interested in, or in some cases even qualified for. So maybe it's just legitimate agencies trying to cast a very wide net and contact as many freelance translators as possible.
Does this sound like it's normal or a scam?
Thanks in advance!
[Edited at 2021-07-24 02:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ettore Peyrot
Italy
Local time: 00:39
Member (2005)
English to Italian
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| You shouldn't cosider job offers sent directly to you as "unsolicited emails" :-) | Jul 23, 2021 |
We often contact individual translators inviting them to apply for a specific job. Why? Because let's say for an ES>EN job we could prefer selecting 20-30 ES>EN translators from the Proz.com Directory and waiting for teir replies and availability, instead of posting a public job which would lead to hundreds of email replies with a great % of scammers trying to slip in.
Ettore R.Peyrot
Ability Services
[Edited at 2021-07-23 17:54 GMT]
| | | | | That's the point | Jul 23, 2021 |
Agencies that address you via your Proz profile are about the best thing that can happen to you here and this is the best chance to get interesting jobs, much better than applying for jobs yourself. As a freelancer you should be interested in getting projects, or not?
That said, of course there is also a lot of noise between the serious and interesting offers. First of all, scammers will close in on you, particularly if your profile still is new here on Proz. Make sure to read some ... See more Agencies that address you via your Proz profile are about the best thing that can happen to you here and this is the best chance to get interesting jobs, much better than applying for jobs yourself. As a freelancer you should be interested in getting projects, or not?
That said, of course there is also a lot of noise between the serious and interesting offers. First of all, scammers will close in on you, particularly if your profile still is new here on Proz. Make sure to read some of the scam threads here and be aware that there are those scammers out there. If you do some due diligence, make sure that the other person is who they claim to be, and don't accept checks from unknown people, you are nearly safe, though.
And of course there are many lowballers and bottom fishers, trying to get you to accept projects with ridiculous rates. You have to sort this out yourself, but they can still be legitimate businesses. Translation is a global business and the price ideas of market participants can vary widely. You are not compelled to accept anything and when you receive obvious mass emails you also don't need to reply at all.
By the way, spelling errors and poorly written emails are not necessarily signifying scams or non-legitimate emails. Again, keep in mind that you are dealing with a global market, and your clients might not speak your source or target language very well, this is quite common. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kristina Love
United States
Local time: 18:39
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thanks, ettore and Kay-Viktor | Jul 23, 2021 |
OK, that is great to hear, and I'll keep all of that in mind.
I was initially contacted by a few obvious scammers and because I flagged it, now legit agency email that looks somewhat similar is going into my Spam folder and I just realized it today. A little alarming to think I missed some real opportunities! Luckily, they weren't jobs that I was interested in taking at this time.
I didn't think anyone would find me through the directory given that I'm on page 18 for... See more OK, that is great to hear, and I'll keep all of that in mind.
I was initially contacted by a few obvious scammers and because I flagged it, now legit agency email that looks somewhat similar is going into my Spam folder and I just realized it today. A little alarming to think I missed some real opportunities! Luckily, they weren't jobs that I was interested in taking at this time.
I didn't think anyone would find me through the directory given that I'm on page 18 for my language pair. I'm glad to know I'm being found.
Thanks again so much for the information. ▲ Collapse
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