| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Has anybody received the following message? (Nigerian scam) Thread poster: Yasutomo Kanazawa
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Yasutomo Kanazawa 
Japan
Local time: 18:04
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Vincenzo Di Maso wrote: Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
Ciao Vincenzo,
I don't have to make a big deal out of it, but do you get spams like this addressed to only you, or to the Proz members? Ciao Yasutomo, proz.com has nothing to do with that in my case. It's the Nigerian scam, as Walter said.
I see. Well, in my case, the letter was addressed not to me only, but to the Prozcom members. That's why I started this topic to see if anybody else in the directory got the same mail as I did.
| | | | Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 18:04
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote: Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote: Magdalena Szewciów wrote: I was even asked to translate several similar letters of the same kind.  That's an eye-opener. I thought these scams were usually written in poor English where these scammers didn't need any help from translators. If I were asked to translate these kind of scams, maybe I should ask payment upfront.  Perhaps this is an unexploited market niche. We translators are surely capable of supplying very good, selling, compelling translations of the letters and help these guys be more effective. Never thought of that! I suggest that Proz.com reply to reported scams with a letter encouraging them to use the Job area to select quality translators for their documents. A profitable business lies ahead, folks!
That's a good one!
| | | | Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 18:04
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | I assumed you didn't take the job | Mar 9, 2010 |
Magdalena Szewciów wrote: When the first customer brought me this letter, I thought this would be just some regular mail. When I finished, I knew this was a scam. I was told by several people NOT to tell the customer anything as he/she would turn against me (well, perhaps I wanted the money... rriiiight....). Anyway, I didn't listen and told the guy what I knew/though, adding this would be his decision to go on or not. Surprisingly, he went on with it and brought another letter (next step?). Oh, I could see the dollar signs in his eyes and the kerching in his ears. Dunno what happened next though. After that 2 or 3 other people came to translate similar letters (the 'evil' thing is that no CAT analysis says there's any similarity but you can see between the lines). I told all these people what I knew. The rest ... is up to them.
I assumed that you didn't take the job. What a risk. I'm not sure about the laws in every country, but seriously speaking, if this fraudster is arrested and confesses that he asked you to translate the letter, you could have had a high chance of police officers coming up to your door, since you knew that this was a scam. Don't take any risks. You could be convicted for accessory to fraud.
Edited for grammatical error.
[Edited at 2010-03-10 12:49 GMT]
| | | | | Getting them all the time! | Mar 10, 2010 |
They are called Africn scam by purpose.
You get them sent from guinea, Kongo, Nigeria Iviry Coast etc.
At least you can improve your knowledge in African Geography.
Yours was new as it was interestingly enough from Malaysia!
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 11:04
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yasutomo,
When you have some time on your hands, you can have a good laugh at the following link. It gives you some idea of how dedicated these people are, and how dedicated at least one man was to beat them at their own game:
++++++++++++
http://www.scambuster419.co.uk/index.html
++++++++++++
Mervyn
| | | | | To Magdalena : Yasutomo is right. Be careful! | Mar 10, 2010 |
If you were living in France, you would be charged with complicity in fraud. It is very serious.
Don't forget that one of the first Nigerian scams had induced the death of seven Belgians, who went to Nigeria, with the money which was the matter of the mail exchanges, in order to meet their "poor sad contact". Police found their bodies several months later.
So, please, stay away from those individuals.
Catherine
| | | | Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 18:04
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Mervyn Henderson wrote: Yasutomo, When you have some time on your hands, you can have a good laugh at the following link. It gives you some idea of how dedicated these people are, and how dedicated at least one man was to beat them at their own game: ++++++++++++ http://www.scambuster419.co.uk/index.html ++++++++++++ Mervyn
Thanks for the link. I came across a similar link just like this, beating the 'Jesus' out of a scammer by forcing him to be a follower of a fake religious group and forcing him to put a tattoo on one's body parts to prove that he has joined the sect. Below is the link.
Hope you have some fun too!
http://419eater.com/html/okorie.htm
| | | | Paul Dixon
Brazil
Local time: 06:04
Portuguese to English
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| I get them all the time | Mar 10, 2010 |
I get this kind of letter all the time, though never through ProZ. I have even started a forum thread about this issue. In the letters, the sum of money changes as also the means of death (one time a plane crash, another time a bomb) and the proportion for yourself (sometimes 35%, sometimes 40%). The English is always poor and the telephone numbers are nearly always in Burkina Faso.
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 11:04
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yasutomo,
Thanks a lot - I saw this one a while back, a real hoot too, but I prefer the more "neutral" Gilbert Murray site.
Very best (please don't hold back my post too long, overseers),
Mervyn
| | | | juvera
Local time: 10:04
English to Hungarian
+ ...
| Misunderstanding? | Mar 11, 2010 |
Catherine GUILLIAUMET wrote:
If you were living in France, you would be charged with complicity in fraud. It is very serious.
Don't forget that one of the first Nigerian scams had induced the death of seven Belgians, who went to Nigeria, with the money which was the matter of the mail exchanges, in order to meet their "poor sad contact". Police found their bodies several months later.
So, please, stay away from those individuals.
Catherine
I think some of you misunderstood Magdalene's post.
I believe the request for translations were from potential victims, receiving "English" letters, who may be thinking that the letter contains a real proposition, and want to be sure that they understand it well.
Is this one of the few cases when the translator should give unsolicited advice?
[Edited at 2010-03-23 11:03 GMT]
| | | | Shawn Morse
United States
Local time: 02:04
Japanese to English
+ ...
| Change the messaging permissions of new profiles? | Mar 12, 2010 |
First time for me to get this scam through Proz. Maybe the administrators should prevent new profiles from sending messages to other members for at least 48 hours after a profile has been created.
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@Yasutomo: It was the to-be-victim that asked me, not the fraudster. I'm fully aware of other things you've mentioned. However, I cannot decide for my customers what they want me to translate. What I did was what I thought was fair: told them it was a scam and asked if they STILL wanted to have it translated word by word. Both did, but one didn't come to pick it up (apparently the smart guy). The other stopped only after the second letter. But did he really? Dunno.
@Catherine, you ... See more @Yasutomo: It was the to-be-victim that asked me, not the fraudster. I'm fully aware of other things you've mentioned. However, I cannot decide for my customers what they want me to translate. What I did was what I thought was fair: told them it was a scam and asked if they STILL wanted to have it translated word by word. Both did, but one didn't come to pick it up (apparently the smart guy). The other stopped only after the second letter. But did he really? Dunno.
@Catherine, you misunderstood me. I was asked to translate by the people they got the mail, not he other way around. As said before, I gave the "unsolicited advice." Did anyone listen? See above.
In Poland, a translator (even a certified one as I am) does not confirm the authenticity of a document "as is" - he/she simply translates it "as is". We can (and we do) add translator's notes, but can we change the actual document? No. Do we know and have the ability to control what such translations are used for? No. Something tells me it's similar in other countries, but maybe I am wrong. I can only speak for mine.
I hope I made my point clear.
At the end, have a laugh: today I got THE EXACT SCAM sent to my proz.com mail inbox. Hopefully, it went to spam, otherwise I might have been tempted...
[Rediģēts plkst. 2010-07-23 16:41 GMT]
[Rediģēts plkst. 2010-07-23 16:43 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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