| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Beware of individuals willing to pay translators prior to completing the job Thread poster: Corazon Crowell
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Someone contacted me to translate a 44-page document and is willing to cut me a check for downpayment or full pay prior to starting the job. No written contract or service agreement. I researched before agreeing to send my personal info for the check payment and the name does not have a public profile, is using a free email domain, and has a residential address that is sketchy. The document is also a publicly searchable document from a school in Wyomissing, PA. This is the same tricks some trans... See more Someone contacted me to translate a 44-page document and is willing to cut me a check for downpayment or full pay prior to starting the job. No written contract or service agreement. I researched before agreeing to send my personal info for the check payment and the name does not have a public profile, is using a free email domain, and has a residential address that is sketchy. The document is also a publicly searchable document from a school in Wyomissing, PA. This is the same tricks some translators have posted about receiving fake checks that are used to scam people. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Michael Newton 
United States
Local time: 14:37
Japanese to English
+ ...
Prepayment is always a red flag. Most likely it will be an official looking check but for much more than the agreed amount. Then you will get a song and dance to the effect that: "Oh, we sent you the wrong check, just send us back the balance".
| | | | finnword1
United States
Local time: 14:37
English to Finnish
+ ...
| I think it's been translated already | Oct 18, 2022 |
Sounds like the same "44-page document" that has been around for years.
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
Sometimes I wished these scammers would just be done with this old basic trick already and start deploying a more sophisticated method instead. I mean, c'mon! Think about career development, guys! 
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Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 14:37
Spanish to English
+ ...
Mr. Satan wrote: Sometimes I wished these scammers would just be done with this old basic trick already and start deploying a more sophisticated method instead. I mean, c'mon! Think about career development, guys!
Satan makes a good point here. The lack of ingenuity on the part of the scammers is startling. After all, they can't all be morons....
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:37
Serbian to English
+ ...
| If It Ain’t Broke, Why Fix It? | Oct 20, 2022 |
Robert Forstag wrote: Mr. Satan wrote: Sometimes I wished these scammers would just be done with this old basic trick already and start deploying a more sophisticated method instead. I mean, c'mon! Think about career development, guys! Satan makes a good point here. The lack of ingenuity on the part of the scammers is startling. After all, they can't all be morons....
If It Ain’t Broke, Why Fix It?
If they manage to con enough people with the same old tricks, why bother changing anything?
Still a good idea to be always aware of possible new tricks.
One way or another, time spent on due diligence is never wasted time.
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Robert Forstag wrote: Mr. Satan wrote: Sometimes I wished these scammers would just be done with this old basic trick already and start deploying a more sophisticated method instead. I mean, c'mon! Think about career development, guys! Satan makes a good point here. The lack of ingenuity on the part of the scammers is startling. After all, they can't all be morons....
If the same old trick still works, after many decades (yes, it's from pre-internet era!), then it's not the scammers who are morons here.
| | | | Erzsébet Czopyk
Hungary
Local time: 20:37
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Why on earth "Prepayment is always a red flag." | Oct 20, 2022 |
Michael Newton wrote:
Prepayment is always a red flag. Most likely it will be an official looking check but for much more than the agreed amount. Then you will get a song and dance to the effect that: "Oh, we sent you the wrong check, just send us back the balance".
I always offer the vendors prepayment, what is the problem with that? Do you like 30-day payments?
What's wrong?
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| Check is the problem | Oct 20, 2022 |
Erzsébet Czopyk wrote:
I always offer the vendors prepayment, what is the problem with that? Do you like 30-day payments?
What's wrong?
Not the prepayment per se, the OP has clearly stated she was offered a prepayment by check.
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Check? Check! | Oct 20, 2022 |
Angie Garbarino wrote:
Not the prepayment per se, the OP has clearly stated she was offered a prepayment by check.
Payment by check in itself also does not always raise a red flag, said our American colleagues who adamantly defended this obsolete form of money transfer.
Daryo wrote:
If It Ain’t Broke, Why Fix It?
But I want to see more violence. 
[Edited at 2022-10-20 17:47 GMT]
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 19:37
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| What's wrong is... | Oct 20, 2022 |
Erzsébet Czopyk wrote:
I always offer the vendors prepayment, what is the problem with that? Do you like 30-day payments?
What's wrong?
When I read "prepaid check" it always gives me the creeps.
We all know scammers engage certain translators and pay them using prepaid checks.
Usually, the amount paid by them exceeds the agreed-upon fees - a serious red flag! Later, they ask the translators to wire the difference back to them.
Anyway, for me, it's better a payment made within 30 days of the invoice date, or 30 days after translation services are provided/delivered from good clients who accept my rates, than the ones offering me peanuts in advance - as honest as these clients may be, which I always doubt it. We always need to be very careful!
[Edited at 2022-10-20 20:39 GMT]
| | | | Erzsébet Czopyk
Hungary
Local time: 20:37
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Can you show me one? | Oct 21, 2022 |
I have never seen such a check. I am curious
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Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:37
Serbian to English
+ ...
| It's just the most ordinary bank cheque | Oct 21, 2022 |
Erzsébet Czopyk wrote: I have never seen such a check. I am curious
It's the most ordinary bank cheque.
In UK they are of a slightly different size for personal and business bank accounts.
https://www.bankforward.com/images/uploads/services/sample-check.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/57/78/11/5778111d24587678a7a20f1a7a4734c5.jpg
The only difference is that in this scam these cheques are either good enough fakes to be taken by the bank and credited to your account, or real cheques drawn on real but empty accounts. Either way these cheques will fail the final test - they can never be cashed, and are just worthless paper - in effect no more than an empty "promise to pay".
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 19:37
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| If your question was directed to me, | Oct 21, 2022 |
Erzsébet Czopyk wrote: Can you show me one? I have never seen such a check. I am curious
I have never accepted a payment by check for a translation service, let alone a prepaid one.
I don't think everyone in this discussion and especially the OP would make up a story like this.
The proof is that there are thousands of threads in the forum on this subject, including the Translator scam alert center, that helps to identify the most common scams affecting online freelance translators.
This is one of those scams.
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:37
Serbian to English
+ ...
| Actually ... | Oct 21, 2022 |
expressisverbis wrote: Erzsébet Czopyk wrote: Can you show me one? I have never seen such a check. I am curious I have never accepted a payment by check for a translation service, let alone a prepaid one. I don't think everyone in this discussion and especially the OP would make up a story like this. The proof is that there are thousands of threads in the forum on this subject, including the Translator scam alert center, that helps to identify the most common scams affecting online freelance translators. This is one of those scams.
Actually ...I did use to write and accept cheques - I had chequebooks for my business and personal accounts - up to about 10-15 years ago. In UK cheques have become a rarity, the last one I got was from an US company operating in London as they keep their habits abroad (regular payment, not a scam).
Getting paid 100% in advance is fact a very sensible option with unknown clients. Chasing a bad payer from the same town is bad enough, chasing a bad payer from abroad is a nightmare + a translation is not like a pallete of bricks - you can not take it back from a non-payer and sell it to someone else.
The devil is as always in the details. You have to go into fine technical details and consider as "payment" ONLY money in your bank account that is real (no cheques awaiting clearance) and can not be "retracted/taken back" under some flimsy pretext (like with PayPal).
Speaking of technical details, it's "prepayment by cheque", not "prepaid cheques".
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