Translation work scam using legit company name and online bank Thread poster: Stefan Belger
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I fell for a scam in which I did a translation, and at the end was asked to pay $250 to redeem my payment as a sort of "refundable" technical fee to an online bank where I had to set up an account. I did not pay, but of course I lost three weeks of income.
Their modus operandi was slightly different from the ones described in this forum. For what it's worth, here are the things that were slightly different:
- I was not contacted, I contacted them - via a general help wa... See more I fell for a scam in which I did a translation, and at the end was asked to pay $250 to redeem my payment as a sort of "refundable" technical fee to an online bank where I had to set up an account. I did not pay, but of course I lost three weeks of income.
Their modus operandi was slightly different from the ones described in this forum. For what it's worth, here are the things that were slightly different:
- I was not contacted, I contacted them - via a general help wanted posting on a Facebook page for translation work.
- They used a legit company name - Dun&Bradstreet.
- They asked about my qualifications.
- They sent me a short test translation.
- They sent me an employee agreement to sign, in which the pay rate was stated. The agreement used the Dun&Bradstreet corporate design.
- The pay was not overly high, on the contrary, below my usual rate.
Things that are similar to other scams and that I know now should have raised suspicion:
- First personal contact via Telegram
- Poor language quality of the communication
- Overly generous compensation mentioned in the employee agreement, but which I thought would apply only for long term employees - up to $5,000 vacation bonus?
- Technical questions during the work were answered within minutes, even after hours.
- The translation topic (archeology) seemed strange for the company. It was an academic text available on the internet. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | | Dan Lucas 
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:40
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| We all get bitten once | Apr 25, 2023 |
Stefan Belger wrote:
- They used a legit company name - Dun&Bradstreet.
I bet it wasn't a D&B email though.
Dan
| | | | | mail address | Apr 25, 2023 |
@Dan
Maybe them using gmail would have been a tell.
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Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 15:40
Romanian to English
+ ...
| assuming that you live in the US (but not for very long time) | Apr 27, 2023 |
Stefan Belger wrote:
Maybe them using gmail would have been a tell.
The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is an American company that provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses. The company offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financial analysis, operations and supply, and sales and marketing professionals, as well as research and insights on global business issues. It serves customers in government and industries such as communications, technology, strategic financial services, and retail, telecommunications, and manufacturing markets.[4] Often referred to as D&B, the company's database contains over 500 million business records worldwide.
Any translator who provides work for the US Govt. has a DUNS number and a SAM number.
Basic knowledge. They do not "hire" translators.
Stay safe
Lee
| | | | | Thank you Liviu | Apr 28, 2023 |
I've been living in the US for 30 years, and I did know who D&B are. But I did not know that there are work scams out there ...
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