Translation - art & business » Scams »
Need-interpreter-for-wedding fraud
Thread poster: Deborah Mends
Deborah Mends
Deborah Mends  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:08
French to English
Apr 18, 2005

Just letting other professional translators know about this one. I have copied the text of the original e-mail below; my name was found from a listing on a professional website; the church exists but the wedding doesn't, and this yahoo account suddenly no longer exists:

Dear Deborah Mends,

Gooday,

My Name is BOB JAMES.My fiancee Mary and i will be getting married at St
Ann Church,East Liverpool,Ohio on june 10th,2005.Mary my fiancee is from
F... See more
Just letting other professional translators know about this one. I have copied the text of the original e-mail below; my name was found from a listing on a professional website; the church exists but the wedding doesn't, and this yahoo account suddenly no longer exists:

Dear Deborah Mends,

Gooday,

My Name is BOB JAMES.My fiancee Mary and i will be getting married at St
Ann Church,East Liverpool,Ohio on june 10th,2005.Mary my fiancee is from
France and speaks French and she does not speak English and i would
require the service of a professional Translator like you to help
Translate her written and already documented speeches to make things
convenient for her ,myself and the officiating ministers along with the
invited guests.I would want you to get back to me with your pricing
package for this task and if you are out of Ohio,state what it will
costs to make the trip to the venue of the event on the specified date
along with your charges for the required service.I will be making the
payment with a Money Order.I will also let you get to meet with her upon
our return from Holland for any other arrangements that might be
required and will also give you the manuscript and copy of the written
document for your convenience. At this moment,Mary and i just arrived
Amsterdam,Holland for a 8 weeks Pre-Wedding honeymoon and will be back
soon and when we get back to the states,i will give you a call to
finalise every other details of the wedding. Do send me your pricing
details along with your Full names,Address,Telephone number where a
cashiers check will be made out to as soon as possible.Hotel
Accomodatio n will also be provided for as well if you are out of Ohio.

I look forward to reading from you soon

BOB JAMES.


The address of the sender: bob_james_bj@yahoo.com ▲ Collapse
 
davidgreen
davidgreen
German to English
standard bogus check cashing scam Apr 18, 2005

These follow a sort of format and they're similar enough that you can start to spot them now without responding. There's similar stuff going on now on ebay and such types of sites. Basically the idea is that the scammer will send you a bad check for more than your asking price, you are then supposed to send him the difference usually via western union. In the end the check bounces and you've lost anywhere from $100 - $3000. Thanks for posting this to help keep others aware.
 
Deborah Mends
Deborah Mends  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:08
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
Unfortunately interpreting frauds getting common Apr 18, 2005

I have seen another thread on the same subject with a different scam on the Proz website - I'm indeed hoping that posting this new one will help save someone from getting robbed. This is the first one I have gotten directly.

David Green wrote:

These follow a sort of format and they're similar enough that you can start to spot them now without responding. There's similar stuff going on now on ebay and such types of sites. Basically the idea is that the scammer will send you a bad check for more than your asking price, you are then supposed to send him the difference usually via western union. In the end the check bounces and you've lost anywhere from $100 - $3000. Thanks for posting this to help keep others aware.
 
Michael McCain (X)
Michael McCain (X)  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:08
Arabic to English
+ ...
Another one to watch out for Apr 27, 2005

From a dutchman claiming to be "Earl Al' Amin"...

Hello Kenneth Wilcox,
Your mail just reached me and sorry for the delay in response,i have been having series of meetings you know how it is when you are going on vacation everyone seems to want to see you anyway thank God is it less now.Yes i got your contact informations from my travel agents,the normally make arrangements for all my travel needs,but this time i got your informations from them and decided to contact you dir... See more
From a dutchman claiming to be "Earl Al' Amin"...

Hello Kenneth Wilcox,
Your mail just reached me and sorry for the delay in response,i have been having series of meetings you know how it is when you are going on vacation everyone seems to want to see you anyway thank God is it less now.Yes i got your contact informations from my travel agents,the normally make arrangements for all my travel needs,but this time i got your informations from them and decided to contact you directly.As i stated in my previous mail to you, we will be in US from the 10th of May to the 20th may,2005 and your services will be required from 12noon to 5pm for 5 hours each day although this could be flexible depending on your availability and this will include all holidays and weekends.My itinerary is been handled by my travelling agents here in Ghana and they are yet to give me thier recommendations.But be assured that you will be getting all necessary informations needed by you before our arrival. Our visit is strictly on vacation/tourism/shopping and we will be staying in Texas although we might be visiting other locations.All travelling/hotel/transportation arrangements will be taken care of by my travelling agency here in Ghana and all other modalities will be worked out on arrival. So provide me with the total cost for your services and also send me your name/address/phone number in which a check can get to you from my sponsor in the US. so payment can be instructed to you in advance to reserve a booking.Expect to hear from you ASAP.And please do feel free to call me on my direct line if need be,ok.

I, Remain

Earl Al' Amin.

Tel. +233243610893 ▲ Collapse
 
Galina Blankenship
Galina Blankenship  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:08
Member (2004)
Turkish to English
+ ...
Another scam... May 7, 2005

Please be aware of another scam. Here is the letter and the number they use. They seem to use the same number all the time. How stupid...

Hello,
> Am Bishop Sam Prempeh,An English speaking cleargy
> from Ghana.I will
> be coming over to California(USA)on holidays from
> 1st of May to the 10th of May 2005 for a 10 days
> vacation with my Turkish Wife,Daughter and Son of
> the ages of 3 and 5 respectively.My wife only speaks
> Turkish and sinc... See more
Please be aware of another scam. Here is the letter and the number they use. They seem to use the same number all the time. How stupid...

Hello,
> Am Bishop Sam Prempeh,An English speaking cleargy
> from Ghana.I will
> be coming over to California(USA)on holidays from
> 1st of May to the 10th of May 2005 for a 10 days
> vacation with my Turkish Wife,Daughter and Son of
> the ages of 3 and 5 respectively.My wife only speaks
> Turkish and since i will be busy with other Church
> functions i will need the aid of an interpreter to
> help her and the children go shopping and
> sightseeing,
> We will require the services of a Turkish/English
> translator for 5 hours daily X 10. Please
> acknowledge if you can offer this service and give
> me a price quote.We will like to pay in advance of
> our visit so she can be assured of an interpreter
> during her shopping and sightseeing because this
> because this is her first visit to the USA.An early
> reply will be appreciated.
>
> Remain Blessed,
> His Lordship,Bishop Sam Prempeh
>
> The address of the sender:
> holytrinity_yesu@yahoo.com

Bishop Sam Prempeh
> Direct Line: +233 243 610893 ▲ Collapse
 
Sonia Maldonado
Sonia Maldonado  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:08
Spanish to English
+ ...
These scams are going on for many months May 9, 2005

Deborah Mends wrote:

Just letting other professional translators know about this one. I have copied the text of the original e-mail below; my name was found from a listing on a professional website; the church exists but the wedding doesn't, and this yahoo account suddenly no longer exists:

Dear Deborah Mends,

Gooday,

My Name is BOB JAMES.My fiancee Mary and i will be getting married at St
Ann Church,East Liverpool,Ohio on june 10th,2005.Mary my fiancee is from
France and speaks French and she does not speak English and i would
require the service of a professional Translator like you to help
Translate her written and already documented speeches to make things
convenient for her ,myself and the officiating ministers along with the
invited guests.I would want you to get back to me with your pricing
package for this task and if you are out of Ohio,state what it will
costs to make the trip to the venue of the event on the specified date
along with your charges for the required service.I will be making the
payment with a Money Order.I will also let you get to meet with her upon
our return from Holland for any other arrangements that might be
required and will also give you the manuscript and copy of the written
document for your convenience. At this moment,Mary and i just arrived
Amsterdam,Holland for a 8 weeks Pre-Wedding honeymoon and will be back
soon and when we get back to the states,i will give you a call to
finalise every other details of the wedding. Do send me your pricing
details along with your Full names,Address,Telephone number where a
cashiers check will be made out to as soon as possible.Hotel
Accomodatio n will also be provided for as well if you are out of Ohio.

I look forward to reading from you soon

BOB JAMES.


The address of the sender: bob_james_bj@yahoo.com


--------------

I was already approached several times. The scammers are using any forum, from ATA to Proz and others to obtain our information. They usually said they are coming to our area and need an interpreter to help them todo sightseen, etc. I believe that the purpose is to verify our information and then use it with fraud purposesl BEWARE!!

[Edited at 2005-05-09 18:41]
 
Ruth Simpson
Ruth Simpson  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:08
French to English
Wedding interpreter request Jun 21, 2010

I think I just avoided this scam thanks to this Proz.com forum! I had a message from "Dennis Swatch" who claimed to be coming to Paris in July and needed my services to interpret his wedding speech.
I gave my quote and he insisted on paying in advance. I received a cheque for more than four times the amount requested and he said that his financial representative had made a mistake and could I cash it and send the rest via Western Union. He even offered me 10% of the amount and any costs i... See more
I think I just avoided this scam thanks to this Proz.com forum! I had a message from "Dennis Swatch" who claimed to be coming to Paris in July and needed my services to interpret his wedding speech.
I gave my quote and he insisted on paying in advance. I received a cheque for more than four times the amount requested and he said that his financial representative had made a mistake and could I cash it and send the rest via Western Union. He even offered me 10% of the amount and any costs incurred as compensation.

I decided to send the cheque back to his financial representative and did not try to cash it.
I can't be sure that this was the same scam as discussed here, but I have a strong feeling it was! Be careful!! ▲ Collapse
 
Deborah Mends
Deborah Mends  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:08
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
Avoiding Scams Jun 21, 2010

I think of the old line from probably some wit like Mark Twain:

If it seems too good to be true - it is.

;-D

[Edited at 2010-06-21 10:00 GMT]
 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 05:08
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
Wiki page started on this subject Jun 21, 2010

A ProZ.com Wiki articles was started on the issue of Detecting and reacting to false job offers and other scams.

You are welcome and encouraged to add to this article to create a resource that will help translators in this subject area.

Kind regards,
Enrique
 


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