Identify Fraud

If you are doing translations for sometime, you have probably fallen a victim to some fraudulent translation order. In other words, you were asked to do a project but when the time to pay arrived, the ordering entity just disappeared.

It is frustrating.

It is annoying.

The number of scams in the translation industry has risen in the recent years, since many fraudsters can hide behind the Internet anonymity. How do they get projects to do? Well they would sign up to all those services and present themselves, under many accounts, as translating different pairs of languages for a very low rate. Agencies will fall into their trap. Then they turn around and look for translators to do the work, they will accept the low pay, but since they don’t pay the translator, the low fee will be sufficient for them to make a killing, in particular when they come from countries where the Dollar or Euro or British pound have a great value.

After they scam several translators, they will just disappear and open new accounts under false names and repeat the process.

If you get a job offer from someone you never done work for, be careful. So what can be done about it as most of use deal through the Internet and across international borders. Well here are some identifying clues, that will make it easier for you ti identify a fraudster and avoid working for nothing.

Email address. To work on the internet the ordering agency needs to have an email address. Respected and reputable agencies also have their own websites, so as a result the email used is based on the website. In other words if the website reads www.valuetranslate.com then the email of the person contacting you, or the Project Manager or owner, should for example be: janet@valuetranslate.com. If the ordering person uses another email that has nothing to do with the structure of the agency website, it should raise a red light. Avoid a response to anyone in the industry who is using emails from @gmail.com, @outlook.com @hotmail.com or any of the public provided emails. These types of emails can be created by anyone under false names and addresses.

A name that seems legitimate. Fraudsters (scammers) also use another trick. They would copy the information of a legitimate agency and even its phone numbers, but will use another email to contact the translators. As mentioned in the section above, they will surely not be able to use a real email that belongs to the true agency, so they will use one of the public emails, like @gmail.com etc. When you check the soliciting email, make sure the email corresponds to the agency website. If not – run away as fast as you can.

Social networks accounts. A legitimate agency will also have a social network account of some type, whether it is Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter etc. The advantage of getting the ID of the agency on a social network is that it may provide you with data about friend or followers. If it is a legitimate agency it will have a number of followers. If it is a fake one it will not have any. In particular look into Linkedin which will also carry information about the agency, so you can compare it to the information in the agency’s website. If it matches – fine. If it does not, then run away.

Accounts on Skype or Whattsapp. A legitimate agency which tries to keep contact with its translators will use all the possible comfort of Skype or even Whattsapp (in most countries – less in the USA). If the agency has not Skype name to provide you or comes up with some excuses why it does not have one, know it is a fraud. Run away.

Phone numbers. Every agency must have a phone number. The best way to try the validity of an agency is simply by calling. After you receive the translation order, just call to make sure there is a live person behind that telephone. If the phone does not answer or seems to be a cellular phone – it may be a fraud. No legitimate business will conduct its affairs via a cellular phone. A landline (regular phone) will be the office phone of the agency. A cellular phone can be any phone... if the person answers or the agency answers and you ask about that person, you will find out if it is a valid or fraudulent order.