Wilkens impersonator
Thread poster: Ramunas Kontrimas
Ramunas Kontrimas
Ramunas Kontrimas  Identity Verified
Lithuania
Local time: 13:01
English to Lithuanian
+ ...
Aug 2, 2019

A few days ago got an offer from who appears to impersonate Belgian Wilkens agency.

Sent from [email protected], signed by apparently genuine person, with correct company details in the signature except for the corporate email wth a typo ([email protected]). Asked to send the request from corporate email never got back.


Jevgenija Zuravliova
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 11:01
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Double "i" is a favourite among scammers Aug 2, 2019

I can't say whether this is a scam or not but I have seen quite a few cases of identity theft where the scammer has used a double "i". It's a tiny letter that's often overlooked. It does pay to look at these things carefully.

Liviu-Lee Roth
Adam Warren
 
Peter van der Hoek
Peter van der Hoek
Spain
Local time: 12:01
Member (2008)
Dutch to English
+ ...
Definitely a scam Aug 2, 2019

I have been working with the Ghent branch (as well as with the Leiden branch) of Wilkens for many years and they never use an e-mail address other than their official e-mail addresses.

Furthermore, they never just contact translators they have never worked for before. They would post the job on the customary platforms.

Typos in vital information such as the official e-mail address is reason enough to discard an e-mail from a potential client.


Adam Warren
wilkens
 
Mark Harris
Mark Harris
France
Local time: 12:01
French to English
+ ...
Dodged a bullet Aug 2, 2019

Thanks for posting that. I just received the e-mail myself and was going to respond. I'm glad I saw your post first!

 
Julie Barber
Julie Barber  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:01
French to English
more impersonators Aug 5, 2019

I received an email last week from masiezou@gmail passing themselves off as CCJK, an established translation company. The email used the footer, logo and general credentials apart from the obvious gmail address (and slightly cr@ppy content...)

 
Edirel Susanna
Edirel Susanna  Identity Verified
Neth. Antilles
Local time: 07:01
Member (2008)
Dutch to Spanish
+ ...
I received an email also today, August, 6, 2019, by [email protected]! It's a scam Aug 7, 2019

Good evening,

I also received an email today asking to translate three documents into Italian. When I looked at the files, I noticed that two were already in Italian and one in Spanish. I googled the email address: [email protected] and came across this post. I told them that if they wanted me to take the assignment, I would need 50% upfront since I have not worked with them before. They never replied. It's obviously a
... See more
Good evening,

I also received an email today asking to translate three documents into Italian. When I looked at the files, I noticed that two were already in Italian and one in Spanish. I googled the email address: [email protected] and came across this post. I told them that if they wanted me to take the assignment, I would need 50% upfront since I have not worked with them before. They never replied. It's obviously a scam.

I just wanted to make everyone aware of this. Be careful, in the past 3 weeks I was scammed by another "bogus" email, which I am pretty sure it's the same group of people. I did that project and I will never get paid. They use names of legit companies, and if you are not careful you end up doing projects for them and they will never pay you.

Make sure you research the company and keep your eyes open.

All the best,

Ed
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wilkens
wilkens
Belgium
Local time: 12:01
It's a scam. Be careful. Aug 7, 2019

Hi all,

You are not the first to be victims of these scams. We have been receiving worrying e-mails from translators now for a few weeks. The most disturbing thing is the scammers actually are using the real name of one of our Project Managers.

We are doing everything we can to fight this scam, but can only ask that you are careful when you receive these e-mails. In general, I saw that the e-mails often are written in bad English and are sent from a gmail address. We on
... See more
Hi all,

You are not the first to be victims of these scams. We have been receiving worrying e-mails from translators now for a few weeks. The most disturbing thing is the scammers actually are using the real name of one of our Project Managers.

We are doing everything we can to fight this scam, but can only ask that you are careful when you receive these e-mails. In general, I saw that the e-mails often are written in bad English and are sent from a gmail address. We only use our official e-mail address [email protected] and will never order anything from [email protected] or the false address that writes Wilkens with double "i" [email protected].

We are very sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate all help to tackle this issue, so please do keep informing us about the e-mails you receive and feel free to forward them to check with me or my colleagues.

Kind regards
Ruben Lancksweerdt
Wilkens c.s.
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Yolanda Broad
Chris Hall
John Sigurdsson (X)
 
Chris Hall
Chris Hall
Local time: 11:01
French to English
+ ...
The scam continues... Aug 17, 2019

-----Original Message-----
From: Wilkens c.s. BVBA
Sent: Fri, 16 Aug 2019 22:27
Subject: Urgent request

Hello,

We have urgent request to translate from French to English ASAP

Please check the attached and let me know, What is your offer rate?


--
Met vriendelijke groet,
Sincères salutations,
Kind regards,

Amber Van Overbeke
Project Manager

Wilkens België
... See more
-----Original Message-----
From: Wilkens c.s. BVBA
Sent: Fri, 16 Aug 2019 22:27
Subject: Urgent request

Hello,

We have urgent request to translate from French to English ASAP

Please check the attached and let me know, What is your offer rate?


--
Met vriendelijke groet,
Sincères salutations,
Kind regards,

Amber Van Overbeke
Project Manager

Wilkens België

Wilkens c.s.
Poolse-Winglaan 86/0001
9051 Sint-Denijs-Westrem
Tel.: +32 (0)9 905 00 451
Fax: +32 (0)9 015 00 019
[email protected]
www.wilkens.be
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Jevgenija Zuravliova
 
Martin Mraz
Martin Mraz  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 12:01
Member (2017)
Czech to English
+ ...
gmail address no longer exists Sep 21, 2019

I alas fell for this scammer in August, and now the gmail address of course no longer exists. A good lesson in verifying the identity of potential new clients. Does anyone have any leads as to the identity of this asshole?

 
khasman
khasman
Kenya
Local time: 14:01
English to French
Wilkens impersonator Oct 10, 2019

According to my extensive research, this lady called Amber Van Overbeke exists and she works with Wilkens c.s. BVBA and her boss is called Niels Veen. I knew all this after I was conned USD 900+. After sending my invoice, she blocked my email address. Please be careful with this gmail address and let us join hands to identify this person (lady).

 
wilkens
wilkens
Belgium
Local time: 12:01
Gmail vs. Official Oct 11, 2019

Dear Khasman,

Your research is partially correct, but I wanted to contribute a bit more.

Amber Van Overbeke is an actual employee of our office and a great project manager. The fact that scammers used her name to mail translators with fake orders is something we take very serious, but Amber herself is not of any danger to anyone.

As you said, it is smart to be careful and doublecheck your employers. For Wilk
... See more
Dear Khasman,

Your research is partially correct, but I wanted to contribute a bit more.

Amber Van Overbeke is an actual employee of our office and a great project manager. The fact that scammers used her name to mail translators with fake orders is something we take very serious, but Amber herself is not of any danger to anyone.

As you said, it is smart to be careful and doublecheck your employers. For Wilkens, I can only say that we will always use [email protected] and never any gmail or other addresses.

Kind regards
Ruben Lancksweerdt
Wilkens C.S. BVBA



khasman wrote:

According to my extensive research, this lady called Amber Van Overbeke exists and she works with Wilkens c.s. BVBA and her boss is called Niels Veen. I knew all this after I was conned USD 900+. After sending my invoice, she blocked my email address. Please be careful with this gmail address and let us join hands to identify this person (lady).
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Martin Mraz
 


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