Overpayment Scam
Thread poster: Eleonora Martiian
Eleonora Martiian
Eleonora Martiian
Spain
Local time: 22:58
English to Russian
+ ...
Dec 1, 2020

Hi guys.

You can't imagine how pissed off I am.
So here is the story.
The other day I receive a translation request from this email [email protected].
Business strategy translation.
Standard doc file. 8000 words + -.
We discuss the rate, the deadline, the payment method, etc.
Everything goes smoothly when suddenly I receive this mail:

Bonjour Mme Eleonora,
... See more
Hi guys.

You can't imagine how pissed off I am.
So here is the story.
The other day I receive a translation request from this email [email protected].
Business strategy translation.
Standard doc file. 8000 words + -.
We discuss the rate, the deadline, the payment method, etc.
Everything goes smoothly when suddenly I receive this mail:

Bonjour Mme Eleonora,
Je vous informe que le comptable a déjà procédé au virement depuis le vendredi par contre il vient de m'informer qu'il y a eu une erreur concernant le montant envoyé, au lieu de vous transférer 97€ couvrant votre acompte, il vous a confondu avec le conférencier et vous a transféré 2475€ Couvrant la facture Totale du conférencier, il a donc dû contacter la banque tout à l'heure pour rectifier l'erreur mais la somme a déjà été comptabilisée par la banque,
Je suis tout confus!
La seule solution serait qu'une fois le virement des 2475€ reçus, vous enlèverez vos 483.84€ constituant le montant total de votre facture puis nous retourner la différence afin que nous puissions payer le conférencier à bonne échéance.
Veuillez me tenir informé une fois le virement des 2475€ reçus afin que je puisse vous faire parvenir notre RIB pour que vous puissiez nous retourner la différence dans les plus brefs délais.
Pouvons-nous vous envoyer notre RIB en même temps pour que vous nous ajoutiez comme bénéficiaire en attendant de recevoir notre virement des 2475€ pour pouvoir nous renvoyer la différence du trop-perçu ?

En Attendant votre retour, je vous souhaite une bonne journée

Cordialement

Which means that they sent me a lot more money that I was supposed to receive and they ask me to send them their money back.
I thought it was a scam, contacted the guy explaining my position.
An hour later I receive a copy-paste mail from another guy with EXACTLY THE SAME ATTACHED FILE.
So in total I spent 8 hours of my life on a scam story.
Be extra careful with such clients and double-check everything.

Have a nice week








and then from this one [email protected]
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CHAIMAE ZARRIK
 
writeaway
writeaway  Identity Verified
French to English
+ ...
New, updated version of one of the oldest scams out there?? Dec 1, 2020

This scam (oops, we sent you too much money) has been around forever. Just ignore the whole thing and move on.

Eleonora Martiian
Yolanda Broad
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Walter Landesman
Michele Fauble
Liviu-Lee Roth
Angie Garbarino
 
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Germany
Local time: 22:58
English to German
In memoriam
You discussed the payment method? Dec 1, 2020

You said you discussed the payment method. What did they say about the payment method? Since everyone knows that checks are only used by scammers, you should have come to a screeching halt right then. Another thing that can be checked right away is the source document. Scammers pull their source documents from somewhere in the Internet and you often can find identical documents with a simple search.

[Edited at 2020-12-01 15:32 GMT]


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Pujing Pan
Pujing Pan
Canada
Local time: 17:58
English to Chinese
+ ...
Received a check today! Dec 2, 2020

Received a check in the amount of CND$3950.20 (I only quoted my price to be $1100 for the document to be translated) today! The check came through Canada Post, the envelop was addressed to me by handwriting, with no return address. It's too bad I cannot attach any image here, otherwise I'd like to scan the things and post them here for your info.

This Linda Parker sent me an email yesterday, asking me to check my physical mailbox for a check!


Liviu-Lee Roth
Maria Bassiouk (X)
 
Eleonora Martiian
Eleonora Martiian
Spain
Local time: 22:58
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Scam Dec 2, 2020

Yeah!
I mean can you imagine how miserable those people are.


Maria Bassiouk (X)
 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:58
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
Virement not check Dec 2, 2020

Kay-Viktor Stegemann wrote:

You said you discussed the payment method. What did they say about the payment method? Since everyone knows that checks are only used by scammers, you should have come to a screeching halt right then.





vous informe que le comptable a déjà procédé au virement depuis le vendredi par contre il vient de m'informer qu'il y a eu une erreur concernant le montant envoyé, au lieu de vous transférer 97€ couvrant votre acompte, il vous a confondu avec le conférencier et vous a transféré 2475€ Couvrant la facture Totale du conférencier, il a donc dû contacter la banque tout à l'heure pour rectifier l'erreur mais la somme a déjà été comptabilisée par la banque,


Virement is bank transfer not check, however I am not sure how is possible to bounce back a bank transfer or am I missing something?


 
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Germany
Local time: 22:58
English to German
In memoriam
Fake bank transfer Dec 2, 2020

It seems that some fraudsters have found ways to disguise checks as bank transfers, by sending the check directly to the bank in your name. If the bank accepts that, it might appear on your bank statement and you might not recognize it as a check if you don't look too close.

I don't believe that genuine bank transfers can bounce back, at least not in the European SEPA area.


Angie Garbarino
Philippe Etienne
Sheila Wilson
Arianne Farah
 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 17:58
Romanian to English
+ ...
how a fake check looks like; I have a collection Dec 3, 2020

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=6990E16568DBCA39&id=6990E16568DBCA39!12250&parId=6990E16568DBCA39!1117&o=OneUp

Maria Bassiouk (X)
 
Isabel Zapata
Isabel Zapata  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:58
French to Spanish
+ ...
Same thing for me Dec 10, 2020

I've received the same e-mail from [email protected]. Also, he sended me an SMS from the number +33 756980995. I've stopped answering, we wil see...

Mehmood Ahmad (X)
 
Renate Radziwill-Rall
Renate Radziwill-Rall  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:58
Member
French to German
+ ...
old trick Dec 10, 2020

This trick and all its variations are as old as our profession.

Liviu-Lee Roth
 
infactglobal
infactglobal
Local time: 22:58
There's another one out there, too Dec 17, 2020

Hi, I googled the email in this thread and landed here... but I also got another email from a different account. Same strange way of responding. Here it is : [email protected]

I spoke with my bank, these people over-pay on purpose, ask for a reimbursement and then cancel the transfer they made originally so you not only lose the first transfer, but you also lose the money you reimbursed.

Be careful out the
... See more
Hi, I googled the email in this thread and landed here... but I also got another email from a different account. Same strange way of responding. Here it is : [email protected]

I spoke with my bank, these people over-pay on purpose, ask for a reimbursement and then cancel the transfer they made originally so you not only lose the first transfer, but you also lose the money you reimbursed.

Be careful out there
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Maria Bassiouk (X)
Maria Bassiouk (X)
United States
English to Spanish
+ ...
Same MO Jan 5, 2021

Add Linda Calderon to the scammer list. 11,000 words, English>Spanish, 1 months deadline. Sent me a check for $3,600 via next day mail. She [?] actually spent money on mailing the check...

Jon Chan (X)
Mehmood Ahmad (X)
 
Jon Chan (X)
Jon Chan (X)
United States
Latest victim of Caldron Jun 9, 2021

I did a project for Linda Caldron but ended up being a victim to her scheme. It's terrible. Beware this big scammer!

 
Mylene Francois
Mylene Francois  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:58
Member (2021)
English to French
Overpayment scam [email protected] Apr 12, 2022

Hello,
I received a translation request from [email protected] in the name of an existing company.
I am very disappointed to report that it was a scam. The company confirmed and has filed a complaint.
Hope this message finds you before that Philippe Locquet guy !
Best,
Mylène.


Mehmood Ahmad (X)
 
Soraya Guimarães Hoepfner
Soraya Guimarães Hoepfner  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:58
English to Portuguese
+ ...
And it goes on... Apr 13, 2022

Guess they have just tried (and failed) with me. I was asked for a service, I sent my quote and explicitly stated I will only perform the job upon advanced payment.

Then couple of weeks past and today I got a check of over 9K (My quote was 1,4K). And she says her secretary made a mistake, that I should not worry and deposit the check and "we will see we can do with the rest of the money".

End of the story. I have replied saying unfortunately I cannot do that, she may s
... See more
Guess they have just tried (and failed) with me. I was asked for a service, I sent my quote and explicitly stated I will only perform the job upon advanced payment.

Then couple of weeks past and today I got a check of over 9K (My quote was 1,4K). And she says her secretary made a mistake, that I should not worry and deposit the check and "we will see we can do with the rest of the money".

End of the story. I have replied saying unfortunately I cannot do that, she may send me a postal address to have her "check" back or I would simply destroy it.

In case ever this check would be compensate it, money laundry at his best...

I got scammed once, this was in 2011 when I started, and since them, I do not move a finger beyond sending my quote, until the money is paid upfront for any private client or even agencies with no references...

Because obviously I cannot prove and I have not reliable information to share with authorities apart from a fake account, I will not disclose the name and the Gmail account used to contact me but anyone who would like to know more feel free to contact me directly.

WhatsApp Image 2022-04-13 at 6.14.47 PM
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Overpayment Scam







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