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Possible scam: organic farming translation
Thread poster: Colleen Roach, PhD
Colleen Roach, PhD
Colleen Roach, PhD  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:11
French to English
+ ...
Jul 22, 2019

I just received via my email a request to see if I could translate a Spanish-English document on organic farming for a lecture. The person who contacted me was not a PROZ member and not signed on here when he contacted me. Red flag: wanted to know if I was available right away to do this -- but nothing about my rate or his rate, nor the length of the document -- but then further on said it must be done by October 27th. (???). English was quite good. If anyone receives something similar, this wo... See more
I just received via my email a request to see if I could translate a Spanish-English document on organic farming for a lecture. The person who contacted me was not a PROZ member and not signed on here when he contacted me. Red flag: wanted to know if I was available right away to do this -- but nothing about my rate or his rate, nor the length of the document -- but then further on said it must be done by October 27th. (???). English was quite good. If anyone receives something similar, this would not of course indicate in itself that this is a scam, as the person could be "legit" and is simply contacting translators who do Spanish to English, listed on PROZ. But still why wouldn't he ask about rate or give the length of the document? If anyone would like further information feel free to contact me privately.

[Edited at 2019-07-22 19:22 GMT]
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Trudy Stull
osmany ortiz
Evandro Costa
Yaotl Altan
 
Colleen Roach, PhD
Colleen Roach, PhD  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:11
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Seemsl likely it's a scam --- one more Jul 22, 2019

Just googled the name of the person who contacted me along with a few other words (i.e. "scam") and this came up:

https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2222

Apparently --if it's the same person -- he's in a lot of "industries" and his efforts go back at least as far as 2009.


Trudy Stull
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Rodrigo Gomez Tregent
osmany ortiz
 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 06:11
Romanian to English
+ ...
My advice Jul 22, 2019

DO NOT engage the scammers.

It is not a single person. It is an industry. Names and and scamming texts are sold and bought on the dark web.

Stay safe,
Lee

[Edited at 2019-07-22 19:40 GMT]


Rodrigo Gomez Tregent
Evandro Costa
Yaotl Altan
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:11
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Lol, pigs might fly! Jul 22, 2019

Colleen Roach, PhD wrote:
I just received via my email a request to see if I could translate a Spanish-English document on organic farming for a lecture.

If anyone receives something similar, this would not of course indicate in itself that this is a scam, as the person could be "legit" and is simply contacting translators who do Spanish to English, listed on PROZ.

It wouldn't be a lecture about organically farmed pigs producing extra income for farmers as they have wings as well as legs, would it ? It's a 100% classic case of an advance payment scam. Certainly one for this forum.


Trudy Stull
Jorge Payan
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Paul Malone
Daryo
Tom in London
Rodrigo Gomez Tregent
 
Colleen Roach, PhD
Colleen Roach, PhD  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:11
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
I don't know about the pigs... Jul 22, 2019

Sheila Wilson wrote:


It wouldn't be a lecture about organically farmed pigs producing extra income for farmers as they have wings as well as legs, would it ? It's a 100% classic case of an advance payment scam. Certainly one for this forum.


No, there was no specific mention of pigs. (Nasty creatures by the way. I recently met someone who owned a pig-farm. A friend of hers, a petite woman who also owned a pig farm --or whatever they are called -- slipped and fell among "her" pigs. She was eaten Not a myth.)

Anyway, the amazing thing about this guy who sent me the organic farming scam is that when I checked the URL above, he's actually been at "it" since 2007! (Maybe before that...) Sounds like he has a very diverse portfolio of scams...

I don't know how he got my email (re: the other comment below about another scam). When I got the email, it said he was not logged onto PROZ when he wrote it, and is not a PROZ member. So, there's obviously a way to do it, i.e. get translators' private email addresses.


Rodrigo Gomez Tregent
 
Trudy Stull
Trudy Stull  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:11
Spanish to English
I got two versions of the exact same email, just with different due dates. Jul 22, 2019

I received the original email on the 17th of July from someone calling himself Henry Baker, asking if I could take an organic farming project (58 pages, a little over 20,000 words). He hasn't requested any account numbers and simply asked for my mailing info to send out a cashier's check. Today, I got the exact same email (word for word, but the due date was changed and the sender called themselves Frank Roberts). There is no way this isn't a scam. I reported the issue as abuse/a scam just a lit... See more
I received the original email on the 17th of July from someone calling himself Henry Baker, asking if I could take an organic farming project (58 pages, a little over 20,000 words). He hasn't requested any account numbers and simply asked for my mailing info to send out a cashier's check. Today, I got the exact same email (word for word, but the due date was changed and the sender called themselves Frank Roberts). There is no way this isn't a scam. I reported the issue as abuse/a scam just a little while ago.Collapse


Yolanda Broad
Colleen Roach, PhD
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Rodrigo Gomez Tregent
 
Colleen Roach, PhD
Colleen Roach, PhD  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:11
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
if it looks like a duck... Jul 23, 2019

Trudy Stull wrote:

I received the original email on the 17th of July from someone calling himself Henry Baker, asking if I could take an organic farming project (58 pages, a little over 20,000 words). He hasn't requested any account numbers and simply asked for my mailing info to send out a cashier's check. Today, I got the exact same email (word for word, but the due date was changed and the sender called themselves Frank Roberts). There is no way this isn't a scam. I reported the issue as abuse/a scam just a little while ago.



As the saying goes (in a modified version...), if it looks like a scam, swims like a scam and quacks like a scam, then it probably is a scam....

Good for you, Trudy, for reporting this. Sounds like we're both targets because of doing Spanish translations.


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Trudy Stull
Liviu-Lee Roth
Rodrigo Gomez Tregent
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:11
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
A ProZ message? Jul 23, 2019

Colleen Roach, PhD wrote:
I don't know how he got my email (re: the other comment below about another scam). When I got the email, it said he was not logged onto PROZ when he wrote it, and is not a PROZ member. So, there's obviously a way to do it, i.e. get translators' private email addresses.

But that sounds as though it was an email sent through the ProZ.com website, using the email address you supplied to the site. There's a button at the top of your profile to allow visitors to send you an email. You can change your settings to accept any email, or restrict it to logged-on users, or not receive anything (apart from official emails from staff, of course). If that's how it arrrived, the sender doesn't know your email address - yet! You have theirs but the only way they can get yours is if you reply. Follow Liviu-Lee's advice - don't feed them.


Yolanda Broad
Colleen Roach, PhD
Rodrigo Gomez Tregent
 
Yuko Worm
Yuko Worm  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:11
English to Japanese
+ ...
Re: Organic farming translation requested by Henry Baker (English to Japanese) Nov 17, 2019

I was about to be deceived by Henry Baker. I was asked to translate this document from English to Japanese by Dec. 15. I corresponded with him and even started to translate a few pages. He asked for my rate and invoice, and I sent it to him. He wanted to send me a casher's check, asking for my address and the phone number. I just gave him my address and the phone number. I hope he won't abuse my info. (No banking information was given yet). I'm glad I checked this forum. I felt somethi... See more
I was about to be deceived by Henry Baker. I was asked to translate this document from English to Japanese by Dec. 15. I corresponded with him and even started to translate a few pages. He asked for my rate and invoice, and I sent it to him. He wanted to send me a casher's check, asking for my address and the phone number. I just gave him my address and the phone number. I hope he won't abuse my info. (No banking information was given yet). I'm glad I checked this forum. I felt something was wrong when he finished his e-mail message by saying "Take care of yourself."
Do you think I'm ok so far, although I gave him my address and the phone number? I'm not going to respond to him anymore.
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DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
More "organic" what Nov 17, 2019

Ain't it funny the very definition "organic farming" is but a marketing philosophy differing fundamentally?

Foods certified as "organic" will neither be safer nor more nutritious than "regular" foods. Nor is there any logical reason to conclude that they have any special disease-curing properties.

Perhaps, such 'green' fraudsters
... See more
Ain't it funny the very definition "organic farming" is but a marketing philosophy differing fundamentally?

Foods certified as "organic" will neither be safer nor more nutritious than "regular" foods. Nor is there any logical reason to conclude that they have any special disease-curing properties.

Perhaps, such 'green' fraudsters are happy followers of the infamous Randy Constant et Co.


Frankly, I can't help wondering why so many allegedly educated and sensible specialists often fall easy prey when it comes to sensitive/personal topics like 'human rights', 'charity',' religion', and 'quackery alternatives', stopping the common sense and critical thinking. So I'm glad there're still those who do think and double-check)
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Liviu-Lee Roth
Daryo
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:11
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Scammers are looking for a particular outcome Nov 17, 2019

Yuko Worm wrote:
I just gave him my address and the phone number.

It's certainly known to be dangerous to give out that information in chat rooms, unfortunately and so sadly.

But scammers have a particular objective in mind -- money! I really don't know how they work but I suspect that needy people are being recruited (unofficially) to spend long hours contacting tens/hundreds of professionals every day in the hope that just one will come up with the goods and they'll get paid. I doubt that you're at risk now. Learn and move on.


 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 06:11
Romanian to English
+ ...
expect to receive a (fake)check Nov 18, 2019

Yuko Worm wrote:

I was about to be deceived by Henry Baker. I was asked to translate this document from English to Japanese by Dec. 15. I corresponded with him and even started to translate a few pages. He asked for my rate and invoice, and I sent it to him. He wanted to send me a casher's check, asking for my address and the phone number. I just gave him my address and the phone number. I hope he won't abuse my info. (No banking information was given yet). I'm glad I checked this forum. I felt something was wrong when he finished his e-mail message by saying "Take care of yourself."
Do you think I'm ok so far, although I gave him my address and the phone number? I'm not going to respond to him anymore.



Don't be surprized if you get a Fedex with a check for an amount of $2-3,000.

Classic overpayment scam. Just don't do anything! Save the check as a reminder to be careful every time you are approached by a new, unknown "customer"!

Stay safe!
Lee


 
Margarita1
Margarita1
United States
Local time: 03:11
Russian to English
+ ...
He/she is sending it again! Mar 10, 2020

I've got an email from that presumably Henry Baker (ghee, he reads about his theme! - there was such historical figure in this field) yesterday to translate into Russian. I made a search on this name and have found your forum. Thanks a lot!
By the way there is also person sending translation requests in some social issues, I've got same text twice with about a year apart. I sensed a scam more by some schizophrenic flair in his/her writing style.


Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Karina Polemeni
Karina Polemeni
United States
Local time: 06:11
English to Russian
+ ...
This time it's Kelvin Baker. At it again. Aug 24, 2020

I have received an email from Kelvin Baker (gmail account, no questions about my experience or rates...). Organic farming lecture, 57 pages. I almost said Yes and luckily found this thread. Thank you!

Everyone, be careful.


Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Gerard van der Vorst
Gerard van der Vorst  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 15:41
Member (2017)
German to Dutch
+ ...
Kelvin Baker Sep 4, 2020

Also I did receive a translation request to translate a 65 pages into Dutch promising to pay half of the total of $ 800,--in advance but then nothing was heard anymore after that so after all these months this "person" is still being active via Proz.com, complaining on Blueboard does not work as he is not registered on Proz.com. This is just a waste of time unfortunately, a real disgrace but there is nothing that w e can do than warn other translators.

 
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Possible scam: organic farming translation







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