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Scam alert - translation of a Word document (business_strategie world.docx)
Thread poster: Annick Pérocheau
Annick Pérocheau
Annick Pérocheau  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 23:48
Spanish to French
+ ...
Sep 29, 2021

Hello,

i wanted to report you a scam alert.
Last week I received a request for a translation from FR into EN of the above mentioned document via the "Pages Jaunes" website (in France).
The person gave me the name of his company as well as its address, located in another French department, what is not unusual, and I searched for the phone number as nothing was indicated in the email I received.
I sent my quotation and the "customer" insisted in order I send my bank ... See more
Hello,

i wanted to report you a scam alert.
Last week I received a request for a translation from FR into EN of the above mentioned document via the "Pages Jaunes" website (in France).
The person gave me the name of his company as well as its address, located in another French department, what is not unusual, and I searched for the phone number as nothing was indicated in the email I received.
I sent my quotation and the "customer" insisted in order I send my bank account details in order he pays me an advance payment representing 30% of the global amount of the invoice.
By the end of the last week, he sent me an email indicating me that his accountant made a mistake and sent me more than the total amount that would represent my invoice, so he asked me to pay back the difference. First suspicion.
He sent me a new email on this very day (Wednesday), but nothing appeared on my bank account. BUT my bank phoned me as they received a cheque. I tried to reach the "customer" but the business had nothing to do with the company purpose he indicated me, (but he could have other businesses in the same place) he was away and it was not possible to reach him.
This afternoon, someone phoned me with a mobile phone and required me to pay the difference as his boss required me by email. He told me that the accountant was absent and that the cheque received by my bank was a bank draft, and that this was the way they are used to act with their providers. I proposed him, as I had to deliver the translation next Monday, to send them the invoice and to pay back the difference as soon as the cheque would be cleared.
i called back my bank, and the person who answered me told me that this was not a bank draft, but a bank cheque and the name of the drawee was the name of a physical person in Paris. I asked her to scan this cheque and to send it to me, and I sent it to my "customer" who still insisted in order I pay him back the difference between the downpayment and the cheque received by my bank.
As I don't know if this cheque has been stolen or not I won't accept it and will file a complaint for attempted fraud as all this is easy to see through.
Best regards ▲ Collapse
 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:48
German to English
Lesson: do not provide banking details in advance Sep 30, 2021

You recognized a possible scam and were wise not to remit the overage. However, in the future wait to provide your banking details until you submit an invoice. An offer of payment upfront is usually a sign of a scam.

You dodged a bullet!

Philip Lees
Josephine Cassar
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Marjolein Snippe
Marjolein Snippe  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 23:48
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Overpayment scam Sep 30, 2021

Annick Pérocheau wrote:

I proposed him, as I had to deliver the translation next Monday, to send them the invoice and to pay back the difference as soon as the cheque would be cleared.


Next time (if there comes a next time), please don't even propose this. It is a well -known scamming method. It is entirely possible for the check to clear at first; by the time your bank has discovered it is in fact false, you will have paid your "client" the "difference", and the amount first paid by check will also have been removed.
 


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Scam alert - translation of a Word document (business_strategie world.docx)







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