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How much money have you lost to scammers?
Thread poster: Inez Ulrich
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:45
Member (2008)
Italian to English
0 Aug 1, 2018

Nothing so far. I believe in the Italian motto

"Fidarsi è bene. Non fidarsi è meglio".
 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 17:45
French to English
To scammers? None. Aug 1, 2018

I've twice lost out on a business that went bankrupt. With experience I now know I should have seen it coming. I have lost nothing at all to scammers, a scam being a deliberate intent from the outset to cheat me out of something.
 
Rita Pang
Rita Pang  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 11:45
Member (2011)
Chinese to English
+ ...

Moderator of this forum
Also luckily, none Aug 1, 2018

I've been very lucky as I have not lost money to scammers, but I've lost an INSANE amount of time and percentage of what I am due because of mismanagement and banking fees.

I once work with this one agency (arguably top 5 in our industry) who had cash flow issues and I ended up waiting 3 more months (on top of their original 60 days) for several of my invoices to be paid. They did offer interest on the time of wait.
 
John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 11:45
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
Ask some questions Aug 2, 2018

Eva Stoppa wrote:

John Fossey wrote:

I subsequently subscribed to Proz.com for the BlueBoard, Translator's Cafe for the Hall of Fame and Shame and Ted Wozniak's PaymentPractices.com, in order to research new clients before accepting them.


But not all companies are registered there. Even not all translation agencies. So you refuse to work for a client simply for not being registered on these sites?


When an agency client approaches me who is not on any of these boards I will often ask them why they are not listed. Sometimes they are a new agency, sometimes there has been a name change. Sometimes that's the last I hear of them. But usually the question opens a dialogue by which you can get a sense of how the company does business. Granted that's not as secure as having a history but so far it has worked for me. I do recall one instance when a dialogue having been started revealed (by the owner's name) that the agency was a reincarnation of one that had gone bankrupt - we didn't do business.

End clients are, of course, not usually listed on these sites. But I haven't had any problems dealing with end clients directly. If I were to get a large order (several thousand $) from an end client that I didn't recognize I would probably purchase a Dun & Bradstreet credit report.
 
Jocelin Meunier
Jocelin Meunier  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 17:45
English to French
+ ...
To my great shame Aug 2, 2018

I've fallen for a scam last year, involving a false client, and lost 1700€. There were lots of red flags that I ignored because I was naive and due to the fact that all identities checked (but they were stolen ones). Plus, I was payed on time for the correct amount. Except I didn't know banks credit you with money which existence they don't even bother to check before-hand.
None was retrieved, but now I ask for half in advance and the rest when the work is done, delivering only when the ... See more
I've fallen for a scam last year, involving a false client, and lost 1700€. There were lots of red flags that I ignored because I was naive and due to the fact that all identities checked (but they were stolen ones). Plus, I was payed on time for the correct amount. Except I didn't know banks credit you with money which existence they don't even bother to check before-hand.
None was retrieved, but now I ask for half in advance and the rest when the work is done, delivering only when the pay is actually here. It was a costly lesson.

[Modifié le 2018-08-02 18:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
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How much money have you lost to scammers?







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