Pages in topic:   < [1 2]
Distress moment: receiving a scam email
Thread poster: Enrique Cavalitto
Katarzyna Slowikova
Katarzyna Slowikova  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:55
English to Czech
+ ...
You're missing the point Nov 2, 2016

Miguel Carmona wrote:

Tom in London wrote:

If I were to receive an email from anyone that began "How are you and how is your family?"

I would immediately trash it without even reading the rest.


Yes. It's like when you receive a telemarketing call, and they start with a "How are you today, Sir?". I get instantly bored and feel that I am wasting valuable time of my life (2 seconds), even if I am not doing anything, other than probably scratching an unmentionable part of my anatomy.


Really, would you "trash" an email coming from you friend's address upon reading him/her asking you about your family?
Looks like you're both missing the point those emails come from REAL addresses of people you know (or at least those who have you in their address book).
There're many details that give them away as scams but the 1st sentence is not among them.


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:55
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
A couple of responses here are indeed missing the point Nov 2, 2016

Katarzyna Slowikova wrote:
would you "trash" an email coming from you friend's address upon reading him/her asking you about your family?
Looks like you're both missing the point those emails come from REAL addresses of people you know (or at least those who have you in their address book).
There're many details that give them away as scams but the 1st sentence is not among them.

My husband was sufficiently concerned when he got one of these from an old friend in France we hadn't heard from in a few years that he actually sent back an email asking where he (i.e. my husband) had moved to, plus another detail that only a few people in the world know about, as confirmation of identity. Of course, he never heard from the scammer again and further checks confirmed the scam. He wasn't silly enough to send any money, but he was certainly distressed at the possibility that his friend was in trouble.


 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 09:55
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER
A clever approach Nov 2, 2016

Sheila Wilson wrote:

My husband ... sent back an email asking where he (i.e. my husband) had moved to, plus another detail that only a few people in the world know about, as confirmation of identity. Of course, he never heard from the scammer again and further checks confirmed the scam.


Thanks Sheila,
This is a very clever approach when dealing with a possible impersonation. Thanks for sharing this!
Regards,
Enrique


 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 08:55
Romanian to English
+ ...
what I did Nov 2, 2016

When I received two of such messages from ”distressed” friends, I asked them to send me again their story in our language (Romanian). It was funny that their reply was in English sounding very upset, like ”How you dare you to ask that, when I am stuck and distressed in Cairo”. Immediately I contacted my friends via phone or FB and let them know that their e-mail was hacked.

Stay safe
Lee


 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:55
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
I have a ProZ email account.. Nov 2, 2016

... and someone has created thousands of fake accounts using my domain name ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc.) for over a year, sending out thousands of scam and spam emails every day.

I know this because when these emails are captured by the recipient's spam filters or sent to an address that no longer exists, the emails ar
... See more
... and someone has created thousands of fake accounts using my domain name ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc.) for over a year, sending out thousands of scam and spam emails every day.

I know this because when these emails are captured by the recipient's spam filters or sent to an address that no longer exists, the emails are returned to me. I have to empty my inbox of thousands of these every month - and these are just the ones that are returned.

I was told that nothing can be done to prevent this.
Collapse


 
Katarzyna Slowikova
Katarzyna Slowikova  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:55
English to Czech
+ ...
qwertyuiop Nov 2, 2016

LegalTransform wrote:

... and someone has created thousands of fake accounts using my domain name ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc.) for over a year, sending out thousands of scam and spam emails every day.

I know this because when these emails are captured by the recipient's spam filters or sent to an address that no longer exists, the emails are returned to me. I have to empty my inbox of thousands of these every month - and these are just the ones that are returned.

I was told that nothing can be done to prevent this.


Sounds really nasty (and also OT).
But can somebody explain how is it technically possible?
Aren't the domains registered, meaning nobody can register the same one (incl. the suffix)?


 
Gerard de Noord
Gerard de Noord  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 13:55
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
+ ...
The nastiest scam I know Nov 2, 2016

A couple of months ago one of the 25 members of the choir I belong to "wrote" me a similar message. I would have sent her the money but - just to be sure - I asked her to name the password for the member section of our website first. The first and second messages I received were really very convincing.

Cheers,
Gerard


 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:55
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
It's the same domain name Nov 2, 2016

The emails are not really coming from my domain name. The scammers just use a fake username with the domain name (SUSANJOHSON2@.....) so that the recipient believes that the email came from your domain name.

As a result, legitimate email from your domain name gets blocked by spam filters.

It's the same thing as phone calls that use a fake caller ID.

Perhaps it is better off just to use a free e-mail service...


Katarzyna Slowikova wrote:

LegalTransform wrote:

... and someone has created thousands of fake accounts using my domain name ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc.) for over a year, sending out thousands of scam and spam emails every day.

I know this because when these emails are captured by the recipient's spam filters or sent to an address that no longer exists, the emails are returned to me. I have to empty my inbox of thousands of these every month - and these are just the ones that are returned.

I was told that nothing can be done to prevent this.


Sounds really nasty (and also OT).
But can somebody explain how is it technically possible?
Aren't the domains registered, meaning nobody can register the same one (incl. the suffix)?


[Edited at 2016-11-02 21:25 GMT]

[Edited at 2016-11-02 21:25 GMT]


 
Christian christian@nielsen-palacios.com
Christian [email protected]
United States
Local time: 08:55
English to Spanish
+ ...
I got one of those emails. What do I do now? Nov 17, 2016

A guy wrote to me through ProZ (the message came with a note saying that he was not a member). He asked me to translate a 5000 word "article". I asked him for personal information since I didn't know him, and sent him a proposal ($600). He accepted it, and gave me an address in Boston. He said he would ask his accountant to send me a check, for which he needed my address and phone number (he did NOT ask for bank account information).

I started preparing for the job (converting PDF t
... See more
A guy wrote to me through ProZ (the message came with a note saying that he was not a member). He asked me to translate a 5000 word "article". I asked him for personal information since I didn't know him, and sent him a proposal ($600). He accepted it, and gave me an address in Boston. He said he would ask his accountant to send me a check, for which he needed my address and phone number (he did NOT ask for bank account information).

I started preparing for the job (converting PDF to DOCX), and thought to Google a sentence of the article. Turns out the "article" is a few pages of a 1992 book by a Stanford professor. It has already been translated, and is available for $70 in Amazon. So, why would this guy want to pay me $600 to translate part of a book when he can get the entire book for $70?

A few minutes ago, I found out (here in ProZ) about MELISSA's website, where you can insert the person's IP address and find out where they wrote from. He is in California, not Boston.

I am afraid he might be trying to impersonate me later on. Anything I can do at this point?

His initials are A.J., by the way. Have any of you been approached by him?
Collapse


 
John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 08:55
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
Blocking mail returned to non-existent addresses Nov 18, 2016

LegalTransform wrote:

... and someone has created thousands of fake accounts using my domain name ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc.) for over a year, sending out thousands of scam and spam emails every day.

I know this because when these emails are captured by the recipient's spam filters or sent to an address that no longer exists, the emails are returned to me. I have to empty my inbox of thousands of these every month - and these are just the ones that are returned.

I was told that nothing can be done to prevent this.


I believe the only way you can receive email that's addressed to your domain but to a non-existent email address is if you have a "catch-all" email address set up. You can switch that off, in which case mail to the non-existent address would be blocked.


 
John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 08:55
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
Scams from California (?) Nov 18, 2016

Christian Nielsen-Palacios wrote:

A few minutes ago, I found out (here in ProZ) about MELISSA's website, where you can insert the person's IP address and find out where they wrote from. He is in California, not Boston.


From Mountain View, California, by any chance? If so it's a generic Gmail account by google, and he could actually be anywhere in the world.

I've probably been approached by him, I get a couple of these every day. Mostly I just ignore them.


 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2]


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Lucia Leszinsky[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Distress moment: receiving a scam email







CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »