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Be aware of "Chris Payne"
Thread poster: Roberto Rey
Roberto Rey
Roberto Rey  Identity Verified
Colombia
Local time: 10:52
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Aug 27, 2015

I recently was approached by a person going by the name "Chris Payne" to perform a translation project which could cost a couple hundred dollars. To be honest I did not suspect anything at first and did the short translation, which seemed taken from Wikipedia (1st red flag) . I did have some questions regarding footnotes that this person did not care to answer (2nd red flag). Then I provided by banking information for him to send me a check.
After a couple of days he said his accountant h... See more
I recently was approached by a person going by the name "Chris Payne" to perform a translation project which could cost a couple hundred dollars. To be honest I did not suspect anything at first and did the short translation, which seemed taken from Wikipedia (1st red flag) . I did have some questions regarding footnotes that this person did not care to answer (2nd red flag). Then I provided by banking information for him to send me a check.
After a couple of days he said his accountant had mistakenly sent me a check for the wrong amount (US$ 2650) (3rd red flag). Then he was very keen to remind me every day to please refund him the excessive funds I had in my bank account (4th red flag). Obviously at this point I was very much aware of the scam attempt. I called my bank and they advised me to wait and see if the check would bounce. As I predicted the check bounced and Mr. Payne is no longer emailing me as his window of opportunity has long gone.

So be aware of "out of the blue" translation requests. Fortunately I only lost a couple hours of work. ▲ Collapse
 
Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)
Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)  Identity Verified
Thailand
Local time: 22:52
English to Thai
+ ...
Similar scam Aug 27, 2015

Satto (Roberto) wrote:

I recently was approached by a person going by the name "Chris Payne" to perform a translation project which could cost a couple hundred dollars. To be honest I did not suspect anything at first and did the short translation, which seemed taken from Wikipedia (1st red flag) . I did have some questions regarding footnotes that this person did not care to answer (2nd red flag). Then I provided by banking information for him to send me a check.
After a couple of days he said his accountant had mistakenly sent me a check for the wrong amount (US$ 2650) (3rd red flag). Then he was very keen to remind me every day to please refund him the excessive funds I had in my bank account (4th red flag). Obviously at this point I was very much aware of the scam attempt. I called my bank and they advised me to wait and see if the check would bounce. As I predicted the check bounced and Mr. Payne is no longer emailing me as his window of opportunity has long gone.

So be aware of "out of the blue" translation requests. Fortunately I only lost a couple hours of work.


I love your word "red flag."
Translators are too innocent and rarely remind of the word red flag when they are too busy with jobs or are hungry to grasp opportunities "out of the blue."
By the way, many scams make me stronger on how to screen reliable clients.

Soonthon L.
 


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Be aware of "Chris Payne"







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