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Starting a project without a contract: normal or a scam?
Thread poster: cherrypick
cherrypick
cherrypick
China
Local time: 22:19
English to Chinese
+ ...
Apr 16, 2022

Hi,

I'm new to this forum. It seems there are so many scams.
They send email and ask you to start your job without deposit, contract, NDA, payment info. And DDL is like 1-2 days.
I replied asking for the info then there is no reply.
Are there a lot of scams guys? Or it is just me?
Is it normal to start work without contract?

BR,
Ano
 
finnword1
finnword1
United States
Local time: 10:19
English to Finnish
+ ...
Ask for more details Apr 17, 2022

Ask about their location and website. If no answer, forget about them. Another place to start is to see if there is anything about them on ProZcom Blue Board.

Walter Landesman
P.L.F. Persio
 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:19
German to English
Scams very common Apr 17, 2022

Apparently there are fraudsters who monitor the new members section of the Proz homepage.
Here's an entry to help you deal with possible scams.
https://www.proz.com/forum/scams/198052-some_tools_for_detecting_scams_and_risk_management.html

Walter Landesman
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Ying-Ju Fang
P.L.F. Persio
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 16:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
1-2 day deadline is not often a scam Apr 17, 2022

cherrypick wrote:
They send email and ask you to start your job without deposit, contract, NDA, payment info. And DDL is like 1-2 days.

This by itself is not a sign of a scam. It's simply an agency that sends out a job offer to multiple translators and then hires the first one that replies. So if you get no replies from these people, it's not a scam, and it's simply because they're too busy to respond. You should not do any work unless you have had a few back-and-forth communications with the client during which you were able to ascertain whether they are real.

Scams usually don't have a deadline that is only 1-2 days away. Scammers often send very large files (fake files) and generally try to appear to be very generous with their offering e.g. a high rate and a long deadline. Scammers want you to be desperate for the money by the time they spring the scam on you.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Tina Vonhof (X)
Edward Potter
P.L.F. Persio
ghislaine rosso
 
Michael Newton
Michael Newton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:19
Japanese to English
+ ...
Contract scam Apr 19, 2022

Usually I request a purchase order from a new client. If they refuse, I do too.

Katrin Braams
 


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Starting a project without a contract: normal or a scam?







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