Beware, colleagues! (Nigerian scammers impersonate outsourcers from Finland) Thread poster: Mónica Algazi
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Mónica Algazi 
Uruguay
Local time: 18:34
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
Last Saturday, I received through ProZ a message from someone allegedly representing the University of Helsinki. He was impersonating Antti Savoianen, a prestigious member of the university staff. The message itself, Mr Savoianen's photo, the contract with the logo of the university, and even the payment gateway looked so authentic, that I decided to accept their interesting and presumably rewarding translation project.
Let me alert you: it is a sophisticated fraud aimed at getting all yo... See more Last Saturday, I received through ProZ a message from someone allegedly representing the University of Helsinki. He was impersonating Antti Savoianen, a prestigious member of the university staff. The message itself, Mr Savoianen's photo, the contract with the logo of the university, and even the payment gateway looked so authentic, that I decided to accept their interesting and presumably rewarding translation project.
Let me alert you: it is a sophisticated fraud aimed at getting all your personal information and the details of your bank account. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 23:34
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER | Just next Nigerian scammer | Jan 23 |
Hi Monica,
This 'Antti Savolainen' is just next Nigerian scammer: his IPs are 197.210.84.22 and 102.211.96.139.
Profile removed, email address blocked.
| | | | Quentin NEVEN
Belgium
Local time: 23:34
Member (Jan 2024)
English to French
+ ...
| Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 23:34
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Never.
[Edited at 2024-01-24 12:40 GMT]
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Arne Krueger
Germany
Local time: 23:34
German to English
+ ...
...a Nigerian sitting in his hut and thnking about impersonating an academic from Finland. THAT is a new level. ^^
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 23:34
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER | 'Antti Savolainen' reincarnated into ' Maria Elon' | Jan 24 |
After removal of his profile fake 'Antti Savolainen' has reincarnated into fake 'Maria Elon' using an email [email protected]
Profile removed, email blocked.
| | | | Mónica Algazi
Uruguay
Local time: 18:34
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER
The University of Helsinki has just confirmed the fraud.
"Dear ...
We regret to inform you that there has indeed been a fraud: The University of Helsinki has never sent the translation offer. Someone is pretending to use our contact information trying to cheat people, which we have reported to the Finnish Police. So unfortunately we don't have translation work to offer. Please accept our apologies for the false message and report the message / number as a fraud in your e-mail system ... See more The University of Helsinki has just confirmed the fraud.
"Dear ...
We regret to inform you that there has indeed been a fraud: The University of Helsinki has never sent the translation offer. Someone is pretending to use our contact information trying to cheat people, which we have reported to the Finnish Police. So unfortunately we don't have translation work to offer. Please accept our apologies for the false message and report the message / number as a fraud in your e-mail system / phone.
Ystävällisin terveisin / Med vänlig hälsning / Kind regards
Piia Huttunen
Arkisto ja kirjaamo / Arkivet och registraturen / Archives and Registry"
It takes all kinds... ▲ Collapse
| | | | veronicaes
Local time: 18:34
Member (2012)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Further contact through Whatsapp and a "contract" | Jan 24 |
I received the same email, followed by a contact through WhatsApp, and then followed by a PDF contract to sign offering money for translation services. Be careful.
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IrinaN
United States
Local time: 16:34
English to Russian
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That a prominent professor representing major foreign university, who has never heard of you before, will NOT come to your door out of the blue, throwing a fat fully prepared contract with your name in it and a prearranged payment method. Not just without a single previous contact in any form but blissfully unaware if you are dead or alive at the moment.
Really, guys... Christmas is too far away.
| | | | Paola Giardina
Argentina
Local time: 18:34
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| I got the same message!!! Antti Savolainen from the University of Helsinki | Jan 25 |
SCAM ALERT
Hello, I got the same message.
And I answered.
"I represent an institute in finland called the university of
helsinki you can read more about us
here https://www.helsinki.fi/. We are looking for
freelancers who have passion for languages to
work with us remotely as a part time translator . As a part
time translator your role will involve
t... See more SCAM ALERT
Hello, I got the same message.
And I answered.
"I represent an institute in finland called the university of
helsinki you can read more about us
here https://www.helsinki.fi/. We are looking for
freelancers who have passion for languages to
work with us remotely as a part time translator . As a part
time translator your role will involve
translating school materials from English to Spanish. Salary
range is between 500 to 2500 usd
weekly depending on the workload of the week. if interested
kindly apply
https://forms.gle/CLcVcv2xpSfvjxGg7. Also let me know when
you are done so i can inform the
hr department about your application
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Autor: Antti Savolainen
Perfil del autor: http://www.proz.com/profile/3917329
Dirección IP del autor: 105.113.63.54"
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Today I got a message vía WhatsApp from Antti, and It sounded so weird. I blocked and reported the Phone number.
Please, take care! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 23:34
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER | Antti Savolainen again - United States, native in: English | Jan 26 |
Antti Savolainen has just resurrected: this time he claims to be located in the USA and his email is [email protected]
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 23:34
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER | New reincarnation: claudie873gm | Jan 27 |
claudie873gm from the United States
Email: [email protected]
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Elías Sauza
Mexico
Local time: 15:34
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Same message received | Jan 28 |
Let's just keep in mind: Is it too good to be true?
Regards,
ES
| | | | | My experience with the same offer | Feb 9 |
I was also contacted the same way, in my case through Upwork, a freelancers platform. Even tho it all seemed very suspicious to me even from the start, I decided to keep going until a huge red flag popped up (request for personal info or funds that are not needed for normal payments). I signed the contract and worked on the translation of a handbook for 5 days, which made me think it might be actually true, as I didn't expect a scam to be so elaborate to even make me work (or at least I HOPED so... See more I was also contacted the same way, in my case through Upwork, a freelancers platform. Even tho it all seemed very suspicious to me even from the start, I decided to keep going until a huge red flag popped up (request for personal info or funds that are not needed for normal payments). I signed the contract and worked on the translation of a handbook for 5 days, which made me think it might be actually true, as I didn't expect a scam to be so elaborate to even make me work (or at least I HOPED so). After I sent in the work, they took an hour to "review" it and then sent me 1940 USD on the platform they decided upon, https://zaydacare.org, there's not much info about it online, but the few info I could find was referring to it being a phising entity and it's also worth remarking that they didn't give me the chance to choose any other, as I obviously would've chosen a trustworthy method such as paypal, payoneer, etc.
I tried withdrawing those funds to my bank account and it asked me for the normal info for an international transfer, then it was taking over a day but I assumed it was normal for an international transaction, especially the first one, but then the person who I was talking to about the job told me directly to go contact them cause it shouldn't take that long; when I did, their response was that I had to deposit 15% of the transfer into the platform so they could "verify my bank", which meant I had to deposit 291 USD just to be able to withdraw the money, something I had never seen before in any other payment platform. So this is as far as I went, I tried asking them for other ways of autentification or asking my "project manager" to help me out referring this to the payment section and perhaps sending me the money required for authentification directly to my account, but everything was denied and I was told I simply had to do it, the person even told me "mine was good cause back then they had to do 25%", which ultimately gives away the fraud completely.
To close it off, just wanna tell y'all to be safe out there, I'm bewildered by the fact that some people actually go through so much to scam someone, so don't get caught off guard. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Arne Krueger
Germany
Local time: 23:34
German to English
+ ...
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