Sofia Porte / Ann Broklyn - scam from new users claiming to be freelancers in France

Thomas T. Frost wrote:



I agree with Mirko that you cannot conclude anything on this basis alone. It’s better to look at all the elements. An outsourcer doesn’t necessarily speak all the languages they outsource, and even though the primary business language is English, it’s not necessary to turn down a proposal if the outsourcer’s poor grammar or style is the only problem, even though I admit it may demonstrate lack of experience.

If you filter by style or grammar alone, you may be at risk of being scammed by an eloquent scammer. Confidence tricksters do this by being smartly dressed – in hotels and restaurants for example – and well behaved. The eloquent scam artist is much more dangerous than the one with bad grammar.

The only time I’ve been scammed was when I worked in airport transfers and tourism many years ago. An eloquent French woman rang me up and booked a last-minute transfer over the phone, confirming by email. The PayPal payment was prompt. She spoke with confidence like any other French person in a business situation.

But the money disappeared ten days later when PayPal applied a chargeback. It must have been paid with a stolen credit card number. I finally got the money back from PayPal several months later after finding a hole in their business practices relative to banking regulations, but that’s another story.