Translator Identity Thefts

With great technology comes great responsibility. And risk, it seems.

Recently when reading a discussion on PROZ, it was brought to our attention that the translation business is not immune to privacy violations like identity theft.  There are people misusing the identity of linguists around the world. It does not seem as though these imposters are maliciously trying to steal information, but rather they are simply taking work from the translators they pose as.  Many times these impersonators are even capable of decent translation work, but nevertheless they are posing under the resume of someone else. They are hiding behind the achievements of another in order to get work they could not otherwise acquire.

Often these imitators create a mock email address, Skype account and language combination profile. You find that on these accounts often one letter from the actual translator’s name is missing (i.e. Schmidt becomes Schmid).

One of our ten core values at TLC is “build trust.” We are disappointed that people would violate our trust by using these practices, but it is a reality of our technological age. We want to prevent this type of violation from happening to our loyal linguists and clients.

For the dignity and safety of your work and ours, please partner with us on the following tasks as we move forward:

–          If you are working with TLC as a linguist, you will now be required to provide us with a copy of a government-issued form of identification that includes a picture: a driver’s license, passport, national ID, etc.

–          If you are not comfortable with TLC having a copy of your identification, please consider offering your Skype account information so that we can video call you and you can show us your form of identification and your face.

–          If you have a PROZ profile and you rely on it heavily, we seriously suggest you make a visible note there that specifies if your translator identity has been stolen before and how agencies can confirm your actual identity. This will help protect you against bad reviews that are not from your own personal work.

–          Be careful when uploading your CV to a website. Instead of making it available for anyone to download, we suggest that you write “CV (or Resume) available upon request.” This will help you regulate to whom you have given your identifying information. Bonus: It also allows you to know who is interested in hiring you and therefore gives you a contact with whom you can follow-up.

Another core value upon which TLC stands is “Pursue Growth and Learning.”  We’d like to open up this post to discussion in order to grow together and learn from one another’s experiences.

Linguists: What are other ways you have found helpful in protecting yourself against identity theft?