As you may have noticed, scammers seem to be as busy as ever these days! NOTIS would like to remind all members to remain extremely vigilant when reading and responding to emails — even to messages sent to you through your NOTIS directory page.

While we've taken measures to shield our directory from casual scammers, your directory information is public by default (so that colleagues and legitimate potential clients can reach you). Unfortunately, this means that people with wrongful intentions can email you too.

To further protect yourself, you can easily edit your member profile to set "Send message form" to "Anybody," "Members" (only), or "No access." You can do this by clicking on your name at the top right corner of our home page (you must first log in) and selecting "Edit profile" while on the "Privacy" section of your profile. The difference can be seen in the two attached screenshots (see below). 

Please exercise caution when responding to emails from people you don’t know or when something about the message strikes you as odd, for example:

• if the person claims to be from a large company but is using a free email domain (such as yahoo.com or gmail.com) 
• if the offer seems too good to be true, or 
• if the person asks you to send them money or share personal information. 
  
  

To get an idea of what some of these scams looks like, check out this post from NOTIS’s Twitter page about a recent scam targeting NOTIS members. And here’s a 2020 post from CCHI (Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters) regarding a scam that targeted language professionals nationwide.

If anything seems suspicious, the best strategy is not to respond. It can also help to do an online search to see if others have received the same scam email. 

Additionally, you can check on the legitimacy of a potentially suspicious offer by asking your colleagues, for example, on one of the following Facebook Groups:

• Northwest Translators & Interpreters Society (for members)
• Interpreters & Translators in Washington State
• Oregon Society of Translators & Interpreters
  
  

Finally, here are a couple more easy steps you can take to recognize and avoid scammers:

• Make some or all of your directory information private or visible only to other NOTIS members. You can adjust these privacy settings in your profile (click on your name on the top right corner of the page)
• Read our guidance for members about known scams and frauds: Scams targeting freelancers
  
  

Check out these additional resources for guidance: 

• BBB Scam Tracker is a free tool anyone can use to report suspected scams (from the Better Business Bureau)
• Spot a Scam, from the Better Business Bureau, provides up-to-date information on recent scams and how to identify them.
• A 2023 article from ATA with links to other resources, including a 2020 webinar titled “Don’t Fall for It: Scams Targeting Language Professionals”
• ATA Podcast, Episode 88: Scams (June 2023)
• A Proz.com page describing typical scams, plus a dedicated forum for discussing scams
  
  

If you receive an email through the NOTIS directory and you're not sure it's legitimate, NOTIS will be happy to review it with you and offer our opinion. Please send your inquiries to info@notisnet.org.