Freelance editors and proofreaders can be especially vulnerable to fake job offers that appear legit at first glance. One recent scam offered a suspiciously high amount for basic editing work. It was well above the standard rate of 2–3.5 cents per word typically offered for proofreading and editing.
Although things initially appeared above board, closer inspection revealed several red flags. Further investigation linked the offer to an agency that had been questioned in multiple Facebook groups and had a website with obvious signs of AI-generated content.
- Like all good editors and proofreaders, you need to take a closer look
- Know your audience—it’s obvious you don’t know what you’re talking about
- Do I know any editors or proofreaders looking for the job of a lifetime?
- My fellow editors and proofreaders, steer clear of DLP Translation Agency
- Anyone in my network seeing more of these scams?
Last month, I wrote about a pretty elaborate copywriting scam that fooled me. Fortunately, most such scams aren’t nearly that elaborate and are much easier to spot. For example, take this one that showed up in my inbox in March 2026.
It was sent to the email address associated with my website. The offer started out innocently enough and could’ve easily been mistaken for a legit inquiry.
It was in my wheelhouse—proofreading. The person asked about my availability rather than jumping straight into the offer. It came across as an inquiry rather than a hard sell. There might be something good here.
Like all good editors and proofreaders, you need to take a closer look
But once I looked a little closer, there were red flags—everywhere.
- Gmail address—not a red flag on its own, but the repeated first name (crystal x2) raised a red flag
- Generic greeting—if you’ve sought my services out, you should know who I am and personalize your email
- Requires retyping—that’s not editing or proofreading. What typographical errors would I be correcting? The ones I introduce when “retyping” the document?
- Awkward closing—Thanks, Best Regards. Pick one, and add your name (crystalcrystal) 😉
Unlike last month’s example, I immediately pegged this as a scam. But I had a bit of free time on my hands—I was just recently unemployed. I decided to write back and see how they’d respond. Here’s what I wrote.
Notice that I didn’t ask about how much they were offering. Also, I included an extra space between “Also,” and “could.” When editors and proofreaders apply for jobs, sending error-free emails is crucial. If I were hiring an editor or proofreader, any typos in their communications would immediately make me question their skills. I didn’t expect them to notice, but as I said, I was amusing myself.
I got a reply a few hours later.
Well, at least this email was addressed to me.
Know your audience—it’s obvious you don’t know what you’re talking about
It appears that, for this person, “retyping” means “editing.” It was immediately obvious this person was trying to appear professional and experienced. But they failed miserably.
- The first numbered bullet point is nonsensical. Covers what?
- They named a company to make things sound more legit, which backfired (more on that later).
- Tracked changes and PDF don’t go together. Word and Google Docs do track changes, but that’s not a feature of PDFs.
- A PDF is typically shared as a final document, so why would you do that with tracked changes?
Again, they aren’t pushing too hard. They acknowledged that I’d need to review the document before accepting the job. But then they again referred to a file in pdf format (not PDF), which doesn’t allow for tracked changes.
Stating 12 pt Times New Roman seems like an important detail, but font type/size doesn’t matter in 2026. Back in “ancient times,” when we used typewriters, proofreaders and editors needed to know font sizes. Font size and spacing allowed them to provide quotes based on the number of words per page. In 2026, the word count function tells me everything I need to know, regardless of the font type or size.
Their requested five-day turnaround to proofread around 4,000 words was fair. That would allow me to do several passes with enough time in between to approach each pass with a fresh set of eyes. But then we get to the offer.
Do I know any editors or proofreaders looking for the job of a lifetime?
“The company budget is $3,000.” Oh, hell yeah! Sign me up! Not that it would take me five 8-hour workdays to proofread 4,000 words, but let’s do the math for fun.
- 5 (days) x 8 (hours) = 40 hours
- $3,000/40 (hours) = $75/hour
Even if I had to manually retype 4,000 words, it wouldn’t take me nearly 40 hours.
For reference, standard proofreading rates are around 2 cents/word. Even editing rates are at about 3 ½ cents/word.
- Proofreading: 4,000 x 0.02 = $60
- Editing: 4,000 x 0.035 = $144
For them to be offering $3,000 is ridiculous. Even $300 would’ve been suspicious. Most people don’t want to pay for proofreading at all. No one on the planet would pay that much to any proofreader or editor for 4,000 words.
The scam had long since been confirmed. But the closing, in all caps, missing an “s” (Best regards,) and with a period after the name, was just the cherry on top.
Needless to say, I didn’t respond. And Crystal never followed up.
But that’s not to say I was done. I decided to do some digging.
My fellow editors and proofreaders, steer clear of DLP Translation Agency
Searching for DLP Translation Agency didn’t bring up much. I couldn’t even find a working website. But I did get a few hits from Facebook Group posts questioning the organization’s legitimacy.
Though the name had changed, these posts from a year earlier also referred to “retyping.”
Although search results didn’t return a live website, I did find a URL somewhere (http://dlptranslation.online/). But the site wouldn’t load. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine had a cached copy.
I’ve seen worse-looking sites slapped together to support scams. It looks like someone put time into developing this site.
That is until you start looking closer. Check out the stack of books on the right…
Wait a minute…that ain’t English! That, folks, would be a failed attempt at an AI-generated image of books related to translation. 😉Traneaition Sepvice. Okay then.
Finally, AI summaries confirmed what was painfully obvious. This was a scam targeting editors and proofreaders.
Yeah, no shit.
Anyone in my network seeing more of these scams?
Unlike last month’s example, this one was much easier to spot. But it’s still annoying for people like me. I’m just trying to make a living but have to sift through this type of BS while looking for work. I know scams have existed for eons, but I wonder if more scams like this target editors and proofreaders. It’s kind of ironic when you think about it. Editors and proofreaders are more likely to spot red flags based on the language in these emails.
Looking for freelance gigs and applying for them takes up a lot of time—more than you’d imagine. And trying to stand out from the other 50+ people who’ve applied for the same gig as you in the past 24 hours is challenging. Like any scam, it preys on people who are likely somewhat desperate, looking to make ends meet.
Anyway, just a bit of a public service announcement to my fellow editors and proofreaders. Don’t waste your time with DLP Translations. You know the adage—if the offer seems too good. 😉 Stay alert for these types of scams, and know that there is legit work out there. It’s just getting harder and harder to find.
Subscribe to this blog or follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Threads for more content and updates.
