May 24, 2019 06:25:53 AM by John S
A freelancer I recently worked with has changed their name. After asking why, they responded:
"The account was transferred to me. I am the new owner"
That doesn't sound right. Is this allowed by Upwork?
May 24, 2019 06:28:34 AM by Martina P
John S wrote:A freelancer I recently worked with has changed their name. After asking why, they responded:
"The account was transferred to me. I am the new owner"
That doesn't sound right. Is this allowed by Upwork?
No. Report him, please.
May 24, 2019 06:33:20 AM by Arturo C
thats not normal
accounts are personal
how could you trust anyone if you could just transfer them
May 24, 2019 06:38:47 AM by AleksandarD A
Hi John,
Thanks for reaching out to us. Please send me a PM with information about the Freelancer so I can submit a report to our team for investigation.
Thank you.
May 24, 2019 08:06:51 AM by Christine A
There are thousands of people buying and selling Upwork accounts - you can find them with a simple Google search. I was wondering if Upwork is taking any measures against this?
May 24, 2019 08:43:36 AM by Preston H
re: "I was wondering if Upwork is taking any measures against this?"
Upwork is taking multiple measures against this.
It is a massive effort.
Upwork's automatic location identification for new users, continuing location monitoring and cross-checking with profile identification claims, new requirements to do video-based identity confirmation, and their requirements for sending scans of government-based ID, are just some of Upwork's efforts against this.
May 26, 2019 07:22:10 AM by Nichola L
Preston H wrote:re: "I was wondering if Upwork is taking any measures against this?"
Upwork is taking multiple measures against this.
It is a massive effort.
Upwork's automatic location identification for new users, continuing location monitoring and cross-checking with profile identification claims, new requirements to do video-based identity confirmation, and their requirements for sending scans of government-based ID, are just some of Upwork's efforts against this.
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Well despîte the "massive efforts", a lot of people are still doing it. A lot of people with fraudulent profiles are still actually making money on this site - and making money for Upwork - but their profiles are still false. Some have been reported; some have been removed, but some are still here.
May 26, 2019 07:55:18 AM by Christine A
Preston H wrote:Upwork's automatic location identification for new users, continuing location monitoring and cross-checking with profile identification claims, new requirements to do video-based identity confirmation, and their requirements for sending scans of government-based ID, are just some of Upwork's efforts against this.
These requirements are already being sidestepped; most of the "accounts for sale" ads specifically mention that they will perform the video interviews and identity checks on behalf of the new account holder.
May 26, 2019 11:44:45 AM by Preston H
Okay....
For those of you pointing out that people are selling Upwork profiles, despite rules against doing so... I'm not sure what your point is, other than making conversation.
If you live in France or the United Kingdom, there are laws against auto theft, but there are still auto thieves in both of those countries.
Do you have some specific recommendations for how Upwork or Upwork users can do something different in order to combat this problem?
May 26, 2019 11:54:40 AM Edited May 26, 2019 12:21:05 PM by Nichola L
Preston H wrote:Okay....
For those of you pointing out that people are selling Upwork profiles, despite rules against doing so... I'm not sure what your point is, other than making conversation.
If you live in France or the United Kingdom, there are laws against auto theft, but there are still auto thieves in both of those countries.
Do you have some specific recommendations for how Upwork or Upwork users can do something different in order to combat this problem?
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Do you? In your squeaky clean country, free of all "collusion" and criminals who sink so low as to sell their Upwork accounts? Preston you are on some ephemeral high horse that is going to drop you at the next fence!
May 26, 2019 02:30:01 PM Edited May 26, 2019 02:57:22 PM by Preston H
re: "Do you?"
The things I can think of are already being done by Upwork. I can't think of anything either.
I would presume that for any rule Upwork has, there are people trying (and sometimes succeeding) to break the rule, if they think they can profit from doing so. So there is nothing peculiar about this particular rule in that regard.
I don't blame anybody for feeling like this is a problem. I don't like the fact that this is happening. So I support Upwork's verification efforts, as do all or most all regular Forum participants (based on the threads I have read).
I don't have a problem with discussion of this problem. I think it is useful to talk about, read reports about where people see this happening, etc.
I don't thinks this affects most of us directly in the same way that (for example) charging money for connects, or making changes to fee percents paid by freelancers affects us. But buying and selling of Upwork accounts has an indirect impact on all Upwork freelancers because it undermines the experience of any client who has a bad experience with fraudulent freelancers.