🐈
» Forums » Clients » Fake ** Freelancers
Page options
289bb8cf
Community Member

Fake ** Freelancers

Dearest Upwork -

 

I am a premium employer and between my two accounts, I easily spend 400k a year.   I have found that my support as a premium employer has become non-existent.  I have always had great account managers but now they all seem to have disappeared and I have no direct point of contact at Upwork.  I cannot imagine any other business having a client who spends as much as I do and not providing them direct access to an account manager.  But that's not what I am writing about.  

 

My bigger concern is the rampant and OUT OF CONTROL issue of phony freelancer accounts.  I recently tried to hire for a job and out of 5 interviews, all 5 were not in the country they claimed to be from.  Some claimed to be in East Europe and others claimed to be in Canada or the United States.  I voice verified with them and they were all Chinese.   I have been reporting this issue for years, yet Upwork seems to not want to do anything about it.  It seems like it would be pretty simple to weed out these fakes, given that I found 5 of them on ONE job post.  I think that Upwork is turning a blind eye to this problem because they are still getting paid on work these phony developers do.  This is a total disservice to people like myself who depend on Upwork.  By ignoring the issue you are allowing employers to get scammed, the very people you depend on for your business.  

 

At any rate, here are a few of the fake Chinese Profiles for my most recent job posting.  Notice that ALL these profiles say rising talent or top rated:

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

 

 

129 REPLIES 129

Scammers, thieves, and cheats exist in all countries, including the U.S.

That's right!
But why can’t the Upwork support team subdue them?

Upwork must find a solution together with everyone.
The power of many people united is powerful.
If Upwork never solves this problem, many customers and freelancers will leave Upwork, and Upwork will lose its luster.

Upwork doesn't have any problems at all with the way the platform is managed. They intentionally created this situation.

 

Luster? No, we're supposed to be little employees with no benefits.

I cannot understand.
Did they intentionally create this situation?
why? for what reason? For whom?

Upwork intentionally removed all platform and category limits, and all tests for Upwork or skills. They  intentionally opened the doors to anyone and everyone, getting rid of any and all requirements. They did this to sell connects, to the many millions of people who come here, which has become the way to make money for them.

 

In addition, they fired 15% of their staff, and removed Support. Finally, they claimed a profit. So, they are going all in on unskilled freelancers, having them do everything with chatbots  ("AI") so they can pretend to have skills. Remember, just because most will never have a single job here, they will spend connects.

 

Upwork wants us to be chained to our devices, constantly refreshing, applying for every job, and spending outrageous amounts for boosting. Millions of freelancers do, until they lose all their money and have no job.

I think so.

Currently, Upwork occupies the first place in the job platform rankings.
Is there currently another platform that can replace this?
If so, where will our Freelancers live?
Won't Upwork improve this situation?

Upwork has no problem with the way things are - they created all of this. Upwork is not in the first place of job rankings. They spend money to be listed, and they are the largest. However, Upwork is certainly not the best. There are platforms that have limits and excellent random, very difficult to cheat tests. There are no scams, either.

 

There are over 150 platforms, of all sizes and for different type of freelancing. Working in the physical world is always an option. Never put all of your financial eggs in one basket. When you don't control the rules, you have to be prepared to leave when a market doesn't serve you.

 

Upwork doesn't have any problems with the platform. Now, they are trying to force innocent freelancers to agree to a job in less than one minute. If that doesn't say, chained to your device while you do Upwork's bidding, I don't know what could be clearer.

 

Upwork is going all in on constantly refreshing the feed, taking any and every job, scam or not. Then making the freelancer do it all over again, every minute, of every day. Why would Upwork not care about snap decisions? It's the money, money, money, and they will not change, no matter how many freelancers or clients leave. There are still those many millions of people who will spend connects, because Upwork tells them to do so.

fbf649da
Community Member

I've seen this problem for years. I can often tell from small cues when a person is lying. A video interview pre-contract and a video call sometime during (in the beginning) helps to filter out most. 

 

I've also noticed that the original poster, Ethan, is no longer active on this platform (if you click his name).

If he is a client, he has no profile. He appears like this.

94a81a36
Community Member

But what if he's posting fake photos on his account?
And he is a real developer or clinet, but what if he doesn't speak English?

Latest Articles
Learning Paths