Overwhelming Amount of Fake Freelancers

[blakecodes]

I've been regularly hiring new talent through UpWork. I posted a premium job and over 50 applicants all from the US applied.

After interviewing over 8 of them, I found all of them were using fake accounts. They were all located off-shore. I do IP checks for every person I interview, I also request that they turn on their webcam. None of them would do it, they had thick accents, and IP's all showed outside of the US.

@UpWork, please increase how often you audit accounts.... This is such a waste of time, especially for someone paying for their jobs to be premium.

[robin_hyman]

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After interviewing over 8 of them, I found all of them were using fake accounts. They were all located off-shore. I do IP checks for every person I interview, I also request that they turn on their webcam. None of them would do it, they had thick accents, and IP's all showed outside of the US.

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Blake,

That is awful.  I'm so sorry you had this experience.  I can ensure you not everyone here is a scammer.  People are probably going to great lengths to try to get work because it's so competitive.  Be smart when interviewing potential hires.  Continue to have video calls, check IPs, etc.  

Hope the moderators chime in.

Good luck!
Robin

(native New Yorker)

[AveryO]

Hi Blake, 

I'm sorry to learn about your experience with these freelancers. I checked your account and I was unable to identify the freelancers you are referring to on your post. If you haven't reported these freelancer's accounts yet, you may send them to me through a private message, so that I can look into this, and file a report with the team. 

If you need help with hiring freelancers for your project, you can also let me know, and I will put you in touch with our Talent Solutions Team.