Why Is Upwork Allowing Contact Details in Job Adverts

[robric]

Every second advertisement for content writers contains contact details without payment method verification. I have stopped reporting these as it's like hitting my head against a brick wall. I've been 12 years on this site. Never seen anyhting like this before!

[pgiambalvo]

We don't know why they are being allowed and Upwork hasn't told us why, only to flag them, which doesn't prevent them from being posted.

[robric]

The advertisements are very similar. Upwork should be able to block them

[pgiambalvo]

Yes, they should. But they are not.

[gilbert-phyllis]

We have absolutely no evidence that UW is choosing to allow scams to proliferate. In fact, Valeria told us last week (or maybe the week before?) that they are working on countermeasures and expect to deploy something soon, within a matter of weeks. Those of us who have been around for a while should be all too aware of how precarious things can be whenever they try to fix or improve something and the likelihood they'll break something else in the process. It seems much more plausible to me that they're taking care to avoid unintended consequences, than that they want scammers to thrive here for some nefarious reason no one can fathom.

It's true we've never seen so many scams. I get invited to several per week myself (at least once, so far, by an UW Talent Specialist!). We've also never--in my nearly six years on the platform--seen so many wannabe FLs who are so totally clueless about FLing, willing to go along with something that smells shady, and/or generally lacking in common sense. It's a target-rich environment for scammers and they're never going to leave as long as that's the case. Until UW gets measures in place, we can all use filters to exclude the scams from our searches.

Meanwhile, IMO the most wearisome aspect of the whole situation is the incessant complaining that UW is sustaining scammers on purpose. They're not. It's just business as usual -- the aircraft carrier adjusting course.

[roberty1y]

That's true. Of course Upwork doesn't want the scammers here. But, considering their other initiatives such as the proposal-boosting facility, you have to wonder if they have their priorities right.

[pgiambalvo]

Other than the evidence that they continue to proliferate despite months of being aware of the problem. And the most wearisome aspect of the whole situation is the incessant denial that Upwork could be preventing this. I look forward to the annoucement and to the countermeasures being effective, which will be evidenced or not by the reduction in scam and spam posts we see.

[gilbert-phyllis]

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Peter G wrote:

Other than the evidence that they continue to proliferate despite months of being aware of the problem. And the most wearisome aspect of the whole situation is the incessant denial that Upwork could be preventing this. I look forward to the annoucement and to the countermeasures being effective, which will be evidenced or not by the reduction in scam and spam posts we see.

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Don't confuse denial that UW could be preventing it with argument re whether they should be preventing it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: install some filters to block job posts that contain the known come-ons to lure newbies off-site but don't go far down that rabbithole and isntead, train the big guns on keeping FLs off the platform who are either gullible or scruple-deficient. 

[pgiambalvo]

I'm not confusing it the two at all. Of course there is a difference. Even I know that. And the big guns should be trained on better informing freelancers of the risks here and what they are and are not allowed to do before they are allowed to sign up. But I don't belive that their degree of gullibilty should be a factor in allowing them in. If they are scruple-deficient, of course, but I think that would be a pretty tough thing to assess. 

[wescowley]

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Phyllis G wrote:

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Don't confuse denial that UW could be preventing it with argument re whether they should be preventing it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: install some filters to block job posts that contain the known come-ons to lure newbies off-site but don't go far down that rabbithole and isntead, train the big guns on keeping FLs off the platform who are either gullible or scruple-deficient. 

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Yes, exactly. I was too tired last night to expand on this. I have no doubt at all that Upwork is working on ways to curtail the scams. But I also have little confidence it will be effective for long. It will likely slow the flood down for a few days until the scammers figure out what exactly Upwork is blocking, then they'll work around it and be back in force. Cutting off demand through education and stricter readiness testing will be more fruitful.

[pgiambalvo]

The question posed here was "Why Is Upwork Allowing Contact Details in Job Adverts?" Still waiting for someone from Upwork to answer it.

[moonraker]

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Peter G wrote:

And the most wearisome aspect of the whole situation is the incessant denial that Upwork could be preventing this.

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And there you go strawmanning again.

I don't recall seeing a single comment denying that Upwork could be preventing it. In fact, I've seen quite the opposite. Just about every regular contrubitor has not only said they could be preventing it - but has even suggested solutions to the problem.

[pgiambalvo]

Please use the term stawmanning correctly because in this case, you didn't. Lots of people misuse it though, so you are not alone. But I can see how I could have been misunderstood. I was referring to Upwork's denials, not the contributors here, by them saying they are doing all they can.

[moonraker]

I know what the word strawman means. I did not misuse it.

I had no way of knowing from your comment that you we referring to comments by Upwork. Although, I don't recall seeing Upwork denying they can do anything. In fact, you and I are replying to a comment which mentions Upwork working on a solution.

[wescowley]

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Phyllis G wrote:

We have absolutely no evidence.....

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100% agree with everything here, Phyllis. 

[gabriel986]

Shouldn't Upwork as a company, and as the keeper of the marketplace, do something about this?

This situation has been ongoing for more than 3 months already, the marketplace is infested with hundreds of scam posts revealing WhatsApp numbers, telegram links, google form links, Google Docs that redirect you to a task or a mission or an offer before showing you a "trial document" and so on. I get to flag 30 of those in a slow day... And I get at least 8-10 invitations to bid for such posts every single day. They even appear in the Upwork emails showing "new job opportunities." 

I'm sick and tired of having to comb through hundreds of scam posts before finding something decent and viable to bid. On top of that, the situation eroded the confidence of the upworkers in clients with unverified payment methods, because the scammers are unverified as well. 

The red flags for me are:

1. Sharing numbers or links

2. The place they claim to be, and their local timezone usually don't match (i.e. they claim to be from the U.S.A., but their timezone is hours ahead of that, I don't want to generalize, but mostly African timezones.) 

3. They have unverified payment methods, even if they show the "PLUS" blue badge. 

4. Their job descriptions are somewhat nonsensical. 

UPWORK NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!

What's the point of being a Top Rated, or a Top Rated Plus, and paying a monthly fee, and the commission fee we pay on every job, if the company doesn't do anything to protect us?

[robric]

Thanks all for your comments and for sharing. I have learned to set my searches to exclude clients without approved payment methods. I'm sad this affects some decent newbies. I long for the day Upwork installs a few filters that prevent posting contact details. Does anybody know how to exclude words ike 'telegram'and 'gmail' from searches instead?

[petra_r]

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Richard F wrote:

Does anybody know how to exclude words ike 'telegram'and 'gmail' from searches instead?

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Yes, Renata knows 🙂 With step by step instructions. 

[robric]

Thank you Petra