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fififreelance
Community Member

CLIENT SCAM? admits he has NO CLIENTS and is asking for advice to get Clients...connect refund?

Is this some cruel joke? Is there any method to get connect refunded in this scenario?

I get this directly from the client who messaged me from my proposal:


"My question is what are your methods of outreach to acquire your clients? Would love to learn more, I just started this "Agency" which is really just me. I do not have any clients as of yet. I have started outreaching"

 

Is this against TOS as it surely is a waste of time and connects and I realize it's only 2 connect, but I'm just starting out on UpWork and really want to make the most of what I have here..

Would love to hear from someone more seasoned then myself here! Appreciate it very much.

14 REPLIES 14
tlsanders
Community Member

I don't work here, but I can't see why it would violate TOS to hire an Upwork-specific business coach through Upwork.

It sounds like it might be a scam, though, because it's hard to understand why someone would hire another newcomer who probably doesn't have much valuable information to share for that.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Firas, 


I checked your conversation with this client and it looks like it progressed a little. If you feel wary about this client, you can report him by flagging his job post. If the team finds that his actions violate any of the Terms of Service, they will take the necessary actions against the client's accounts. 


~ Avery
Upwork

Hey Avery,

If you looked at the conversation in it's entirety, can you advise if that is something in line with TOS?

The client explicitly said 'they have no work' and 'no clients' but were just looking to get a feel of what they can find and get a feel for a team in place for now implicitly implying there is no intent to actually hire at the moment and furthermore is even asking the freelancer on how to go about with outreaching to find clients, another task that has nothing to do with the posting and should probably be charged as consultancy regardless..

I understand making a listing is not against TOS and there is no way to guage intent without explicit explanation of such, but in a world where we pay $2 worth of connect to propose and have a very finite amount of proposals we can send out AND someone does show there was no intent to hire, is there no way for a freelancer to combat this/refund connects?

I suggest you flag this fake job as inappropriate. If Upwork closes it (and they should), you'll get your connects refunded.

Hi Firas,

 

Thanks for your question. Yes, we return Connects when a client closes their job without hiring or we find a job post has violated our Terms of Service

~ Riri


Riri A wrote:

Hi Firas,

 

Thanks for your question. Yes, we return Connects when a client closes their job without hiring or we find a job post has violated our Terms of Service


No, you don't. Or has that been changed recently?


Ela K wrote:

Riri A wrote:

 

Thanks for your question. Yes, we return Connects when a client closes their job without hiring or we find a job post has violated our Terms of Service


No, you don't. Or has that been changed recently?


It has always been like that, but the client has to a) actively close / cancel the job post (not timed out) and b) not have hired.

tlbp
Community Member

Firas, 
I think that you may have not explained the situation clearly. 

 

If I am guessing correctly, a freelance agency owner posted a job on Upwork. Then, when you responded with a proposal to that job, he then told you that there was no job and he just wanted to ask you questions (and he did not offer to pay for you to answer those questions). Is that correct? 

Was the job listing one which would give you any indication that the "client" wanted to ask your opinion and pay you to answer?
Did you ask him to set up a contract and pay you for your time? 

(This information may help Upwork's team get a better understanding of what has happened.)

 

hey Tonya,

You're right on both - i did kinda just jump into that without proper setup or background but you are correcf. The 'client' in this case did set up a posting, in which i did send a proposal, to manage the social media/ digital marketing/ advertising for a client of his (who we now know is non-existent).

There was absolutely no indication from the listing, explicit or implicit that the client wanted to ask any questions or opinions. Also considering the nature of the questions, "how do i get clients?" it just seems like an apparent waste of time/connects/ and a false job as there is no brand or account to be servicing.. I get upwork wants to protect agencies and make it easy to list jobs/gigs and it's in their best interest we use up connects.

I unfortunately dont see this going anywhere so I'll drop it, but it just doesn't seem all that fair from the getgo to have no sort of freelancer protection from a situation like this where someone is obviously just wasting time/connects/etc. of freelancers on the platform.

Thanks to everyone who commented and tried to help out/ shed some insight! It's very much appreciated. Thank you!!!

For a fake listing, flag the job post. Upwork may take a while to investigate (and you will have to be clear about what happened). Sorry that you were sucked in by this bad actor.  

feed_my_eyes
Community Member

Hmmm, I suspect that I know who this "client" is. Click on the green "flag as inappropriate" link in the top right-hand corner and report this. If this isn't a real project (i.e. they've made it clear that they have no intention of paying you for your time), then the project will be taken down and you should get your connects back. 

Not only should the "job" posting be taken down and connects returned....

 

Upwork should also permanently terminate this users account.

 

This is a preposterous abuse of the Upwork system. The user who posted the fake job post should not be allowed to continue as a client, freelancer or agency.

 

It is also completely unnecessary. If the person wanted advice, he could ask questions in the Forum.


Preston H wrote:

If the person wanted advice, he could ask questions in the Forum.


I think that this person did ask for advice in the forum; he then chose to ignore it.

Hey Christine!

I'll try to flag as inappropriate and leave a message for upwork. I'll update you guys on any developments but the whole situation has just taken much more time than it's worth unfortunately. I don't see any value arising for anyone from this situation other than thte "client" that is phishing for some free advice from some overly eager freelancers.

Thank you for the kind words and advise! 

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