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aleksandra-r
Community Member

Contact information dilemma

Hello,

 

I've already written about this issue to Customer Support but as nobody responds (and I need to get an answer asap) I decided to post it here. I am in the interviewing process with a potential client and he sent me a form I need to fill out before the interview. The issue is that form requires me to fill in my email address in order to submit it.

 

I know that per UpWork rules sharing contact info is strongly prohibited, but am I allowed to share my email in this particular case and send him a message that he has to contact me via UpWork only and that the interviewing process must take place on UpWork? Thank you all in advance for your help.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION


Tonya P wrote:

Upwork has said there are exceptions to the rules, but I don't know what those exceptions are. 


The exceptions are for things like signing an NDA, sending a link to your portfolio, or if the client needs to share files so that a freelancer can provide an accurate quote. But if a client asks for contact information for the sole purpose of discussing their project off of Upwork, then that's clearly against the rules.

View solution in original post

9 REPLIES 9
martina_plaschka
Community Member


Aleksandra R wrote:

Hello,

 

I've already written about this issue to Customer Support but as nobody responds (and I need to get an answer asap) I decided to post it here. I am in the interviewing process with a potential client and he sent me a form I need to fill out before the interview. The issue is that form requires me to fill in my email address in order to submit it.

 

I know that per UpWork rules sharing contact info is strongly prohibited, but am I allowed to share my email in this particular case and send him a message that he has to contact me via UpWork only and that the interviewing process must take place on UpWork? Thank you all in advance for your help.


If there were exceptions, what sense would it make? This is the exact scenario where you don't provide your contact information. I don't believe many clients do interviews that require written information beforehand. Those we hear about on the forum always lead to a freelancer being scammed. Have they offered to buy you equipment yet? They will. 

feed_my_eyes
Community Member

If the client is insisting on discussing the project off of the platform, it's most likely a scam. Upwork's message board works perfectly well if somebody just wants to discuss a project via text messages (scammers never want to have voice or video calls). Did they ask for any banking information or your home address or any other personal information on this form that they asked you to fill out? 

tlbp
Community Member


Aleksandra R wrote:

Hello,

 

I've already written about this issue to Customer Support but as nobody responds (and I need to get an answer asap) I decided to post it here. I am in the interviewing process with a potential client and he sent me a form I need to fill out before the interview. The issue is that form requires me to fill in my email address in order to submit it.

 

I know that per UpWork rules sharing contact info is strongly prohibited, but am I allowed to share my email in this particular case and send him a message that he has to contact me via UpWork only and that the interviewing process must take place on UpWork? Thank you all in advance for your help.


This doesn't answer the rules question, but if the client sent the form via the Upwork message room, then you can send him a message in that same room telling him that you cannot complete the form per Upwork's contact rules. 

Upwork has said there are exceptions to the rules, but I don't know what those exceptions are. In this instance, I would be suspicious of the client. Asking for freelancers to submit forms or answer a lot of details off Upwork before there is a contract in place is discouraged. What type of gig is being offered? What does the client's hiring history look like? Please be cautious. 🙂


Tonya P wrote:

Upwork has said there are exceptions to the rules, but I don't know what those exceptions are. 


The exceptions are for things like signing an NDA, sending a link to your portfolio, or if the client needs to share files so that a freelancer can provide an accurate quote. But if a client asks for contact information for the sole purpose of discussing their project off of Upwork, then that's clearly against the rules.

Thank you all for your answers. I will simply send him a message that sharing contact information is not allowed per UpWork rules and that I cannot fill in the form. I will offer to answer the questions from the form directly in the UpWork message room or during the call. If he is not a scammer, then this should be an acceptable solution. If he continues to push me to provide my email, I will stop communication with him and flag the job post as inappropriate (but I hope he's not a scammer).

 

I wasn't asked to provide any other contact information besides my email address. The form contains several short questions about my previous job experience and personality type as the position is in the field of Sales Development for an organization that works with international corporations, so it is important to fit the organization's culture. According to his message, the purpose of the form is to get to know me a little bit better before the interview so he can structure questions for me based on my answers. Although he is a new client on UpWork, nothing seems suspicious about the selection and interviewing process, neither with the job post except that problematic part about the email address. Of course, I always prefer clients who already have a work history here on UpWork but I decided to give a chance to this one as it seems like a good opportunity. I am very cautious when negotiating about new gigs so that's why I decided to post my concerns here and hear thoughts from other members. I hope that he just didn't pay attention to UpWork TOS and didn't know about the rule of sharing contact information.

 

 

 

Clients who are scammers will often claim to be from well-known companies, and they also ask you to fill out forms and go through a hiring process just to get you excited that you're close to getting the gig. But it doesn't sound like you're an easy target, so I'm sure you'll be fine. Do us a favour and let us know what happens?

He hasn't responded to my message yet. I'll give a 1% chance that he didn't see it, but I think you all were right, he probably is a scammer. Maybe he just quit because he realized he can't scam me, but I hope he won't scam someone else. I won't flag his job post yet, but if he doesn't respond during this week I will flag it so the UpWork team can investigate what is going on with it. Thank you all for the support and helpful answers, I hope at least my experience would help someone who is facing similar doubts. I will write down here in case I get a response because you were so kind to help me. 

 

Anyway, even if it was according to UpWork rules to give him my email address, he wouldn't get any additional information about me - I never share my home address, bank account details, ID number, or photo with anyone, that's the first thing everyone who works online should be aware of. When I was a newbie, I had some prospects who requested me to send them the photo of my ID and my bank account number, but I never did such a 'stupid' thing as I know it could end up really badly. But no matter UpWork doesn't allow sharing contact info, I've noticed that some clients who are long on this network are requesting it during the selection process and there are some freelancers who are sharing these data with them. That's probably the cause of all those threads about the suspended accounts.

 

Thank you all for your help one more time, you helped me to make a reasonable choice and avoid the bullet. If anyone with similar doubts came to the community forum, it would definitely lead to fewer scams, but sometimes people think that their questions might sound silly. I will let you know if anything changes about this. Sorry for such a long post. 🙂


Aleksandra R wrote:

He hasn't responded to my message yet. I'll give a 1% chance that he didn't see it, but I think you all were right, he probably is a scammer. Maybe he just quit because he realized he can't scam me, but I hope he won't scam someone else. I won't flag his job post yet, but if he doesn't respond during this week I will flag it so the UpWork team can investigate what is going on with it. Thank you all for the support and helpful answers, I hope at least my experience would help someone who is facing similar doubts. I will write down here in case I get a response because you were so kind to help me. 

 

Anyway, even if it was according to UpWork rules to give him my email address, he wouldn't get any additional information about me - I never share my home address, bank account details, ID number, or photo with anyone, that's the first thing everyone who works online should be aware of. When I was a newbie, I had some prospects who requested me to send them the photo of my ID and my bank account number, but I never did such a 'stupid' thing as I know it could end up really badly. But no matter UpWork doesn't allow sharing contact info, I've noticed that some clients who are long on this network are requesting it during the selection process and there are some freelancers who are sharing these data with them. That's probably the cause of all those threads about the suspended accounts.

 

Thank you all for your help one more time, you helped me to make a reasonable choice and avoid the bullet. If anyone with similar doubts came to the community forum, it would definitely lead to fewer scams, but sometimes people think that their questions might sound silly. I will let you know if anything changes about this. Sorry for such a long post. 🙂


When they realize you are not easily scammed, they just drop you. They don't take the time to respond to you any longer. They are not very sentimental. 

I think you are right that many accounts get suspended for sharing their private information. If people would keep by this simple rule, there would be no need to come crying here later when they lost money. Thankfully you employed common sense. You'll recognize them much faster next time and not waste your time. 


Aleksandra R wrote:

Thank you all for your answers. I will simply send him a message that sharing contact information is not allowed per UpWork rules and that I cannot fill in the form. I will offer to answer the questions from the form directly in the UpWork message room or during the call. If he is not a scammer, then this should be an acceptable solution. If he continues to push me to provide my email, I will stop communication with him and flag the job post as inappropriate (but I hope he's not a scammer).

 

I wasn't asked to provide any other contact information besides my email address. The form contains several short questions about my previous job experience and personality type as the position is in the field of Sales Development for an organization that works with international corporations, so it is important to fit the organization's culture. According to his message, the purpose of the form is to get to know me a little bit better before the interview so he can structure questions for me based on my answers. Although he is a new client on UpWork, nothing seems suspicious about the selection and interviewing process, neither with the job post except that problematic part about the email address. Of course, I always prefer clients who already have a work history here on UpWork but I decided to give a chance to this one as it seems like a good opportunity. I am very cautious when negotiating about new gigs so that's why I decided to post my concerns here and hear thoughts from other members. I hope that he just didn't pay attention to UpWork TOS and didn't know about the rule of sharing contact information.

 

 

 


I say 99% scammer, but am willing to be convinced otherwise. 

(What you describe is how they operate. They need to work you for some time to gain your confidence - hence conmen - while dangling a juicy carrot in the form of work before you. Trying to appear serious, long-term, yada yada yada. Then they will offer to buy you equipment, send you a fake check, you send money somewhere, poof money gone. They need to invest a little time, because it does not work to tell you in the first 5 minutes of contact: hey, you sound nice, here's a check for 4K. I guess they tried that and were not successful.)

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