Employer asking me to contact him from outside of upwork? Is this safe?

[#1]

I am a freelancer who recently responded to a job post with a proposal.Employer asking me to contact him from outside of upwork? Is this safe?The employer asked me to use telegram to contact him.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

re: "Employer asking me to contact him from outside of Upwork? Is this safe?"

If you applied to a job and somebody responded, we refer to that person as a "client'. Or more accurately: a "prospective client."

If a prospective client asked you to contact him outside of Upwork, then YOU HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING WRONG. You are indeed "safe."

However: If you provide the prospective client with your contact information or if you communicate with him outside of Upwork before having an official Upwork contract in place, then you would not be safe. Because you would be violating Upwork ToS. You could receive a warning, or your account could be suspended or otherwise penalized.

Moreover, you would probably be dealing with a scammer who is trying to steal money from you. So that would not be "safe."

re: "The employer asked me to use telegram to contact him."

When a prospective client asks a freelancer to use Telegram to contact him, this is almost always a scammer, and not a real client. The goal of the scammer is to steal your money. There is no potential for you to earn money in most of these cases.

HOWEVER: We don't know for CERTAIN.

So if you think that you may be dealing with a real client (and not a scammer), then you do this:
Tell the client:
"Gerry, thank you for your interest in working with me. Upwork rules require that all communication take place using the Upwork Messages tool until an official contract is in place. Yes, I can communicate with you via Telegram if you use the green Hire button to hire me now. Then we can talk using Telegram. Until then, you can talk to me on Upwork."

THEN:
If the client either (a) hires you with an official contract or (b) continues your conversation on the Upwork Messages tool... That's fine. If he does NOT do that, then you should go to the job posting page, click on "Flag as inappropriate," and report him.

[#3]

Thank you very much for helping me.

[#4]

Unfortunately, this seems to be happening more and more as the scam posts have increased, Thanks for alerting everyone. Read and follow the ToS and keep flagging all the scam posts you come across, and please keep posting here about this if it keeps happening as it raises awareness of the problem, making freelancers safer.

[#5]

Hi Michael,

Please know that sharing contact information before a contract has started is against Upwork’s Upwork's Terms of Service and that all communications prior to the contract starting must take place on Upwork. We also encourage you to let us know if a TOS violation has happened by using the Flag as Inappropriate option throughout the platform. You can learn more about user reporting here.

You may also want to check this post for the freelancer resources and tips for avoiding questionable jobs that we put together to help freelancers make decisions whether to work with a client or not. 

Additionally, I advise you to check this help article to find great tips to help you stay safe on Upwork.