Freelancer Warning - Comapny called Edited

[bostonpalm68]

I just wanted to warn you about a "company" called **Edited for Community Guidelines** (not associated with **Edited for Community Guidelines** which is legitimate). They posted an ad for data entry earlier in Jan. I had an interview with them and got "hired" prior to upwork taking the job posting down and should have investigated with upwork as to why it was taken down. Turns out it was an employment scam where they would attempt to send you checks for mobile deposit to purchase software and equipment from "vendors" and then the checks would turn out to be fake either in design, mispelling of names, or due to the check being from a fraudulent company. Had the checks been deposited and the "vendors" been paid it would have resulted in me losing $6,615.00 and unfortunately the police investigation resulted in absolutely nothing when reported. I just wanted to warn other freelancers to be careful about what kind of jobs they accept so they dont find themselves in a situation.  

[mwiggenhorn]

This is one of the oldest scams on the internet.  This is exactly why the Upwork Terms of Service forbid receiving any payments off the platform - checks included.  Stop to think - why would any company send money to a stranger, often in a different country.  You are very lucky that the job got removed before you made a huge mistake and imperiled your account permanently,. (BTW, scammers often use the name of a real company). One freelancer who fell for this was met at the bank by the local police and had to talk herself out of serious trouble.

Before you send another proposal, please familiarize yourself with the Terms and Conditions, all the pinned forum posts and upwork.com/ resources.

[prestonhunter]

re: "unfortunately the police investigation resulted in absolutely nothing when reported."

This is not a police matter.

No freelancer should contact the police about this scam. Local police are not going to stop this scam or do anything to help you.

The right way to handle this is not to go to the police, but to keep the matter on Upwork. This begins with following Upwork rules, including not accepting outside payments. If a freelancer encounteres somebody running this scam, all you need to do is report it to Upwork itself, using the "Flag as inappropriate" link button located on every job posting page.