Help me report Phishing scam possible Identity Theft

[johnchristopher2]

Please help me report this client to Upwork for investigation. 

He is asking freelancers to hold up a piece of paper and write today's date then send it to him. I don't know about you but I see a very easy way how that can be used to steal someone's identity and get them confirmed on different platforms. I apologize if I am too cautious but I'm willing to bet that the client is working behind a VPN and has not been verified by camera. If I am wrong then my sincere apologies. I was unable to report the job invitation itself, which is why I am asking here, because if I am right then he probably already has some freelancer's pictures. 

**Edited for community guidelines**

[BojanS]

Hi John R.,

Could you please click on my name and send me a PM with more information about your report? I'll check it and escalate accordingly.

Thank you.

[lysis10]

7

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John R. C wrote:

Please help me report this client to Upwork for investigation. 

He is asking freelancers to hold up a piece of paper and write today's date then send it to him. I don't know about you but I see a very easy way how that can be used to steal someone's identity and get them confirmed on different platforms. I apologize if I am too cautious but I'm willing to bet that the client is working behind a VPN and has not been verified by camera. If I am wrong then my sincere apologies. I was unable to report the job invitation itself, which is why I am asking here, because if I am right then he probably already has some freelancer's pictures. 

**Edited for community guidelines**

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No, he probably keeps getting scammed by all the fake profiles.

[johnchristopher2]

Lol no, He made this whole elaborate story about how it's supposedly part
of his proposal he will be doing next year. He will propose to his wife
next year and he just needs you as the last participant to take a picture
in your native country holding up a piece of paper with the date..... He
says he is willing to pay 3$ for it. I kinda want to offer him modeling
services for 29 $ a picture and then asks a bunch of kids to take a class
picture with a sign " 17 december and he still loves you". For some reason
I don't think that is what he is after. In my mind it is definitely a scam.
And I think the other account needed to get the rest of te details they
need, already contacted me yesterday with a google for.... "how old are
you"..."press this link". Be careful people.

[petra_r]

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John wrote:

He is asking freelancers to hold up a piece of paper and write today's date then send it to him. I don't know about you but I see a very easy way how that can be used to steal someone's identity

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You can't steal anyone's identity that way. How in the world would that even work? What you CAN do is sort out fake freelancers.

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I'm willing to bet that the client is working behind a VPN and has not been verified by camera.

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NO clients are verified by camera. 

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I don't know about you but I see a very easy way how that can be used to steal someone's identity and get them confirmed on different platforms.

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What kind of platform verifies their freelancers that way?

[johnchristopher2]

Oh, I was not talking about upwork.

[feed_my_eyes]

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John R. C wrote:
Oh, I was not talking about upwork.

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If somebody wants your picture, they could just steal your profile photo; having the date on it means nothing. A photo of somebody holding a sign with the date on it would not be an acceptable proof of identity on any website.

If somebody wanted to scam you, they'd ask for things like your address, bank details or driver's license (which scammers can easily obtain from naive freelancers on Upwork, WITHOUT going to the trouble of hiring them or paying them anything). I think your client's story is probably true. 

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

This is also in no conceivable way any kind of phishing scam.... 

[johnchristopher2]

Ok, I guess that I am exaggerating in that case. I tried to explain.

[johnchristopher2]

Actually look. I am speaking of first hand information when I say that this is dangerous. Metadata is valuable. If not through metadata, then how is it that people confirm someone's identity. I will close this ticket as solved

[feed_my_eyes]

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John R. C wrote:

Actually look. I am speaking of first hand information when I say that this is dangerous. Metadata is valuable. If not through metadata, then how is it that people confirm someone's identity. I will close this ticket as solved

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If you take the photo in your own home then I suppose someone could figure out where you live by looking at the Exif data, but you could strip that information out. I still don't see why it's dangerous - is the client even in the same city as you? But if you're not comfortable for whatever reason, then don't accept the project. Problem solved.

[johnchristopher2]

I unblocked my debit card in this same way. It did not have to be me doing the unblocking. Most hacking is done through social low tech ways. "By the way, do you like dogs? I love them, my first dogs name was Tyson. What about yours?" Anyway, you don't really have to believe me. I'm just saying what I see. Another person wants me to log in to his shared google document and fill out a form so I can help him provide service for confirmed facebook advertisement accounts...Anyway. If anyone asks you, please hold up a piece of paper with tomorrow's date, that screams to me, tomorrow he will be calling some servicedesk to get something done and he can prove that it is really him. His ip is still in the country, he just got a new IP, plus look, I have a picture of myself holding up today's date. I didn't want to elaborate because I'm propably just opening avenues for even more of this by explaining.

[petra_r]

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John R. C wrote:

I unblocked my debit card in this same way. 

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Only if they had a picture of what you look like, otherwise it would be beyond idiotic, because anyone can take a selfie holding a piece of paper with a date. Those things require ID that looks like the person on the selfie. 

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John R. C wrote:

Anyway. If anyone asks you, please hold up a piece of paper with tomorrow's date, that screams to me, tomorrow he will be calling some servicedesk to get something done and he can prove that it is really him. 

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Sorry. Silly.

When a client asks "freelancers to hold up a piece of paper and write today's date" they have been caught out by fakes once to often and wants to make sure the person shown in the profile is the person they are talking to. That's all.

[tlbp]

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John R. C wrote:

I unblocked my debit card in this same way. It did not have to be me doing the unblocking. Most hacking is done through social low tech ways. "By the way, do you like dogs? I love them, my first dogs name was Tyson. What about yours?" Anyway, you don't really have to believe me. I'm just saying what I see. Another person wants me to log in to his shared google document and fill out a form so I can help him provide service for confirmed facebook advertisement accounts...Anyway. If anyone asks you, please hold up a piece of paper with tomorrow's date, that screams to me, tomorrow he will be calling some servicedesk to get something done and he can prove that it is really him. His ip is still in the country, he just got a new IP, plus look, I have a picture of myself holding up today's date. I didn't want to elaborate because I'm propably just opening avenues for even more of this by explaining.

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I  don't agree with your reasoning at all. However, I can agree that a client who wants me to hold up a printed message and take my picture is not the client for me. 😉

The problem, as Petra pointed out, is that some freelancers pretend to be someone they are not. So, clients who have been deceived in the past try to come up with methods to avoid these issues. The amount of such shenanigans you encounter will vary based on your areas of expertise and price point. 

[feed_my_eyes]

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This is getting to be beyond ridiculous now. A bank won't unblock somebody's debit card just because they've sent a photo of themselves holding a sign - if that were the case, I could easily turn to a life of crime just by Photoshopping people holding signs. 

[johnchristopher2]

photoshopping wouldn't work. I already said nevermind. Identity theft is
not a thing.

[petra_r]

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John R. C wrote:
 I already said nevermind. Identity theft is
not a thing.

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Identity theft is a thing.

However, it has absolutely nothing to do with what you got so terribly excited about.

[johnchristopher2]

I apologize, but now your just being ridiculous and mean imo. I already said that it was accepted for me. So I can easily see how it could be misused. Absolutely no idea why your being so defensive of threaths. The one thing that does pretty much invalidate my assumption is that a picture taken today with a forward facing date would have an old timestamp in metadata. The thread was closed a long time though, you could also just ignore or delete instead of telling me how ridiculous you think I am, whilst you have what appears to be 0 knowledge about social hacking.

[petra_r]

Give it a rest already.

[johnchristopher2]

I will try. It's just that you don't understand that a client can already gain access to a lot of information about a freelancer. Which makes complete sense since employers need to be able to feel confident. Anyway, I hope that you are completely right, I'll "give it a rest" as you say. I apologize if I sounded rude, it's just that it seemed to me like everyone was calling me ridiculous, while I'm just being overly cautious. Have a nice weekend.

[johnchristopher2]

I guess I know who this is. Don't join any freelancer communities (discussion etc) outside of this platform. And for God's sake don't share any of your details with supposed recruiters, people are bored and want to buy free games. This is Ubisoft's site. (attached). I know I keep being told I'm ridiculous, but there was actually a reason I was scared. Thankfully I guess I was the one that was targeted, so all is well. This time I promise I'm done.