How would one verify if a job posting and offer is a scam?

[Alif Andriyanto A]

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@Jenny N wrote:

Does UpWork verify clients/companies on here? 

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 That would be nice option tho. What are the pro/cons? 

[Preston H]

re: "But why not?"

Why doesn't Upwork "verify" clients?

Clients are Upwork's customers.

Clients are the people who pay the money that is Upwork's revenue, the money that goes to pay their operating expenses and pay the salaries of the people who work for the company.

So basically... Upwork likes having paying customers. And they like having customers who are just browsing, who hopefully will find something they like and then become a paying customer.

So Upwork doesn't "verify" clients for the same reason that Walmart doesn't verify shoppers.

[Marina R]

even if they are here just to hire off-upwork and send fake checks and whatnot? 

I mean, I have been fortunate enough to recognize fradulent behavior, but, if someone's goal is to comit fraud, trick and hire off upwork, doesn't that mean that they will not be a good customer to upwork? 

It also affects us, esspecially the new people here. 60 connects is a good deal, and getting a subscription is not expensive, but some people will waste their connects on job postings that come back with "send us an email at blank to apply." 

that will never bring any money to upwork. ever. that person will never hire anyone, and never pay them through upwork. 

so, i believe my question is legitimate. 

and, to be honest, wall-mart does have security looking out for people who try to steal from them. before they get to the cash register. 

[Melissa T]

Re: "It also affects us, esspecially the new people here."

Read all the warning stories of people who have come before you. Read the Community posts and Help articles. Read the Terms of Service. If you do that and you still fall for a scam it must be an extraordinary one. 

There are tons of us here who were new once. In fact, every one of us. Those of us who are successful availed ourselves of the resources here and took it upon ourselves to learn as much as we could before we started working. I've never been scammed. It's been attempted. It is still attempted from time to time. I laugh at them and go back to completing my legitimate clients' work. All it takes is a semi-sharp mind, a willingness to spend 10 minutes reading before starting work, and at least half an eye open. 

[Marina R]

oh, please, i'm far from being worried about myself. it's more of an intellectual exercise. 

i've been asked strange things on here -reported, and on other sites like this one -also reported. i mean, one guy wanted me to get people to send him gold and diamonds while he was "on vacation" (and he would pay for that later), and he was gonna pay me almost $10k for three weeks of work. ummm... no.

i've been here for almost two weeks, and i have read all there is to read about warning signs and such. 

but not everyone does, and i enjoy intellectual exercises. 

i understand upwork needs clients. and there will always be new freelancers. no matter how many get duped. 

[Preston H]

Marina:

How would Upwork know?

If a person signs up with a new client account, and posts a job posting saying that they want to hire somebody to write a 2000-word blog article about effective parenting...

How does Upwork know if that is really what they want, or if they intend to invite Upwork freelancers to talk about a possible job off-site, through Google Hangouts, and then, away from Upwork's observation, ask for the freelancer's address so they can send her a fake check?

Upwork has no way of knowing. If Upwork had a way of knowing which clients were legitimate and which were scammers, I can assure you that they would block the scammers.

[Marina R]

that is the beauty of the exercise. i'm sure that if a bunch of smart people put their thinking hats on, there could be a solution. 

but, as i've said before, it's not that relevant. there will always be more freelancers. 

and as you've said, they are the clients. and something about them being always right. that part wasn't you. it's just something people say. but i'm sure you already know that. now i'm rambling. okay. 

i am not complaining, though. i love it here. i am working from my living room, at... whenever time... in pajamas sometimes, even! it's amazing. the internet is a wonderful thing. 

people can be flawed and sometimes a little bit tricky, but, if you can avoid them carefully, it's okay. 

also, of all of the platforms so far, upwork has been my favorite. 

thanks for the conversations, preston.

[Vladimir G]

Hi Marina,

Thanks for sharing your feedback. We have systems in place to flag fraudulent behaviour and also a dedicated team reviewing users' performance and violation reports we receive. We also have procedures, guidelines and protection features available to all users, that can be used to ensure they are working safely on Upwork. Hiring off the platform and paying directly is strictly prohibited by our ToS and we have this information posted in numerous areas of our website.

Clients who attempt to violate our policies are addressed and in the above mentioned cases removed from the platform. Unfortunately, some users decide not to follow our instructions and use the available protection features, thus not only violating our ToS but also exposing themselves to great risks.

[Marina R]

hi, vladimir. 

yes, i understand all that. 

and, i also understand that hiring off platform is not good for upwork, either. and that is okay to say, too. it's not just unsafe for the freelancers, but, it's bad for upwork also. 

upwork is providing a service here, we're not just magically meeting clients. 

but every time getting paid off platform is talked about - it's only talked about in the sense of protecting the freelancers. 

[Bobbie P]

I had the same experience so the post has not been taken down.  I received a check for $3,890.  I am not depositing this check.  How do I let Upwork know about this?

Thank you