I smell a scam artist, what say the community?

[j_oblander]

So I was just interviewed by a gentleman via GHangouts and part of the interview entailed being told by "Mr. Williams": "Before you start work you will receive a payment(Check) ,you will be using this payment (check)to set up your mini office by purchasing some office equipment and accounting software, immediately you get this payment you start work fully."

*edited for Community Guidelines**

I flagged it for phishing.

[mwiggenhorn]

Of course it's a scam.  You cannot receive ANY MONEY for Upwork anything except through Upwork.  No mailing checks, no bank account or address information, nothing like that is necessary.

Good job flagging it.

[prestonhunter]

In all honesty, the rest of us knew it was a scam as soon as the "client" mentioned Google Hangouts.

Real clients who pay money aren't interviewing contractors using Google Hangouts.

[odonnellryanc]

Really? Why not?

[petra_r]

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@Ryan O wrote:

Really? Why not?

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 No idea, but in all the years I have never come across a single case where a Google-Hangout or Yahoo chat resulted in a job.

Those are the communication media of choice of the scammers, mainly because they can be automated to send robo-responses to "applicants" - those scammers sit there and "interview" dozens if not hundreds of "applicants" at the same time hoping to find the one person who has lived under a rock and had not heard of one of the the most common scams on the net which has been around for 15+ years....

That is why they typically ask for the "applicant" to type "OK" after each set of blurb. "OK" will automatically trigger the next bit.

[hfspeegle]

[yitwail]

Mary wrote earlier, 'You cannot receive ANY MONEY for Upwork anything except through Upwork.' True enough, but when a scammer sends a freelancer a bad check, does it still constitute a payment? (Reminds me of a tree falling in the forest with no one to hear it -- does it make a sound?)

[petra_r]

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@John K wrote:

Mary wrote earlier, 'You cannot receive ANY MONEY for Upwork anything except through Upwork.' True enough, but when a scammer sends a freelancer a bad check, does it still constitute a payment? (Reminds me of a tree falling in the forest with no one to hear it -- does it make a sound?)

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 As you only have to "agree to" be paid outside of Upwork for the Suspension Hammer to knock your lights out the question whether said payment later turns out to be fake or not doesn't make a hell of a lot of difference....

[prestonhunter]

Upwork absolutely has grounds for terminating the accounts of any contractors who participate in the check scam and agree to receive a check, regardless of how ignorant the contractors are.

That Upwork doesn't suspend or terminate these contractors is due to forgiveness, not a technicality.

[colettelewis]

Upwork aside, your bank could also terminate your account.

@ Preston

"That Upwork doesn't suspend or terminate these contractors is due to forgiveness, not a technicality."

Lol! So naughty scammers come back cap in hand to say they promise to behave in future and Upwork says, "Go in peace my son or daughter"? . . .

[petra_r]

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@Nichola L wrote:

@ Preston

"That Upwork doesn't suspend or terminate these contractors is due to forgiveness, not a technicality."

Lol! So naughty scammers come back cap in hand to say they promise to behave in future and Upwork says, "Go in peace my son or daughter"? . . .

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Nope, Preston means the freelancers who fall for scams like that, but has the unfortunate habit of clinging on to the term "contractor" which is not what is used on / by Upwork and creates confusion occasionally.

[colettelewis]

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@Petra R wrote:

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@Nichola L wrote:

Upwork aside, your bank could also terminate your account.

@ Preston

"That Upwork doesn't suspend or terminate these contractors is due to forgiveness, not a technicality."

Lol! So naughty scammers come back cap in hand to say they promise to behave in future and Upwork says, "Go in peace my son or daughter"? . . .

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Nope, Preston means the freelancers who fall for scams like that, but has the unfortunate habit of clinging on to the term "contractor" 

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  Oops!