I was scammed

angelaramone · ‎08-29-2015

I was scammed by my very first employee. It's so frustrating and traumatic. She was an Indian national.

petra_r · ‎08-29-2015

Angela, we're really sorry to hear that you had an issue with your first hire (you don't have "employees" - freelancers are independent contractors, not employees)

The nationality of the freelancer should be irrelevant.

Do you want to let us know what has happened, so we can offer some advice as to what your appropriate next steps are?

I also see that you seem to have a freelancer profile. Was your problem with someone who hired you (you doing work for them)or was it with a person you hired to work for you?

m_njari · ‎08-29-2015

"I was scammed by my very first employee. It's so frustrating and traumatic..."

Guess why I'm laughing Angela? Sorry, I really am, about your unfortunate incident but you surely must toughen up.

Traumatic for a first conning? Well, I know it shouldn't be happening at all but I walked in your shoes when I was new. So busy learning the 'technical' aspects of the platform and reading material on how to produce great works of this and that kind, that I didn't take time to re-evaluate my trusting tendencies. If I were to narrate my experience as a newbie on odesk, it'd need to be on the Coffee Break - or as an eBook!

After the initiation of fire, you get to smell a scammer from miles away. How to tell a scammer...? Watch this space - some advice is on the way, I'm certain.

savysb · ‎08-29-2015

I was scammed for $1000 worth of work, by an indian client which had a lot of job posting still active before odesk did something about it. You move on and that's that, there's absolutely no chance you can find 100% honest clients. It's human nature and it can't be fixed by a freelance platform. There are a few guidelines here, about what to expect, how you can know if a job is fake and so on. Read them.

screeler · ‎08-29-2015

It's in some people's nature to be a con..and nationality doesn't have a lot to do with it.

This was a traumatic event for you? I want your life then! (sorry for making light of your feelings, but you don't know trauma if this is that serious for you)

fergusm1970 · ‎08-29-2015

"It's in some people's nature to be a con..and nationality doesn't have a lot to do with it."

Exactly. I've had clients from the UK and USA try to scam me. Indians are no more likely to be scammers than anyone else.

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.― George Orwell

jsutherland · ‎08-29-2015

@Angela Mae A wrote:
I was scammed by my very first employee. It's so frustrating and traumatic. She was an Indian national.

I'm really sorry this happened to you.

If it was a lot of money and you were depending on that money I can understand how tramatic something like that would be.

I hope you will report the client to customer support and maybe there is something they can do to help you recover your money.

Keep your chin up. You'll get lucky and one day have great clients but still....it's a tough way to have to learn a lesson about con artists.

colettelewis · ‎08-29-2015

Angela, if it helps - I was also scammed on my first job on oDesk (five years ago - although I was not new to freelancing, and perhaps should have known better). I, and other similiarly scammed freelancers from oDesk and other sites, banded together and the conman went to jail - not for long enough - 18 months later he was at it again . . .

cee37cff · ‎08-24-2021

Do a chargeback with your bank, you have 540 days, Mastercard and Visa chargeback

petra_r · ‎08-24-2021

Pirashanah J wrote:
Do a chargeback with your bank, you have 540 days, Mastercard and Visa chargeback

Not only are you reponding to a 6 year old thread (a record?) - a chargeback is also a violation of Upwork's terms of service. And you don't have 540 days either. It varies. Generally it's no more than 120.

ashrafkhan81 · ‎08-24-2021

Pirashanah J wrote:
Do a chargeback with your bank, you have 540 days, Mastercard and Visa chargeback

I do not think you realize the chargeback window has long been closed and in the next 5 days this thread will turn 6 year old!

prestonhunter · ‎08-24-2021

re: "Do a chargeback with your bank, you have 540 days, Mastercard and Visa chargeback"

Doing a chargeback is a violation of Upwork TOS.

Doing a chargeback means Upwork will terminate your Upwork account.