Is Upwork Going to Do Anything About the "**Edited" Scams?????

[hannahnelson02]

Oh my goodness I am getting so tired of flagging multiple "job postings" per day that are clearly scams! There is a group of people who keep creating new Upwork accounts and posting the same "jobs" every single day that require freelancers to "**Edited for Community Guidelines**" to be able to do the job. These people are the ones who created this BS course, and posting these high paying Jobs on Upwork is just a way to trick people into purchasing their course. 

Why is it so hard for Upwork to ban these people from creating new accounts to keep posting these BS jobs???? There are SO many requirements for freelancers to prove their identity is true, yet clients can keep creating new accounts and new jobs after being flagged so many times?

UpWork needs to do something about this! 

[enlitaudio]

It's unfair for us, freelancers, but for UpWork it's business. I feel they don't have the need to end these scam postings because people spend their connects on them and have to buy more. At this point, it's important to learn to distinguish scam job postings yourself and not bid on them. I flag these kinds of postings myself but I'm not sure that it will solve the problem because it's been here for a while and there's no solution from UpWork's side... As sad as it is.

[hannahnelson02]

I get it. And I don't apply for these jobs - but I see them always get SO many applicants and it's completely unfair to the freelancers who may be new and not know how to distinguish the scams from the real jobs. And I'm just tired of flagging 10+ of them per/day 🙄 It's so frustrating that Upwork doesn't even try to hide the fact that Freelancers always get the short end of the stick when it comes to everything that we do on the platform. We have to jump through hoops to confirm our identity and bank info, we have to wait for verification, we have to pay to apply for jobs + pay more if we want to "Be seen first" by the client, fees get taken out of our payments, etc. I get that they are solely in it for the business - but good lord is their business model crap. 

[noroto]

Same here. I am new on Upwork and I am facing the same issue

[ArjayM]

Hi Hannah and Valued Members,

Thank you for reaching out to us and sharing your feedback and concerns. Our teams are working to address scam and spam jobs, including higher-than-usual volumes of scam posts, constantly changing methods of scam accounts, and gaps in user education around Upwork TOS and safety. Additionally, I assure you that we'll continue sharing your feedback with the team and providing updates to the Community about the team's initiatives.

[tlsanders]

No, you're not, and you're starting to make Upwork look even worse by repeatedly insisting that you are while we are all watching the consistent 0% improvement. 

There are hundreds of thousands of middle-schoolers who could program auto-moderating job postings with links in them in 15 minutes. If Upwork were remotely interested in reducing scams, some little thing would have changed by now. You would be better off to just say you don't see it as your job than to keep insisting that this major corporation is doing its best and has been unable to make a millimeter of progress in all these months.

[AveryO]

I'm sorry to learn your frustration, Tiffany.

I couldn't find the job being described in the post. Are you still seeing it on your job feed? 

[hoyle_editing]

Just look on the job boards, you will find plenty more scams if you want examples!

If upwork didnt edit out the title of the OPs post, then im sure any freelancer here could have found the specific post within seconds!

Why do you edit that out? is it because you dont want community members to have a fair warning about specific scams?

[the-right-writer]

There is no other logical conclusion. They can remove the scams, and they refuse. If they used the same filters they use here, those scams would go away. Scam posts get those connects.

[the-right-writer]

If anyone at Upwork bothered to even look at the job feed, you would see them. There are still phone numbers and emails all over the platform that Upwork refuses to remove. We can't even post Upwork screenshots here because you are so afraid the freelancers see the truth.

Upwork can say what they like, but there is no consistent effort to get rid of the scams, and in the feeds, there is no effort at all. As Tiffany suggests, young children with limited skills can create some filters for you and probably do if for free out of sympathy that a corporation is incapable of getting rid of emails and phone numbers in scam jobs.

The canned response means nothing, except it is another insulting device to keep the freelancers placated.

Upwork is not trying to remove scams. If they are, then contact some of the freelancers here who have been begging to clear up the scams for free. Heck, I can write some Boolean filters. They work in the feeds. Upwork refuses to do anything about the scams. It is so simple, quick, and cheap to eliminate many of them, without looking at individual ads. You know, Upwork and mods, just like you won't allow anything in the forum? So, you know how to stop it - Upwork has no interest in stopping even the most obvious and basic scams. The only logical conclusion is Upwork likes the money from connects thrown at scam jobs.

[2ef54d61]

"The only logical conclusion is Upwork likes the money from connects thrown at scam jobs."

I think this is the perfect summary of it. They actively make money from people who waste connects on scam jobs and then go buy more. There is no financial incentive for them to change anything. 

[kenazfilan]

How hard can it be to block or put a hold on any job posting that has the words "ChatGPT University" in it? Or demand identification from anybody offering jobs paying over $100 an hour? I see reams of these every day and so far I haven't seen any indication that any of the posts I reported are being taken down.

It's not even like Upwork is getting any money for this.  AIUI, posting a job offer is free and Upwork only starts getting paid out of the percentage from any income earned by the freelancer(s) who accepts the job. I don't understand why they are so reluctant to do anything about the issue.   

[tlsanders]

As one of the many Upwork freelancers routinely charging upwards of $100/hour, I definitely don't want Upwork to create unnecessary obstacles for my prospective clients. 

[ladyelexia]

Avery, just put "ChatGPT University" in the search bar and you will find 19 unique "clients" with a variation of the same post, a link at the bottom of the "job", and a high payout. 

[hannahnelson02]

I flag about 10 of them PER DAY. Yet it seems so difficult for Upwork to ban these accounts from posting more scam jobs 🙄

[pgregory_indigo]

Completely agree. I only look through the job listings every other day at most now, because it requires you to set aside so much time to find anything genuine amongst the weeds, and in my field at least, it's common to have to flag more than 20 per session. And these are not job postings that need a keen eye to spot the problem, any 10-year-old could see the issues, blatantly illegal, fake, scam, phishing etc., which supports the suggestion that UpWork does nothing.

I know a lot of people will rally against this idea, but I firmly believe they need to put more barriers in place to prevent unscrupulous clients from posting jobs, the same way there are hoops to jump through to be a freelancer on this site. The measures they have in place, if any, are clearly not cutting it.

[tlsanders]

Thanks, Avery, but I couldn't care less about the job feed. My frustration is with Upwork's misrepresentations about measures being taken. I don't understand why you don't see that it just makes the company look foolish and incompetent to repeatedly insist that it's making a significant investment in solving a problem that gets steadily worse.

I get that cleaning up spam and scams  may not be Upwork's priority. I'm just objecting to the false claims.

[geri_kol]

Arjay,

Are you new around here as moderator? You must be new, because if you have been with Upwork for a while, you would know that the canned message you've posted assuring us that Upwork is "working to address scam and spam jobs, including higher-than-usual volumes of scam posts, bla bla bla" has been offered as assurance for at least two years, without the most minimal visible result or improvement in regulating the amount of scams. At this point, it just sounds comical.

For Upwork's benefit (i.e. to salvage a vestige of credibility), I suggest it at least come up with an updated spiel. 

[stevenmarwick]

I have reported the same scams time and time again. They are based in New Zealand, and have posted hundreds of jobs offering hugely inflated amounts of money but, to date, have only paid freelancers $900 in total. They are pushing a course that freelancers "have" to complete to apply and regularly get 50 or more responses. 

[AveryO]

Hi Steven, 

I'm unable to identify the job post you're referring to. If you're still seeing it in the marketplace, could you please send me a private message with more information so I can look into it? 

[stevenmarwick]

I have messaged you with links to just two of their posts. There are loads more out there from the same company.

[tlsanders]

Upwork, it's really, really weird that you're 1000x more diligent about deleting the name of a consistent, prolific scammer than deleting their scam posts. 

[alpera]

And thus, we do not apply for jobs with unverified payment methods to avoid the possibility of scams. However, this situation makes it more difficult for new clients to find freelancers on Upwork. At the very least, the connects for jobs flagged as scams should be refunded. Steps should be taken to address this issue before it becomes too late.

[hannahnelson02]

Unfortunately - most of the scam jobs I've flagged all have verified payments. Something I have noticed about some of them that are definitely scams but still have verified payments and previous, 5-star project reviews is that the projects are all for like, $5-$10 dollars, even though all of the job postings are for much higher pay. The other thing I've noticed is that a lot of the "positive freelancer feedback" in those low-paying previous project are the same reviews verbatum. I'm guessing that these scammers have their buddies apply and complete "projects" to get good reviews and make them seem more legit. 

Unfortunately - these scammers are getting more tricky and making it more challenging for freelancers to spot right away. 

[31448591]

Aren't there any filters in place to stop people blatantly scamming freelancers? It's getting beyond a joke. Newbies will be wasting Connects and paying these tools. Can nothing be put in place to stop it? 

[analyticarts]

Seriously, This is why i can't participate in the new Profile Boost feature. 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[AveryO]

Hi John, 

Thank you for flagging this here and helping keep the Upwork marketplace safe. I applied all the filters that you used and sent the jobs to the team for their review and action. 

If you have the time, please don't hesitate to report any suspicious activity by following the steps here. These go directly to the team's queue and are reviewed by the order they are received.