Scam?

[Preston H]

Cristina:

We are all glad that you did not send those people any money and end up permanently losing money from your bank account.

Thank you for your report about what happened.

[Cristina Lynn M]

I got scared when I read the thread about people asking to purchase softwares, etc. They sent me a a check (large amount) and I am hoping my bank will not charge me anything for trying to deposit it. It’s so frustrating

[Jennifer M]

oh well, hopefully the bounced check fees aren't so bad and the bank doesn't kill the account. At least you're only out bounced check fees.

they'll probably randomly send you more checks or (IME) they might try to get you to deposit another way and convince you to buy them giftcards. they try all kinds of stuff, but hey at least you know not to do it again.

[Bojan S]

Hi Cristina Lynn,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Thanks for flagging this for us. I've checked and it looks like the job has already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork ToS and action has been taken on the client account. 

Please, check this help article for more information on how to use the flag option found on each job post or message to report any suspicious or inappropriate content. Also, check out this post for more tips on how to avoid questionable jobs.

Thank you!

[Mary W]

Agreeing to accept any payment, for any thing, is a clear violation of the Terms of Service.

[Vivek K]

What was the Job that required use of such diverse range of softwares and tools?

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Definitely a Scam and  a very old one at that.

 Generally Clients do not pay  directly for the tools used by freelancer for accomplishing Goals. If I want someone to type a letter for me or create a power point, I do not buy them a Microsoft office.

Forget about a macbook to install it.

They need to use their own tools. Ofcourse Freelancers should price their services such that the cost of tools they use is easily recovered as they go about using it for different clients.

If Client wants freelancer to work on their own system they can provide relevant access .

If their is such an indespensable software/ hardware which is not available with the freelancers working in that particular field, Clients can buy and get it delivered. Freelancers can buy it on behalf of clients but they should be paid properly via upwork before they buy software. Also you would be cautious to do it as you will lose this money in case clients pulls chargeback on their credit card.

Paying and receiving money out of upwork is against rules. 

There are some common scams like fake cheque, trying to steal login information/identity, free work in name of test, fee to be considered for job in any name like visa or work permission or whatever, asking to put non-existent goods on ebay through freelancer's own account etc etc.

The scammers mostly try to scam new freelancers .

Try to read how upwork is supposed to work. If any job is suspicious, a search in forums would be helpful or you can ask people here.

[Preston H]

re: "I stupidly fell for this scam even though I knew it was too good to be true. I emailed the person the scammer was impersonating, but besides that, I don't know what to do. This person now has my address and contact info. Advice??"

Please don't pester the people who were impersonated by sending emails to them about this kind of thing. Virtually everybody who has any kind of employee information and contact information on a website has the potential to be impersonated by these scammers.

It doesn't do the impersonated person or company any good to contact them about this. It doesn't do you any good.

I know this may seem like surprising advice. But this topic has been discussed many times in the Forum. These are well-known, well-established scams. When we think everything through, we realize that the place to report this is just Upwork.

re: "The FBI has been notified of the situation."

I know you mean well, but please don't do that. Don't waste your time or the FBI's time sending them stuff about this.

Learn to identify these scammers so that you don't waste time with them. If you encounter them posting a job on Upwork, then flag the job, in order to notify Upwork.

That's all you need to do.

[Lizzette R]

The authorities needed to be contacted so the person doing it can’t continue. I appreciate the advice but it’s too late. I contacted the parties I felt needed to me made aware of the situation.

[Petra R]

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Lizzette R wrote:
. I contacted the parties I felt needed to me made aware of the situation.

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They are "aware of the situation" that thousands of scammers from far, far away countries go fishing for naive victims all over the Internet every day of every week and have been doing so for many, many years.

It's one of the oldest, dumbest scams on the net, along the same lines as the "My uncle was the ruler of Blubooland and I need you to receive his millions and we'll split them" stuff.

[Preston H]

re: "I appreciate the advice but it’s too late."

Don't worry. Now you know a lot more about this whole topic. It's unlikely you'lly get involved with this type of scammer again.