My client wants me to send her my selfies. Is it safe?

[#1]

I was just contacted by a client who asked me to send 8 selfies of myself in different backgrounds as she works in artificial intelligence and it is their process of hiring people.

Should i send her my selfies?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Absolutely not.  This sounds like a scam. 

Has your client actually hired you with an official Upwork contract in place? 

[#3]

This is identical to what another freelancer reported here in the Forum a few days ago:

A request for eight selfies, as well as her ID card.

https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/Client-ask-for-selfie-and-ID-card/m-p/983347

That freelancer said this was part of the hiring process for a data entry job.

Anshika:

Please send the client a link to this Forum page and ask her to come here and explain why she is asking for selfies and ID cards. If there is a legitimate reason for this, then we can help the client ensure that his hiring requests are in compliance with Upwork TOS.

Do not send anything to this client until we have talked to her and cleared this up. Without such a discussion, we will have to assume that this is a scammer, and not simply someone with legitimate business requirements who doesn’t understand Upwork policies and seems suspicious.

[#4]

Okay, thank you so much.

[#5]

No, thwy said that she will officially hire me after the hiring process is complete

[#6]

Hi Anshika, 

Thank you for reaching out to us. Please know that a real client will never ask you to give them money to start working, cash a check for them, work for free, or provide your personal information. We encourage our community to flag anything that violates the Upwork Terms of Service or seems suspicious and inappropriate. You can find more information here. 

I would advise you to check these articles to help you stay safe on Upwork: 

• Staying Safe on Upwork
• Sharing Information on Upwork

You may also want to check this video to help you get started on Upwork. Let us know if you have further questions. 

[#7]

Almost certainly of the scams that UW is unable to block until after they are flagged and/or reported here as you have done. So thanks for that as it raises awareness of the ongoing and ever-present scam post problem here. Read the ToS and follow it. And never communicate with a client off of UW until after a contract has been set up.

[#8]

re: "...she said that she will officially hire me after the hiring process is complete"

So here's the thing:

Asking somebody for selfies:
That could be a legitimate job.

Models let people take photos of themselves all the time.

Is it possible that a client wants selfies from somebody with different backgrounds as part of an artificial intelligence project? Yes. That could be legitimate. Is it possible that a client wants selfies from somebody as part of another type of legitimate project? Yes.

But that would BE THE JOB. That would not be part of the "hiring process."

And that would NOT be coupled with asking for a person's ID or personal info.

If a client (or "client") legitimately wants selfies, the client needs to hire you first, and NOT ask for personal identity info. Then the client can obtain your selfies, and use those selfies in a project that uses AI programming to identify aspects of photos, guess a person's age, swap the actual background for a cartoon background, make funny filters, etc.

But if a client wants your photos AND personal info, then such a person is engaged in some sort of identity theft or scam. If this isn't an outright scam or scheme, then the client needs to come to the Forum and explain what they're doing, why they need these things. Otherwise, we are going to assume it is a scam and Upwork is going to take down such job postings.

And a client can't ask for selfies as part of a hiring process.

Like, in the other thread, the freelancer said that the prospective "client" asked for 8 selfies and their ID card as part of the hiring process to do data entry work. No. That's not a thing. A legitimate client does not need 8 selfies of a prospective data entry worker. If I'm hiring a model or actor, then I'm going to want to see their portfolio and headshots (which they already have online, they don't need to take new pictures for that). But for hiring a data entry worker? No. Who cares what a data entry worker looks like it?

[#9]

Missed trolling of scammers opportunities make me sad.

[#10]

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Jennifer M wrote:

Missed trolling of scammers opportunities make me sad.

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I'm disappointed that they don't target me. I could string them along for a month making them think they're about to hit the jackpot.

[#11]

Apply to obvious scam jobs, you might get lucky? 

[#12]

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Robert Y wrote:

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Jennifer M wrote:

Missed trolling of scammers opportunities make me sad.

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I'm disappointed that they don't target me. I could string them along for a month making them think they're about to hit the jackpot.

---

You couldn't, at least not without violating the terms of service.

As those scammers only run their scams once they have take the communication with the freelancer off the platform,

That's also why the simplest way for freelancers not to waste their time with scammers is to NOT violate the terms of service...

[#13]

> I'm disappointed that they don't target me. I could string them along for a month making them think they're about to hit the jackpot.

Me neither. They never invite me to nuthin.

> Apply to obvious scam jobs, you might get lucky? 

This would involve going into that open marketplace. Going into that place is like getting off the highway and seeing a Shoney's and Motel 6.