New freelancer here, is this suspicious?

[rachaelwaldrop]

Hi everyone! I'm new to upwork and just had my first interview, yay! But I'm worried that what I am experiencing is a scam and have been having trouble making a report. I would love some feedback on whether or not this experience is normal or whether my gut is right. 

The job posting was for proofreading/editing research manuals and some data entry. The message I received was from a client named **Edited for community guidelines** who send me a link to Dropbox with instructions to set up a Skype account and speak with the hiring director,**Edited for community guidelines**. (I googled**Edited for community guidelines**and the company name on his profile, which seems legit but there was no information about this company on the job profile itself. That struck me as strange). After setting up to interview, my messages say that **Edited for community guidelines**no longer as access to upwork. Anyways, I am chatting with **Edited for community guidelines** and there are some typos and awkwardly stated phrases. Then I find out they don't pay through upwork and have paid the opt out fee (I've tried searching upwork's site and chatting with a bot about how to determine if that can be verified but had no success). I am finally sent an "assessment" which consists of a google survey a few questions long, like what's my email, what assets do I bring to the company, "what are my thoughts about following company code of conduct?", what bank do I use (to see compatability with salary payment methods?? - I did NOT give a specifc answer). There is nothing in this survey that assesses my capabilities and there are even some typos! I've tried reporting the job or the client but can't find the link to flag anywhere. They said they would get back to me today or tomorrow about the job (at this point, I don't think I want it but I don't know how to report any of this?). I emailed the company that they are supposedly connected to, asking if they utilize freelancers through upwork and if their HR Chief, **Edited for community guidelines**, is conducting this activity. 

I would just like others' thoughts on this, as this is my FIRST experience with an upwork job. My gut is telling me this is not legitamate, but I haven't been able to figure out what to do about it. 

Thanks!!

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

It's the fake check scam.  Flag as inappropriate and move on.

Clients don't need to know what bank you use, because obviously they pay Upwork and Upwork pays you.

[rachaelwaldrop]

Thanks Petra, that's what I thought! However, I'm having trouble reporting this as innapropriate. The "client" is no longer active so I can't report him. I can't find the "link to the right of the job post" to flag the job...

[jr-translation]

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Rachael W wrote:

Thanks Petra, that's what I thought! However, I'm having trouble reporting this as innapropriate. The "client" is no longer active so I can't report him. I can't find the "link to the right of the job post" to flag the job...

---

Someone already did. Just move on.

[petra_r]

For future reference

[jugawo]

Hi Rachael!  I know you posted this a long time ago, but I am facing a similar problem and this is my first experience on UpWork.  How did you end up reporting the person?

Julia

[BojanS]

Hi Julia,

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!

[2f0d7882]

Hi, my situation is equal opposite end of Rachel W. I am new to UW community. I went to hire a freelancer who profile conversation changed to his name to his partners name. I moved forward because it listed in his profile that there were two working in company and he did explain he does contract third parties.

However, when I went to hire him. It stated that the freelancer was no longer interested in job. But according to him he never denied the job. The hire link is missing from profile with a message. There is no way to contact upwork to notify of changes. I tried the upwork bot but not getting direct help. Is this suspicious? There are more issues that keep changing on profile as well.

[joynul33]

It's a scam, Just flag it and move on.

[BojanS]

Hi Rachael,

Thank you for flagging this for us. I've located the job you're referring to and it has already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork ToS and action has been taken on the client account. 

Please check out this post for more tips on how to avoid questionable jobs and please use the flag option found on each job post or message anytime you’d like to report a violation.

Thank you.

[wordpress01]

Thank you

[sarfati_sherry]

These scammers are so annoying. I just reported one of these too, except it's OneDrive instead.