Newbie to Upwork Scam Warning

[150da377]

Hello all. 

I recently joined upwork to avoid the job scams from **Edited for Community Guidelines** but I've come to realize they're all the same. 

My predicament here is that I sent a proposal, proposal was accepted and job was started right away. The gist was "digital cards" for a trading app on iOS. Though nothing of it as software is developed for android and apple devices all the time, and they wanted to see if the method of payment to 'refill gems" would work.

Long story short I ended up catching on to the fact that they were trying to steal my money for the "refillable gems" for purchase of trading items so they can sell that item offline. All my forms of payment are blocked off so that money cannot be taken from me.

The thing is, I completed $83 worth of "work" that was submitted and it's still under review. The contract has been suspended and job has since been deleted.

Is there a way to be rectified for the time I wasted??? I didn't sign up for this, let alone consent to my time being wasted even more for free.

[sofia2008]

In order to better understand, what kind of «work» did you provide? What took so much time?

[150da377]

It was “software testing” to see it payment methods would work, or so they said.

It was pretty much just me testing the payment option. And it’s not that it took “so much” time but it was MY time that could’ve went toward a more promising and real opportunity that actually compensated me towards my contribution. That’s why I have an hourly rate.

[sofia2008]

Did you have to buy things for the client? Like making payments with your own money to «test» the payment methods?

[150da377]

no I didn't, but I saw that that was something they were trying to do when former methods of payments weren't working. That's when the client "called it quits". no more than 24 hours later I got a notification saying the contract was suspended.

[colettelewis]

Cierra, was this a manual hourly job or tracked hourly? 

ETA: You may not get paid if the job/client was suspended. You would only be protected if your contract was tracked hourly and your work diary complete. 

[150da377]

it was tracked hourly, I completed 50 minutes of that hour. and it did track the work diary for that session

[colettelewis]

Then I am almost sure you will get paid for that session. It is possible for a client to dispute hours for the last week of payment, but it is unlikely in this case. And I agree this is a rather more sophisticated scam than one usually sees.

[martina_plaschka]

If you tracked the time properly and if it was a real job, you should get paid. It is concerning that the client was suspended, though. 

It's not a good look that you worked for more than twice your hourly rate, that looks as if you are trying to game the system. You will not be paid for an inflated rate, and just generally it's not a good look to work for a different rate than your profile rate.  

[150da377]

That's what I'm saying. For it to be suspended and violate UpWorks terms means it wasn't a real job. but it was tracked and I deserve compensation, even from UpWork themselves because they allowed these people to post the job and put others at risk, even with verification processes put in place.

As for the rate, that's what they offered. I don't have the patience, time, or energy to insult anyone's intelligence including my own to try to play anybody or "game the system". Thanks for the advice.

[ericaandrews · Accepted solution]

If it turns out this person is really a scammer, in all likelihood, you will NOT get paid for any 'work', even with the Upwork 'guarantee'.  The reason:  Scammers usually setup FAKE or fraudulent payment methods that 'bounce' as soon as the first invoice hits.  i.e., they use stolen credit cards, hacked paypal accounts, etc.

Often times with these scams, it LOOKS like the freelancer is about to get paid, but when Upwork goes to charge the client's 'payment method', it's hit with a fraud alert either from the bank/issuer, or rightful owner of the card or account.  The charge gets 'reversed' back to Upwork, Upwork then 'refunds' the money you were suppose to earn back to the 'payment method', and the freelancer loses any money they thought they were getting. 

Upwork does not 'cover' those scenarios when a scammer uses a fake payment method, so there really is no true 'payment protection' on Upwork at all - it's just a marketing ploy.   You are only 'covered' when the client turns out not to be a scammer, has a valid payment method, and you follow all the 'rules' for payment protection.  However, if the client is a thief/scammer, there is no protection and Upwork just lets the freelancer bite the bullet and directs to some generic link about "staying safe on upwork".  Sorry.

Here are some ways to avoid the scams here:

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Scamming/m-p/1033666#M653010

https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/List-of-red-flags-for-scams/m-p/1017406#M158810

One of those posts, I wrote a long list of all the 'boxes' a scammer usually checks on the job post and their profile - and that job you worked on checks almost all those 'boxes', unfortunately.   Looks like a scam to me. Person just joined a couple weeks ago, is hiring EVERYBODY that applies, and the "city" or "town" listed on his profile doesn't even appear to be a real city in the United States.  (I googled it, and Google said "what in the world???" and thought it was a TYPO "Did you mean: "Dfw Rio") 

Upwork does ZERO vetting of clients signing up on the platform, so you have to do all the 'vetting' yourself.  The only requirement for somebody to get a 'client' account is an e-mail address. My toy poodle or one of my house plants could get a 'client' account and begin 'posting jobs' within 5 minutes because there are no checks in place on UW to prevent that.

Also, if you joined Upwork with the intention of performing certain TYPES of work, like virtual assistance,  specifically,  than sticking to submitting proposals for only those types of jobs you came to UW for will help avoid some scams too:  "Venturning off" and submitting for unrelated job posts because they look like 'quick money' usually gets people in trouble on UW

[150da377]

thanks so much for this explanation. very unfortunate.

[m_terrazas]

Cierra, In case the payment is covered by Upwork and they pay, you will not be paid at the rate you have in the contract, but your hourly rate.

[a_lipsey]

---

CJ A wrote:

My toy poodle or one of my house plants could get a 'client' account and begin 'posting jobs' within 5 minutes

As an aside, CJ, your toy poodle and house plants must be very unique with their opposable thumbs and ability to use a computer. 

[pgiambalvo]

"Upwork does ZERO vetting of clients signing up on the platform, so you have to do all the 'vetting' yourself.  The only requirement for somebody to get a 'client' account is an e-mail address." A scammer's dream - access to millions who will come to them instead of them having to find them. "And you're not even going to verify who I am? Awesome!" And my shoe and turtle, both of whom have opposable thumbs and are very computer savvy are chomping at the bit to open accounts but I won't let them until they read the ToS, which should only take them a year or so to get through.

[478195d2]

Did they ask you to provide screenshots of of how long you have had an apple ID? If so I am in the same scam as well...

[956bcc77]

Yes, this is how they vet you to see if you are a good target/victim.  The longer the purchase history, the more likely chance you have a valid payment method on file.