Not sure client is legitimate

morgainebrigid · ‎03-13-2018

is it suspect that my client doesn't have ANY passwords to the website or database that he wants me to export from?

They want to pay me to migrate all product information from an old website to a new one. They gave me the information to access the new site, but they say that their customer doesn't have any passwords to the old site or its database. It seems strange to me that they couldn't either request a password reset or contact the hosting provider. I told them that I would try to find a way to migrate the store site without that information. So far I haven't found a way.

Of course, I could go to each product page and copy/paste the information into the new site. That would take a while, and I would want to charge them by the hour.

So my questions are: Are they ligitimate? Should I continue trying to find a solution? If I can't migrate the site - or decide I shouldn't - thow do I avoid getting a bad rep on Upwork?

Any help or advice is appreciated.

jmlaidlaw · ‎03-13-2018

Definite red flag. Check for other flags: Does the client have a history with Upwork? Good feedback? Verified payment method?

Is the client paying a reasonable amount, or is this a lowball client? (They tend to be the worst of the scammy-scummy ones.)

morgainebrigid · ‎03-13-2018

They have a 4.5 star rating, out of 44. Some good reviews, others that don't say anything. They're paying $100. I thought that might be an okay price for a simple migration - I don't know what's normal, really. But they didn't tell me about the old site having no password until after I'd taken the job, and when they told me there were no passwords, they increduously asked, "Is that a problem?"

jcullinan · ‎03-13-2018

undefined:
They have a 4.5 star rating, out of 44. Some good reviews, others that don't say anything. They're paying $100. I thought that might be an okay price for a simple migration - I don't know what's normal, really. But they didn't tell me about the old site having no password until after I'd taken the job, and when they told me there were no passwords, they increduously asked, "Is that a problem?"

Yeah, ummm, NO. $100 for anything besides a 2-page Wordpress migration is peanuts, and if they don't have access to the original site? Sounds like a total scraper scam. Run away.

morgainebrigid · ‎03-13-2018

Thanks to both of you for your good answers. I has suspected as much, but it's good to have validation.