Possible Scam

[c763b1a0]

Hello all! I am thinking there might be a scam going on here on Upwork. It's pretty creative and sneaky if you don't know what to look for, but here's my experience: I am a photographer and editor and I recently saw a job (payment unverified) asking for photo editing of eCommerce jewelry items. I applied and was contacted and she asked if I would be willing to do a few test shots so she could determine whether I was capable of handling the work. I am paying member so I have the ability to see how many people have applied and are being interviewed. I noticed she was already interviewing 11 people. I also noticed that the quality of images she was having me edit were horrible and I realized that she might be asking all 11 applicants to edit "test shots" and essentially getting all of her editing done for free. If each was asked to do 2-3 images as I was, that would be over 30 images done for no charge! I told her I would do one for free but that's it. My portfolio already demonstrated I could do what she was asking. That conversation has quickly gone dead and I haven't been hired. So, on the next day, I saw a similar job posted (eCommerce image editing) and applied for that one, as well. This time, I wasn't interviewed, but again, I noticed that the client was interviewing multiple people in a very short amount of time. This job quickly closed with no hires and no verified payment. Does anyone else think this sounds fishy and is there a way to report this?

[hedy_w]

This is a message I got from Upwork Help through email: 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Why is Upwork encouraging this when this would obviously be a scam?  The company was offering to buy the computer.  They weren't asking me to buy it.  I wrote Upwork back and said this is an obvious scam and it was the second one I reported, so why wouldn't the Help desk even warn me?  This is what I mean.  This company is very inconsistent.  They want you to look at all the rules for scamming and violations, but then they don't even say anything when they are obviously presented with something that is a scam and someone could lose money.  There is just something wrong with this way of behaving and treating people who are signed up with this company. 

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Hedy,

I'm sorry to hear about the bad experience you've had and the inconvenience this has caused you. I will share your feedback with our team to review it further and improve our process. 

We understand that many of you are concerned with spam, scam, and jobs that violate Upwork TOS. We take this issue very seriously. I encourage you to check out this blog post by Senior Product Manager with Upwork Trust & Safety for more information on how his team is approaching this issue.

[morrisonanele]

Do not apply for any  job if the client has no verified payment methods and also if the Client has not spent on Upwork platform

That's all I can say

[martina_plaschka]

Please don't say it then. There is nothing wrong with being a new client. We need new clients! Lots of them! How do you think a new client starts when he has never hired anybody? With zero spendings, right?

[hedy_w]

New people, be warned on here.  It is a shark tank where a lot of the people just talk down to you, because that's what they enjoy doing and the discussions just go around in circles.  Don't get caught up in it.  It's another negative part of this platform.  I have to say I have never experienced a website like this before. 

[BojanS]

Everyone, 

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