Possible scam? Client asking for "test" articles

[riocobcobo]

I applied to a well-written project description from someone who seemed to share my utter disdain for keywords infested fluff content. The writer sounded like a seasoned content marketer from a western country.

To my surprise, the person who responded wrote in broken, rather unprofessional English, asking me to write an article as a "test." I wrote back that I have provided more than enough samples, including links to books I've published in Amazon and courses I wrote in Teachable, for him to gauge my skill. I asked him to clarify if this was supposed to be a paid test, but I couldn't wait for him to reply back and just withdrew my application. Maybe I was over-reacting, or maybe I just avoided the sort of scam that I thought died in 2012, hahaha. Have you ever encountered something like this recently?

[feed_my_eyes]

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Rio C wrote:

I applied to a well-written project description from someone who seemed to share my utter disdain for keywords infested fluff content. The writer sounded like a seasoned content marketer from a western country.

To my surprise, the person who responded wrote in broken, rather unprofessional English, asking me to write an article as a "test." I wrote back that I have provided more than enough samples, including links to books I've published in Amazon and courses I wrote in Teachable, for him to gauge my skill. I asked him to clarify if this was supposed to be a paid test, but I couldn't wait for him to reply back and just withdrew my application. Maybe I was over-reacting, or maybe I just avoided the sort of scam that I thought died in 2012, hahaha. Have you ever encountered something like this recently?

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Yes, it happens all the time. Just use the "flag as inappropriate" button in the upper-right-hand side of the project post in order to report it.

[riocobcobo]

Oh, ok. Thank you. I'll do that.

[robin_hyman]

It is ok to write a "test" article.  It is not ok to do it for free.  They can pay you a small fee for the article.  

But I agree if you supply enough samples they will get a feel for the type of writing you do.  Some clients don't trust freelancers and want to ensure they are getting what they pay for (or getting something for free perhaps in this case).  

It's good to be cautious!

[wlyonsatl]

You should have asked him for a test payment, Rio.

[gilbert-phyllis]

I would've waited for him to reply (or ghost me), so I could flag it as a definite ToS violation. I don't understand the advantage of quickly withdrawing your application like that. But that's just me.

[riocobcobo]

Yeah, maybe I should have.

It was just the way he replied to my application: "before we hire we want to test your skills, so Write a 400-500 sample about Best laptop in the market. " It was clearly a different person from the one who wrote the project description (or maybe he lifted it off somebody else's job post?) And I was sure he didn't even read my application.

Anyway, I just immediately lost my interest about the project. I was expecting a more professional, detailed, and polite response I guess.

[gilbert-phyllis]

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Rio C wrote:

Yeah, maybe I should have.

It was just the way he replied to my application: "before we hire we want to test your skills, so Write a 400-500 sample about Best laptop in the market. " It was clearly a different person from the one who wrote the project description (or maybe he lifted it off somebody else's job post?) And I was sure he didn't even read my application.

Anyway, I just immediately lost my interest about the project. I was expecting a more professional, detailed, and polite response I guess.

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I get that.

[schardo]

I've done test articles for every client I've worked with. It generally means they want something cheap and quick from a lot of different freelancers, but sometimes they really are looking for long-term work. Which is fine and dandy with me. 

I usually just say "sure! That'll be $xx.xx. Just fund that milestone post-haste and I'll get crackin'"

If they want an UNPAID test, then I would just flag it and move along. I don't usually care if the person has different English skills than represented in the post, as long as the job is still the job. I have a client in China who has a separate editor to actually review the work.