Potential WebMD scam?

[billkang77]

I joined Upwork recently. I bid on a proposal and received a message to send an email to their HR department. I did and they replied that they were with WebMD. They described the work and company and asked if I was still interested. I said yes and they sent another email with ten questions like how many hours I can work, etc. I answered and sent the email. Shortly thereafter, I received an email that I was hired. They asked for my name, address, and cell number. The email that they were using was a @pm.me domain. Does anyone know if this is a scam?

[martina_plaschka]

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@Bill K wrote:

@I joined Upwork recently. I bid on a proposal and received a message to send an email to their HR department. I did and they replied that they were with WebMD. They described the work and company and asked if I was still interested. I said yes and they sent another email with ten questions like how many hours I can work, etc. I answered and sent the email. Shortly thereafter, I received an email that I was hired. They asked for my name, address, and cell number. The email that they were using was a @pm.me domain. Does anyone know if this is a scam?

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 Hired for what? Full time employment? Not the way this works....

You are in the US, prime target for cash checking scams. They will send you one for office stuff and such... 

Good that you came here to ask! Yes, this is a scam. Oldest in the book. 

[billkang77]

Thanks! They stated that they pay by direct deposit and said i would be a W2 employee. These are the questions they asked:

1.  What are your Full Names and  where you are located?

2. Are you proficient in Word and Excel?

3. how many hours do you intend to work in a week?

4.Are you aware this is strictly an online and work from home job.?

5. Are you available to start immediately?

6. Do you have a printer, scanner, fax machine and a copier?

7.How much training do you think you need to become a productive employee?

8. how much pay are you looking for in an hour for a job like this?

9. What bank do you use?

I didn't give them my street address just my city and state.

The email address domain is what tipped me off.

[martina_plaschka]

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@Bill K wrote:

Thanks! They stated that they pay by direct deposit and said i would be a W2 employee. These are the questions they asked:

1.  What are your Full Names and  where you are located?

2. Are you proficient in Word and Excel?

3. how many hours do you intend to work in a week?

4.Are you aware this is strictly an online and work from home job.?

5. Are you available to start immediately?

6. Do you have a printer, scanner, fax machine and a copier?

7.How much training do you think you need to become a productive employee?

8. how much pay are you looking for in an hour for a job like this?

9. What bank do you use?

I didn't give them my street address just my city and state.

The email address domain is what tipped me off.

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 10. What is your credit card number?

11. What is your credit card pin?

12. What's your mother's maiden name?

13. What's the name of your first pet?

14. What's your bank card number?

15. What's your bank card pin code?

Well. Bill. You must educate yourself in a very fast kind of way. 

[martina_plaschka]

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@Bill K wrote:

Thanks! They stated that they pay by direct deposit and said i would be a W2 employee. These are the questions they asked:

1.  What are your Full Names and  where you are located?

2. Are you proficient in Word and Excel?

3. how many hours do you intend to work in a week?

4.Are you aware this is strictly an online and work from home job.?

5. Are you available to start immediately?

6. Do you have a printer, scanner, fax machine and a copier?

7.How much training do you think you need to become a productive employee?

8. how much pay are you looking for in an hour for a job like this?

9. What bank do you use?

I didn't give them my street address just my city and state.

The email address domain is what tipped me off.

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 What should have tipped you off was that they wanted to pay you outside of upwork. **Edited for Community Guidelines**

[petra_r]

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@Bill K wrote:

Thanks! They stated that they pay by direct deposit

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 It is 100% the fake check scam.

There is NO such thing as any client on Upwork paying you by direct deposit, you can only be hired and paid via Upwork.

You will encounter those a lot, they are all over the internet

[mtngigi]

Of course it's a scam and needs to be flagged as such. You may want to read up:
https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/Tips-to-Avoid-Questionable-Jobs/td-p/240833

[yitwail]

They’re either setting up a scam or phishing for contact info they can sell to spammers. They already have your email now.

[bstojadinovic]

Hi Bill,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I've checked this for you 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 post for more information about how to recognize and avoid scam jobs. Thank you.

[gilbert-phyllis]

This is a great example of why I keep harping on the idea of requiring new FLs to pass a meaningful readiness test before allowing them to bid on projects.