Potential scam?

[dce1ecca]

Good morning! I just joined yesterday morning, and applied for my first freelance gig and, long story short, within about 30 minutes "interviewed" and was given the "job" which I'm fairly certain now is a scam. I am very green (read: naive) when it comes to these things, so I was unaware such scams existed but started noticing some fishy things, culminating with these people wanting me to connect with them via Skype, which is where they "interviewed" me. They then told me I would need a MacBook Pro, a printer, etc... the printer, in particular, seems odd since it was supposedly a proofreading job. They sent a check for $2000 and I put it in my account, and it is there, but then this morning they wanted me to do a wire transfer to the "vendor" to cover the cost of the materials. The money appears to be in my account, but this sent up a red flag for me as I do not feel comfortable with that, for obvious reasons. I then saw that the posting was deleted shortly after I "interviewed" and there is no trace of it.

Some light googling has led me to multiple stories just like this; just want to confirm that I'm not crazy and this is, almost certainly a scam with a fake check (which involved sending me a PDF, having me print it out, and cut it myself, which was another giant red flag)? Unfortunatley I've already "deposited" it; at this point, is my best course to simply wait for that fake money to fall off from my account and just cut off all contact? Fortunately I did not give them any of my bank information, so I don't believe they'll be able actually scam me but now I'm worried, as, obviously, I have turned to UpWork to try to supplement my income due to times being a little tight and cannot afford to have someone raid my account.

Sadly the "job" posting was removed so I cannot flag it but I assume since it was removed, someone else may have already done so and the "client" has been handled. Just looking for any advice! Thank you!

[nahidhasan771]

We need to always communication with clients via Upwork It’s secure. And don't contact them outside of Upwork before officially start the contract. 

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

Contact your bank immediately and apologize for depositing a fake check.

Hopefully you won't lose your bank account.

You violated serious Upwork rules. You could be terminated from the Upwork platform for what you did. You won't be, because you are new. But if you do something like this again? Yes, you could definitely be suspended or permanently kicked off of Upwork.

[dce1ecca]

Thank you Preston, and I do apologize to the community in general and the folks at Upwork, as I did not do my due diligence before engaging with this "company." I have talked to my bank and will be much, much more careful moving forward.

[prestonhunter]

I appreciate your positive attitude.

Lots of freelancers ARE successful here on Upwork.

You ran into a few bumps while getting started. That happens a lot. Don't let it get you down.

[celgins]

Not a potential scam; it is a scam. As Preston pointed out, the check was fake, so you will have to work with your bank to handle that.

New freelancers get legitimate jobs when they are invited by a client through Upwork. Meaning, the client clicks the Hire button and you will click the Accept Offer button. Since that didn't happen, all kinds of Upwork rules were violated.

You can get a good overview of the types of scams you might see here.