Red Flags

[sarahvermette]

Hi there, I'm new to upwork. I was just invited for a chat and for some reason it's giving me a strange feeling. Is it a red flag if someone is payment unverified AND has done 14 interviews in the past day? I have read the threads here on how payment unverified is not a red flag on its own.

Sarah

[prestonhunter]

I don't care about payment verified status during the interview period. Just make sure the client is payment verified before you start working.

14 interviews with no hires?

Maybe that is because he hasn't interviewed you yet.

If you were invited out of the blue for a job you didn't apply to, and you are new, then this is almost certainly a scammer. But you may as well get your first interview with a scammer over with, so you can learn from the experience.

[gina-herrera]

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Preston H wrote:

14 interviews with no hires?

Maybe that is because he hasn't interviewed you yet.

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^ Since I am in a creative field, I usually decline anything with over 10 interviews because that either means they have no taste (it's improbable that even 10 out of 10 to 50 applications would be not only qualified, but also aesthetically a match portfolio-wise) or they are price shopping, which I don't participate in.

However, I usually check the ratio of interviews to invites - if someone sends 20 invites, as soon as someone responds with a proposal, they are considered being "interviewed" by the system, even if their proposal ends up not being suitable or a good match for the client. So in theory it could say they are conducting a lot of interviews even if they decided some of their invited freelancers weren't going to make the cut. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a red flag though, just depends on preferences. I filter out potential mismatches by declining any clients who don't seem very set on working with me and only me, for more reasons than price - so of course I don't wish to work with people sending out too many invites.

[petra_r]

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Sarah V wrote:

 Is it a red flag if someone is payment unverified AND has done 14 interviews in the past day? I have read the threads here on how payment unverified is not a red flag on its own.

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US based newbies are the prime target of scammers. So far there are no red flags, but as soon as the client wants to take the communication off the platform (you are no allowed to communicate outside the platform until there is a contract in place) it starts getting dodgy, and if they want to send you a check, you know it's the good old fake check scam.

[wlyonsatl]

Sarah V.,

In all my proposals to prospective clients whose payment method is not yet confirmed I include the following sentence:

"I can begin work on your project as soon as Upwork confirms your payment method."

I get 5 or 6 invitations per day from prospective clients. There are various reasons I decline many of these invitations, but not having their payment method approved yet is not one of them. That is easily fixed by an honest client and Upwork keeps track of payment methods throughout the life of every contract.

Good luck!

[7e333234]

I am new here and I just received my first message from a client who has given me a project. The payment status is unverified and he has indicated to take the conversation outside of Upwork to WhatsApp. Could you please highlight in bullet points what I need to look out for when getting a new project to avoid falling into the hands of scammers. Thank you.

[NikolaS]

Hi Ken,

Please know that sharing contact information before a contract has started is against Upwork’s Upwork's Terms of Service and that all communications prior to the contract starting must take place on Upwork. I also encourage you to let us know if a TOS violation has happened by using the Flag as Inappropriate option throughout the platform. You can learn more about user reporting here.

Please check this post for the freelancer resources and tips for avoiding questionable jobs that we put together to help freelancers make decisions whether to work with a client or not. You can also find more information on how to stay safe in this help article and this thread. 

[wescowley]

Ken, take a look at this post, please: https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/List-of-red-flags-for-scams/m-p/1017044#M158742