SCAM: Client asked to buy / get my Upwork account

[frankdonadio]

Briefly, I've been asked by a new possible client to start talking via skype about the job. When using Skype, after a few normal questions ("Are you unemployed now?", "Are you new freelancer?") he asked "Can you sell or lend your Upwork account to me?" and then he clarified that his proposal wasn't even related to the job title. I obviously declined.

So he has wasted my time and I think I've been also exposed to risk. What should I do next? Who I may inform of this suspicious behaviour? Also his Skype account is by most suspicious (who's Id would be **Edited for Community Guidelines** as it's name?!?!)

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Franco,

Did this conversation start with an invitation or proposal on Upwork? If so, could you please send me a private message (click on my name next to this post) with a link to the original job post?

[frankdonadio]

Hi Valeria, yes, the proposal and invitation started on Upwork. I'm trying to send you a private message but after clicking the "Message" button, the site redirects me to a page displaying this message:

"You do not have sufficient privileges for this resource or its parent to perform this action.

Click your browser's Back button to continue."

[kochubei_valeria]

Sorry about that, Franco. I just send you a private message. Could you please see if you could reply to it?

[digiphics]

Valeria,

I sent you more information regarding a client that exibits that same conversation outside of upwork.

[akasic]

Hi Valeria,

Can you send me also private message? I just had a situation and offer from scammer.

[bstojadinovic]

Hi Alen, 

Please click on my name and send me PM with information about the situation you are referring to, please include links and screenshots, and I will share those with our team for further investigation. Thank you.

[mayavida]

I had a suspicious experience with this supposed client. He asked me to send him an email to a certain email address (details in the attached screenshot). Since I sent him the email, he has been asking me to share my Upwork profile, and from different email addresses.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[petra_r]

---

Maya E wrote:
I had a suspicious experience with this supposed client. He asked me to send him an email to a certain email address (details in the attached screenshot). Since I sent him the email, he has been asking me to share my Upwork profile, and from different email addresses.

---

From the screenshot I would bet they want Amazon reviews and that is why they are going outside the platform. They will probably pay via the platform but because any and all Amazon reviews for payment are stictly forbidden by Amazon (who have already taken over 1000 freelancers to court) such jobs are also forbidden on Upwork. And yes, it does not matter if the product review is honest. It is not allowed.

[mitchimo]

Some guy from SWEDEN found me on Fiverr. He wanted to hire me. He told me to set up an Upwork account. We spoke on Skype today. He said his account was terminated. He said that if he can use my USA account, he'll pay me $100USD per month and more if they're profitable. Is this a scam? Why can't they set up their own accounts?

[mwiggenhorn]

This guy probably lost his account  for violating the TOS.  DON'T DO IT. You will lose your account permanently if you get caught.

[jamey-lewis]

This just happened to me today. I didn't do it.

[willwoff]

I just got one too. He contacted me on Fiverr. Said he was from Japan but he had a Chinese name. I speak Japanese so I replied in Japanese and he said he actually lives in Russia. I spoke to him on Google Hangouts and I couldn’t pick up his accent. He asked me to open an account for him for the same thing, $100 a month.
I told him I would call him back tomorrow.

[bstojadinovic]

Hi William,

Could you please click on my name and send me a PM with more information about your report. I'll gladly share it with our team for further investigation. 

Thank you.

[greenteabreak]

Better to talk to upwork support desk immediately to invesitigate about the client .  

[joe-maabo]

Hi.  I had the same experience Yesterday and Today. A chinese was proposing 750$ to 1000$ per month while  a Guy from  Sweden is proposing 100$/month. It is difficult to understand how a job is posted on a platform with a specific detail (say: convert a PDF file to Word) when you apply you discover at the end that the person that selected you is a scammer. So the question is: is it really possible to make money online?

[perlicles]

Hi, I had the same problem, what is this? the guy asked to use my computer remotely

[colettelewis]

@ Jesper and David

First of all you report these scammers to Upwork (that is, if you don't want your own accounts suspended) and then you take a little time (no matter how qualified you are) to read everything there is to know about the site.

Scammers are everywhere not just on Upwork, who does what it can to zap them. Acquiring a little knowledge on how they operate should be part of a freelancer's arsenal. Upwork gives a few pointers - Google gives a zillion ... 

IMO Upwork does not do enough to zap the i****s who are too needy or greedy to recognize the danger signals and who are "tempted" to fall for fraudulent deals. 

[bstojadinovic]

Hi David,

Could you please click on my name and send me a private message with more information, screenshots of communication or links, and I'll share those with our team for further investigation. Thank you.

[364d112e]

I received this message by LinkedIn. It is obvious a SCAM. I share with you for your knowledge.  

**edited for Community Guidelines**

[aocumen]

Hi Diego, 

Are you able to send me a private message with this user's LinkedIn account so that I can look into this further? Let me know!

[drknyt1]

Hi,

I got a similar offer from someone today from Hong Kong, asking for my work email ID. I declined and suggested a phone call on my personal phone, but now I don't know what to do.

[bstojadinovic]

Hi Dyalon,

Could you please click on my name and send me a PM with more information about your report so that I can escalate it accordingly? 

Thank you.

[xtratime]

Just happend to me too.

Some russian guy from Canada as he says. It smells like SCAM from a block away.

Be aware, people... If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is 🙂

And almost always scammers start with messages like "You will do a one time - one day job and earn money every month".

Seriously?

[petermkennedy]

I have also had this problem as of today. Hoping to share details to prevent this in the future. How do I go about reporting it?

[tinker_bell3]

Hi Peter,

Could you please send me a PM with more information so I can look into this for you. You can PM me by clicking on my name. Thank you!

[44cd53fe]

Hi @Valeria, I had a same experience and I would like to send you a screenshot of a conversation with the scam guy so that Upwork community can take a proper action. I am unable to message you.

[luiggi_rosado]

Hi Thakuri,

Can you please click on my name and send me a PM with more information about the situation you experienced along with any supporting screenshots you may have? I'd like to have a look so we can assist you further.

Thank you.

[h3hdv7rlssvtxxzp]

I would advice following up with Valeria on this. Just I want to say that people have been selling FaceBook accounts as high as 500USD online. Of course that is nonsense, because those accounts would not live a long time either.

But, that being said, there are a lot of scams around. Asking for a Skipe call is one of the indicators pointing towards that. If they do, challenge them. If they are serious, they will come back, if not, then jjust forget it and report accordingly.

I have seen here not only skipe requsters, but recently one asked for copies of ID¨s at the time of interview. That is completely no-no. My advice for freelancers, do not be afraid to say no. Most likely that is the best option. If not, they will come back and then you can fix. Anyway, for a successful freelancing or any business, one of the key skills to learn is to say "no".

[bobafett999]

I had exactly same experience.  Skype interview - use of Upwork account and blah blah blah.

[firescue17]

---

@Kristo H wrote:

Asking for a Skipe call is one of the indicators pointing towards that. 

---

Asking for a Skype call is not indicative of a scam. If anything, it's a prudent way to screen clients *before* the contract is opened.

Personally, I would never do business with any party I have not spoken to. Should I be so unlucky as to encounter a scammer, I'd much rather find out before a contract is opened and getting embroiled in an account suspension nightmare, even if the suspension was only temporary and my account is cleared during the Upwork investigation.

Scammers permeate the Internet and have since the heydays of AOL and Yahoo. Before that, it was multi-level marketing spread through classified ads in the back of magazines. Before that, it was leaflets advertising snake oil and tonics posted outside the local saloon. Before that, shysters were shaving slivers off their gold coins and smelting them back together.

Scammers have always been around. They're always going to be around. The medium of communication is irrelevant. 

[alexandernovikov]

I know a company, with 200 highly qualified engineers/developers, who make nothing but high quality fake Facebook accounts. They sell even higher, around $1000 per account. The purpose of them is to buy ads advertising stuff that Facebook won't normally allow to advertise. They work. Usually someone can spend about $20K buying ads from that account before it is banned, so it adds only 5% to the cost.

[kennethburns]

This just happened to me as well.  5/31/18.  I was on Freelancer.com and was asked to go to skype.  Thought that we were going to discuss the job I was bidding for, however, this person started messaging me about buying and using my upwork account and then paying me etc.  Unreal. 

[nkocendova]

Hi Kenneth,

I'm sorry to hear that. You can send me a PM with a link to the client's job posting as well as any screenshot relevant to their request for about buying your profile, and I'll be sure to have the team review it and take actions.

[domihallerc]

Hey Nina, 

I have been contacted thorugh Skype by supposed "employers" on upwork. They are fofering to buy my account and telling me it's no risk as they will be able to use it simultaneously. 

Of course, I am declining the offer. 

Help? 

[bstojadinovic]

Hi Dominique,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience.  Could you please click on my name and send me a private message with more information and a screenshot of their communication with your, and I will share this with our team for future investigation? For more advice, please check the safety tips we compiled here.

[westernstud]

Same thing just happened to me. Contacted through Freelancer.com. He asked if he could buy my Upwork account and I told him I would sell it for $250,000. He asked if I was serious, and I told him the price would go up if he didn't send the money quickly. He asked for my Paypal account, and I told him I wanted to use Escrow.com. He eventually realized I was just messing with him and he stopped responding to my Skype.

[cylver1z]

Hello Bruce,

Thank you for reporting this here. Would you mind sending me the job post link or the client's name via PM so I can help you out? To send me a PM, simply click my name above and then you'll see a message button in my Community Profile. Thank you!

[viktorviktor16]

Hi everyone.

Today I had a conversation with one man in LinkedIn and he was asking to sell accounts in upwork.

As I did not had one I registered and said to him that it is very easy to register a new account. 

So, my questions:

1) Why does they are asking to sell it?

2) Why they do not want to create new accounts?

[digiphics]

Same thing happened to me yesterday. Job Invitation then brief chat on Upwork then skype. After going round and round about how good of a designer I am I was asked a personal question: Can you find me an American Freelancer to sell me their account. I have notified Upwork, Flagged posting (has since been removed from the system) and have messaged several Moderators and Support regarding this individual.