SCAM Job posts and NO option to report the Job poster !!

[workhint]

Hello, 

I recently got an interview invitation from a customer claiming to be a project manager from a company called **Edited for community guidelines** (See picture attached). I looked into the website, looks legit, and I googled the person name that sent me the interview questions and I found her profile on LinkedIn with other employees' endorsement. So all looks very legit. They asked the interview would be essay questions to answer within an hour. They sent the questions with the company logo, position ID, and candidate number exactly like what you would get from a company of that size. I did the questions, and after a few hours, they say we will move forward for a few weeks trial and If you are good, we will have a long-term contract. He said also we will offer work from home equipment like a laptop and a desk that we will ship to you after accepting the offer. 

They sent me an offer via email that I have to sign before hiring me via Upwork and they asked me about my bank name, and I asked them why, they say to see if it's aligned with our payroll so we can deposit the allowance for homework equipment. That was when I got very suspicious. I did more research, and I noticed the email domain they sent the offer from and looks very much like the real company name except there is an "S" in the fake domain. Real company domain "truevaluecompany.com" and the fake company domain they used when they sent the email **Edited for community guidelines**. I realized this is a scam, and I asked them for verifications that they represent this company, they ignored me. Thanks got I checked carefully the domain.

What made me think this was a real job is that the company profile is An UPWORK Plus Client, and the name of the person with a LinkedIn with endorsements from other company employees. 

The worst part, there is no option to report this client as a scam !!. Can everyone please be aware? And can Upwork please give the option to report a Scam?

 

[martina_plaschka]

The option to flag a violation is in every job posting since forever.

[roberty1y]

First of all, you can flag scam jobs. Just click on the job posting and you'll see "Flag as inappropriate" over on the right-hand side of the page. You then have a list of reasons to choose from.

Any mention of sending money to your account means it's a scam. Any exchange of money outside of the site is against the ToS and will get both the freelancer and client banned from Upwork. Of course, the "client" had no intention of sending you any money, but only wanted to get their hands on yours.

When you say it's an Upwork Plus client, do you mean the company they're impersonating? Somehow I don't think any scammer is a UP client. The company the scammer claims to be from is irrelevant - anyone can grab a name off the Internet and start pretending they're from that company.

[martina_plaschka]

Oh no, the scammers can be plus clients. They might have a free trial, or pay for it to look more legit. For all the people wailing about that every client needs to be payment verified: it's not a sign somebody isn't a scammer. 

[ashrafkhan81]

It only takes a monthly subscription fee of $30 or $40 to become an Upwork Plus Client!!! 

And if they have done so much work to lay the proper ground for the scam, even if one freelancer falls for the SCAM they will recover more than what they pay for the membership fee. 

In your case, it did not get to that point, but they would have eventually have asked you to pay their vendor for the "Work from Home Equipment" somewhere between $600 - $1500 against the Escrow milestone on Upwork but the card used to deposit funds in Escrow is a stolen card and would result in a chargeback soon and you'd lose the money! 

Any job that offers you more than what is normal for your industry, role, and experience is most likely a SCAM, especially if they ask for an Upfront payment from you or any personal financial information is a BIG red flag! 

Gald that you did not fall for it! 

[petra_r]

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Ashraf K wrote:

It only takes a monthly subscription fee of $30 or $40 to become an Upwork Plus Client!!! 

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Upwork give a month of "Plus" membership to many new clients for free.

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Ashraf K wrote:

In your case, it did not get to that point, but they would have eventually have asked you to pay their vendor for the "Work from Home Equipment" somewhere between $600 - $1500

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No, they wouldn't. Different scam. And the typical sum is more in the region of $3k.

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Ashraf K wrote:

but the card used to deposit funds in Escrow is a stolen card and would result in a chargeback soon and you'd lose the money! 

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No, that is not how that scam works at all.

[roberty1y]

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Petra R wrote:

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Ashraf K wrote:

It only takes a monthly subscription fee of $30 or $40 to become an Upwork Plus Client!!! 

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Upwork give a month of "Plus" membership to many new clients for free.

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Ashraf K wrote:

In your case, it did not get to that point, but they would have eventually have asked you to pay their vendor for the "Work from Home Equipment" somewhere between $600 - $1500

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No, they wouldn't. Different scam. And the typical sum is more in the region of $3k.

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Ashraf K wrote:

but the card used to deposit funds in Escrow is a stolen card and would result in a chargeback soon and you'd lose the money! 

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No, that is not how that scam works at all.

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You're suspiciously well informed about this. Are you leading a double life as a scammer? 

[martina_plaschka]

Anybody who follows the forum for a few months can spot a scam from miles away and can probably consult the FBI and the CIA on how they operate 😉

[roberty1y]

I'll add "scam consultant" to my profile. But the scams here are so tiresomely lame. Can't these people think of something more original than "Send money for equipment"?

[a_lipsey]

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Robert Y wrote:

I'll add "scam consultant" to my profile. But the scams here are so tiresomely lame. Can't these people think of something more original than "Send money for equipment"?

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They don't have to be original. They weed out anyone with common sense and go after the people who are too desparate or too naive or both to stop and think for half a second about why that would never happen. They don't waste their time on people who ask questions. It's a numbers game. They keep dialing until they get a mark on the line. 

[petra_r]

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Robert Y wrote:

 But the scams here are so tiresomely lame. Can't these people think of something more original than "Send money for equipment"?

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It is kept deliberately obvious. The scammers can't afford to waste time with people who have even a modicum of common sense. They want to deal only with the very lowest hanging fruit. Anything else would waste too much of their time. 

[roberty1y]

Yes, the explanation you and Amanda give is probably right. Once you've got someone who believes your ridiculous story that they have to pay you a fee to work for them or that they'll pay you $500 to buy crypto, it's plain sailing from there on. You don't want someone who's too savvy. You might clear the first hurdle, but they'll start getting suspicious somewhere down the line.

[martina_plaschka]

Why do people fall for romance scams and lose millions of $ every year, even when the scammers claim to be from the US but have a distinct foreign accent? Why do the scammers not try harder and at least use a US person without an accent? Because they know if the mark accepts that inconsistency, they are the perfect target. Plus they are lazy. 

[bstojadinovic · Accepted solution]

Thank you for flagging this for us, Mahmood.

I’ve escalated this report to the correct team for their review and the project has already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork TOS and action has been taken on the client account. 

Please note that it is a violation of Upwork’s Terms of Service to request or share contact information before a contract starts.  You can check this help article for crucial information that will help you have a safe and successful journey on Upwork and be sure to use the Report Suspicious User Activity feature when you see a violation of the Upwork Terms of Service.

[workhint]

Bojan,

Thank you for your reply. I couldn't find an option to contact anyone from support, only the support bot was available. I wanted to bring this to freelancers' attention since I was very close to believing its authenticity. 

I also wanted to report the user, not the job post, and couldn't find an option. Reporting post doesn't do good. They post a job, reply to one freelancer, and then repost another one. And they close the job when they start the interview. They told me "we will close the job since we already selected the candidates, but don't worry we will open it once we proceed with the contract". So, an option to report the Job poster is more relevant.

Thank you anyway

[martina_plaschka]

When you report the job, you report the poster. Same thing.