SCAM TO BE AWARE OF

[najenterprises77]

I am new to Upwork and because of this, I'm eager to find work.  I received an email through Upwork with a client stating how they wanted to hire me.  Not long after I rcvd another email from Upwork stating that client has been removed b/c of not meeting terms of service.  I had already replied though to client.  I then emailed Upwork to ask them about the client - not knowing if I could continue to receive emails from client or not.  Remember, I already replied to client so now they had my email address.  So I proceeded convo through email with client.  I don't know if that's against Upwork or not.  Anyhow, Upwork still didn't reply to me; I think Upwork should reply to let Freelancers have some kind of insight as to why we should not communicate with client at all or maybe in their email to us include not just b/c client failed Terms of Service but tell us that client is a scam.

Well, this client sounded so legit -- extremely legit.  They asked me all the normal, professional questions that any company would to a prospective "employee."  Being the kind of person I am, I still went into researching who this client was via Google.  **Edited for community guidelines**

Lesson for me:  if Upwork sends me a message stating that they removed a company b/c they failed to meet the Terms of Service, I must immediately stop all communications b/c they obviously have found out something negative.  

I also had another client contact me that Upwork hasn't sent me any warning notification.  Client is still in my proposals tab; don't know if they are legit or not but here's what the last email from client said:  "They prefer to use my Credit Card to send me payments." My response (as professionally as I can):  "Virtual Assistants don't provide credit card for security reasons..."   So it sounds like a scam as well but I can't prove it.  Upwork, should I provide you with that particular person's name for you to further investigate?  They don't have any verified payments as of yet.

This won't stop me from continuing to submit proposals but as stated, if a client gets pulled off, then I will no longer accept email communications from client.  

Look out for a **Edited for community guidelines** as fraudulent.

[bstojadinovic]

Hi Caroline,

Thanks for flagging this for us. I've checked 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 help article for more information on how to use the flag option found on each job post or message to report any suspicious or inappropriate content. Also, check out this post for more tips on how to avoid questionable jobs.

Thank you!

[kat303 · Accepted solution]

Caroline - If Upwork removes a clients account because it violated the TOS then you do NOT want to work with this client no matter how professional they sounded, It's a waste of your time also to go google their name or company.  And it doesn't matter if you've been communicating with them or not. If Upwork doesn't want them because something is shady, then you don't want to be a victim of whatever that was. 

Also, if a client wants to pay you though your credit card, you can politely tell them that you ONLY accept payment through Upwork. And always check to make sure their account is verified, and that they FULLY fund escrow BEFORE you start working. 

[najenterprises77]

Thank you Kathy.  I will heed to the warnings.  I've been sending proposals every day - at least 7 per day.  I must not be desperate.

[tlbp]

Scammers target anyone who is new to Upwork in hopes that they will fall for one of the many tricks. Consider it a rite of passage. If you haven't yet, read the New to Upwork stickied thread to learn about all the other scams. 

[najenterprises77]

Thank you Tonya.

[hodgesh]

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@Caroline J wrote:
Client is still in my proposals tab; don't know if they are legit or not but here's what the last email from client said:  "They prefer to use my Credit Card to send me payments." My response (as professionally as I can):  "Virtual Assistants don't provide credit card for security reasons..."   So it sounds like a scam as well but I can't prove it. 

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How in the world could someone receive payment via a credit card? That doesn't even make sense.

[najenterprises77]

Exactly!  It obviously has worked for these scammers in the past.  When people are in need of $$ sometimes they'll give out any info thinking that it will repay them in a good way.  Needlesstosay, that client hasn't reached out to me to give me the job.  lol.