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dwi-rachmelia
Community Member

SCAM in the form of "you need to purchase company premium ID card before start working"

I got a message through Skype offering a translation job. They introduce themselves as (redacted) company which is a legit company and you can look them up on Google, which makes me entertain the exchanging messages with them because I honestly thought they are legit at first. Except they are NOT from that company. They only steal the name to sound legit. They sent a pdf of instructions which only the header looks professional (because it's a header and logo from the redacted legit company) but other than that, it was very poorly written instruction written in Comic Sans font - I honestly facepalmed seeing that. Such jokey font, it's the first sign of a scammer tbh XD

The instruction promised very flattering rates for the translation. The only requirement is that you'd have to have company "premium ID card" that needs to be purchased because the ID will be made by another company, not by them. I asked about how much this ID card cost exactly and they didn't answer with the amount, they only very quickly explaining that the premium ID card needs to be activated and once it is activated, YOU WILL BE REFUNDED. Very tempting, right? I quickly searched similar stories in Google and sure enough found out that it's a scam method, so I blocked the Skype ID.

I redacted the company name because they are unrelated of this scam and probably unaware that their company name is being used, also because this type of scam could always choose the next other companies so the name doesn't really matter. Just know that it is almost always a scam when you need to purchase certain things before even working there - in some countries it is even illegal. Hope this is helpful.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Well, you are not allowed to share contact information via your CV on upwork. Don't do that, that can get you suspended, and makes scammers incredibly easy to contact you outside of the platform, which is what they prefer.

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5 REPLIES 5
pgiambalvo
Community Member

Thanks for alerting us here.

renata101
Community Member

Hi Dwi,

Thanks for demonstrating how freelancers can use simple tools like Google searches to research sketchy job scenarios. Unfortunately, clients on this platform aren't vetted by Upwork, so you really have to keep your wits about you.

You should never pay a client to work for them. The whole idea is to get them to pay you.

feed_my_eyes
Community Member


Dwi R wrote:

I got a message through Skype offering a translation job. 


You violated Upwork's terms of service, in that you're not allowed to contact clients outside Upwork before you have a contract in place. If you follow this rule, there's no way to fall victim to this particular type of scam. 

dwi-rachmelia
Community Member

I actually have no way of 100% knowing that they are from Upwork or from other platforms. I posted multiple applications along with my CV for translation works not only on Upwork, and my CV file is always the same one for all so it contains all my other contact information. When they contacted me they didn't say where they know me from.
I only posted this story in Upwork because the similar story I found on Google says they fall victim from an Upwork client, so I'm assuming this one is from Upwork too. Regardless if they are or if they aren't, I still feel it's a useful information to have for fellow job seekers, that's why I posted my experience here 🙂

Well, you are not allowed to share contact information via your CV on upwork. Don't do that, that can get you suspended, and makes scammers incredibly easy to contact you outside of the platform, which is what they prefer.

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