Solved: SCAM (watchout, sensitive data!)

a9d6bb69 · ‎08-06-2022

Hi guys! Almost got scammed right now!

This client: **Edited for Community Guidelines**,

Posted a CSV/Excel Merge Project, Quick and simple work, but he talked to me via Slack, trying to make the payment a little bit odd, first negotiating the price (no big deal here) but then saying he was new to Upwork (not verified payment) and he would fund the project $375, I'd take my $25 and then, when I had the money on my side, I'd send him back to his paypal the rest (~$350).

I found it weird here.

He sent me Amex data, names, amount, dates, venue and descriptions, that I would merge, clean and then he would "upload to his system".

I made the conversation around it, told him to talk just in upwork and I brought up the paypal payment topic, there, he got mad about it, to don't talk in Upwork chat about the paypal thing and told me to don't continue the work and blocked me in Slack and removed the job in Upwork after I told him I would report him.

So, you know guys, always work in the right side of things and have Upwork as your ally, scammers will run away!

I don't know about the files, if this is some kind of scam, I got the info of the people that got scammed in my possession, tell me what to do! Upload here the names in an excel list that anybody can see if their name is there (data is from march to august of this year).

Waiting for your replies,

All the best,

Fábio S.

roberty1y · ‎08-06-2022

This seems to be the scam du jour, judging by the all the recent posts about it here. Always the same - they "overpay" you and want you to refund them. Don't contact anyone off the site and you'll be safe from this. They need to be paid outside of Upwork, because a legitimate refund by the site's payment system would go back to the rightful owner of the credit card and that would be no use to them.

View solution in original post

sofia2008 · ‎08-06-2022

Fabio S wrote:
Hi guys! Almost got scammed right now!

This client: ***
Posted a CSV/Excel Merge Project, Quick and simple work, but he talked to me via Slack,

The interaction should have stopped there.

Always communicate in Upwork before a contract is in place to avoid violating Terms of Service you ageeed to when you signed up.

Accepting/sending payment outside Upwork is also a violation of the Terms of Service.

As for the data, you cannot drop it here as they are personnal data.

a9d6bb69 · ‎08-07-2022

Hi Sophie!

We were talking in Upwork until he told me to get the files from Slack, I ave there an account too, so if the files were too big, it would make sense.

When I just saw 3 Excel files and opened I knew what it was about: SCAM!

martina_plaschka · ‎08-07-2022

so if the files were too big, it would make sense.

At what point did you realize this is another ToS violation?

a9d6bb69 · ‎08-07-2022

Well now I know it!

I'm new in Upwork, so, obviously without excuse from my part, now I'm aware of that!

What I believe to be the point here is that even with the ToS there should be a way control this clients, some kind of verification proccess that the jobs would only be posted by account and payment method verified clients!

If I pay a membership fee everymonth I would like to don't think about if I'm getting scammed or not, I would like to, when I get a job interview, to just focus on the job itself!

pgiambalvo · ‎08-06-2022

Asking freelancers to communicate off Upwork before a contract is in place is a violation of the ToS as is asking or offering

to accept/send payments outside Upwork and the client should be banned.

a9d6bb69 · ‎08-07-2022

Indeed, Peter!

martina_plaschka · ‎08-06-2022

How do you have the names of the people they scammed???? How far did your conversation with the scammer go?

What would you achieve by posting their names on a public forum? I'm pretty sure they know by now that they have been scammed.

So, you know guys, always work in the right side of things and have Upwork as your ally, scammers will run away.

Upwork is not your friend when you violate ToS, you can lose your profile over this.

a9d6bb69 · ‎08-07-2022

Hi Martina!

The conversation was short, exactly as I described!

He just told me the files were about Amex data from 5 months. (I have a Slack account, so I didn't thought it was a weird that he told me he would send the files from Slack cause they were too big).

When I saw what he sent I saw it was just 3 Excel files, I opened and saw the data I realised it was a scam without a doubt!

I don't know what I would achieve, that's why I came here to ask what to do in a situation like this. Obviously already delete the data, thanks for the help!

roberty1y · ‎08-06-2022

This seems to be the scam du jour, judging by the all the recent posts about it here. Always the same - they "overpay" you and want you to refund them. Don't contact anyone off the site and you'll be safe from this. They need to be paid outside of Upwork, because a legitimate refund by the site's payment system would go back to the rightful owner of the credit card and that would be no use to them.

pgiambalvo · ‎08-06-2022

Yeah, too bad Upwork doesn't determine if clients are the rightful owners of the credit cards before allowing clients to use them. Of course ID's can be faked, but at least make them upload one every time they set up an account to see if their name matches the name on the card. And if they are using a company card, make them send proof they work for that company. And if they are using a card on behalf of someone else, make them send that person's ID. Basically, if a clients wants to post, at least make them try to prove they are who they say they are and not just take their word for it.

a9d6bb69 · ‎08-07-2022

Exactly, I agree!

There should be a more tight handle on this cases. I'm just starting on Upwork and I've already saw too many red flags about clients, this was the worst of course!

Posted jobs where all the time (probably) the same guy in different accounts writing in the description to contact via whatsapp or telegram... It's kind of ridiculous!

a9d6bb69 · ‎08-07-2022

Yes! there should be a way of not letting anyone post jobs without creating AND VERIFYING their account! Since this can be a life-changing platform, the validation of individuals should be one of the main requests before posting/applying in upwork.

renata101 · ‎08-07-2022

Fabio, I agree that these posts should never be published on the platform in the first place, but in general, Upwork generally seems to adopt a reactive response to scam postings rather than a proactive one (meaning that it seems they only take posts down when freelancers flag them).

89737f44 · ‎11-12-2022

Literally had 2 clients where they want to communicate via telegram, no contracts at all. And wanted me to retype a screenshot of some book. (The client provided 100 images) and offered 3600 dollars. I asked if there is a contract but they are not answering my question. Which is odd.

sofia2008 · ‎11-12-2022

The fact they are not answering is not odd at all. It just confirms they are not legitimate clients. Stop communicating with them, they do not have work.

renata101 · ‎11-13-2022

This is a scam that's been running for quite a while. Most pdf retyping jobs are scams. The ones that aren't might require you to have advanced Word skills. I'm sending you a link to a video that explains it.

I think everyone on Upwork should read this:
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...