SPAM

[d21b9c1f]

This site is very questionable.  There seems to be more fake clients than real.  The owner of this site should be screening their clients before they put freelancers at risk.  

Just received an email asking me to sign a NDR Payment Term.  I went back to check on the job description and client info, but all the info was already deleted.  I am assuming this has to be spam.  Who is monitoring this and catching these fake post.  It seems there is no way of catching them until they respond to our proposals.  This is not a good thing and should be fixed. 

Theres more fake post than real post.  I also got another one who wanted me to do a call.  Ended up being all fake.  Its fustrating when the clients are not screened properly and wasting our time.   

[prestonhunter]

re: "This site is very questionable."

Upwork is different from other sites you have may have used. If you are unfamiliar with the site, then there are things that may not yet make sense to you.

re: "It seems there are many fake clients on this site."

This is true. We routinely refer to them as "scammers." They are not really "clients," but they pose as clients. Their primary goal is to trick freelances into sending them money, free work, or identity information. But mainly money.

re: "The owner of this site should be screening their clients before they put freelancers at risk."

I can assure you that the owners of the site have substantial responsibilities. They do not have the time to individually screen clients. Upwork as a company does not screen clients. It doesn't claim that it screens clients.

I do not blame you for thinking that this would be a valuable thing for Upwork to do. But it would require considerable expense to even try. How much money are you willing to pay to Upwork so that Upwork does such a thing?

The truth of the matter is that after gaining just a small amount of experience, Upwork freelancers are able to recognize scammers, and they don't fall for their scams. Instead, Upwork freelancers report scammers and Upwork removes their client accounts. This requires the scammers to create new fake client accounts, so that they are unable to build up accounts that appear to be well-established and trustworthy.

re: "Who is monitoring this and catching these fake post."

All of us together.

re: "It seems there is no way of catching them until they respond to our proposals."

Yes, that is usually the case.

re: "This is not a good thing and should be fixed."

You are correct. This is not a good thing.

How do you propose fixing this?

Scammers imitate real clients and post job postings that mimic real job posts. The only way to catch them and remove them is for freelancers to report them. We use the "Flag as inappropriate" link button available on every job post in order to do this.

Theres more fake post than real post.  I also got another one who wanted me to do a call.  Ended up being all fake.  Its fustrating when the clients are not screened properly and wasting our time.   

[prestonhunter]

re: "This site is very questionable."

Upwork is different from other sites you have may have used. If you are unfamiliar with the site, then there are things that may not yet make sense to you.

re: "It seems there are many fake clients on this site."

This is true. We routinely refer to them as "scammers." They are not really "clients," but they pose as clients. Their primary goal is to trick freelances into sending them money, free work, or identity information. But mainly money.

re: "The owner of this site should be screening their clients before they put freelancers at risk."

I can assure you that the owners of the site have substantial responsibilities. They do not have the time to individually screen clients. Upwork as a company does not screen clients. It doesn't claim that it screens clients.

I do not blame you for thinking that this would be a valuable thing for Upwork to do. But it would require considerable expense to even try. How much money are you willing to pay to Upwork so that Upwork does such a thing?

The truth of the matter is that after gaining just a small amount of experience, Upwork freelancers are able to recognize scammers, and they don't fall for their scams. Instead, Upwork freelancers report scammers and Upwork removes their client accounts. This requires the scammers to create new fake client accounts, so that they are unable to build up accounts that appear to be well-established and trustworthy.

re: "Who is monitoring this and catching these fake post."

All of us together.

re: "It seems there is no way of catching them until they respond to our proposals."

Yes, that is usually the case.

re: "This is not a good thing and should be fixed."

You are correct. This is not a good thing.

How do you propose fixing this?

Scammers imitate real clients and post job postings that mimic real job posts. The only way to catch them and remove them is for freelancers to report them. We use the "Flag as inappropriate" link button available on every job post in order to do this.

Theres more fake post than real post.  I also got another one who wanted me to do a call.  Ended up being all fake.  Its fustrating when the clients are not screened properly and wasting our time.   

[BojanS]

Hi Felicia,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Thanks for flagging this for us. I've checked and the appropriate action has been taken on the clients' accounts due to a TOS violation.

If a job is found to be violating Upwork TOS, it will be removed by our team. 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!