Scam Alert

gary-hotopp · ‎07-12-2021

A notice to all Freelancers and Agencies etc.. Beware of a scam with a job poster **Edited for community guidelines**. She claimed to be a Human Resources exec. there offering work for Social Media freelancers and agencies. The post I responded to was posted on July 9th 2021. She messaged me a realistic looking attachment with company leaderhead, that requested sending a resume and setting up an interview with someone named **Edited for community guidelines**. Neither person works for, nor are they affillliated in any way with **Edited for community guidelines**. I confirmed this by calling **Edited for community guidelines** and talking to an executive who works there. They have been dealing with these impersonators for some time and have reported it to Upwork and to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation several months ago. The job posting was taken down by Upwork sometime after I flagged it yesterday after realizing it was a scam.

BojanS · ‎07-12-2021

Hi Gary,

Thank you for flagging this for us and for helping us keep Upwork a safe and trusted marketplace! I checked and confirmed that the project you're referring to has already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork TOS and action has been taken on the client account.

Please check our Stay Safe series and learn more on how to work safe online:

~ Bojan

prestonhunter · ‎07-12-2021

re: " I confirmed this by calling [the named company] and talking to an executive who works there"

This is my opinion:

I know that your intentions were pure.

But for future reference:
Please never do that again.

You provide no benefit whatsoever to the company that you are calling, when that company's name was simply copied from the Internet by scammers. Scammers copy the name of thousands of companies. This has nothing to do with those companies.

You do not provide any benefit to yourself or other Upwork users when you call these real companies.

It is easy to recognize these scams once you have gone through this. So you don't need to check with anybody to verify that this is a scam.

For other people reading this thread:

When scammers feed newbie freelancers a company name, keep in mind that they WANT you to Google the name of the company. Don't Google the company names. Don't call the companies. The only information you need in order to make a decision is the information on Upwork. Real clients follow the rules. Scammers don't. Real clients send a Hire offer so you can be hired using an Upwork contract. Scammers don't do that.

If a company is of sufficient size and has a website, it is safe to assume that scammers are using the company's name in these types of scams.

Also, if this is a REAL client, it is a VIOLATION of Upwork ToS for you to contact them OUTSIDE of the Upwork platform. Upwork explicitly prohibits freelancers from looking up information on the Internet based on a prospective client's company name and then sending them an email message or calling them. You could have your Upwork account suspended or otherwise penalized if you are caught doing this. If you saw a job post and CALLED a client, and that's a real client, the client could REPORT you to Upwork and you could be suspended.