Scam or real?

[garylan]

Hi Upwork Community!

I've increasingly started seeing job posts which when you make a proposal, the client then requests for you to fill out some kind of external application form.

This would appear innocent at first but before filling this out I generally ask for more info about their business/agency, name, website etc.  Almost always no response is provided. 

I don't proceed in filling out the form, suspecting its a data harvesting exercise of some sort.
Anyone else experience this or have any insights into this exercise?

[prestonhunter]

Scam. Or scheme. Not a real job.

If a real client wants me to fill out something, he can hire me and pay me my hourly rate to do so.

And even then, I am not providing private information.

These external forms clients ask you to fill out prior to being hired are commonly encountered scams. I can't say for certain what your situation is. But I would be skeptical.