Scammer spotted on Upwork. WARNING!

[c9b8ec52]

Hello community, this is my first post. Hope you all are doing well.

I heard before of people trying to scam freelancers by asking for payments to give the job.

Ever since that I been trying to spot this ridicoulous people and I found the first one on Upwork:

**Edited for Community Guidelines** 

This post is not only giving personal contact infomation, but also asking for payments to give you the job. Can I get help reporting this scammer?

Best for you all.

**Edited for Community Guidelines** 

[cassajoy · Accepted solution]

The first way you can help is to not communicate off Upwork, as it is a violation of the Terms of Service. Don't do this anymore.

You should be flagging the post by using the Flag as Inappropriate link on the job posting. You can also report messages that are sent through Upwork messaging, once a fake client asks to communicate outside of Upwork or asks for something upfront.

[c9b8ec52]

Hi Cassidy, you are totally right.  I just want to make clear I contacted this person to find out this was this kind of person I've heard of many times and need to be reported. I have of course flagged the post as inapropiated and wanted to prevent other freelancer to be scammed.  I have no contacted clients outside Upwork ever, this is most serious work platform I been too and I don't need to skip fees as the job offer is constant. My short but strong performance can proof. Thanks for your reply!

[renata101]

Hi Juan Martin,

I think your impulse to post it here was a good one. No one wants to see other people cheated if they can do something about it. I think the people responding to your post are assuming that you must be totally new to Upwork because the forum is the first place people usually come after they've just been scammed, cheated or had a bad experience with a client.

By the way, I like your portfolio!


 

[c9b8ec52]

thanks Renata 🙂 in a way I am new, compared to people who has been here for a longer time. This is in fact my first time in the forum as I, lucky, haven't been scammed on Upwork (as I did in other places) . Thanks for your kind words and best luck with all your projects 🙂 

[renata101]

I'm sorry to hear you've had bad experiences on other freelance boards, but I'm glad you found the forum. If you're ever in doubt about a situation, you can always post about it. People will generally respond fairly quickly. 

Wes, one of the freelancers on Upwork, has put together this great list of scams to watch out for (https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/List-of-red-flags-for-scams/m-p/1017044/highlight/true...).

You can always post a question in one of the general categories if you need other kinds of information. I know there's also a discussion group for designers and creatives. The topics people post about there might be helpful (for things like copyright ownership and avoiding contracts where the client wants endless free revisions).
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Designers-Creatives/gh-p/designerscreatives

It also helps to look at forum discussions about the Terms of Service. You can find them at this link (https://www.upwork.com/legal). It's good to have a general understanding of the User Agreement and Terms of Use), but it's kind of a long, dry read. You can search for topics people have already posted about. That's a good way to learn more about working on Upwork.

[sarshed]

I've been spotting these scammers giving their contact information and project cost from 1500 to 2500 USD. They are consistently posting new jobs with new accounts and causing freelancers to lose their money and connects. I've been flagging their posts and getting the feeling that they are very difficult to handle by the UpWork team.

Therefore I would like to suggest that UpWork shouldn't allow the client to post the jobs without having the payment method verified. You are welcome to comment on the suggestion. Thanks.

[roberty1y]

The job feed is full of these scam "jobs". You shouldn't have contacted the scammer off the site. This is against Upwork's terms of service, and could result in your account being suspended.

[c9b8ec52]

Hi Robert, thanks for your reply. You are absolutely right and I may have shouldn't do it, but I did it only to show him off and prevent other people. I flagged the post before doing anything else. But, as you say, maybe contacting the client to post screenshot was going too far. Just wanted to help. Have a great day.

[martina_plaschka]

1. By forum rules, you can't name a client here, even if he is a scammer. 

2. This is not the only scammer operating here. There seem to be hundreds.

3. It's nice of you to warn other people. 

[c9b8ec52]

I was totally unaware of the first rule you mentioned. Won't do it again.

Should have read the rules more carefuly! Hope we does not scam anyone

[edesignmk]

You should NOT contact the client outside the platform. You probably don't know that sharing contact information before a contract has started is against Upwork Upwork's Terms of Service and that all communications prior to the contract starting must take place on Upwork. 

[084ef776]

Oh dear! It's my first contract after sign up and the  client messaged me to connect via Skype and asked for my personal information such as my social media account. Looking back, it has nothing to do with the job description! 

I have just connected the client rep and requested to keep the communication within this platform. 

Any recommendations on what's next for me? 

Thanks! 

[prestonhunter]

re: "Any recommendations on what's next for me?"

Upwork could suspend your account due to your violation of its rules.

But as a practical manner, we do not see Upwork suspending new freelancers for a first-time offense.

The people you are talking to are simply scammers.

I recommend that you click on the "Flag as inappropriate" link option the job post and report them for asking you to communicate off-platform prior to being hired. Then don't worry about them.

[martina_plaschka]

The next thing could be problems with your profile pic, since it will not be recognized as showing a face by automatic scanning. 

[nyavo021]

The most annoying thing is that this kind of job offer saturates job searches at the moment. I've spent up to 40 available connect to only surrender to one so-called company that first requires purchasing a premium ID card in order to work.

[c9b8ec52]

That is absolutely annoying and they should be not only reported to Upwork but also betrayed on freelancers forums.

[tscribeiro]

I have just flagged more then 10 job posts in a row from people asking to be contacted via telegram... this really saturates job searches. I´m a freelancer here for ten years now and I have never seen such a thing before. From the huge amount of clients with "payment method not verified" (I don´t apply to this kind of job posts) to people asking to be contacted outside upwork, to the huge amount of job posts with the same titles and description that are clearly scamm... It´s exaustiong just being able to find one good job post to apply to. Sometimes I simply give up 😞 . What´s going on team??

[c9b8ec52]

Looks like it's a more common thing than I thought. Only thing I can say to you is don't give up. I have been here only 2 years, and have found incredible people with amazing projects. Way more relatable than other freelance platforms I definitely give up to. Good luck!

[pgiambalvo]

Yeah, it's bad. But only 10? I've flagged more than 80 already today. Upwork assures us they are doing their best to reverse the scam problem. They even released a blog post about it back in December: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/From-the-Trust-and-Safety-Team-How-to-Spot-a-Scam/ba-...

[sarshed]

I've been spotting these scammers and flagging them as inappropriate, but they keep coming. Very unfortunate. Since connects were introduced on UpWork freelancers are encouraged to spend them very wisely, but how long? one or after anyone could fall into the trap and may lose the connects or money (in the worst case).

Therefore I would like to suggest that UpWork Team should discourage clients to post the Jobs without having payment confirmation.

You are welcome to comment on the suggestion. Thanks.