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e58de8f4
Community Member

Scams and Wasted Connects

Hello,

 

I recently submitted proposals for 3+ jobs that ended up being scams. I am a little upset that Upwork is not doing the best job in filtering these. On top of my wasted time and effort, I have wasted my connects and thus, money. I would like help on this.

 

Thanks,

Francesca Washofsky

10 REPLIES 10
prestonhunter
Community Member

Francesca:

There is good news for you:

 

If you encounter a scam job on Upwork, you can use the "Flag as inappropriate" link button in the top right hand corner of the job posting screen. You can report the job as fraudulent, and even provide additional notes or supporting information.

 

Upwork takes down scam jobs and when they do, you AUTOMATICALLY receive your connects back.

 

Even if somebody ELSE reports the job and that report results in the job being removed by Upwork, you will automatically get your connects back.

re: "I am a little upset that Upwork is not doing the best job in filtering these."

 

Upwork doesn't really have any way of "filtering" job postings to block scammers. (How would they do that?)

 

Upwork has SOME filters in place for blatantly inappropriate job postings. But scammers copy the style and content of legitimate job postings, and only after people apply to their jobs (or respond to invitations) are they discovered to be scammers.

 

So Upwork really does rely on the users (freelancers) to report scammers, scam jobs, and fraudulent activity.

"Upwork doesn't really have any way of 'filtering' job postings to block scammers. (How would they do that?)"

 

Maybe if Upwork displayed the name, address, and Web site of the company next to each project ad (people would know what they're getting into).  Anonymous ads are a breeding ground for scams.

 


Matthew C wrote:

"Upwork doesn't really have any way of 'filtering' job postings to block scammers. (How would they do that?)"

 

Maybe if Upwork displayed the name, address, and Web site of the company next to each project ad (people would know what they're getting into).  Anonymous ads are a breeding ground for scams.

 


Upwork isn't a free job service.  It also isn't a free company info service. 

Even IF Upwork did what you say it would require the scammer to answer honestly. Even if you took it one step further to have verified companies that would be an entirely different Upwork that would be a lot more expensive. I for one would love to see it.

 

But for now, people need to figure it out for themselves. If you keep your communication on Upwork, don't try to violate TOS, and think before you act you should be fine.


Matthew C wrote:

"Upwork doesn't really have any way of 'filtering' job postings to block scammers. (How would they do that?)"

 

Maybe if Upwork displayed the name, address, and Web site of the company next to each project ad (people would know what they're getting into).  Anonymous ads are a breeding ground for scams.

 


That would be a disaster, because freelancers would contact clients directly, pester them for jobs, and circumvent Upwork. Anyway, scammers frequently pretend to be legitimate companies, so how would it help to display contact information? The legitimate companies would be harrassed for work that they don't have and/or blamed for the scam, and the scammers would just come right back again, pretending to be some other company.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Francesca, 


I'm sorry to learn about your experience on Upwork. I checked your Connects History (Settings > Membership & Connects > Connects History), and can confirm that the Connects used for these proposals have already been refunded back to your account. 

I would like to note that we do have different teams, and systems in place that check users, and job posts of any fraudulent activity. However, there are times that the team will only be able to identify if a job is a scam when an interview has already commenced. In these cases, users can flag job posts, and other users as inappropriate and this report goes to the team's queue for their review and action.

 

I highly recommend that you read up the "Safety First!" section of the freelancer resources we have compiled, and these tips for avoiding questionable jobs for more information about working safely through Upwork.


~ Avery
Upwork
joaonyc
Community Member

You have to understand Upwork gets paid anyway. You have to buy connects and waste them anyway. Why would they cara about the scams? You use and never gets an answer. I applied for 4 jobs 2 weeks ago. Not a single response. One of them even reposted the same job without interviewing a single applicant. I lost my connections because I withdrew my application. I get paying upwork a percentage of my fee but this connections model is just a rip off
k_pitman
Community Member

Basically YOU have to do the work to get your connects back. If you don't, you will lose them. So when you find a scam, REPORT IT. Do not withdraw your bid. Wait. Keep track of the job. When it's removed, check to see if your connects were removed or if you get a message about your bid being rejected by the scammer. If you don't get the bid back automatically, report it and have it investigated. You then should get your bids back.

 

Unofortunately you have to really keep track of every job and to make sure they give your connects back. There are either too many bugs in the system or it's by design. It's  a hastle but right now that's all you can do 😞

Yesterday I applied for 4 jobs and all 4 jobs were scams as they asked me to connect on Hangout for an interview and immediately they removed their job posting. I applied for 4 jobs and out of those I got refunded for 2 jobs but still, the other two jobs connect are not refunded.

 

nesdem
Community Member

Lately I am thinking why Upwork won't create fake ads and make freelancers apply to these so that more connects are spent and more money is earned. It should not be that difficult to fake ads also I do not think there's any mechanism that could prevent the company apart from obvious ethics. But relying on their complying to work ethics, is it really all we need?

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