Should we avoid RFPs that show the client’s contact details?

[ravi_iitian]

Of late, there have been too many RFPs that display the client’s contact details such as the phone number or Whatsapp number or some other social media account.

I consider the display of contact details a red flag for two reasons:

(a) Upwork could remove the job.

(b) The client might already be receiving offers outside of Upwork, so I’d be wasting connects.

For the most part, I refrain from applying for these jobs.

The question here is this: Should we avoid RFPs that show the client’s contact details?

[tagrendy]

Those are all scam posts, not jobs. So yes, you should not apply.

[gabriel986]

Shouldn't Upwork as a company, and as the keeper of the marketplace, do something about this?

This situation has been ongoing for more than 3 months already, the marketplace is infested with hundreds of scam posts revealing WhatsApp numbers, telegram links, google form links, Google Docs that redirect you to a task or a mission or an offer before showing you a "trial document" and so on. I get to flag 30 of those in a slow day... And I get at least 8-10 invitations to bid for such posts every single day. They even appear in the Upwork emails showing "new job opportunities." 

I'm sick and tired of having to comb through hundreds of scam posts before finding something decent and viable to bid. On top of that, the situation eroded the confidence of the upworkers in clients with unverified payment methods, because the scammers are unverified as well. 

The red flags for me are:

1. Sharing numbers or links

2. The place they claim to be, and their local timezone usually don't match (i.e. they claim to be from the U.S.A., but their timezone is hours ahead of that, I don't want to generalize, but mostly African timezones.) 

3. They have unverified payment methods, even if they show the "PLUS" blue badge. 

4. Their job descriptions are somewhat nonsensical. 

UPWORK NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!

What's the point of being a Top Rated, or a Top Rated Plus, and paying a monthly fee, and the commission fee we pay on every job, if the company doesn't do anything to protect us?

[pgiambalvo]

Yes, Upwork should do something about this other than telling us to flag them and reporting them to the team that actually makes them not appear in our feeds at all.

[ravi_iitian]

Got an email today asking, "Did you get the answer you needed?"

No, I have not gotten the answer I needed.

No moderator has weighed in yet.