Sooooo many "The Aussie Voice" freelancers from all over the world...

Petra R · May 25, 2019 09:14:43 AM

There are literally dozens of profiles, all exactly the same (apart from names, location, photo). All have the title "The Aussie Voice" and share the same overview (stolen from a top-rated New York-based freelancer) Most share an hourly rate of $ 35 and went to Harvard University between 2012 and 2016. They own micro-studio based in New York

Run a google search for the keywords The Aussie Voice Upwork

Just found one who even has a Rising Talent Badge...

Sergio S · May 25, 2019 09:22:23 AM

Oh, sí!

And it sounds like a scam...

Petra R · May 25, 2019 09:32:12 AM

Sergio S wrote:
Oh, sí!

And it sounds like a scam...

🤣 You 🙃 reckon? 🤣

They started popping up months ago. One after the other. Some even post on the forum, and I just got a PM from one. Timezone Iran. Profile says the Philippines, he says he is in Turkey but could he use a UK SIMM card to verify his phone number. And he has a micro-studio too.....

John K · May 25, 2019 03:30:02 PM

The really strange thing is that there are freelancers with that title who offer services completely unrelated to voice/audio work. Perhaps they took a freelancer course that guaranteed profile approval if they used that title. However, out of 400+ freelancers, only 7 have actually earned any money. (◔_◔)

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce

Joanne Marie P · May 25, 2019 03:46:30 PM

Hi Petra,

I've shared this with the team for review. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

-Joanne

Renata S · May 25, 2019 07:04:55 PM

How do you get rising talent status without listing anything that clearly supports knowledge of or previous experience doing voiceover work? The ones with rising talent status don't seem to list anything different.

Petra R · May 25, 2019 07:55:03 PM

Joanne Marie P wrote:

I've shared this with the team for review. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

I've been flagging them for months, Joanne. Some get removed, some don't.

Renata S · May 26, 2019 04:34:11 PM

Petra R wrote:
Joanne Marie P wrote:

I've shared this with the team for review. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
I've been flagging them for months, Joanne. Some get removed, some don't.

Considering the fact that you can pull up more than 40 pages of freelancers by simply searching "The Aussie Voice" and everyone of them has a master's degree from Harvard, this seems utterly ridicious.

Wes C · May 26, 2019 06:49:14 PM

... and everyone of them has a master's degree from Harvard, this seems utterly ridicious.

So, that's how you get into Harvard....

Renata S · Jun 3, 2019 09:11:31 AM

Wes C wrote:
... and everyone of them has a master's degree from Harvard, this seems utterly ridicious.
So, that's how you get into Harvard....

Yeah. You write your own ticket. Literally.

I think the outstanding question is why UpWork isn't freezing all of these accounts because the 100+ freelancers from Canada, India, Pakistan, Germany, Tunisia, Kazakhstan and at least ten other countries can't all have been there from 2012 to 2016. And if they did graduate from Harvard with master's degrees, I imagine their hourly rates would be somewhat higher.