Suspicious Client Behavior

[rrojas415]

I was contacted by a client, completed an online interview and he offered me the job via text message and included a start date etc. I clearly have not accepted it and requested a phone conversation with him to discuss the project to which he adamantly declined. It was originally an hourly bid proposal and my proposal was for $60 per hour. His text to me had a change in terms and he changed from hourly and he wanted to pay a fixed weekly price. I said I would be willing to negotiate the terms of my rate and he texted again saying what I want to get paid? He is engaging with me directly on text so I went back into the app and continue the chat on Upwork and when I go back to look at the project details within the app, the project has been closed and my application appears to be declined. But again he’s offering me the job via text. Something smells fishy here.

[colettelewis]

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Ricardo R wrote:
I was contacted by a client, completed an online interview and he offered me the job via text message and included a start date etc. I clearly have not accepted it and requested a phone conversation with him to discuss the project to which he adamantly declined. It was originally an hourly bid proposal and my proposal was for $60 per hour. His text to me had a change in terms and he changed from hourly and he wanted to pay a fixed weekly price. I said I would be willing to negotiate the terms of my rate and he texted again saying what I want to get paid? He is engaging with me directly on text so I went back into the app and continue the chat on Upwork and when I go back to look at the project details within the app, the project has been closed and my application appears to be declined. But again he’s offering me the job via text. Something smells fishy here.

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___________________________

If the job has been closed by Upwork, then it is a scam. You are right about fishy. Just stop communicating with this person (block him) and run. 

It is now against Upwork's ToS to communicate outside Upwork until you have an official contract in place. 

You have dodged a bullet - just move on.  

[BojanS]

Hi Ricardo,

Thank you for flagging this for us and for our team. The team will review your report and take action as per our internal processes. You'll receive an update on your ticket directly regarding this report. 

In cases like this, we also encourage you to let us know if a TOS violation has happened by using the “Flag as Inappropriate” option throughout the platform. You can learn more about user reporting here.

[colettelewis]

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Bojan S wrote:

Hi Ricardo,

Thank you for flagging this for us and for our team. The team will review your report and take action as per our internal processes. You'll receive an update on your ticket directly regarding this report. 

In cases like this, we also encourage you to let us know if a TOS violation has happened by using the “Flag as Inappropriate” option throughout the platform. You can learn more about user reporting here.

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_______________________________

So - did the client close this proposal or did  Upwork? 
"so I went back into the app and continue the chat on Upwork and when I go back to look at the project details within the app, the project has been closed and my application appears to be declined. But again he’s offering me the job via text. Something smells fishy here.

[BojanS]

Hi Nichola,

We cannot discuss anything about this for privacy reasons, which we hope you understand! This case was escalated to the correct team for their review and will be handled according to our internal processes. 

[resultsassoc]

Thank you for reporting this. We all benefit when someone polices the ethics.