Suspicious company

[conradjennylyn]

Hi. I am new here on upwork and I have never worked as a freelance. I sent a proposal to this company for a virtual admin assistant position. They asked me to send an email with my updated resume and I did. They sent me back interview questions and at the end asking for my personal details such as full name, add, phone number, DOB and email address. I don't know how interviews are done on upwork.

I worked as a fraud analyst for a bank before, so I just wanna make sure this isn't some phishing scam. Thanks for your help guys.

[BojanS]

Hi Jennylyn,

Please, make sure you don't share any private information directly with clients on Upwork. All the information needed to hire and pay you via Upwork is available on your profile. 

Please, check this help article for more information on how to use the flag option found on each job post or message to report any suspicious or inappropriate content. Also, check out this post for more tips on how to avoid questionable jobs.

Thank you.

[conradjennylyn]

Thanks so much for answering my question. I will be highly vigilant from this day on.

[colettelewis]

Jennylyn,

Treat this with the greatest caution. It is not unusual for a client to ask for an email address. However, asking for your resumé and your date of birth, particularly the latter, is out of order. 

At the beginning it is advisable to carry out all your interviews via Upwork, and if the client suggests paying you by any means other than through Upwork then report the client and don't have anything more to do with them. 

[alexandernovikov]

Out of all that, i'd say yeah asking for a date of birth is a real red flag. In my years and years on Upwork, no one ever asked for that and i can see no legit reason to do so.

[conradjennylyn]

Thank you so much. I got really suspicious about that too. Glad I asked here first.

[conradjennylyn]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about this. It's just so crazy how many scams are out their and no platform is 100% safe (that I know of). I appreciate the advice. 🙂

[gilbert-phyllis]

Good spidey sense! Keep it tuned up.

Successful freelancing involves much more than simply having marketable skills and finding clients. You are essentially operating a small business and it's important to maintain that mindset. I'd encourage you to read all you can find about freelancing in general, and start building the wraparound skills you'll need to prosper: how to recognize good clients and bad, how to recognize projects that are a good fit for you and those that are not, how to manage clients and client relationships, setting your fees/rates and knowing when to accept a bit less or demand a bit more, what to do when a client turns psycho on you, etc. 

Good luck!

[conradjennylyn]

Thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, I will do a lot more research and just ask experienced freelancers about concerns like this.

[smarchese410]

Was it Agape Covenant Christian Ministries?  As soon as they asked me for some personal information, I became cautious.