Re: Telegram Job Scam? - Page 2

rafaelh727 · ‎04-06-2020

I was invited to an interview on Telegram the other day. I did a text interview there and the guy invited me to a job. I was emailed a check for startup money, and now he's wanting me to pay for supplies before I start the job. First was $350 for a Time Tracker, then $500 for these programs; BS1 Accounting Software, Myob Business Essentials Software 2005, For Peach Tree Premium 2010 US Patent Single Users Pack, Simplay Accounting 2009, Adobe Photoshop 52011, Adobe Acrobat 8 2012, Ariba 8 2012ASP 32007, CSS 6 2012, Dreamwaver 7 2011, and HTML 11 2011.

Looking up the programs, I found old discussions on here about people having similar situations and them turning out to be a scam, so I'm thinking this might be the case here. Any advice would be appreciated!

prestonhunter · ‎09-04-2020

By way of explanation:

Skype interviews were completely fine until recently. On 26 June 2020 Upwork instituted its new rule prohibiting the use of outside communications tools (prior to having a contract).

goldenberg-laur · ‎10-26-2020

Just happened to me...Upwork already notified that the posting has been taken down. I am a newbie with only a few jobs under my belt. I am really disappointed that such companies can even get on Upwork without some sort of check system in place. I am not happy.

BojanS · ‎10-26-2020

I'm sorry to hear about your experience, Lauren.

I've checked and the job has already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork TOS and action has been taken on the client account.

Please check this thread 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!

~ Bojan

dbramer · ‎10-26-2020

I don't know what the particulars are of this Telegram scam, but I encountered a few scams on here between a month and a month and a half ago. One of the dead giveaways is that their English is typically terrible. I read once that a lot of the original "fake news" was manufactured by people (sometimes teenagers) in places in

**Edited for community guidelines**because they were being paid some incredibly small percentage (less than a penny) per click. The scam job offers I got struck me as being of that ilk -- you know, probably coming from some out-of-the way place in**Edited for community guidelines**. But I could be wrong.

filip_knezevic · ‎11-04-2020

Yeah, David, makes perfect sense. Nasty**Edited for community guidelines**and it's naughty habitats are to blame for everything!!!

dbramer · ‎12-11-2020

Wow, Filip. So much umbrage with so little cause!

Two problems here: (1) your use of the word "everything" is beyond hyperbolic; it's absurd. Does "everything" include seal clubbing? Deforestation in the Rain Forest? The acorns that are falling from the oak tree outside my house and littering my driveway? What a spectacular leap of logic -- almost Olympian, in fact!

Here's the other (2) problem with your admirably uncivil post: We're talking about a scam that has its roots in a fraudulent/sketchy use of the internet. When I've been targeted on Upwork, the scammers have apparently taken the names and corporate positions of people off of LinkedIn (it seems), and then pretended to be those people seeking an interview for some bogus position. I have contacted some of the people, and they have told me -- needless to say -- that they know nothing about the supposed position for which they are suppposedly hiring. The scam also incorporates other elements of web-based fraud. If saying that the scammers' modus operandi resembles one I read about originating in a section of Europe that encompasses NUMEROUS countries somehow offends you, color me flabbergasted. We're talking Europe -- not exactly a continent known for having been unfairly maligned historically based on some prevailing structure of oppression (and a section of Europe, what's more, that houses all my wife's ancestors on her mother's side).

Having said that, if hearing someone say that a certain internet-based scam loosely resembles one he has read about occuring in a quarter of Europe that resides on one of the four compass points offends you, then I'm sorry.

Even so, you might want to take a really long, really deep breath.

petra_r · ‎12-11-2020

David B wrote:
Wow, Filip. So much umbrage with so little cause!.

Sorry, I also found your comments both offensive and ignorant.

Those scams don't originate from where you "read" they come from (you want to examine where you get your "facts" from) - they are almost invariably from 2 much warmer countries on a different continent.

dbramer · ‎12-12-2020

I love your **Edited for Community Guidelines**, little bite-sized nuggets of assumed wisdom. Does writing more than 40 or 50 words tax you?
Oh, wait. Bite my tongue. You are someone who desperately needs to be **Edited for Community Guidelines** a notch -- but I'm not gonna do it, because it's not worth the energy.
P.S.: My reading sources, aside from books, are the New York Times, the Washington Post, The New Republic, the Atlantic, Harper's, and various online-only publications.
I don't know where you get your information, pal, but I'm pretty satisfied that my information sources **Edited for Community Guidelines**.

feed_my_eyes · ‎12-12-2020

David B wrote:
I love your smug, little bite-sized nuggets of assumed wisdom. Does writing more than 40 or 50 words tax you?
Oh, wait. Bite my tongue. You are someone who desperately needs to be brought down a notch -- but I'm not gonna do it, because it's not worth the energy.
P.S.: My reading sources, aside from books, are the New York Times, the Washington Post, The New Republic, the Atlantic, Harper's, and various online-only publications.
I don't know where you get your information, pal, but I'm pretty satisfied that my information sources pass muster.

What difference does it make where the scammers are from? I find it very odd that you're so focussed on this aspect.

dbramer · ‎12-13-2020

I don't care where the scammers were from. I said it sounded like something I had heard happening in Eastern Europe and you got all bent out of shape. Why? Because it happened in your QUARTER of Europe.
At any rate, I don't think we should be going back and forth. It's not healthy. I will add one final note, though: when I was working on master's degree in New York City, I had a job as a waiter at a 3-star French restaurant in NYC. A French chef opened it, but his wife (Nadia) was from Croatia, and when he died (of a heart attack), she took over. Most of the staff was from what was then called Yugoslavia (it was right before the war that broke the whole country up). I still remember some of their names: Jzelko, Mladin, Hazir, Lenko, etc. Most of them were from Croatia, but one was from Serbia. In other words, I've worked with "Yugoslavians" and I'm married to a woman of Czech ancestry (her mother was born there). I have NOTHING against Eastern Europe. **Edited for Community Guidelines**

I might be wrong, but I assume **Edited for Community Guidelines** to my conjecture that the scam might have originated from that corner of the world sounds like a case of ... I can't even call in Nationalism, it's more like Regionalism. Do you honestly think I would care if somebody guessed that a scam might have originated in North America? Of course not.
At any rate, you seem like an interesting person -- going from journalism to translating films to working in some kind of engineering field bespeaks someone who is intelligent and competent. I wish you nothing but the guess. Seriously.
David **Edited for Community Guidelines**

petra_r · ‎12-13-2020

David B wrote:
Most of them were from Croatia, but one was from Serbia. In other words, I've worked with "Yugoslavians"

No part of the former Yugoslavia belongs to Eastern Europe. Not a single one. Not even a teeny weeny little square millimeter.

They are Southern Europe, like Spain and Italy for example.

David B wrote:
Why? Because it happened in your QUARTER of Europe.

What are you even talking about? As you don't bother quoting, nobody has the faintest idea who the hell you are attacking at any given time.

If you mean Christine, Last time I looked, England didn't belong to Eastern Europe either.

If you mean Filip... As we have established above, Serbia is not, has never been, and never will be in Eastern Europe.

NikolaS · ‎12-13-2020

Hi All,

A few posts have been edited from this thread for Community Guidelines. We encourage our Community members to be professional and respectful to one another when posting here. Please, be mindful of the Community Guidelines and avoid making personal attacks.

Thank you!

~ Nikola

986a450a · ‎11-04-2020

I just did a text interview on telegram who claimed to hire a freelance translator for his company, **Edited for community guidelines**. Since the whoe process felt fishy so I started searching around for more proof to connect this guy with the company. I asked him if I could add him on LinkedIn, and he claimed his profile is down and will add me when it's up. The scheme is very similar with what you experienced. I am now sure it is a scam. I exposed my address,phone number and email address to him, which makes me regret now.

Thank you for sharing this.

martina_plaschka · ‎11-04-2020

YY G wrote:

I just did a text interview who claimed to hire a freelance translator for his company, **Edited for community guidelines**. But it felt off so I started searching around for more prooft to connect this guy with the company. I asked to add him LinkedIn, but he claimed his profile is down and will add me when it's up. The scheme is very alike what you experienced, I am now sure it is a scam. However, they have my address,phone number and email address, which I regretted to provide such info.

Thank you for sharing this.

You are not allowed to share personal info before hire. That is in place specifically to keep people from falling for these scams.

BojanS · ‎11-04-2020

Hi YY,

I've checked and it looks like the job has already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork TOS and action has been taken on the client account.

Please be careful not to share any private or sensitive information with clients on Upwork. All the information needed to hire and pay you via Upwork is available on your profile. Please check this post for more tips on how to avoid questionable jobs and note that all conversations before a contract is started must be through Upwork Messages, where you can send messages, have video calls, and more.

Thank you!

~ Bojan

16bfb4a9 · ‎12-10-2020

Happened to a friend, too, with **Edited for Community Guidelines**. Didn't mention upwork, but be careful out there.

jmyers98 · ‎01-30-2021

Was the person who contacted you on telegram named **Edited for Community Guidelines**

prestonhunter · ‎01-30-2021

re: "Was the person who contacted you on telegram named..."

Jessica:
There are no "names."

And there are no "persons."

There are scam "scripts". These are circulated among the scammer sub-culture. At any given time there are thousands of people using the same scam scripts.

The names that they provide to marks are not their real names.

As a freelancer, what you want to do is understand the rules and understand how to work safely. It serves no purpose to try to avoid a person be a certain "name."

kevinlmccarty · ‎02-02-2021

I justr received a similar interview via Telegram from someone claiming to be with a company that allows people to self publish books. The company exists and appears legitimate but the interview seemed sketchy righ away.

The first clue was the interviewer stated the conditions of the job were not freelance and not the sort of work I was seeking. I was able to complete an interview without giving out any sensitive personal information.

After some checking, and reading this thread, I quickly came to the conclusion this was likely a scam. When I messaged the interviewer again telling him the interview violated Upwork policy and instructed him not to contact me again, he messaged: "Upwork is charging an unecessary (30%) fees so all work will be conducted through this chat and email. We spoke to one of their staff and they said our post will be removed because it doesn't meet their terms and condition for payment. That is not a problem as we will be paying you directly via direct deposit and through out Company's Bank Official Payment account".

I responded by messaging "Do not contact me again". I did not provide any information that would allow them to access my bank account.

I appreciate this thread and the information provided as it helped me avoid my finances being accessed by scammers obviously intent on stealing from me

Kevin M.

prestonhunter · ‎02-02-2021

Kevin:

Thank you for your informative and intersting report.

In the future, do not communicate with any client (or "client") via Telegram until after you have an official contract in place.

To do so is a violation of Upwork ToS.

I think you already realize that the "company" who contacted you was just scammers. They were trying to steal your money, not pay you to do a job.

As of June 26, 2020, it is now prohibited for freelancers to communicate with prospective clients "off platform." You may communicate using Upwork's Messages tool (including audio call, video chat, and Upwork-hosted Zoom) until you have been officially hired.

1516f1c9 · ‎02-03-2021

Hello,
I had applied for a job (freelance) through up work yesterday and within five minutes they sent me a message and pdf to download telegram and the name of the interviewer. Being new to upwork I did download Telegram and gave interview via chat (sketchy) for 45 minutes.

Then today I checked this post and decided to ask more questions about his work and company as he was supposed to confirm my employment at 8am today (after checking my interview answers). So the company was not registered, it was a scam and finally he abused me.

Thank you - this platform saved me

Regards,
Manish

111818bc · ‎03-12-2021

wow thanks for this thread. I wasn't aware of these type of scams although i'm aware of other scams but this one seems like a really good scam. Happened to me today, and I want to inform the upwork community so that others don't fall for it. I was an active candidacy with a client who then later messaged me through upwork the following :
"thank you for your interest in this position" and nothing else which i found a bit akward i figure maybe he/she forgot to add a message to it so i replied with a "thank you for your response and interested in working with this company...", later i get a reply only containing a link to a pdf document. Upon opening the doc it contains a message greeting the applicant with the company's name stamp marked in the background and the message further containing intructions to set up an interview through telegram by adding a certain contact number and reaching out to this person who is supposely the hiring manager.
I didn't think much of it at that point being new to freelance in upwork. I proceeded to chat in telegram and the interviewer asked questions about myself such as full name and location, then intrusted that i reply with "okay" or "yes" to a series of questions from him. The questions included details about the pay i would receive and training and if i had the skills needed for the web development job position.
Afterwards, he presented a set of questions contaning a mixture of my personality qualities and job qualifications and a couple odd questions that threw me off such as if i understand what zelle or applePay transactions, what bank am i afilliated with , do i have a tmobile account, do i have a good credit score...etc. I answered the questions then he finally ended with the following:

Alright. I will have to put your interview answers up for consideration.

I will be forwarding this interview session to the HR department first thing Monday Morning for assessment/review.
Review takes 1-2 hours to be completed.
Once you are granted the position you would be emailed to report and the employment letter will be sent.

Do you have any question(s) at this time?

___________________
Upwork is charging an unnecessary(20%) fees so all work will be conducted through this chat and through E-mail. We spoke to one of their staffs and they said our post might/will be removed because it doesn't meet their terms and condition for payment and it seems they kept to their word. That is not a problem however, as we will be paying you directly via direct mobile deposit and through our Company’s Bank official payment account.
_______________
It’s been a pleasure speaking with you Alverto. Do not interview with any other Company as this concludes the interview session. I need you to report back online Monday Morning 8AM your time zone for results and for updates on how to proceed.
.
I suspect this is a serious and clever scam that should be taken seriously in upwork company which is why i provided the specific details. I have flagged this client but i am curious as to what this 8am chat willl be about on monday.

petra_r · ‎03-12-2021

Alverto o wrote:
I am curious as to what this 8am chat willl be about on monday.

Yo are currently violating Upwork's terms of service by communicating with a client before you've been hired and agreeing to be paid outside the platform. I would suggest you stop that immediately before you are suspended and banned. So if you have any sense, there will be no "8 o'clock on Monday" for you...

It's the good old fake check scam. They send you a fake check, telling you it is for your home office or nonsense like that. You then send real money to their "trusted supplier" which is, of course, the scammers themselves. Then it turns out the check is fake and you lost your money.

One of the oldest, dumbest scams on the Internet.

Please familiarise yourself with Upwrk's terms of services, to 1. avoid being scammed and 2. to avoid Upwork suspending your account and banning you.

111818bc · ‎03-12-2021

Petra,
I did not agree to be paid outside of upwork and i wasn't aware that communicating outside of upwork after communicating through upwork chat was a violation also i did not say i will continue to chat with this person all i said was i was curious. I already blocked him.
Also, upwork should do their part and make it hard for these " old, dumbest scamest on the internet" scammers to be allowed to register as a client for example maybe verifying their contact info and payment and persuade honest, hardworking freelancers like myself.
thanks for your input though.

petra_r · ‎03-12-2021

Alverto o wrote:
Petra,
I wasn't aware that communicating outside of upwork after communicating through upwork chat was a violation

Read the terms of service in full an carefully before you do anything else.

You agreed to communicate outside the platform and were planning on continuing to do so. Stop it right now.

Alverto o wrote:
Also, upwork should do their part and make it hard for these " old, dumbest scamest on the internet" scammers to be allowed to register as a client

Scammers don't announce that they are scammers and are taken down as quickly as possible. Upwork expect freelancers to 1. know and follow the rules and 2. have some common sense.

266ae0f3 · ‎03-23-2021

I had almost the exact same experience today. The position I applied for was an editing and proofreading position and the pdf document had the **Edited for community guidelines** publishing logo at the top. I completed the whole interview process through telegram. I definitely wish I had seen this post before the interview but I'm grateful that I'm seeing it now so that I don't waste any more of my time. I agree this seems to be a very sophisticated scam and should be taken seriously by UpWork.

BojanS · ‎03-23-2021

Hi Michelle,

Thank you for flagging this for us and for helping us keep Upwork a safe and trusted marketplace! I’ve checked this report and the project has already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork TOS and action has been taken on the client account. Please check our Stay Safe series and learn more on how to work safe online:

If you see a violation of the Upwork Terms of Service, we encourage you to use Report Suspicious User Activity feature.

~ Bojan

341130cc · ‎02-24-2021

I got the same yesterday from **Edited for community guidelines**. He got my zipcode and my bank name. I already had a feeling that it was too good to be true. It felt legit because the name was in the website.

prestonhunter · ‎02-24-2021

re: "I got the same yesterday from [the large hospital chain]... He got my zipcode and my bank name. I already had a feeling that it was too good to be true. It felt legit because the name [and] the website."

Crueshyl:
You said that it felt legit because of the name.

Now you understand one of the main parts of this scam.

The scammers feed company names and client names to the newbies.

The scammers WANT the freelancer to do a Google search on those names and become impressed by the size and wealth of the organization. But the scammers simply copy the names of real companies and people off the Internet. The scammers do not actually represent those companies.

I NEVER do a Google search on company names or client names. I only look at the information available on Upwork itself.

I am glad that you figured this out before you gave them too much information and had your money stolen.

665241dc · ‎03-02-2021

Literally just happened to me

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

d70c78ba · ‎03-05-2021

Just got a job offer ftom a **Edited for Community Guidelines**. Same story about the software purchases and the sending check and also a Mac Book Computer. Just received notice from fedex of a package coming over night. I keep this thread up dated.

feed_my_eyes · ‎03-05-2021

Vance N wrote:
Just got a job offer ftom a **Edited for Community Guidelines** Same story about the software purchases and the sending check and also a Mac Book Computer. Just received notice from fedex of a package coming over night. I keep this thread up dated.

I very much doubt that a total stranger has actually bought you a new computer, but if you communicated with a client without having an Upwork contract in place, and if you accepted a check, then both of these are terms of service violations and reasons for Upwork to ban your account.

petra_r · ‎03-05-2021

Christine A wrote:
And you are violating Upwork's terms of service by communicating with a prospective client outside Upwork

He isn't bound to Upwork's terms of service, he can't have found that scam-job on Upwork, he doesn't have a freelancer account here.

Sometimes people appear who google the scam and land on this thread.

feed_my_eyes · ‎03-05-2021

Petra R wrote:
Christine A wrote:
And you are violating Upwork's terms of service by communicating with a prospective client outside Upwork

He isn't bound to Upwork's terms of service, he can't have found that scam-job on Upwork, he doesn't have a freelancer account here.
Sometimes people appear who google the scam and land on this thread.

Really? I didn't think you could post here unless you had an Upwork account. Anyway, I hope that he does come back and let us know what's in that Fed Ex package.

petra_r · ‎03-05-2021

Christine A wrote:
Really? I didn't think you could post here unless you had an Upwork account.

He created a throw away / forum account as a client

Christine A wrote:
Anyway, I hope that he does come back and let us know what's in that Fed Ex package.

Pretty fake check LOL

a6df8c50 · ‎04-17-2021

I got the same invitation

I am **Edited for Community Guidelines** and I am pleased to inform you in regards to your résumé published on resume library. Your résumé has been received, reviewed and approved by the company HR Dept.. We have various positions available, kindly reply back with a 'YES I AM INTERESTED' if you are interested in learning more about the company and positions available.

LuiggiR · ‎04-17-2021

Hi Jean,

Is this an invitation that you received today? Would you mind clicking on my name and sending me a PM with more details about this?

Thank you.

~ Luiggi

2e603a3f · ‎05-07-2021

Yes this is a very real thing. If anyone asks you to work outside of UpWork for interviews, direct deposit or any of the above say no. I have come across at least 5 of these bots with the very same conversations. A person is behind the computer though because they answer some questions yet not others. I always verify a companies EIN tax number before doing work outside of upwork. The safe bet though is to get a proposal and stick to the app. The biggest issue I have though is these bot accounts are running rampant and costing me Connects every time I apply to one of their jobs unknowingly.

feed_my_eyes · ‎05-07-2021

Greg G wrote:
I always verify a companies EIN tax number before doing work outside of upwork.

Scammers usually pretend to work for real companies, so this won't help. And what do you mean about "doing work outside of Upwork"? If you meet a client on Upwork, you need to have an official contract and get paid via Upwork. This also helps to prevent you from being scammed.

Greg G wrote:
The biggest issue I have though is these bot accounts are running rampant and costing me Connects every time I apply to one of their jobs unknowingly.

If you flag the job as inappropriate, Upwork will take it down and refund your connects.

meganmkirby · ‎05-25-2021

I got an invitation to interview on telegram from

**Edited for community guidelines**

...They didn't say where they found my resume. I didn't submit it! When I googled them with telegram this post came up. So Idk if it's a scam, or what. I'm guessing it is...?