Telegram.. Telegram.. Telegram.. Invasion of Contact-Us-via-Telegram Job Posts

[ayman-massoud]

My Feed has gone crazy!

About 6 out of 10 job posts on UW now are inviting freelancers to contact the client outside of the platform; mostly via Telegram App. These are clearly scammers, especially that they are offering unreasonable high pay. This is becoming really annoying and I think it will negatively affect this renowned platform.

I know there have been previous discussions on this issue on our UW Community, but I wanted to reiterate the need for immediately addressing this harmful phenomenon before it worsens and affects both freelancers and clients.

Has Upwork taken any NEW measures to address this issue, other than enabling freelancers to Flag posts as inappropriate?

Are there any suggestions from freelancers that UW can consider to deter such scams?

[colettelewis]

It is completely out of hand, and is particularly bad over the weekend. What more can one say? It can't only be down to uninformed newbies. It is as if a bot is spamming the job feed. 

[wescowley]

Yep. I just added "t.me" to the exclusion list in my saved searches.

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

Until Upwork get a grip, set up and save filters for your searches

[razu55_wpexpert]

Thank you so much... Today, I learn new thing 😀

[3c6d9352]

Unfortunately, some of them have caught up with this trick. They don't send the telegram link until after you make a proposal. It's terrible.

[pgiambalvo]

Yes, but the least Upwork could do is to block the ones with a link in the job from ever showing up.

[juwel121]

Thanks

[sofia2008]

Re: About 6 out of 10 job posts on UW now are inviting freelancers to contact the client outside of the platform; mostly via Telegram App.

And for each job post, freelancers communicate via Telegram, which is a violation of the Terms of Service you can read here. Upwork Legal Center

Re: These are clearly scammers, especially that they are offering unreasonable high pay.

High pay they will never pay as their payment method will be declined and the freelancer will be charged back for that amount that never really existed. Some learn their lesson by loosing lots of money, some realize it just in time.

Are there any suggestions from freelancers that UW can consider to deter such scams?

Providing solutions when new to a platform may be difficult, but new freelancers should start by managing their expectations (finding the right job takes time) as freelancing is a new world for them (they need a good profile, a marketable skill) and really get familiar with the platform, and make sure they know what is allowed and not allowed. Scammers love new freelancers jumping in the job search 5 minutes after completing their profiles as they are more inclined to believe whatever the scammers say because they are afraid to miss an opportunity.

[nyonomega0]

Am I the only one who isn't noticing that many scam jobs as of late? I'm currently tied to a project and not visiting my job feed very often, but I did today (5 rounds total). Out of a total of 150 (or so) jobs I checked, only 30-35 appeared to be scams. That means 1 scam per every 4.75 postings. I know it's still a high volume, but definitely lower than 7/10-8/10 scam jobs others pointed out.

[petra_r]

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Sushant B wrote:

Am I the only one who isn't noticing that many scam jobs as of late? .

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Clearly.

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Out of a total of 150 (or so) jobs I checked, only 30-35 appeared to be scams..

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Maybe you just don't recognize them.

[nyonomega0]

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Petra R wrote:

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Sushant B wrote:

Am I the only one who isn't noticing that many scam jobs as of late? .

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Clearly.

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When you will start taking me seriously?

Just before replying to you, I checked my feed (most recent jobs) again, and I can say that only 1 out of the 10 jobs was a scam. Or appeared to be.

You'll have to understand that every job that appears to be a scam isn't necessarily (at least some of them) a scam, the same can be said about genuine-looking jobs.

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Petra R wrote:

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Out of a total of 150 (or so) jobs I checked, only 30-35 appeared to be scams..

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Maybe you just don't recognize them.

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Seriously?

[a_lipsey]

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Sushant B wrote:

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Petra R wrote:

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Sushant B wrote:

Am I the only one who isn't noticing that many scam jobs as of late? .

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Clearly.

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When you will start taking me seriously?

Just before replying to you, I checked my feed (most recent jobs) again, and I can say that only 1 out of the 10 jobs was a scam. Or appeared to be.

You'll have to understand that every job that appears to be a scam isn't necessarily (at least some of them) a scam, the same can be said about genuine-looking jobs.

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Petra R wrote:

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Out of a total of 150 (or so) jobs I checked, only 30-35 appeared to be scams..

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Maybe you just don't recognize them.

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Seriously?

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Actually, I don't notice them either, and I suspect, or I hope, for you and me, it's the same reason. It has to do with exclusion/inclusion criteria. 

If you ever work on a clinical trial where you recruit human participants, they have to meet certain inclusion/exclusion criteria. For me, scam posts meet exclusion criteria so obviously that I don't even notice them because I'm looking for jobs to "include" in my list to apply to. 

It's sort of the difference between a glass half full or glass half empty approach. I only ever expect to see 1-2 jobs worth apply to each week in my small niche, so it doesn't phase me to say no to most of the jobs in my feed. 

However, that said, if one doesn't use proper filters and in a more general field, the job feed can look pretty depressing to see 10 bad jobs posts - scam job posts - all in a row. I will say there are still plenty of good jobs on Upwork. We all could use search filters better to curate our user experience.

That said, come on Upwork. If other sites can "censor" basic things like URLs, etc. so can you. 

[tlsanders]

I've seen very few. I think it must depend on your field/searche.

[c_dornelles]

My suggestions -- which I'm sure have been made by other freelancers before, but if we repeat them often enough, UW might finally pay attention.

1. Ban URLs on job posts. 

2. Blacklisting words, like Telegram, WhatsApp etc.   

Make it so the posting process can't go ahead until these are deleted.

This is not going to stop all scams but, however imperfect, something needs to be done.

[sofia2008]

In the meantime, freelancers should not be applying to these jobs as this is a waste of their time and connects (even if they will be refunded if the job post is taken down if this is a scam). Yet, we see many proposals for each posts displaying contact info. There will be scammers as long as there will be people falling for scams, and willing to violate the Terms of Service while doing it.

[wescowley]

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Claudia D wrote:

1. Ban URLs on job posts. 

2. Blacklisting words, like Telegram, WhatsApp etc.   

Make it so the posting process can't go ahead until these are deleted.

This is where we run into problems with automated solutions. There are legitimate cases for having both of these in job posts. URLs pointing to the site the client needs upgraded/edited/SEOed, etc. Jobs writing applications integrated with Telegram and Whatsapp. And simple bans on keywords are trivial to get around (contact me on Wahtsapp...).

I'm not saying something shouldn't be done, but I really think it needs to be on the freelancer education side. 

[pgiambalvo]

That does need to be a part of it but will take too long for results to be seen. Upwork needs to do something on their end immediatley in the meantime.

[pgiambalvo]

Yes, many others have been suggesting this for awhile, but so far, Upwork has not done that or explained why they won't.

[ayman-massoud]

Here is a sample!

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[ayman-massoud]

Other weird posts!

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[c_dornelles]

As someone's already pointed out, Community posts that violate guidelines are swiftly edited, yet scam posts will remain visible even after they've been flagged -- likely more than once.

What a sad state of affairs.

[yofazza]

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This is where we run into problems with automated solutions. There are legitimate cases for having both of these in job posts. URLs pointing to the site the client needs upgraded/edited/SEOed, etc. Jobs writing applications integrated with Telegram and Whatsapp.

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Community posts that violate guidelines are swiftly edited, yet scam posts...

Removing all posts with the word Telegram in this forum doesn't affect the money. They can do it without thinking.

I posted a screenshot with names & links blurred-out, the screenshot was important, but it is still removed (#1).

Removing/filtering the Client's posts on the other hand, must be done real carefully. (#1) must never happen to the money source, it can hurt both Upwork and the freelancers as well.

[a_lipsey]

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Claudia D wrote:

As someone's already pointed out, Community posts that violate guidelines are swiftly edited, yet scam posts will remain visible even after they've been flagged -- likely more than once.

What a sad state of affairs.

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Oof! I don't want to be whatever, but I wish I could kudos this more than once. It's very true. Community posts are edited much faster than scam posts - clearly scam posts - are handled. And Upwork should be embarrassed about that, IMO. 

[e_skoldebring]

My entire feed is suddenly filled with these telegram posts. I wonder, why does Upwork not make it a requirement to have the payment method verified before a job can be posted?