How long have they been on Upwork? Do you see a history of them having hired other freelancers? If they are a 'new' client on the platform for only a few days or a couple weeks, I'd recommend avoiding them if you are concerned. Most of the scam artists use recently created accounts. Your safest bet is to only work with clients that have an established history on Upwork, where you can go to their 'hiring history' at the bottom of the job post and see that they have hired (and PAID: That is important) other freelancers before you. Me personally, I like to see at least a few contracts that 'closed out' with that client at least a month in the past (with money paid out), because those clients are less likely to run the 'charge back' scam. (Go search that in the forums). It's a scam where clients hire people, pretend to pay them, and then when the contract is closed, they go to their bank and 'reverse' all of the payments to the freelancer and steal the money back, basically getting free work. I also won't even give the time of day to a client that has been on the platform less than 90 days, because most scam artists' profiles are only active for a few days / weeks before they get caught and kicked off UW, then they create a new profile under a fake name and rip somebody else off. (repeat process over and over)
I know many people have landed 'good' gigs with new clients, but easily 99% of the scam artists are 'new' client profiles on the platform, so if you are new to UW, you are taking a huge risk even talking to a 'brand new' client. Many of the scam artists deliberately look for new freelancers to target. My advice, until you understand how the 'game' works on this platform, your best bet is to steer clear of 'new' clients that have little to no Upwork history and focus on only talking to established clients with a visible, positive track record in their profiles. Yes, you can possiby miss out on profits avoiding new clients, but you can also LOSE lots of money/hours worked trusting the wrong 'new' clients.
