Tips for avoiding scams and how to report them

[melissaschlau]

I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips about how to know for sure that a job is a scam, and if so, how to report the job listing so that no one else is scammed. Any advice you can share is greatly appreciated.

[feed_my_eyes]

You're not supposed to be emailing potential clients at all - it's against Upwork's terms of service to exchange contact information with clients before you have a contract in place. Tell the client that they can only message you on Upwork, and that should take care of any scamming attempts.

[melissaschlau]

I didn't realize that. I think I assumed that clients saw your email and were free to send their contract to you. I did an interview on Skype with this particular person and they are recruiting for the job posting, I believe. However, the email address that they used did not have the company name in it, and the email had a link that Gmail classifies as suspicious, so I didn't open it and asked the client about it. I was told that the issue is with my email providor and they offered to resend the email. They did, and this new email has the same suspicious link.

[lysis10]

In general, you will avoid 99% of scams by taking payment on platform and only discussing jobs on upwork until there is a contract.

There are other scams that require common sense. Like the dumb dumb on reddit who took a job where the client said they would raise their hourly rate to $50/hour from the freelancer's posted $10/hour and the freelancer just needed to take the $10/hour and send the remaining back to the client. Like DUUUUUUUUUH but you know it was a NO REASON ban.

[melissaschlau]

My one and only experience in talking about payment on here was with someone recruiting for a company and they said that they would pay me via paycheck or direct deposit. What is the best method of payment to accept? 

[lysis10]

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Melissa S wrote:

My one and only experience in talking about payment on here was with someone recruiting for a company and they said that they would pay me via paycheck or direct deposit. What is the best method of payment to accept? 

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Right, and since you know that taking payment on platform avoids 99% of scams, you would then avoid that scam, right?

[melissaschlau]

I'm new here, so I don't know how payment works yet. That's why I was inquiring. 

[petra_r]

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Melissa S wrote:

 What is the best method of payment to accept? 

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The only method you can accept to be paid is via Upwork. Even agreeing to be paid in any other way can see you suspended from the platform.

Anyone mentioning a check is a scammer who will try to steal thousands of Dollars from you with a fake check for "equipment"...

You need to not speak to any more clients until you have familiarized yourself with the terms of service.

[melissaschlau]

There is a way to link your Upwork account to PayPal. 

As far as the scam goes, I had someone reach out to me and offer to pay me via a check or a direct deposit. How do I report them to Upwork?

[mwiggenhorn]

You can link to Paypal but that's for AFTER you get paid on Upwork.  Paypal, like a bank account, is a place to transfer your money to.

PLEASE  go to upwork.com/resources and read everything on it for freelancers.  Then read the ToS until you understand it.  Do this before you apply to another job.

[melissaschlau]

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Mary W wrote:

You can link to Paypal but that's for AFTER you get paid on Upwork.  Paypal, like a bank account, is a place to transfer your money to.

PLEASE  go to upwork.com/resources and read everything on it for freelancers.  Then read the ToS until you understand it.  Do this before you apply to another job.

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I understand that I am being paid through Upwork. I have been reading the resources. My question here was twofold. I wanted to know how to avoid a scam and also how to report one when I saw it. I realized that this job was a scam once the client said they could only pay via a check or direct deposit, when they sent me a link to Skype for an "interview" and when they emailed me with a suspicious link. I figured these are things that needed to get reported. Thank you. 

[colettelewis]

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Melissa S wrote:

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Mary W wrote:

You can link to Paypal but that's for AFTER you get paid on Upwork.  Paypal, like a bank account, is a place to transfer your money to.

PLEASE  go to upwork.com/resources and read everything on it for freelancers.  Then read the ToS until you understand it.  Do this before you apply to another job.

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I understand that I am being paid through Upwork. I have been reading the resources. My question here was twofold. I wanted to know how to avoid a scam and also how to report one when I saw it. I realized that this job was a scam once the client said they could only pay via a check or direct deposit, when they sent me a link to Skype for an "interview" and when they emailed me with a suspicious link. I figured these are things that needed to get reported. Thank you. 

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Have a look here and "Tips to avoid questionable jobs" and read everything and every link in this post: https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/Getting-Started-on-Upwork/m-p/264214#M2460

Google is also your friend when it comes to learning about scams. 

[petra_r]

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Melissa S wrote:

As far as the scam goes, I had someone reach out to me and offer to pay me via a check or a direct deposit. How do I report them to Upwork?

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There is a "Flag as inappropriate" link on every job post.

 

[melissaschlau]

I just reported. Thank you.