Upwork ! Please take these jobs down ASAP!

[aitringo]

Id1 : 01fdc04a0d1d46b539

Id2 : 015f534eac7d95405b

Id3 : 018d2c54fef294e201

The so-called client generated more than $10k by reposting the SAME SCAM again and again. In less than 24hr.

Please do something!

Other ones flagged by another contributor :

Id4 : 012972b69f52281fa2
Id5 : 01a5f0b207b865e210
Id7 : 018990842ae247e7d2

Id8 : 01fdc04a0d1d46b539  <=== this one is labeled as "INTERESTING JOB"

Thank's @Petra

[moonraker]

I'm usually quite defensive about Upwork when they're being accused of allowing scams, but them not acting on reports for so long is indefensible.

A couple of months or so ago I reported a 'client' asking for nudes. 24 hours later and the 'job' post was still there; it might still be there now if I didn't raise the issue in this forum. There's many other examples of what appears to be a lackadaisical approach to processing reported job posts.

Admins... can you please raise the issue with the appropriate department? And by raise the issue, I mean 'have a word' instead of just passing it on.

[nyonomega0]

removed

[petra_r]

---

Sushant B wrote:

just submitted a proposal for that "PUBG UC" job.

---

So much for "We have taken them all down" ...

[feed_my_eyes]

Hmmmm... Sushant, if they offer to hire you, turn on the time tracker.

[nyonomega0]

I don't think they will be able to send me an offer as it's showing "job has been taken down" when I check it through the submitted proposals tab. However, if I search "pubg" through the job searcher, it's still there sitting at the first position with that "interesting" label. Somehow the job's criteria and description have been changed as well. I really wanted to show what I'm talking about through screenshots but they will remove it.

[00137e0a]

I've been reporting and flagging the same obvious scams for weeks, and they're still all over the place. 

The only conclusion I can make so far is that Upwork simply doesn't care. 

[mwiggenhorn]

This am, searching for PUBG UC doesn't bring up anything.  I randomly searched for some of the job IDs and didn't find them, either.  My heart is heavy and I'm furious with Upwork for their dilatory process.  There is absolutely NO EXCUSE why these jobs were allowed to remain so long and to suck so many FLs in.  Shame on your review bots/ people/ whatever passes for quality control on job posts.

[valhamer]

The jobs mentioned here have now been removed but after a bit of detective work I found (and flagged)  two more by the same client. These were asking for help buying Instagram ads or some such scammy nonsense.

[aitringo]

THE HORROR CONTINUES!

Another customer account, appeared today, with the same scam process! (apparently the same person)

It also shows that he is from the United Kingdom.

It has now 2 jobs in progress, and has made 2 victims today:
That is a turnover of $1800 (1300+500)

This guy found a good loophole that he makes freelancers pay for, and humiliates upwork with his security processes that do not secure anything in this case! he makes thousands of dollars per day, under our eyes!

Do you intend to do something?

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[martina_plaschka]

It's not a loophole. This is a virtual currency, any sale or trading in currencies is strictly forbidden in the ToS. They don't allow it. Why these jobs still pop up is another question. 

[pgiambalvo]

I've been asking that Upwork become more proactive in preventing scam posts from appearing so frequently for a while now, but many disagree with me, saying that would do more harm than good. Maybe this ongoing tragedy will change some minds, but maybe not.

[feed_my_eyes]

That's because you keep insisting that Upwork has done something to allow or encourage more scammers onto the platform, which is implausible, or that they can prevent scammers from posting jobs in the first place. Unfortunately, there's nothing to stop scammers from creating new accounts with a different email address, and any barriers to posting jobs will impact the good clients as well as the bad ones. But when we see scams and report them, they definitely should take action and not wait two days (!), which was the case here. (And at least they eventually do take action about the scamming clients, whereas most of the time when I report the many scamming freelancers on this platform, Upwork takes no action at all.)

One of your earlier suggestions was to require clients to have a verified payment method before they're allowed to post. These scammers did verify their payment method, so it would have done nothing to prevent this.

I still think that a mandatory readiness test for freelancers would be the most effective solution. These scammers made several thousand dollars while barely lifting a finger; they're not going to stop as long as freelancers keep eagerly handing them money. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

[pgiambalvo]

Preston H, you have been uncharacteristally silent throughout all of this. You are usually a voice of reason so I'm sure many of us woul be interested in hearing your thoughts on the situation.

[alejandrocrespo]

The Upwork anti-scam team is a joke. They just send automated emails to make you feel as if they  are doing something, but whatever dude they subcontracted to check the flagged posts takes all the thime in the world to "review" them.

[pgiambalvo]

Really hard to understand how they dropped the ball on this one.

[PradeepH]

Hi Alejandro,

Thank you for your message. I am sorry to hear how you feel about your recent report to us. I checked and I can confirm that the relevant team has already taken action on the reported job and the client account. Feel free to message us if you need further assistance.

Thank you.

Pradeep

[00137e0a]

They should not use humans to review jobs flagged as spams and scams in the first place. 

If a job has been flagged as such by, let's say, more than 5 reputable members, for example, people with good JSS scores who've been part of Upwork for more than six months, it should be suspended immediately.

Blacklist the job, keywords or links related to it, IP address, and account first. Review later, if necessary. 

For other minor flagging issues, it's ok to have a human review them first, but for security issues, absolutely not. 

[martina_plaschka]

So, today there's a person trying to sell this PUBG UC thing. Guess he has too much of it. 

[feed_my_eyes]

Wow, it would be an audacious move if the scammers are now trying to sell their ill-gotten gains on the same website where they obtained them.

[petra_r]

---

Christine A wrote:

Wow, it would be an audacious move if the scammers are now trying to sell their ill-gotten gains on the same website where they obtained them.

---

I saw that too. Flagged it hours ago.

Why would I be surprised that it's still up? 🙄

[martina_plaschka]

It still is. 

[petra_r]

---

Martina P wrote:

It still is. 

---

Yup! But if someone were to helpfully post a link, that would be gone in a matter of minutes.

Priorities.

[petra_r]

And it is still up. DESPITE the job poster declaring that they want to pay outside the platform. Despite being flagged many times.

It is still up.

But hey, at least no "community guidelines" were breached.

How incredibly disappointing.

[geri_kol]

This is what happens when community moderators are instructed to follow "community guidelines" to a T, but are not given leeway to act on actual, obvious, and multiple times reported fraud and cybersecurity concerns. 

[00137e0a]

For those trying to make excuses saying that it's impossible for Upwork to prevent or stop scammers more efficiently, just stop. You're wrong.

These things have been going on since the dawn of internet, and there are accessible solutions that could be used to prevent them. 

It's not like these scams are super sophisticated. They're not. They are rudimentary and easily preventable. 

[gilbert-phyllis]

---

Rafael M wrote:

For those trying to make excuses saying that it's impossible for Upwork to prevent or stop scammers more efficiently, just stop. You're wrong.

These things have been going on since the dawn of internet, and there are accessible solutions that could be used to prevent them. 

It's not like these scams are super sophisticated. They're not. They are rudimentary and easily preventable. 

---

Let's not conflate preventing and removing jobs posted by scammers. Several of the most common scams are not easily preventable because they are no different from legitimate job posts until a FL engages with them. As Christine pointed out above -- and several of us have observed ad infinitum in the neverending debate about whether UW does enough to protect novice FLs -- the most efficient means of reducing the incidence of scams is for FLs to stop taking the bait and the way to bring that about is require newly enrolled FLs to demonstrate a minimal level of understanding before allowing them to operate here.

Removing posts that have been flagged as obvious scams is a different matter. Here's hoping this thread will finally get UW's attention and they'll adjust their protocol on that. Faint hope, but still...

[aitringo]

Hello everyone!

I would like to warn you all that another client account has appeared today!
He has posted three job openings titled "I need Pubg Bulk UC".

One of them has an open interview!

I hope this time they are properly disabled before they victimize again :

Id1: 0127dc574417fe42d5 <=== Posted 1 hour ago
Id2: 0142b7acef4c85fcb0 <=== Posted 9 minutes ago
The third one has been deactivated!

Please do something NOW!

Thank you to everyone in the community for coming together for a good cause! 🙏❤️

this will be posted in a new thread for readability! (due to the urgency)

[aitringo]

Please, if you want to report these posts, look <here>.

The first two are the scam posts!

Thanks to everyone!

[aitringo]

Is there any way to ban the ip?

Because we can see that deleting the scam posts, and banning the client is useless.

However, banning the IP will at least add a complication to the scammers, to avoid them reopening an account and reposting the same scams at 0 cost!

Please, think about it and act fast!

[pgiambalvo]

I see you reported this at 03:01:42 PM, and that action was taken by Upwork at 07:06:51 PM, 4 hours later. Not sure whether you consider that fast or not. But then again, that's just when the action was reported here. Maybe it happened much sooner.

[pgiambalvo]

Thank you Mohamed A. A! Hopefully Upwork will start being much faster in removing these, since they seem incapable of preventing them.

[PradeepH]

Hi Mohamed,

Thank you for reporting this to us. I have forwarded the above jobs as well as the jobs from the search link to the relevant team and appropriate action has been taken on them as defined in our TOS.

Thank you

Pradeep