Upwork Scammers' New Strategy

[#1]

Upwork scammers now offer freelancers hourly contracts because they know that Upwork will pay for hourly contracts if the clients refuse to pay, so the payment is sure. They appear to be genuine and ask you to pay back a percentage. This differs from other scam tactics because if you work with them, Upwork will certainly compensate you for the hours worked. I reported this before to an uwork staff and they trivialized it. I get this kind of offer frequently and it is actually annoying. Upwork better do something about this or else they will lose thousands of dollars on a weekly basis because the offers are juicy and most freelancers will jump on the opportunity. If I do not have integrity, I will take the offers, do the hours I can do and upwork will pay me in the end even if they ban the scammer. Let clients leave some money in escrow even if it is for hourly jobs. I just took out my precious time to pass this information to Upwork and other freelancers and I hope the company will take this seriously.

Lest I forget, there is no report button for this kind of offer, so I cannot even report them. Kindly provide a report button. 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[#2]

It's frustrating when scammers find new ways to exploit the system. Your dedication to keeping Upwork safe is commendable, and I appreciate you taking the time to report this issue.

[#3]

If you follow the Terms of Service, you will not be scammed.

[#4]

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Godsgift I wrote:

Upwork scammers now offer freelancers hourly contracts because they know that Upwork will pay for hourly contracts if the clients refuse to pay, so the payment is sure. They appear to be genuine and ask you to pay back a percentage. This differs from other scam tactics because if you work with them, Upwork will certainly compensate you for the hours worked.

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No, Upwork absolutely will not compensate you if you take part in such a dumb and obvious scam (not one single thing about this "appears to be genuine" - how could you think that?). In fact, you could lose your account if you try to claim payment protection for something like this, and rightfully so. There's a big difference between being the victim of a scam vs. being a willing participant in a scam.

[#5]

First of all, this screenshot is just one of the different strategies. I am just creating awareness.

Some freelancers may not know it's a scam because the scammer will not tell you the plan. I just figured it out.

The freelancer might assume that the client is a recruitment person who just wants his cut.

It is so funny how everyone is arguing but this is something ongoing and upwork is losing money. They eventually ban the scammers but the freelancers who do the work get paid for hours worked.

[#6]

I understand your point. It is important to be aware of different types of scams, especially those that target freelancers. Scammers are constantly coming up with new ways to cheat people, so it is important to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to Upwork.

It is also important to remember that not all freelancers who work for scammers are aware that they are being scammed. Some freelancers may assume that they are working for a legitimate client, even if the client is asking them to do something that seems strange or unusual.

[#7]

Some freelancers may assume that they are working for a legitimate client, even if the client is asking them to do something that seems strange or unusual.

Then the freelancer is not following the Terms of Service if they do as the OP suggests. You never work with a scammer. Every freelancer is responsible for their actions. Blatantly breaking the Terms and bragging about it, and advising others to do it as well, should be cause for losing the account permanently.

[#8]

Lol, read to understand. The 50 dollars will be paid from the payment made by upwork (payment protection), not the freelancers money. So you accept the work, you work for maybe 8hours before a ban is placed on the scammer. Upwork reviews your work diary, see that you actually worked 8hours and then they pay you for hours worked. I hope you get it? If you don't then it's fine. Have a good day

This is your post. You are giving "advice" that is against the Terms of Service and you need to stop immediately. You need to go to the Academy and learn - before you give "advice."

[#9]

I do not think the scam even comes to that. They are scamming you out of your $50 and that’s that. They ask for money, and that is a scam, period.

[#10]

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Marcela P wrote:

I do not think the scam even comes to that. They are scamming you out of your $50 and that’s that. They ask for money, and that is a scam, period.

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There's a lot more than $50 involved. It's either money laundering, or the freelancer will lose thousands of dollars of their own money while committing ToS violations that can get them permanently kicked off of Upwork.

[#11]

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Christine A wrote:

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There's a lot more than $50 involved. It's either money laundering, or the freelancer will lose thousands of dollars of their own money while committing ToS violations that can get them permanently kicked off of Upwork.

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Of course, the damage to the freelancer should they fall for it would be important, but this scammer is, I think, after the $50. That is not to presume that this kind of scum is not involved in other dirty schemes, that is a given. But hey, they ask me for money, they know where they can go.

[#12]

Lol, read to understand. The 50 dollars will be paid from the payment made by upwork (payment protection), not the freelancers money. So you accept the work, you work for maybe 8hours before a ban is placed on the scammer. Upwork reviews your work diary, see that you actually worked 8hours and then they pay you for hours worked. I hope you get it? If you don't then it's fine. Have a good day😎

[#13]

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Godsgift I wrote:

I hope you get it? If you don't then it's fine. Have a good day😎

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I think you're the one who doesn't "get it". Re-read the responses, since you're evidently having trouble figuring out which jobs qualify for payment protection (namely, legitimate ones) and which ones do not (e.g. blatantly obvious scams that no freelancer would agree to unless they're trying to scam Upwork themselves).

[#14]

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Godsgift I wrote:

Upwork reviews your work diary, see that you actually worked 8hours and then they pay you for hours worked. I hope you get it? If you don't then it's fine. Have a good day😎

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You can always try and let us know how it goes 👍

If you don't succeed, "then it's fine". But I have the feeling your day will not be that good.

[#15]

You really need to stop giving your "advice" as I said in another post. You don't know what you are talking about and need to go to the Academy and learn. If you want to lose your account, break the rules, and not act as a freelancer, that's your choice. But stop telling others how to do the same.

[#16]

Here's what a scammer is actually, someone who will pay you for the 1st and the 2nd milestone to gain your trust then keep the work going without funding the 3rd milestone, then pretend there's a mistake with the work and refuse to pay for it and simply end the contract !

[#17]

Scammers come in all varieties. Rarely, do they stick around for so long and then pull a scam.

[#18]

"They appear to be genuine and ask you to pay back a percentage."

If you think such a thing is genuine, you should really brush up your knowledge about scams: Top Red Flags for Scams: From Community Membe... - Upwork Community

[#19]

Tell that to the people whining that Upwork didn't pay for their fraudulent activity. lol It's extremely obvious it's a scammer, so I doubt Upwork spends much time reviewing it to determine it's fraud.

Here is what I've noticed about payment protection: if the client and freelancer have a long history on the platform, payment protection is automated. If either one has very little activity, the freelancer's work diary gets manually reviewed. I've had mine manually reviewed at least twice, and a response comes usually on a different day from Tuesday.

They might have fraud detection to automatically reject payments too. That would make sense. 

[#20]

1. The freelancer will put in actual work as he would for any contract so when the work diary is manually reviewed, the staff will see actual screenshots of work going on.
2. Definitely, the scammers target freelancers who have been on up work for long. That is why I said that those without integrity will jump on the opportunity, do the work and get paid by upwork.

[#21]

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Godsgift I wrote:

1. The freelancer will put in actual work as he would for any contract so when the work diary is manually reviewed, the staff will see actual screenshots of work going on.
2. Definitely, the scammers target freelancers who have been on up work for long. That is why I said that those without integrity will jump on the opportunity, do the work and get paid by upwork.

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You need to stop saying that people will get paid for this, because it's not true - this is dangerous misinformation that you're spreading. Upwork will NOT pay anyone for a gig that's very obviously a scam and/or money laundering, regardless of whether there are screenshots or not. Also, if a freelancer is sending a percentage of the payment back to the "client" outside of Upwork (I saw the screenshot that you attached before it was deleted), that's a ToS violation and they'll lose their account, in addition to losing their money and potentially taking part in illegal activities.

[#22]

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Godsgift I wrote:

1. The freelancer will put in actual work as he would for any contract so when the work diary is manually reviewed, the staff will see actual screenshots of work going on.
2. Definitely, the scammers target freelancers who have been on up work for long. That is why I said that those without integrity will jump on the opportunity, do the work and get paid by upwork.

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It's extremely obvious it's a scammer if you talk to them or they give you instructions on what to do (eg I'll give you money and you give me money or install this app and test our payment system). It's so incredibly obvious. No work is done because it's just a way to get money out of the freelancer. Freelancer thinks they get $500/hour for transfering bitcoin. I mean really DUH

For your number 2, the client would have no history so the freelancer gets manually reviewed. No automation would happen in this instance so the freelancer would be out the money.

[#23]

As others have told you, there is no job and no money. Integrity has nothing to do with it; no one will ever get paid. It is indeed dangerous to spread misinformation, especially here in the forum.

No one will get paid, and certainly not through Upwork. No one gets paid if they participate in a Terms violation. Do you understand you can permanently lose your account for such things? I don't think so.

For your sake, before you are scammed, and definitely before you give any more "advice", learn the facts and the rules. Go to the Academy (link at the top of the page) and learn.

[#24]

Just want to add to what people have said above...

Upwork Scammers' New Strategy

It's not new. Laundering of money with the hourly project has been done for years. I don't know if there are freelancers who really get the money/protection but I've never seen one. Upwork will use the rubber terms of "participate in a fraud" to deny the protection, even on less obvious methods such as the 'buy this thing where I paid you already through Upwork'  scam that were done on legit-clueless freelancers.

[#25]

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Godsgift I wrote:

Lest I forget, there is no report button for this kind of offer, so I cannot even report them. Kindly provide a report button. 

Yes, there is a way to report anything you would like to report.

1) Click the "Flag as inappropriate" link next to the big green "Apply Now" button.

2) Click the radio button for "It's something else." Write whatever weird thing you've noticed the scammer doing in enough detail for the people and Trust & Security to understand what you are talking about.

3) Click the big green "Submit" button.