Upwork generates fake jobs to scam freelancers for money?

[#1]

I'm already tired of it, the situation has crossed all boundaries.

Fake jobs to scam freelancers for connects (money). This happens all the time. I want to show with an example:

12 hours ago the client creates a job. I spend time and $ for application. 20 other freelancer also boosted and applied. Nothing happening with job, client never checkig it.

After 12 hrs same client creating same job again.

Fake works are generated time after time, this is not a single sample. Does the job violate ToS? I want the fake to be deleted and the connects returned. But the Upwork ignores my complaint each time and leaves the work active.

I conclude that the fake works are generated by the Upwork itself. The goal is to waste connects and get fake "active jobs" counter and show site look like alive. In reality there is no client or job. Otherwise action would have been taken. This is true?

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[#2]

Fake jobs, spam jobs, freelancer ads,hacking jobs any type of job is welcome if freelancers are applying to it and spending expensive connects. 
Ive been finding them all over the place 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[#3]

I've suspected the same for a while now. Too many duplicated jobs, too many proposals completely ignored. I can't believe so many people are that rude they don't reply with at least a thank you, even if they place the work with someone else. I arrived at the same conclusion as you, despite having no evidence. If true, they're committing fraud.

[#4]

They are actually stealing peoples money for the dream of finding a job, so sad they profit from the necesity of people like that... 

[#5]

I have this guy and his friends, some not new, from US, some have spent over 10k, posting the same job over and over again. No hires.

But being a positive person 🤣, I feel they're from the same 'group' of people/work, "rotating" it to look for potential candidates. One little excess of Upwork's 'gate opening' policy. 

Or maybe I'm wrong and they are Upworkers milking freelancers' connects. 😁

The job is vague, only tell it's about "node.js" and will require a "sample result on video before hire". It's theoritically safe for a programming job, it's also another reason to think that they're just some 'worried clients', but I still flagged some of them for 'requesting free work', 'repeated post', and as far as I remember no action is ever taken.

I really wanted to submit a proposal to see what's the job about, but the connects now are too precious. I am a hyper-targeter with still so little views. 😁

[#6]

Hi Mykola and Marjan

I am sorry to hear about your experience and how you feel about Upwork. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the fake jobs on Upwork. We are committed to maintaining a high standard of quality and security for our job platform. We use a combination of automated tools, manual reviews, and user feedback to identify and flag suspicious posts. Our team of moderators also reviews and removes any posts that violate our terms of service. Connects are refunded to all freelancers who applied to jobs that were removed for TOS violation.

I have reviewed all the job posts on this thread that were reported as inappropriate and I can verify that they were removed except for one post which has been escalated to the team for further action. I would like to thank you for your hard work in maintaining the standards, security, and excellence of the Upwork Marketplace. We are always here to help you if you have any questions or concerns.

- Pradeep

[#7]

You, and the other moderators, trot out this standard response every time this subject comes up, which is ridiculously often. Has it not become obvious yet that your claims are not aligned with the perception we have on the platform, and anyone with any sort of PR background would know that perception is everything? Many of us report multiple job posts per day, to no effect, and certainly no improvement in any automatic or manual system that is supposed to reduce the number of similar job postings. Is it any wonder nobody here has any faith whatsoever in yours or UpWorks claims that they are taking all these steps to reduce the number of fake/scam jobs?

Perhaps if you were to show some empirical evidence, illustrating the number of fake jobs that enter the system and how many get automatically removed before we see them, then we might have some reason to believe your claims. As things stand, it's nothing but lip service I'm afraid, lip service that does not correlate to our perceived reality.

[#8]

>  Our team of moderators also reviews and removes any posts that violate our terms of service

Seriously? I was contacted by someone asking for my email and a crypto address, flagged it immediately and it still been hanging there for another week before it was removed. I wonder how many desperate newbies they scammed during that week.

[#9]

You are obviously not comitted to anything.. As upwork is the same scam as it was before.   Fake developers using dumb useless AI.  Along with HUNDREDS of fake jobs and posts.  I've been combing around and trying to bid and "communicate" with these people to net trace them.  No one even looks at the bids.  It's a total scam.  Upwork used to refund connects if no one viewed the bid in over a week.  Now, you are just **bleep** out of luck.

I can't wait until this company gets enough evidence against them and gets hit with a lawsuit from it.  It's very obvious that jobs are fake.  Government contracting.  Yet not one company lists NAICS or anything legitimate in relation to government contracting.

[#10]

Yes, Upwork has serious issues. However, your issues start with you. Have you read the Terms of Service? Use the link to the Academy at the top of the page to learn how to freelance here. Your profile is your introduction to the client. Your profile is incomplete, and needs work if you want clients and not scammers.

How do you know Upwork is a "scam" when you haven't used the platform, at least with this profile. Do you have more? Why are you trying to trace clients instead of focusing on your job as a freelancer?

You are incorrect. Upwork did not return connects if the client hadn't viewed the proposals in a week.

I fail to understand why you are so adversarial and outraged because you didn't get a job. Do you know highly skilled freelancers often have to put in dozens of proposals before being hired? You don't even have a complete profile.

Many freelancers refuse to acknowledge their role in getting work. Just showing up and throwing up a profile with no thought or attention to best practices is not going to get a great career. People expect Upwork to give them a job. This is self-employment, with the emphasis on "self." Freelancers have responsibilities just like Upwork. It is absurd to rail at Upwork when the freelancer has not bothered to do their job.

[#11]

It's always the freelancer's mistake, 
Dear freelancer, Keep learning about ( Upwork terms, Upwork profile optimization, Learn .. learn, and finally Learn ) Pay for an Upwork Coach. 

It's always ( You don't know and you need to learn ) 
When I'll do my work and use the skills I already KNOW. 

it's just 1 point ( fake jobs here - fake client for 2 weeks to open their job post and see ) 

We need to invest in the same connects on the platform, with another client ( create the option to get my connects back if the client doesn't take any action on their job posts )

[#12]

It seems like people realize that there are fake accounts, but has nobody else realized that these fake accounts are beneficial to Upwork's business model? What is stopping upwork from creating bogus jobs in order to gather up connects? Their current policy does not refund spent connects on jobs that expire. This is a major red flag in their business model because it opens the door for them to create an artificial demand for their connects by using dummy accounts with fake job opportunities. Upwork could be creating fake accounts to post fake jobs, freelancers would then spend their connects sending proposals to the fake jobs, the fake jobs just sit until they expire, then Upwork keeps the connects and freelancers have to purchase more of them. Does this not seem crazy to anyone else? How does upwork prove they are not doing this? 

[#13]

Upwork has changed in the last 1–2 years. There are fewer invitations and fewer jobs, a lot of new freelancers, more connects required to apply, a lot of SCAMMERS, and even when you flag them, Upwork is not helping.

It seems that Upwork is doing its business selling connects, that's why there are jobs that require 16 connects, and they allow people to boost their bids with 50 connects or more, and they keep the scam jobs until people post their bids…using connects, of course.

Maybe if Upwork will not earn extra-money from us, they will decide to control the platform and check the clients before they post jobs. And they should also filter many new freelancers. 

[#14]

I'm on the same page with you. Recently, I re-engaged with Upwork after a hiatus of a couple of years. However, I've encountered a perplexing situation—I've applied to several jobs but haven't received a single response. This is quite different from my previous experience, where I achieved significant success by investing time in crafting effective applications. I'm starting to get the sense that many of the job listings might not be genuine. It seems like Upwork is emphasizing profit through connects, and if they believe they can continue with this approach without consequences, they might be in for a surprise.

[#15]

Thank you for this post. I am experiencing the exact same thing. No response to my propsoals and I know how to prepare effective proposals or I wouldn't have the earnings history I do Historially,  I applied and heard back within hours (sometimes minutes). At this point, I have submtted 14 proprosals and only 1 was viewed. 

[#16]

I see your point. All of what you said still points to Upwork doing the scams on purpose. It benefits their business model. Im still wondering how they could prove they are not doing this.

[#17]

On the other hand, if it can be proven that Upwork is doing it intentionally, the management will all go to jail 😁

But I'm afraid the accused aren't supposed to be the ones to prove it.

[#18]

If there were such actions, management always throws the "lesser" people under the bus.

[#19]

Management won't go to jail.  They will get fined.

[#20]

Easy, federal investigation.  But the Feds aren't worried about a scamming website.  They are more interested in terrorism and drugs.  This website is 100% a scam and has been known to be scamming people with fake indian developers for years.  I had well over 800 interviews in the past years with these fake idiots.  They crawl out of the woodwork.  It's funny how I created about 12 accounts.  Posted different development jobs.  (around 60 in total). Yet the same indians were able to bid and quote each job.  When they are supposedly in india, poor, and doesn't have enough money to buy connects.  They tell me they steal them with fake amazon gift cards.  lol

[#21]

I was chatting with someone about this the other day. I'm sure if you do a deep dive into the jobs posted on the platform one could find evidence to prove your theory. You would also need a whistleblower from within the company to come forward. My theory is that there are freelancers who create client accounts and post jobs that require a lot of connects to apply with hopes of draining money from other freelancers. All in all there are a series of scams currently taking place on the platform however Upwork is earning more money from these scams so why would they put an end to it. 

[#22]

How does upwork prove they are not doing this?

They don't have to prove anything. If any freelancer wants to pursue an investigatory effort, they are welcome to, and I'm sure other freelancers will support them and cheer them on.

It's easy to create a client account and post jobs--real or fake. The question becomes, can it be proven that someone (anyone) employed or contracted by Upwork is purposefully creating fake, bogus, and scam jobs for the sole purpose of extracting money from freelancers?

[#23]

I still don't see how they are making money off of the obvious scams, but they aren't trying to stop them in even the cheapest, simplest, way.

[#24]

I still don't see how they are making money off of the obvious scams...

I don't either because you and I both know that once a freelancer engages a scammer, and jumps over to Telegram or any other off-site spot, Upwork isn't making money.

Going forward, I guess I should choose my words more carefully and make a distinction between "scam" jobs and "fake" jobs. A fake job might sound perfectly legit, but have no true intent. In this case, freelancers could use Connects to apply to a job that never hires. The job expires and freelancers don't get their Connects returned.

The problem is, Upwork cannot prove intent when a client creates a job. They have no idea if the client has a specific need and is serious about hiring or just "testing the waters."

Either way, someone would have to prove that Upwork, itself, is intentionally creating fake jobs or is directing others to create fake jobs for the purpose of collecting Connects fees from freelancers.

[#25]

You are missing the point here. We are saying that upwork is creating the fake jobs to get conects - or rather, money. Scam jobs are entirely different and that's not what's being discussed here.