What happened to UpWork? (Scammers)

[anlaszpen]

Is it just my bad luck or UpWork became ridden with scammers? I had a year/year and a half break, now I'm back and from the few proposals I sent 3 jobs were closed for violating rules and 2 clients that got back to me are obvious scammers (one wants to work without sending an offer and setting up milestones, the second one posts a myriad job for Polish VA/translator/proofreader that turn out to be cryptocurrency nonsense). It wasn't like this last time, what's up? Have you experienced this as well?

[roberty1y]

Same for all of us who get our jobs from the job feed. There's been a huge increase in scams in the last month or two.

I have another suggestion for Upwork to consider: Provide a hide button for each job posting. See a scam job? Click and it disappears (for you, that is). It would save us scrolling through acres of "simple type job with Word - $200 per hour, please hurry" drivel.

[nyonomega0]

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Anna L wrote:

Have you experienced this as well?

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Yes, all of us.

But, there's no need to worry. Follow these steps and avoid 99% of the scams.

- Only apply for jobs that seem genuine. Jobs that don't include:-

• Sketchy Job Descriptions
• Contact numbers/IDs etc.
• External Links
• Unrealistic Pay
• Promises That Seem Too Good To Be True

- Stop Contacting With Clients Who:-

• Ask You To Send Them Money Be It Any Form (Crypto/in-Game Currency etc.)
• Ask You To Contact Them Outside Of Upwork
• Seem More Interested In You Rather Than The Project

Ignore Scam Jobs By -

• Ignoring Your Job Feed
• Searching For Jobs Manually

Thank You.

[anlaszpen]

Thank you, this is all good advice. Although for taking a 20% cut, I would expect Upwork to do something about this.

[nyonomega0]

I know, right? They can do a lot about it, but the thing is that scammers will keep finding different ways of scamming people. Therefore, following these tips might be the thing to do for you right now.

Thank You.

[colettelewis]

It is also due to the thousands of new freelancers who are not properly vetted before joining, who are never likely to get any kind of freelancing job, and who are not interested in how the site works, least of all in reading the terms of service, which for many, would be nearly impossible to understand in any case. 

They, and Upwork's extraordinary leniency, have created a scammers paradise.