What's up with freelancers posting a job, and inviting you just to offer THEIR services??

[aprilbutten]

That's the 3rd time this week that a lower hourly rate freelancer has sent me a job invite, offering their own services. If I was looking for someone I would post the job myself... frustrating to keep receiving false offers and invites... Anyone else noticing this problem popping up?

[lysis10]

Is this through the direct offer feature? Yeah, the scourge seems to have found that feature.

[wescowley]

I haven't gotten any (yet) through the direct offer, but I get two or three invites a week to posted jobs where it's a freelancer looking for work. The invites are usually waiting for me when I wake up. Decline, report, and get another cup of coffee.

[prestonhunter]

Obviously when Upwork users abuse the system like that, they should be reported and hopefully terminated from the platform.

Three weeks ago, I personally received a question through Upwork's "direct contact path for clients" feature.

The person who contracted me posed as a client initially but then turned out to be a freelancer asking a question about his account, a question he should have posed in then Forum.

Entirely inappropriate, and not what Upwork intended when it instituted this new feature.

[VladimirG]

Hi April, Preston and Wes,

I'm sorry to hear about the invites you received. Could you please confirm if you reported these already? If you haven't, please report them by submitting a support request and including a screenshot of the invite and message. We don't tolerate violations like these and do review and take action against users who are trying to abuse our features.

[wescowley]

Vlad, yes, I report those when they come in.

[aprilbutten]

Yes I report them as they come in - I know there's nothing upwork can do, just strange that's it's happening all of a sudden!

[a_lipsey]

I feel so left out. No inappropriate requests for work to me. Oh well. Y'all have all the fun.