Why Are Scammers Allowed to Post Offers on This Site?

[b8eeef69]

I have gotten a new job opportunity, someone has messaged me an invitation to an interview through the Telegram app as a freelance associate editor. This person, calling herself as **Edited for community guidelines**, gave me a pdf file on how to proceed to getting interviewed. It is from a company known as**Edited for community guidelines**; it seems to be a software company.  But I am skeptical about it considering that I dealt with a similar problem before.  Why would Upwork keep allowing scammers like these guys to post offers?

**Edited for community guidelines**

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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Joshua M wrote:

Why Are Scammers Allowed to Post Offers on This Site?

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They are not. As soon as they are caught, they are removed.

That said, freelancers are not allowed to communicate with prospective clients via anything other than Upwork, yet they do. 

As long as freelancers continue to violate the terms of service and fail to use common sense, those scammers will prevail. They are all over the Internet,

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Joshua M wrote:

 Why would Upwork keep allowing scammers like these guys to post offers?

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They obviously don't "allow it".

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Joshua M wrote:

This person, calling herself as XXXXX XXXXX, gave me a pdf file on how to proceed to getting interviewed. It is from a company known as XXX;

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No, it obviously isn't from that person and that company...

That "letter" couldn't be more obviously a scam if it jumped up and down and screamed, "I AM A SCAM" at the very top of its voice....

[pgiambalvo]

allow: to give permission for someone to do something, or to not prevent something from happening

[m_terrazas]

Obviously, this is one of the many cases where Upwork cannot tell if the job is a scam as OP did not receive the information until after starting the interview, if I have understood correctly.
At this point, the only thing that can be done is to report the job post.
They are not "allowing" anything here, I think.

ETA - I correct myself, I have reread OP and what he received, is it an invitation?
So it is impossible for Upwork to know any of this.

[a_lipsey]

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Peter G wrote:

allow: to give permission for someone to do something, or to not prevent something from happening

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Then by your own definition Upwork is not allowing it, since they do take steps to prevent it from happening, and they certainly do not give permission for it. 

[petra_r]

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Amanda L wrote:

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Peter G wrote:

allow: to give permission for someone to do something, or to not prevent something from happening

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Then by your own definition Upwork is not allowing it, since they do take steps to prevent it from happening, and they certainly do not give permission for it. 

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Of course they do not,

[pgiambalvo]

Of course they take steps to prevent. But when those steps don't work, that means they are allowing.

[m_terrazas]

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Peter G wrote:

Of course they take steps to prevent. But when those steps don't work, that means they are allowing.

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Too many circumlocutions in English for me to understand anything.
The thing is, in this case Upwork couldn't do anything, right?
Then...

[a_lipsey]

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Peter G wrote:

Of course they take steps to prevent. But when those steps don't work, that means they are allowing.

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No, it does not mean that. If you ground your kid, and they sneak out, does that mean you allowed it because you didn't put bars on their bedroom window? 

Just because something happens despite your attempts to prevent it, does not mean you allow it. That's simply ludicrous. 

[roberty1y]

Upwork doesn't give them permission to post jobs. But if you were to ask why the scammers choose to post fake jobs like this, it's because freelancers fall for it, and violate the terms of service by getting into contact with them offsite without being hired. If they complied with the ToS, it would cut off the scammers' source of income, and fake jobs like this one would disappear from the site.

[pgiambalvo]

Yes, but I would add that they also post here because it is easy for them to get away with it.

[roberty1y]

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Peter G wrote:

Yes, but I would add that they also post here because it is easy for them to get away with it.

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It's no easier here than anywhere else. There are scammers on every site where there's even the remotest possiblity of money changing hands. Upwork does what it can with the budget that's available. I don't want them to spend any more than they do just to protect people who won't read the ToS, because we freelancers will have to pay for it in increased commission.

[pgiambalvo]

Yes, I am also sure Upwork does what it can with the budget that's available.

[petra_r]

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Peter G wrote:

Yes, but I would add that they also post here because it is easy for them to get away with it.

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Indeed, because there are so many freelancers who happily violate the terms of service and have no common sense.

Had you not faithfully promised to give it a rest?

[m_terrazas]

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Joshua M wrote:

I have gotten a new job opportunity, someone has messaged me an invitation to an interview through the Telegram app as a freelance associate editor. This person, calling herself as **Edited for community guidelines**, gave me a pdf file on how to proceed to getting interviewed. It is from a company known as **Edited for community guidelines**; it seems to be a software company.  But I am skeptical about it considering that I dealt with a similar problem before.  Why would Upwork keep allowing scammers like these guys to post offers?

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I don't know how long you've been on Upwork, but whatever it is, I'd tell you to go over the TOS and look for information on the forums about all the different types of most popular scams on the platform.

[pgiambalvo]

Yes, Maria, that is good advice. Thanks.

[deborah-ponzio]

I flagged a few questionable job posts recently, but most of them are still there after a few days, attracting proposals, interviewing, etc.  I had to flag some of them a few times as nothing seemed to happen. One poster required "a few days of unpaid work as a test". Another suggests to "obtain invoices of companies" and scrap their product codes (is it legal? mmmmmm). My impression (maybe wrong!) is that there might not be sufficient resources to deal with all enquiries. What do you think? 

[feed_my_eyes]

Many people take time off over the holidays, so I wouldn't be surprised if Upwork has been slower to respond over the past few days, much like other businesses at this time of the year. A lot of people are also sick with COVID right now.