Yahoo Scammer - just a warning

[Nichola L]

This scammer is back (or never left) He is now posting in the $$$ category and has given his business a vaguely medical/keep fit slant.

Data entry VA duties accounting etc. I have just had an 'invitation'. There are 25 applicants some invited by the client (or by Upwork) and others who have sent proposals - two people are being interviewed.

You have to set up a Yahoo account, add the client to your buddy list so that you can be interviewed online. In spite of a suspiciously detailed (and heavy) work description, the whole RFP is oddly worded. They offer training.  You do not see the bit about Yahoo unless you have been invited.

Since so many people have been burned by the Yahoo scam, I thought I'd post this here, in case any newbie to freelancing (particularly) is browsing the forum.

(I do wish Upwork would stop sending me these scammy invitations, it is intensely irritating and insulting. I am also getting invitations via someone who invites and then claims to be working on behalf of Upwork.)

[Preston H]

Thanks for your report, Nichola.

So, this is pretty much my favorite thing in the world: Being able to continue stating that 100% of the time, any report we have seen of clients using Yahoo Messenger, it's a scam.

No known Upwork client who actually pays money to contractors uses Yahoo Messenger to communicate with contractors.

[George K]

I mainly use Skype to communicate with clients but I don't see any reason why yahoo messenger should be instantly marked as a scam. I have had clients who wanted to communicate with me via different voip applications and I never had a problem so far. Of course, I always ask and usually insist to speak with the person that I am going to work for.

[Stephen B]

"I mainly use Skype to communicate with clients but I don't see any reason why yahoo messenger should be instantly marked as a scam.I mainly use Skype to communicate with clients but I don't see any reason why yahoo messenger should be instantly marked as a scam."

Because as Preston says, the only jobs ever posted on here requiring communication via Yahoo are scam jobs. That's the way it is.

[Preston H]

re: "I have had clients who wanted to communicate with me via different voip applications"

Okay. But keep in mind that Yahoo Messenger is not a VoIP application. One of the reasons scam clients use Yahoo Messenger is that it is an untraceable instant messengers application that lets them pose as somebody they aren't. Harder to do that with live voice calls. But with Yahoo Messenger, a scammer with a heavy accent who lives in Nigeria can claim to be a hiring department manager working in Manhattan.

Yahoo Messenger gives you essentially the same communication capabilities as using the Upwork messaging system. So a legitimate client who wants to communicate with you that way could just use Upwork's native interface. But a scammer does. It want their communications to be readable by Upwork, because they fear getting caught and kicked off the platform.

[George K]

Well, after reading this:

“Yahoo Messenger gives you essentially the same communication capabilities as using the Upwork messaging system. So a legitimate client who wants to communicate with you that way could just use Upwork's native interface.”

I think it might be a good idea if Upwork would consider to add a voip function in their application. I understand that this would require extra resources but it would be a very nice feature.

[Preston H]

re: "I think it might be a good idea if Upwork would consider to add a voip function in their application. I understand that this would require extra resources but it would be a very nice feature."

I believe this IS under development. Upwork would like to provide users with communication and collaboration tools within the platform, as an option. We're expecting more new features like this to be rolled out this year, based on announcements made at the time Upwork launched their rebranding from oDesk.

[Katrina B]

I got an invite to this post.  I declined it as spam and reported it as such.  I have received invites worded the exact same way with just the person's name and company name changed.  But what else disturbed me was the number of people who accepted the interview and will probably fall victim to this scammer.

[Nichola L]

I have done a little research and this guy operates across the internet. As his 'raison d'être' he chooses companies such as Medicare Groups, CHG healthcare and so forth. As far as I can tell, he lifted the RFP from a genuine (but old) job description from a paramedical job site.

What I can't understand is that Upwork appears to have cancelled many of the jobs he has posted, but this one was posted four times a day ago, and it is still open. I have flagged it about three times I think. 

According to Google, Upwork cancelled a job (posted three hours ago) by the same person using the same company name. So perhaps the one of yesterday has slipped the net, though I would have thought somebody would have picked up on it.

Further advice for newbies, if you see mulitple postings for the same job - ask a lot of questions first.

[PS OT and talking of newbies what does 'accept' mean?]

[Michelle Marie M]

My first job interview was with these scammers, but something did not sit right with me. After doing some research, I realised it was a scam.

I have also received many invitations from the same person and received an invitation again this morning.  They have used the same job description and are now posting as **edited for Community Guidelines**.

Beware!