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jennifer4excel
Community Member

*edited* - Apple ID App Testing--Scam?

There are several things about this that just seem a little off, but not crazy off, I have contacted support, but customer service is not responding and if this is legit, I don't want to lose the contract. 

 

-I applied for a project to test an app.  I was contacted very quickly and told that I would be contacted by the contracts department.  I received an offer from another person (not the person I was chatting with and it did not come from the account I had applied to).  - I have seen this before and it has worked out sometimes...

-I also have noticed they have multiple ads posted, which I have seen before and doesn't necessarily mean it is a scam, but again just makes me wonder.

-They are saying they will pay through Upwork, they didn't do any interviewing off chat

-Project is for testing an ap, I looked the app up, it is legit and per reviews, definately has bugs.

-I downloaded the app and they had me put in their user name and password, it then said I would get an email with verification, which I thought I would get, but I didn't, they did, they gave me the verification code to enter.

 

-The reason why I stopped and got so concerned is that I got a notification from Apple that I received an email around the time I downloaded/signed into the app and it said "

was just used to download **edited for Community Guidelines** on a computer or device that has not previously been used. You may also be receiving this email if you reset your password since your last purchase."

-I may have reset my password since I last downloaded an app, but this made me really nervous that this could be a scam to steal the information on my phone.

 

Since they have multiple ads, they likely have hired multiple people and I wanted to know if anyone else has any issues or if anyone with more experience then me thinks this is or is not something to be concerned about.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
pgiambalvo
Community Member

Total scam and yes, many others have reported this too, yet it persists in appearing in our feeds. Please read these tip on how to sopt scams: https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/List-of-red-flags-for-scams/m-p/1017044/highlight/true...

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45 REPLIES 45
pgiambalvo
Community Member

Total scam and yes, many others have reported this too, yet it persists in appearing in our feeds. Please read these tip on how to sopt scams: https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/List-of-red-flags-for-scams/m-p/1017044/highlight/true...

UUUUGGGGHHHH, thank you!!!!!  At least 6-8 emails to customer support and they can't tell me anything at all or if there is even anything wrong.  I have read the list of red flags and the person contacting me and a different person giving me the contract was definately a BIG one...

 

Thank you sooooooo much!!!!!

89df714b
Community Member

This is sad. They have tried to get me twice.

 

b0eb16f4
Community Member

Thanks, Jennifer, for your post. I was asked to send a screenshot of my Apple ID purchase history to prove 'how many years' I have had an Apple ID. Now if this assignment had anything to do with anything remotely connected to my Apple cell phone and my ID, then okay - maybe. But it was a payroll assigment. The good news is that I clicked on Peter's 'community Upwork.com' link and refreshed my memory on ways the scammers operate. 

Oh my! I just did this work today. What should I do?

Hi Ejay,

did anything happen after completing the work?

I am a curious what ended up happening, too.

What are you did ?

Had a similar situation happen today for a supposed "Mobile App Optimization Assistant" posting. Person contacted me quickly and kept asking me information about if I used an Android or Apple and then wanted information about the ID's associated with my phone type and how long I had it, and wanted a screenshot to prove the length of time I had an ID. I provided them false information throughout the process.

I responded to a similar job posting about a month ago, and as soon as they started asked for screenshots, I had many questions, none of which they were able to answer. Ah, scammers be scammin.

 

5dddbe1a
Community Member

They are still operating and they got further with me than I like to admit. I even thought it sounded like a scam at the very start, and there were red flags throughout each part of the process, I thought why not give it a go. So frustrated I was that gulliable. Something definitely needs to be done. I've reported all I could but they had stolen card information and they were trying to test the cards on my account. So frustrating.

I did this job yesterday 7/7/22 exact same thing but I removed my credit card before making any payments. My iTunes account has been disabled. I'm going to call tomorrow to see what happened.

Did you call police ? Or what happened ? I just do the job and was a lot of payments

bc4fb0ac
Community Member

Will leave a negative impact on your profile if you close the contract after accepting the offer. I had recently faced same scam but thanks to good I did some online research. 

 

@Upwork

Hi all,

I just got an offer from a client that required to download the app and share the apple id and password. So before handing over all I researched and found out that its a scam. 

I am just afraid that the client might leave a negative rating on my profile I had accepted the proposal and then just ended it. Anyone here has any insights about it? 😞 

 

Also, I want to mention that the person approached from different Id and sent contract from different id.

 

 

956bcc77
Community Member

This client is using an app called Veve Collections for their contracts with Upwork from the Apple App Store. I was scammed out of $500.00 by this client today, July 6, 2022, as the client was actually using someone else's stolen credit card as well as using me to help them obtain the $500.00. This essentially makes me an accessory to a crime. I am at a loss to figure out how they funded my Apple ID with $500.00 and then depleted all but $.02 when I gave them absolutely NONE of my personal information. I have been on the phone with my bank, Apple, and the next step will be to contact my local law enforcement agency and file a police report for grand theft. Furthermore, I guarantee you I will never be paid by these criminals. I will also be filing a dispute with Upwork to see if I can be paid. This client needs to immediately be purged off of Upwork.

Hi Cheryl,

 

Thank you for your message. I am sorry to hear about your experience with the client. I checked the job post you were referring to and it seems that it's already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork ToS and action has been taken on the client account. 

 

Please check out this post for more tips on how to avoid questionable jobs and please use the flag option found on each job post or message anytime you’d like to report a violation.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Upwork

Thank you for your reply.  Yes, I am aware the job posting has been taken down and, sadly, Upwork is still allowing these types of scams to appear on the site.  Why isn't there some quality assurance being done on behalf of Upwork with regard to these scams and others?  I have been dealing with this issue for 12 hours and just now finished filing my police report.  My main concern is AM I GOING TO GET PAID FOR THE WORK I COMPLETED?  The client allegedly had a verified payment method, and I did have my work diary in place during the entire time I was doing this job.  Who can I contact at Upwork to report this issue and find out if I will get paid.  I have been all over this site, and the only thing I can see is an option to flag suspicous jobs.  I would like someone from Upwork to get in touch with me as soon as possible please.  

Hi Cheryl,

 

Thank you for following up, I see that you have already reached out to our support team for the same inquiry. One of our team members will reach out to you as possible to assist you further.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Upwork

You ain't ever gonna get paid. "Yes, I am aware the job posting has been taken down and, sadly, Upwork is still allowing these types of scams to appear on the site." Yeah...

If the client as a scammer, what do you think the chances are that you will ever get paid?

The double edged sword of technology is that the more convenient something gets, there is also the greater chance at exploiting it. I played a game with fake money and fake items, and there were bots that were used to exploit that, how much more motivated do you think scammers will be to go after real money and items?

I know this is frustrating for you, but consider this a teachable moment, a chance to understand that there are people out there with bad intentions. There are also resources out there to avail yourself of to keep yourself educated on scams and different cons and ways to avoid them.

Hello ! I had the same problem that you, but i dont know what to do and i have all the conversation recored, please any follo to this ? Im so concern about it 

Hi Sebastian,

 

Thank you for your message. I have reported the job posts and the client to the relevant team to investigate this further. Please check out this post for more tips on how to avoid questionable jobs and please use the flag option found on each job post or message anytime you’d like to report a violation.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Upwork

This is what I have been doing for the last two days, demanding approximately 30 hours of my time:

 

  • Calling Apple - They immediately issued me a $500.00 refund, although it will take a couple of days to receive the refund on my credit card.  In addition, I reported the app Veve Collectibes to Apple and demanded that they take this app off of their platform and requested a follow-up call from Apple regarding this app.  Finally, speaking with Apple to ensure my Apple ID and password were not compromised.  This involved hours of my valuable time on the telephone.
  • Calling my financial institution to ensure my credit card was not compromised.  This involved speaking with several people at my financial institution and hours on the phone.
  • Calling law enforcement and filing a police report.  Currently working with law enforcement on this matter as a cyberspace crime.
  • As I had the client's email address from Yahoo!, I telephoned Yahoo! and apprised them of what the perpetrator was doing with their Yahoo! email address.  I have since received written communication back from Yahoo!  The person who stole $500.00 from me is in a country outside of the United States.  This involved an hour of my time.
  • Left a nasty review on the Apple App Store for Veve Collectibles.  My personal opinion is that this app developer is in cahoots with the criminals who are perpetuating this crime.  The review has been posted on the Apple App Store.
  • Made several telephone calls to Upwork regarding this issue and spent many hours of my valuable time, in three separate phone, calls giving them constructive feedback on how to better vet their clients on the Upwork platform as well as my disappointment as to not paying me for this criminal's activity.
  • Spending my OWN TIME on the Upwork platform flagging as many jobs as I could that were identical to the ones that I was scammed on in an effort to try and help others on this platform from getting scammed.  To date, approximately 10 of the jobs I have flagged have been removed.
  • Next, I will be responding to the correspondence I received from Upwork to give them some more constructive criticism on their platform.
  • Finally, I will most likely be closing my Upwork account.  There are too many scammers on the platform, and THIS scam has been going on since at least March 2002, as far as I can see.  If Upwork cannot control this issue with their Trust and Safety Team, then I want no part of Upwork.

CORRECTION:  

  • Finally, I will most likely be closing my Upwork account.  There are too many scammers on the platform, and THIS scam has been going on since at least March 2022, as far as I can see.  If Upwork cannot control this issue with their Trust and Safety Team, then I want no part of Upwork.

Sorry for your frustration but I understand. Now that Upwork knows about this scam, I'm sure their Trust and Safety Team will figure out a way to make sure it is never posted again.

Sorry, as I beg to differ, as I am STILL flagging similiar jobs on Upwork as we speak.

 

That's not good to hear. If you're so easily able to spot them, actual human beings from Upwork should be doing the same thing as they are submitted and blocking them from being posted.

Right?  No, that would be too logical for a company who trades on the stock market and is worth 3.17B

956bcc77
Community Member

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

 

POSTED TWO HOURS AGO!  THIS IS THE SCAM, YET UPWORK STILL REFUSES TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR VETTING THEIR "CLIENTS."

Hi Cheryl,

 

I understand your frustration. Rest assured the team has received your reports and will take measures to not only address the specific reported jobs and accounts but also to detect and prevent fraudulent activity in the future. If you'd like to learn more about Upwork's Trust & Safety team's efforts around keeping Upwork platform safe, I encourage you to check our this announcement. 

~ Valeria
Upwork

Rest assured?  Upwork has not been able to facilitate this issue, dating back to at least March 2022. This activity has more than likely been going on since the inception of Upwork, dating back to 2007.  Rest assured that a criminal now has screenshots of my computer activity as well as my keystrokes and mouse clicks, which is logged on Upwork's proprietary Work Diary, yet Upwork asserts absolutely no responsbility in being a party to the dealings between the client and the freelancer?  Rest assured that a criminal has my personal information and my safety and identity have been compromised.?   Please stop messaging and emailing me with your links to your guidelines, TOS, et al.  The damage has already been done!

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

f68c9592
Community Member

I did this job yesterday 7/7/22 exact same thing but I removed my credit card before making any payments. My iTunes account has been disabled. I'm going to call tomorrow to see what happened.

Sorry to hear you were a victim of this scam.  It just re-affirms what I have been saying, i.e, Upwork is not performing their due diligence to protect their freelancers on their platform by allowing clients to continue to post these jobs.

aa35d39a
Community Member

I reported to Apple immedately of what happened. What is worse is I am banned from Walt Disney World and the VeVe App is associated to Marvel comics. I had to take on part time work to pay for moving and medical expenses from this general subject. I reported it to Apple and their support assistant assured me nothing would impact my account. I started looking it up and reported the contract right away. I hope nothing impacts me as I took all the steps to report it with Product Secuity at Apple, OCSO, local police, as well as the Federal Government and product-security@apple.com

 

I am affraid no one will believe me because I am barred from part of their brand and my opinions are alligated to being non-sensible or baseless when other people went through the same thing. I am affraid that I could be caught up in this and again involving Disney and Marvel and who  is going to believe me because I am barred from one of their parks.

 

Marvel, Disney, and Upwork should be very ashamed of themselves. I am disabled with Autism trying to find work just to pay medical and moving bills. This is unacceptable and needs to be brought to light. 

 

At least none of my own cards got impacted and I reported everything right away to multiple authorities. 

3e4cc58c
Community Member

Hi! Since I have no upwork experience, I agreed to the contract. They wrote about the offer to work from one account. The contract was sent from another account. The first step was to confirm the number of years of using the iPhone. Then they asked to download the**edited for Community Guidelines** and gave me an email and a password to log into their account. Then they said they would throw off the card in order to pay for purchases as a real user. This confused me and I refused. Very upset as the employer had good reviews, verified payments and an official app from the app store. I didn't have a rating but they canceled my contract and gave me one star. How it is possible to correct it?

**edited for Community Guidelines**

  1. Remember that reviews can be purchased.
  2. You can leave your own feedback on that job, which can be viewed from your profile by clicking on the job. Sadly, it is not as transparent as the feedback on the client's side, but it will still be available.
  3. Since you don't have a JSS yet, don't worry too much about it. By the time you qualify for a JSS, you should have had several jobs that more than offset the impact of this one.
  4. Rigorously educate yourself on these kind of QA scams, since this is your skillset. You will undoubtedly see more of them.
AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Kseniya, 


I have reported this to the team for further investigation. If the client is suspended for violations of the Upwork Terms of Service, the job post will be removed from your Work History, and will not be included in your Job Success Score calculation. In the future, you can report suspicious activity by following the steps here. 


~ Avery
Upwork
desirula
Community Member

Just happened to me.. but it seems I scammed the scammer ... 

1st I removed all my cards from my Apple ID

2nd they asked me to buy the gems for the first time, the second time they asked me to buy the gems it "failed" so they gave me another card number and asked me to add balance to my Apple ID, so I did it and googled about this kind of job. 

found this topic! And cancelled the contract, blocked them and reported them. They were so mad that they threatened me to send me to jail, to return their money immediately created 30 job offers and 30 profiles to message me and call me "stinky bitch" 🤣 well... those $200 balance are still on my Apple ID I reported everything to Upwork and Apple 

**Edited for community guidelines**

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