oDesk nothing but scam

[Rebekah R]

I have been invited to interview for 2 different positions. Both were scams. Are there legitimate opportunities here?

[Jeff R]

I think I must have my Invitation Blocker activated. I never get invited for an interview.

[Suzanne N]

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@Rebekah R wrote:

I have been invited to interview for 2 different positions. Both were scams. Are there legitimate opportunities here?

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Rebekah,

Sorry to hear you got interviewed by scams. You can report those jobs by hitting the "Flag as inappropriate" mark it as Phishing/fraud. 

There are legitimate jobs on here.

You might want to watch the video at the top of the threads in Freelancer section, as well as Read the thread on "Job Warning Signs"

http://community.odesk.com/t5/Freelancers/Job-warning-signs/td-p/21467/jump-to/first-unread-message

And "Want to get that first job? Check this out! 

http://community.odesk.com/t5/Freelancers/Want-to-get-that-first-job-Then-check-this-out/td-p/21457/...

Both are very good threads with good information in them.

[Gillian Michele N]

Hi Rebekah,

There are plenty of legitimate roles, many freelancers have been making a good living for many years on here.

Unfortunately, with the good comes the bad. There are a lot of people who have no intention of hiring, but instead come here to scam people.

Keep searching and applying, something will come up soon.

As Suzanne mentioned, flag the job and hopefully it will be removed soon.

All the best.

[Preston H]

Rebekah,

You need to undestand that there ARE great opportunities here, but that there are also EXTREME differences between job types.

You're offering services for which there is large demand, but also a large supply. You're offering services which have attracted many scam "clients."

Contractors with some other job types don't experience the same degree of difficulty in finding work or the same fequency of scam "clients."

But there are many people offering the exact same skills you are offering who persevered and ended up working long-term contracts which earned a lot of money for them.

Having a couple of bad experiences (due largely to your inexperience) and then suggesting that "oDesk is nothing but a scam" is not helpful to your potential career. It's not helpful to oDesk, and so it's not helpful to you, because oDesk is a "rising tide which lifts all boats."

You personally will do better as more real clients come to oDesk and hire people. And you (and I) will do better as we work together to combat the problem of scam "clients."

[Rebekah B]

Hi, Rebekah! Love your name! 

I've found legitimate on oDesk for several years now, so don't be too concerned that you won't be able to find decent work. It took a little while for me to learn how to weed out the scams. The more legitimate work you have on your history, the more fraudulant invitations you will receive. However, oDesk makes it easy to flag these, and you will quickly learn how to separate the good ones from the bad. I think they have found a good balance at trying to filter the scams out of the job queue while still allowing the site to flow well enough for the real projects and legitimate clients and freelancers.  

Hang in there!  You will get the hang of it, and if I can help someway, just let me know. I am not oDesk staff or anything, but this is a great working website that I love to promote and encourage simply because it has worked so well for me!

Have a great night!

Rebekah

[Rebekah B]

Hhmmm...not sure why it says I've only been a member since 5 minutes ago since my oDesk work history began in 2012...must be one of those special quirks. lol 

[David G]

I think it looks at the time you joined the forums, not oDesk. Since your first post was today, the forum thinks you are a new user.

[Garnor M]

That's right David. The "Member Since" notation here on the Community highlights the first time you clicked "Sign In" on the Community.

[Stephen B]

Whereas the "member of oDesk since" tag doesn't exist any more

. It was taken away for no reason at all.