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petra_r
Community Member

"The Aussie Voice" is dead. Long live "UX/UI designer who is fond of colors and attractive designs"

After the sad demise of the "Aussie voice" - meet the "UX/UI designer who is fond of colors and attractive designs and quiet"

 

All 500 of them... Rising Talents among them.

 

Already escalated to Trust & Safety as of a few minutes ago.

 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION


Jennifer R wrote:

What do you call it when there are 38 with the same photo?


Identical trigintaoctuplets.

View solution in original post

85 REPLIES 85

Don't think that Aussie Voice is dead, either.  I flagged a couple of them last week.


Mary W wrote:

Don't think that Aussie Voice is dead, either.  I flagged a couple of them last week.


It's fairly dead in the overall scheme of things. (Fairly dead in the scheme of 500+ UX/UI Thingies and 49+ whatever the gaggle is and the xxxxx of the ones we haven't found yet....... Tip of the Iceberg...)

 

Petra - agreed as the Aussie Voice.  I just clicked on your link and got no results. Could they (the Canadians) be gone already?  (Somehow I doubt it)

It really isn't difficult for whomever is approving the profile to right click on the picture and see that, in reality, it's Bradley Cooper or a stock photo.  One click, that's it.  Then, if it's a fake, google the title or some of the content and see what comes up.

The whole onboarding process needs a complete rethink.

 

 

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


Rene K wrote:

The whole onboarding process needs a complete rethink.


HELL yeah


Mary W wrote:

It really isn't difficult for whomever is approving the profile 


Nobody is. It's algorithmic. 

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


Rene K wrote:

Mary W wrote:

It really isn't difficult for whomever is approving the profile 


Nobody is. It's algorithmic. 

 

I think what most are saying is that it shouldn' t be   that   hard for an algorithm either...


 

petra_r
Community Member

It isn't for the right algorithm....

Amanda L wrote:

Rene K wrote:

Mary W wrote:

It really isn't difficult for whomever is approving the profile 


Nobody is. It's algorithmic. 

 

I think what most are saying is that it shouldn' t be   that   hard for an algorithm either...



It isn't for the right algorithm.

 


Mary W wrote: I just clicked on your link and got no results. Could they (the Canadians) be gone already?  (Somehow I doubt it)

Nope, they're still there

 

Thanks for flagging, Petra. I've escalated this to the team to be addressed urgently.

~ Valeria
Upwork


Petra R wrote:

Great job, Upwork. The UX/UI designers were all wiped out 🙂

 

We now have a gaggle of Canadian React/Vue/Angular etc peeps. 49 and counting.

 

(1 is genuine. The rest are not)

 


They didn't even bother to remove these fake profiles. At the time I'm writing this, the same ones that you saw are still here. Sometimes I even wonder if they just let them in to inflate their figures so their quarterly report looks better.

 

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


Rene K wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Great job, Upwork. The UX/UI designers were all wiped out 🙂

 

We now have a gaggle of Canadian React/Vue/Angular etc peeps. 49 and counting.

 

(1 is genuine. The rest are not)

 


They didn't even bother to remove these fake profiles. At the time I'm writing this, the same ones that you saw are still here.


All 49?

Yep!

All still there.

It seems that the current price for an Upwork profile approval is $40 on the black market:

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

 

How they do that? They just use the back doors that Upwork is leaving ajar for them.

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


Rene K wrote:

It seems that the current price for an Upwork profile approval is $40 on the black market:


Supply and demand...

They have already done cleaning.


Maria T wrote:

They have already done cleaning.


Great. That was quick and decisive, and they actually managed to spare the one that is genuine... I was worried about him!

 

HOWEVER: The ones we stumble across by accident are just the tip(s) of the iceberg(s) - and lobbing tips of icebergs does not solve the actual problem, it just (occasionally) removes the visible symptoms.

 

It is time to stop letting in any new freelancers, or letting in more than can be manually and competently checked. That would solve the problem of the mass generated profiles that are sitting there waiting for eager buyers.

I would ask for a deposit. To have your account approved, you would need to make a deposit. The deposit would be refunded to you upon completion of your first job on the platform, or if you delete your profile, whichever comes first.

 

In case the profile is approved and it is noticed afterwards that it contains blatantly false information, the profile would be banned and the deposit kept by Upwork.

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


Rene K wrote:

I would ask for a deposit. To have your account approved, you would need to make a deposit. The deposit would be refunded to you upon completion of your first job on the platform, or if you delete your profile, whichever comes first.

 

In case the profile is approved and it is noticed afterwards that it contains blatantly false information, the profile would be banned and the deposit kept by Upwork.


And what will happen with those that manage to get hired despite their fake profile?


Jennifer R wrote:

 

In case the profile is approved and it is noticed afterwards that it contains blatantly false information, the profile would be banned and the deposit kept by Upwork.


And what will happen with those that manage to get hired despite their fake profile?


The previous paragraph addresses this.

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


Rene K wrote:

Jennifer R wrote:

 

In case the profile is approved and it is noticed afterwards that it contains blatantly false information, the profile would be banned and the deposit kept by Upwork.


And what will happen with those that manage to get hired despite their fake profile?


The previous paragraph addresses this.

 

 


But what about:
The deposit would be refunded to you upon completion of your first job on the platform, or if you delete your profile, whichever comes first.


Jennifer R wrote:


But what about:
The deposit would be refunded to you upon completion of your first job on the platform, or if you delete your profile, whichever comes first.


Indeed, good catch. On the other hand who cares. It's not like they will ever consider it...

 

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


Rene K wrote:

Jennifer R wrote:


But what about:
The deposit would be refunded to you upon completion of your first job on the platform, or if you delete your profile, whichever comes first.


Indeed, good catch. On the other hand who cares. It's not like they will ever consider it...

 

 

 


lmao initially I was going to respond "I really like this idea." Then I said, why bother finding the energy to click the reply button when it'll never happen. lmao


Renata S wrote:

[...}

And actually, I've been flagging guys with little green halos for months now. This is just the latest evolution in that trend. 


Does that mean you would flag my profile simply because my pic has a "little green halo"?

Because that green frame stands for ... what trend exactly?


Ela K wrote:

Renata S wrote:

[...}

And actually, I've been flagging guys with little green halos for months now. This is just the latest evolution in that trend. 


Does that mean you would flag my profile simply because my pic has a "little green halo"?

Because that green frame stands for ... what trend exactly?


Not if you didn't appear multiple times. I just noticed Christine has a little one too. 

I'll send you a picture. They seem kind of cute and funny before you realize there are 500 of them. 

 

versailles
Community Member

The Aussie Voice guide to auto-approval on Upwork must still sell.

 

https://www.upwork.com/ab/profiles/search/?q=%22The%20Aussie%20Voice%22

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

Just flagged a bunch of "Aussie Voice" characters.

Time to close the doors.

 

There is obviously no way to prevent all those fakes and duplicates, or at least Upwork hasn't found one yet, so maybe it's time to stop letting new people in until this has been cleared up. It's getting ridiculous.

 

We only stumble over the tip of the iceberg occasionally. 

 

Heaven knows what lies underneath....

Upwork, proudly not learning since2015!

 

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


Rene K wrote:

The Aussie Voice guide to auto-approval on Upwork must still sell.

 

https://www.upwork.com/ab/profiles/search/?q=%22The%20Aussie%20Voice%22


And meanwhile, this guy is still making $100 for each (fake) profile he makes, and he's still "taking new orders": **Edited for Community Guidelines**

 

This ... from Nov. 2019

 

Screen shot 2020-02-11 at 10.45.29 AM.png

Hi Rene and Mary,

 

I just wanted to provide an update that the accounts you flagged have been actioned already. Also, while I can't share the details publicly, I can confirm that some adjustments were made based on what we learned from this situation.

We appreciate your reports. 

 

Virginia, I checked and we had investigated the information available via the link you shared. Any related accounts that we could identify on our end have also been actioned. 

~ Valeria
Upwork


Valeria K wrote:

I can confirm that some adjustments were made based on what we learned from this situation.


I can confirm that you have not. I just flagged a bunch of these that Petra pointed out previously, the Canadian UX fake profiles. They is still more of them. They do tweak they profiles a bit, like not copy/pasting the same overview, but duplicating everething else for instance:

 

https://www.upwork.com/ab/profiles/search/?q=React%2FVue%2FAngular%2FReactNative%2FNode%2FDjango%2FR...

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


Rene K wrote:

Valeria K wrote:

I can confirm that some adjustments were made based on what we learned from this situation.


I can confirm that you have not. I just flagged a bunch of these that Petra pointed out previously, the Canadian UX fake profiles. They is still more of them. They do tweak they profiles a bit, like not copy/pasting the same overview, but duplicating everething else for instance:

 

https://www.upwork.com/ab/profiles/search/?q=React%2FVue%2FAngular%2FReactNative%2FNode%2FDjango%2FR...

 

 


Yep ... slightly tweaked overviews, but some of the same (stolen) photos as were in that first batch. I cannot fathom U's inability to make necessary changes to stop or at least curb this flood of insanity.

And they all went to the same university(ies).

As I have said before, Upwork needs to stop accepting new freelancers until they clean up the fraudulent freelancer accounts already flooding the system. It's oversaturated with freelancers anyway. Note the continued complaints from freelancers about not being able to land a client. The client to freelancer ratio says enough.


Catherine M wrote:

As I have said before, Upwork needs to stop accepting new freelancers until they clean up the fraudulent freelancer accounts already flooding the system. It's oversaturated with freelancers anyway. Note the continued complaints from freelancers about not being able to land a client. The client to freelancer ratio says enough.


You, and all the rest of us in this thread - we've make this suggestion ad nauseam. It continues to fall on deaf ears. Upwork must have it's reasons, but for the life of me, I cannot begin to imagine what those reasons are.

petra_r
Community Member


Virginia F wrote:

Catherine M wrote:

As I have said before, Upwork needs to stop accepting new freelancers until they clean up the fraudulent freelancer accounts already flooding the system.


You, and all the rest of us in this thread - we've make this suggestion ad nauseam. It continues to fall on deaf ears. Upwork must have it's reasons, but for the life of me, I cannot begin to imagine what those reasons are.


This is purely a theory, but the whole mess with the fake / bought / borrowed / sold / rented / leased / stolen / hijacked profiles was created as an unwanted side effect of restricting entry to Upwork for new freelancers.

 

If entry was now completely stopped, the perceived value of an Upwork account would go through the roof and that would lead to even more determined efforts. 

It would also make the trade in Upwork accounts more attractive to more organised criminal elements.

 

Maybe the best way forward would be NOT to push those people into making their fake profiles less detectable (which, frankly, is what we are doing with this thread, in a way) but to quietly develop ways to detect them and then shadowban them rather than removing them altogether. "Hiding them in plain sight" in other words.

 

If such profiles can't / won't get hired, then their value decreases. Let's face it, the ones we have been finding have largely never been hired, even when they've been months old. 

 

 

mtngigi
Community Member


Petra R wrote:

Virginia F wrote:

Catherine M wrote:

As I have said before, Upwork needs to stop accepting new freelancers until they clean up the fraudulent freelancer accounts already flooding the system.


You, and all the rest of us in this thread - we've make this suggestion ad nauseam. It continues to fall on deaf ears. Upwork must have it's reasons, but for the life of me, I cannot begin to imagine what those reasons are.


This is purely a theory, but the whole mess with the fake / bought / borrowed / sold / rented / leased / stolen / hijacked profiles was created as an unwanted side effect of restricting entry to Upwork for new freelancers.

 

If entry was now completely stopped, the perceived value of an Upwork account would go through the roof and that would lead to even more determined efforts. 

It would also make the trade in Upwork accounts more attractive to more organised criminal elements.

 

Maybe the best way forward would be NOT to push those people into making their fake profiles less detectable (which, frankly, is what we are doing with this thread, in a way) but to quietly develop ways to detect them and then shadowban them rather than removing them altogether. "Hiding them in plain sight" in other words.

 

If such profiles can't / won't get hired, then their value decreases. Let's face it, the ones we have been finding have largely never been hired, even when they've been months old. 

 

 


Petra, I agree with you, except for the fact that a client search brings up at least two pages, usually way more, of these frauds, and valid FLs might never even be found/get seen. Reading the client forum, we know that some of them get hired ... with the result being a very bad experience and a client who will never use Upwork again. With the ratio of freelancers to clients we have now, that is unacceptable.

 

I hope that Upwork will "quietly develop ways to detect them and then shadowban" ... except for the fact that they don't seem to know how to do that.

petra_r
Community Member

Good catch.  Sigh.  I'm bored so will flag some of them.

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