scam

[dos_santos_joana]

I want to denounce  a scam. This **Edited for Community Guidelines** and his colleague **Edited for Community Guidelines** are searching for writers / ghostwriting. A few months ago I was naive to fall into their scam. They ask you to write  athesis ina  short time frame then you send the work and they say they wont pay because it is not good enough. They also ask u to alh through skype. I lost an entire week and supposedly 150 pounds that I was going to receive. 

Pay attention

[petra_r]

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Joana D wrote:

They ask you to write  athesis ina  short time frame then you send the work and they say they wont pay because it is not good enough. They also ask u to alh through skype. I lost an entire week and supposedly 150 pounds that I was going to receive. 

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Were you hired correctly on Upwork with a proper Upwork contract and payment through Upwork?

How were you supposed to be paid 150 Pound when Upwork contracts and payments are always in Dollars?

You also understand that writing a Thesis for someone is academic fraud?

[dos_santos_joana]

Hi Petra,

exactly, thats the thing. My point is that they are contracting through the platform..

[versailles]

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Joana D wrote:

 they are contracting through the platform..

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This is impossible. Upwork offers no contracts in Pounds. 

[dos_santos_joana]

Hi Rene,

Thanks, it started with a different conversation. It changed throughout the days. The work, the payment method,  etc.

the point is, it was a really smart scheme. And my objective is to report these 2 people in particular.

[petra_r]

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Joana D wrote:

My point is that they are contracting through the platform..

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Well, the point was that they aren't "contracting" through the platform at all, or it would not have happened.

And writing someone's thesis is still academic fraud.

[colettelewis]

 I just hope that the OP's university never finds out that she writes essays for students and helps them to cheat. . 

[jr-translation]

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Joana D wrote:

I want to denounce  a scam. This Panayotis Michael Kokotsis and his colleague Ashley Dhorasoo are searching for writers / ghostwriting. A few months ago I was naive to fall into their scam. They ask you to write  athesis ina  short time frame then you send the work and they say they wont pay because it is not good enough. They also ask u to alh through skype. I lost an entire week and supposedly 150 pounds that I was going to receive. 

Pay attention

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Did you agree to academic fraud and to get paid outside Upwork?

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

Joana, I genuinely appreciate your taking the time to report what happened to you.

For future reference:

When a client posts a job on Upwork and then says they will pay you through some other methods, and not through Upwork, then it is always a scam. And the freelancer who participates in that can have her account suspended, or terminated, whether she actually gets paid or not.

Also: As a freelancer, you should never do any work for a client when they have not created an actual Upwork contract. You need to be able to see the job listed here: Upwork.com -> My Jobs -> My Jobs

FYI: If you create something and the client doesn't pay for it, then it belongs to you. For example, if you write an article about Top Travel Destinations for Familes, but the client turned out to be a scammer and never paid for the work, then you own the article. You can sell it. You can post it in your portfolio. You can even issue a takedown notice if the client posts it online anywhere.

[dos_santos_joana]

Hi Preston,

Thks I appreciate. Im not going through the details here but it started totally different when I was "hired". It changed through the days. the payment method, the objective of the work etc

Still, my point is to report so other people are aware of these people in particular.

[researchediting]

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Joana D wrote:

....Im not going through the details here but it started totally different when I was "hired". It changed through the days. the payment method, the objective of the work etc

Still, my point is to report so other people are aware of these people in particular.

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“It”—our contract—doesn’t change all on its own, or by the client’s/scammer’s say-so. A change in contract terms requires the consent of both parties. When a client asks us to commit fraud, or to circumvent Upwork’s payment system, we bail from the contract, and report the client for any violation of Upwork’s terms of service — with which you would do well to become familiar.

[tta192]

The communication channel is not the issue, it's perfectly ok to use any such tool before and during the project. It's when time starts passing without there being a valid contract in place that you should worry.

Some 'clients' will ask for 'samples' that require multiple days to produce. Don't !

And more importantly: even if you do work on the project before having a contract in place, don't deliver the work until:

- the client's payment method is verified

- you can log time (on an hourly contract) with the tracker(don't do it manually if you don't trust the client; it can be disputed an you lose)

- the milestone is funded and there is money is in escrow (for fixed price)

[bc79b49f]

if you a newbee, i never told how to use the platform and the freelancer does log not log in the hours how does it work how do i know how much work have they done? Upwork support say no contract there was no log in hours, i pay bonus of 4 instead of 5 hours work, its done. i dont owe anymore money as i cancelled after 3 days he did some work and i paid him.

[JoanneP]

Hi Antonina,

I checked your account, and it looks like the team already reached out to you directly via ticket. Please refer to the information they shared on the ticket, and feel free to post any questions there so the agent can efficiently assist you since everything is in one place. Thank you!

[annejconroy]

Just to reply: Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.  I've worked for these people outside of Upwork (through an advert on  **Edited for Community Guidelines**, I believe) and it worked out fine.

1. They're not operating a scam, they paid me for work done, which was to provide a *model* essay which the customer was told quite plainly not to submit as their own work.

2. Their customers are advised to use the work as a guide on which to base their own research and their own written work. All universities have plagiarism software these days, and tutors aren't stupid, they should be suspicious if a poor student suddenly submits a masterpiece! If you complete a PhD, then you have to defend it, in person, in front of a panel. At the lower level, these tutors have regular contact with the students.
Obviously you can't totally prevent cheating, and maybe some students will submit other people's work, but they will fail at some point if they don't use essay aids in the correct way. It's something no-one can have any control over, unfortunately. There are many other operators in this field and not all are bothered about the ethics or the legality once they get paid for work. 

3. If you do have any qualms or doubts about the ethics or legality of this, don't agree to ghostwriting or anything like it. 

4. Follow the advice in other replies regarding contracts, copyright and the inadvisability of providing sample work for free. I freelance as a graphic designer amongst other things, and have only recently stopped sending my portfolio to people.

[petra_r]

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Anne C wrote:

1. They're not operating a scam, they paid me for work done, which was to provide a *model* essay which the customer was told quite plainly not to submit as their own work.

2. Their customers are advised to use the work as a guide on which to base their own research and their own written work.

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Seriously? LOL....

You think students would pay for a "model" essay and not use it?

Are you actually claiming that you are not fully aware how your "model" essay was used?