what is this scam’s intent?

[#1]

I’m new, what type of scam is this? He said there is a job where I purchase expensive electronics for an unnamed “company” and the orders are sent to their clients directly. This company will send me money thru PayPal or CashApp and I have to make the purchases. Something’s definitely up, What is the scam here? It was for U.S.-only freelancers and $35/hr! He took down the listing and our message history as soon as he got my cell # to text.

[#2]

The first problems here are that you're communicating off Upwork without a contract in place with a client who intends to pay you off Upwork, which are both serious ToS violations. Regardless of the scammer's intent, which is to likely just to rob you somehow, you've already probably put your account standing in jeopardy.  I'd stop talking to this client immediately and brush up on your understand of the ToS.

[#3]

As I said I’m new, and I’m not talking to them anymore. My point of asking is to better recognize the scammers and their intents. are there a lot of scammers here overall? Does Upwork do anything to verify the people who post jobs other than their payment method? It doesn’t seem very safe considering they’re collecting large service fees.

[#4]

It is very, VERY hard to get scammed here unless you are violating the terms of service (which you were)

Virtually every scam is aimed at stealing someone's money (usually yours) and most are aimed at US-based freelancers. Mostly it's the boring old fake check scam.

Do not communicate with clients outside the platform and never agree or even discuss being sent any payment of any sort in an way other than through Upwork.

[#5]

Yes I understand that now, thank you. But I just wanted to know, as an analogy "what's in the water", which is why I did talk to that person. Other verified "clients" have asked me to talk off-line (I haven't), but I don't know, I started thinking..."is it a shark or a dolphin?"...what are they trying to do? (I used a google #). Seriously though, they get my personal details when I bid, and do I really want someone dangerous to have that? It's not hard to find out where a person lives...has anyone been harmed on here?

Anyway, I will definitely heed your warning, and really have to think about if I feel safe even bidding anymore. Bids I pay money for towards possible scam jobs, haha.  

[#6]

Hi Lidia,

Could you please send me a private message with more information about this so that I can check and send a report to the team for investigation? 

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

Thank you.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

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Lidia T wrote:
I’m new, what type of scam is this? He said there is a job where I purchase expensive electronics for an unnamed “company” and the orders are sent to their clients directly. This company will send me money thru PayPal or CashApp and I have to make the purchases. Something’s definitely up, What is the scam here? It was for U.S.-only freelancers and $35/hr! He took down the listing and our message history as soon as he got my cell # to text.

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The "client" would be sending you money from stolen or hacked payment methods. That "money" will be reversed as fraudulent eventually. You would be part of criminal activities and likely have to explain yourself to law enforcement.

Apart from that, as has been pointed out, you are already up to your neck in policy violations even discussing the receipt of funds in any way other than through Upwork and communication with a "client" outside of Upwork without a contract being in place.