WOW - Upwork has a "Trust & Safety" TEAM! - are they out of the office this year?
I notice the comments are turned OFF on the trust &safety teams post - that really speaks volumes about Upwork and the saftey teams commitment to its users!
The more we share about what we do to prevent scams, the more we show our cards to scammers and the less effective those measures may then be in protecting our community
Really? - I don't think they need any help as what you are 'doing' is NOT working.
Please know that what I mention here is just the tip of the iceberg with regard to our work to combat scam.
The fact you refer to it as scam (singular) suggests that this iceberg is more of an ice cube (thats quickly melting in the sun).
Over the course of this year, we’ve significantly bolstered our machine learning detections to catch new scam tactics. Scammers are constantly changing their approach to avoid being caught, and we’ve designed multiple, agile systems to create layers of protection for our platform.
Sounds fancy! - But, then your machines don't work! Perhaps your machines could learn some very simple filters that would stop email addresses being posted in job adverts? Did anyone think to teach the machines to actually remove the posts and scammers that they 'detect' as it does not seem like it?
we’ve implemented various checks at multiple stages in the client journey. Some clients may be asked to provide additional validation at onboarding, others before sending their first message, and so forth. This experience is intentionally varied for different client accounts to prevent scammers from being able to navigate around these defenses.
So now they only sometimes have to navigate around these 'defences'? genius!
Last, but certainly not least, we believe that educating our freelancer community is an essential part of combatting scam on the platform. Scammers can only find success when they convince freelancers to move off platform and send them payments. With this in mind, we’ve updated the product with frequent reminders and education for new freelancers, hosted webinars, and Community posts. In addition, we’ll be launching in-product quick tutorials for freelancers in the coming weeks.
Really? so you honestly think that the naive new freelancers that cant be bothered to read the most basic steps too using the site are going to visit a webinar? would it not make more sense to insist this "education" is complete before they can apply to jobs. a simple validation test that shows they know how to identify a scammer, knows that if they agree to off platform payment they will be removed (then actually remove them).
Upwork, it's really not that complicated - issuing statements from "trust & safety" teams about machine learning and all the other steps is only meaningful if you are visibly acting on it.
You don't even seem to take the most basic of steps! Ive seen posts on the forum that moderators "pass on to the correct team", they then get reported again days later! Why are you letting ANYONE post emails in job adverts? why does it take so long to remove an OBVIOUS scam post?
UPWORK - I would hear-by like to offer my services as a trust & safety specialist - I don't usually offer this side of my business on the platform, but as you clearly have some ongoing issues I would like to help take an active part in stopping these rouge job posts. Rather than focusing on preventative webinars and education, I would focus on actively dealing with the current issue and removing those offending posts directly! Please feel free to get in touch to discuss rates and help end the over abundance of scam jobs that have so far been allowed to flourish!
