Can't find work through all the scams!

[c589418c]

Sure, I'm new to Upwork, but I wasn't born yesterday. 

I've only been on Upwork for a few hours now. I've used up half of my connects (now I have 25 left). I got 2 replies. One was an outright scam that took up 4 hours of my day for nothing. The other one... tried the same tactic. Another one that didn't reply to me has mysteriously been "removed from Upwork," so I'm pretty sure I can assume it was also a scam. I honestly think if I had to report a client as a scam that I should get those connects back. lol. 

and how is this even legal? I see clients offering to pay $3 per hour!? In the US? I see so many scams that I can't find the legitimate work. 

Don't know if I'm gonna make it past my first day. 

[martina_plaschka]

A lot of US based freelancers express their outrage at the low hourly wages. They seem to forget that there are people from 179 other countries on upwork, in many of them this is a good hourly rate. Clients from the US can hire people from all over the world. Yes, it's legal.

You should always flag scam job postings. You don't get your connects back when you do that, but when upwork removes the posting, you will get them back. 

Don't apply or answer to transcription or data entry jobs, those are not for you. Your rate is too high, your competition charges a fraction. Market better paid skills. Optimize your profile. 

[PradeepH]

Hi Kristi,

Thank you for your message. I am sorry to hear about your experience. I checked the job post you were referring to and it seems that it's already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork TOS and action has been taken on the client account. You will receive Connects for the jobs taken down by Upwork for TOS violations within 24-48 hours. 

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

Thank you,

Pradeep

[feed_my_eyes]

Most of the scams involve taking you off the platform and "interviewing" you on Telegram or What's App. You're actually not allowed to do that and could be risking your account. Read this for more information on how to recognise scams: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...

You're also going to need a much better profile if you hope to land a real project. Your overview is only about what you want and not about what you can do for clients, and there are no writing samples in your portfolio. You need to make a lot more effort to learn how to use Upwork before plunging in and sending proposals - including spending hours, not minutes, on your profile - or you're just going to waste more connects.

[pgiambalvo]

You'll learn to recognize the scams pretty quick, although it's a drag you'll still have to wade through all of them every day.