Client contact with a different email address than that on upward

[Tracy C]

I am new to Upwork and recently submitted a proposal to a posted job. I received a response that asked for a sample of my writing be sent to an email address. I responded through Upwork and through my email address and only received a second response to my email, not through Upwork. In the email, the client wanted me to go to their website to look for work.

It seems that the company posts on Upwork and then reroutes responders to their website for work. Is this a common occurrence?

Thanks in advance for the info.

[Mary W]

I've never seen that.  Do NOT work for anyone who found you through Upwork without an Upwork contract in place, showing in your "My jobs" tab and without verified payment for hourly jobs and/or paid escrow for fixed price jobs.

[Valeria K]

Hi Tracy,

As Mary pointed out all the payments should be handled on Upwork if you met the client here. If the client is offering to pay you outside of Upwork, they are violating the ToS. I'll forward the job you are referring to to our Marketplace Quality team for a review and will let you know if we need any additional information.

Also, please check resources shared in this post to make sure you get to a safe and successful start on Upwork.

[Preston H]

They posted a job on Upwork, but when you applied to it they tried moving you to another site entirely, avoiding Upwork altogether?

I would not trust a person like that at all!

I would report such a client to Upwork and I would have nothing further to do with them.

I doubt that somebody like that plans to pay freelancers at all. Sounds like a scammer. Even if that person is sincerely trying to get you to cheat Upwork and work with them through another site, it's still not right and it's not worth risking your Upwork account for the sight chance that they might be planning to pay you something.

[Nichola L]

Maybe not (necessarily) a scammer - but certainly a "phisher".

Many newbie (and not so newbie) rival sites come to Upwork to phish for freelancers. It's a big no-no and as Preston says, report the "client".

[Valeria K]

Tracy,

I can confirm that the team cancelled the job you are referring to. Please, stop communicating with this client because what they request is against Upwork ToS.