Client want Skype ID

[needyamingmail]

Today, a client asking me about my Skype ID.
May I give him?

Since I'm new, So I'm little afraid about this matter

[petra_r]

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Md Y wrote:

Today, a client asking me about my Skype ID.
May I give him?

Since I'm new, So I'm little afraid about this matter

---

Of course. The client has good history, and you are allowed to speak to clients any way you like, you just have to make sure that any hiring is via an Upwork contract and all payments are through Upwork.

Communicating via Skype or whatever is fine.

[arya_larijani]

Thanks for your reply.

[irfan38]

Hi Md,

Sure you can give your skype ID if your client wants for quick responses but remeber you don't have to deal outside Upwork. You need to be hired and billed through Upwork.

[luce-neidert · Accepted solution]

And don't start any work before receiving a contract via Upwork. As you are new here, so called clients are likely to try to scam you. Stay safe by sticking to Upwork rules.

[h3hdv7rlssvtxxzp]

Apart from all legitimate reasons to clients asking other contact details, one might want to be wary of clients who are actually just scraping data, collecting such contact details for the purpose of then selling them onwards. They could be headhunters or someone, posting fake jobs without any intention to hire anyone, but getting paid by 3rd parties for such "lists". This can be destructive for freelancers, as it may consume their valuable resources and also, I guess, it might be against TC too.

One way to cope with this could be to try to exchange a word or two with the prospective client first, before sharing other details. This is quite practical guideline people tend to use in real life too with unknown parties. It is good to remember, that clients here may in practice hide behind any name they like, so just if the name of the prospective client happens to be e.g. some deceased celebrity or actor, one might assume that they are not that genuine after all. Yet, it is good to drill a skill to spot them during first phrases of chat. If they just open the interview by asking ID's and never say anything, one could quite rapidly assume that they in fact are robots scraping data.

Wish you a good day and keep safety first in the cyberspace!