Company Credit Card being offered, is it legit?

[e9fab9bd]

Hey!

So I am obtaining clients but the first one was an obvious scam, telegram, possible fake check scam sort of opportunity. Now there's this other opportunity where the person wanted to text over phone, which I was reluctant in doing but upon research, people say it's not as bad.

Now do note that this person mentioned they were a "newbie" on Upwork, which is fair, as am I. This person tried to mention that they'd do the payments directly, but I mentioned it required a contract and paying through upwork (as I did do my research), which they said they'll do. Along with it though, they mentioned that they will be giving me a company credit card for the purpose of this job.

Should I trust this? I just want to be careful, but I could also just be paranoid from not having a job for over a year rnow and things online are just sort of hard to believe too.

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

I don't know.

Company credit cards are a real thing.

But they are typically used by employees.

Not newly-hired freelancers.

It is NOT A VIOLATION of Upwork rules for a client to provide a freelancer with a company credit card if that card is to be used for purchasing needed materials.

Sounds like it is probably just a scammer or schemer.

But theoretically a client could actually offer this.

If you are experienced here, and know enough about how Upwork works, and if the client isn't violating any Upwork rules, and if you don't provide any information that could be damaging to yourself, I don't see any risk to this.

If you are an Upwork newbie?
No, you can't get involved in this.

[e9fab9bd]

Yeah, after enough thinking, I decided against it myself. It just didn't seem appropriate given that, and as you've said, I'm just a freelancer on here, not necessarily working for the same company or something. Thank you for responding!

[feed_my_eyes]

It's against the terms of service for you to communicate off the platform before you have a contract in place, whether via Telegram or phone.

[wescowley]

I know you said you walked away from this, which is good. But, for the benefit of anyone else contemplating this job offer scam, I want to point out a couple of reasons why agreeing to use a company credit card is a really bad idea, especially for a client you don't have any reason to trust yet.

First, from my experience (which admittedly is from many years ago), when you get a company credit card, you have to provide much of the same information that you would provide if you're getting a card in your own name. That, totally coincidently I'm sure, is the same information someone else (say, your prospective completely upstanding client) would need to get a card in your name.

Second, buried in the T&C that you will likely be asked to sign will probably be a clause saying that you are responsible for any charges the company doesn't pay for, which is just another variation on the "fake check for equipment" scam with the difference being that you have the option to not pay for it and instead trash your credit score and spend the next few years dodging calls from collection agencies.