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tgreear
Community Member

Company wants to send a check to purchase equipment for a job.

I applied and interviewed for a job. I got the offer and signed an agreement. Then I get an email with this

We want you to only use the official devices for our assignment.
This is because you will be working from home as all expenses are handled by the company,

So therefore the company will be sending you a check, this check will be for the purchase of all the working equipment that you need as you will be purchasing them from the company local vendor, method of purchase and means of payment will be made known to you when the check gets to you, as you will be getting the check asap.

We encountered a serious breach of data leak via one of our freelancers earlier in the year, and our competitors used that information against us, this incident caused the implementation of this rule of issuing our own equipment which will already come with special anti malware programs

 

Does this his sound Right?

 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
prestonhunter
Community Member

It's a scam.

Block them. Don't waste your time.

View solution in original post

10 REPLIES 10
prestonhunter
Community Member

It's a scam.

Block them. Don't waste your time.

Feel free to click the "Flag as inappropriate" button/link in the top right-hand corner of the Job Posting page, and report this.

 

In the freeform text box, you may copy-and-paste the description of what you told us in your Forum post.

 

Upwork will remove the job posting and the remove the client account that posted it. You will receive your Connects back.

 

This is very easy to do. Doing so will benefit you, and it will benefit the platform. But this important thing is that you stop communicating with these scammers. Freelancers who follow through with the instructions for this scam typically lose about $3000 of their own money, and may have their bank accounts closed.

 

Screen Shot 2019-08-22 at 1.54.35 PM.png

 

For future reference: Real client don't send freelancers checks. If you were to accept such a check, it would be a violation of Upwork ToS. You could be kicked off Upwork for that.

 

Clients don't buy computers for freelancers.

 

This scammer spun a compelling story. But it was all lies. If a client REALLY AND TRULY wanted you to use a special computer.... why wouldn't he just send the computer to you? Why send a check?

That’s what I asked him! I did click the thumbs down but scam option did not show as an available option. I did withdraw my proposal and block the person. Will I still get my connects back?

re: "Will I still get my connects back?"

 

If Upwork removes a job posting from the platform because that job violates Upwork ToS (which this scam job does!), then any connects used to apply for the job are returned to the freelancers.

 

But just clicking "Thumbs Down" or blocking the client does not ensure that a job posting will be removed.

 

You DO NOT NEED to flag the job as inappropriate. The most important thing is that you don't get scammed. But if you do flag the job, it is helpful to other Upwork freelancers, and it can lead to you receiving your Connects back.

gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

Did you read any of the information Upwork provides for new freelancers, including how to recognize scams and work safely on this platform? If not, then don't do anything else until you read it. If you already read it, read it again.

Also, while UW refers to the listings clients post here as "job posts" freelancing is not about getting "hired" for a "job". It's about finding clients to contract with you for projects.

PS- Think about it: Why would a company that's not willing to invest in payroll overhead be willing to buy equipment for you to work at home?

I did read it but,in my defense, this guy was good.


Tena G wrote:

I did read it but,in my defense, this guy was good.


Well, not really, enticing you to accept any payment outside of upwork is strictly forbidden and can cause you to lose your profile forever. If you receive a check, how will upwork get their commission? If they "want you to use their equipment" why did they not simply send it to you?

He didn't entice me. Fortunately, I caught the scam. Please understand that when I received a job offer I was excited. I'm definitely not stupid. I am aware of the rules. That's why I began to question his motives. I believe I am not the first person to fall for this scam. But I actually didn't fall for it since I didn't follow through.

Tena:

From what you described, this scammer was a very smooth operator.

 

I commend you for NOT losing any money to him.

 

I enjoyed hearing some of the new elements in this scam which you described. This scammer has certainly introduced some updated points to his pitch that we haven't heard about before here in the Forum. (Well, either him personally or whoever was writing/updating the scam script.)

Thank you for your kind words.
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