'''' Group - legit or not

[zedster1]

Can anyone tell me if this ad from a company in Texas is legit.  It was a very fast and strange interview process.  They want to work off Upwork.  Here is the ad they posted.

**Edited for community guidelines**

[mwiggenhorn]

**Edited for community guidelines** is a very legitimate company.  However, anyone can basically post a job and claim to be them.  Working off the platform is, of course, against the Terms of Service.  Were you interviewed on the platform or elsewhere?  Did they discuss benefits (which freelancers do not get), human resources (generally irrelevant).  Did they use a gmail or other email address?  All of these are huge red flags.

Don't commit to something that turns out to be fraudulent.  I am flagging your post for a moderator to look at.

[zedster1]

Yes to all the red flags. The “interview” was on Skype chat and much of it
seemed to be copied and pasted. I was hired after a 10 minute waiting
period, but the word hired was never used exactly. Then they asked for my
full name, address, phone numbers, and the names of my banks. They sent me
an email with a letter of offer of employment. The letter was very sparse,
without even a company address.

He then communicated that I needed to buy a bunch of equipment and software
(all of which seemed irrelevant for a remote proofreader to need). Then
said that if I couldn’t buy it, that the company would purchase it for
me... with a check or money transfer.

I had already given him my name, address, phone numbers, and banks (name s
only) before I became suspicious enough to put the brakes on it. Now I’m a
bit scared of identity theft.

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

re: "Now I’m a bit scared of identity theft."

Not much you can do about the info you already provided.

But for what it's worth, this is a very old scam that we have heard about countless times before.

They are really interested in the money in your checking account.

Because you stopped going along with them, and didn't accept and cash a fake check from them and send them the money from your account, then they're probably done with you.

[gilbert-phyllis]

If they want to bypass UW then it is not legit. Go back and read the ToS thoroughly before submitting any more proposals.

[mwiggenhorn]

The job has already been removed...

[colettelewis]

---

Scott E wrote:

Can anyone tell me if this ad from a company in Texas is legit.  It was a very fast and strange interview process.  They want to work off Upwork.  Here is the ad they posted.

**Edited for community guidelines**

---

_______________________________________________

**Edited for community guidelines** is a reputable organization (Google it) and it is highly unlikely that it would try anything dodgy on Upwork, so treat the invitation/offer as a scam and report the "client" who interviewed you

[BojanS]

Thank you for flagging this to us, Scott!

I won't be able to go into details about our internal processes, but as Mary correctly guessed, the reported job has already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork ToS and action has been taken on the client account.