Job interview on Telegram

[81d097fd]

Hello, I am new to Upwork. I have been submitting proposals for many jobs. For one of them, I received an answer from Upwork messages and all it said was, "I appreciate your interests in this job," with an attached pdf. Basically, the pdf mentions I had to add someone on Telegram as the Hiring Manager to my contact list and message the person to begin the interview. I haven't heard of Telegram before and really didn't give much of suspicions of it until I did what the pdf said until the "interview" began. First, the interview was done by chat only. Then, the "hiring manager" mentioned that they liked what they say on my portfolio, which I haven't posted anything because I'm new here; so I went along with him. Then, I was given a list of questions as the following: 1) What inspired you to go into this field?
1b)What are your philosophy towards work?
2) How long have you been seeking a new job?
2b)Do you occupy any position at the moment?
3) Are you seeking a part time or full time job?
4) Are you currently employed?
5) How many hours will you be able to devote to the company daily?
6) Do you have a printer, scanner, fax machine and a copier ?
7) What is your highest educational diploma ?
😎 When did you receive your highest educational diploma?
9) Do you have an idea of how to use ms excel and do you know your typing speed?
10) What do you understand by petty cash and privacy code of conduct?
11) Have you ever been interviewed online before by a different company?
12) What Bank(s) Do you Operate with to see if it tallies with the company's official payment account?
13) Do you have a Verizon, T- Mobile, Dell or AT&T postpaid account?
13b)Do you have a Good Credit Score?
14) Give me 3 genuine and specific reasons why you should be hired by the company?
14b)Are you familiar with zelle or Apple Pay ?
15)In a grade of %100 how much can this company depend on you for your loyalty,diligence,hard work,team pirit and sincerity?

To be honest, I am not familiar with job interviews but question 10-14, sort of made of me uncomfortable. The only info I have given out through this interview is my name, location, and the bank I use but nothing like my social security number or account number. Still I'm not sure of how much info is enough to be taken advantage of. In addition, the hiring manager said to report back tomorrow in the morning. However, after the interview, I figured out that it's a violation of Upwork's Terms of Service to use other methods of messaging if I haven't been contracted. I've read other similar cases that has happen to others on Upwork but I want help because I'm not sure what to do now. Please help?

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

It's a scam.

You didn't give them enough to use against you.

Block them. Use the "Flag as inappropriate" link button on the job posting page to report them.

[81d097fd]

thank you!

[JoanneP]

Hi Jael, 

 If you see a job or a profile that seems suspicious, you can report it to us using the flagging option. You can read more on this help article and also, please check out Tips to avoid questionable jobs. You might also want to check out the information here to learn more about staying safe on Upwork. 

[81d097fd]

Thank you for the articles and tips

[m_terrazas]

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Jael L wrote:

Thank you for the articles and tips

---

What Martina said.
And, if you have a price of 15 / h, why are you accepting at 3 / h?
Okay, you want to have a track record, but like Martina said, having this is worse than having nothing.

And for what it's worth, you should change your profile.
You must tell the clients what you can do for them.
Not that you are a student looking for experience. This will take you to jobs like what you are doing now and may pigeonhole you there.

[martina_plaschka]

The client should know that you (and him) are not allowed to communicate outside of upwork before hire.

Keep to that rule, it will save you a lot of time and energy, and you steer clear of scammers, which this one was. 

Don't do silly 1$ jobs, they look bad on your profile. Worse than no job at all. Everybody and their mother knows what those are. Refund and make them disappear. 

[detectunicorn]

I believe the same thing has just happened to me. Thank you for this post. I will be reporting them soon.

[gynger876]

Same thing hapened to me too, leanred of the policy after....This is the scam after all of that 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[0e415f91]

Thanks for everyone's inupt here! I'm new to the platform and have sent out several proposals today. Naturally I was excited to receive my first message but then concerned when it directed me to contact a "hiring manager" on Telegram. I responded asking if the information couldn't be shared in the UpWork messages (as he was still online!) and I never heard back from him again.

I sought further information to make sure I hadn't just blown a legitimate shot at landing my first client! It seems like I dodged a bullet. Thank you all!