Must be a scam, from a payment verified client

[mamabear8867]

I'm disputing about a job that I'm doing that I foound out I'm doing a job that's supposed to have a contract as I'm fairly new to this site but I am now applying for payment verified clients and was scammed by one of them as I'm doing work on a fixed price job and I didn't know I was supposed to have a contract until I started reading last night but I've done most of the work and am doing the 1st task last as it took me longer than 20 minutes that they said to do and they were told to put this as a contract job before last night as I was thinking they were supposed to do something like that and they didn't even after saying it today too so I can keep going on this as I spent more than 4 hours trying to do this task and got to a part where it said no surveys available sorry. I tell **Edited for Community Guidelines** is the person that this is happening and they say thanks for your time. Really this may be a fixed price job but they are scamming me aren't they? I even turned in the 2 other tasks they wanted me to do and they said thanks for your time after I had told them that I got a note from the first task taht there are no surveys available and they say that as I put in more than 4 hours trying to get that task finished and still haven't been able to reach it as the task website is very picky and I told them this too and they said thanks for your time. So am I igoing  through all these loops for nothing and why do they think it's funny to just mess with people's minds as I have a kid to take care of and I was trying to get something under my belt that paid so I could get more jobs hopefully since I'm new

[petra_r]

You can not “dispute” anything if you have not been hired.

[nkocendova]

Hi Amber,

You'll definitely want to make sure that you have a contract with the client before starting on any work, and also that they have a verified billing method so that the work you do can be covered by Upwork Payment Protection. You can send me a PM with the job posting and our team will take a deeper look into this, if any violations of our ToS are found, then we will take appropriate action. I would suggest you browse this thread which has helpful tips and excellent resources for users just getting started on the platform and you can also check out this thread for tips on avoiding suspicious jobs and scams. I hope that helps!

[holymell]

Amber, did you take those screenshots??

If so, do these people have all your personal and banking information?

Anyone that asks you to personally take screenshots of a registration process is probably a scammer. If they have your email, credit card information, and passwords, change those immediately especially if they are similar to what you used to log into Upwork.

This was definitely a scam. If they wanted screenshots of you doing work they could have hired you on Upwork for an hourly job as the Upwork time tracker takes random screenshots, but you would be able to delete any with your personal information in them

If they have your information, you need to call your credit card company now and tell them. And change your email and any passwords that might be similar to what you entered on that site.

And report them to Upwork.

Never start work without a contract with verified payment and funded milestones if it's fixed price. Please be careful.

[mamabear8867]

Yes I even did the tasks, since I was scammed before by one trying to send me a check, I'm thinking because they are a payment verified client that they wouldn't scam me but ib talked to someone finally and they are gonna have this person reviewed as they shouldn't be not hiring me before I do work as they have paid lots of money from there profile so they must think they can get away with trying to get someone to duo work for free for them

[holymell]

Oh no.
So you sent the scammers pictures/screenshots of your registration to the websites? Did you write your email address your password or your credit card information?

I'm asking because it appears that you think the worst thing that can happen here is that you don't get paid.

You're not going to get paid. But these people now have personal information about you. If you gave them your credit card information, you've got much bigger problems than not getting paid.

If you gave those people any of your credit card information, cancel your cards and alert your company/bank before they steal money from you.

[mamabear8867]

None of that credit card stuff was given out but yes email address 

[prestonhunter]

If the only personal information the scammers have is your email address, then there isn't much they can do with that.

Many of us distinctive disposable email addresses for work with specific Upwork clients, so if any client DID try to do anything annoying with that email address, we can just delete it.

[holymell]

Ok. That's not so bad. I just wanted to make sure you weren't getting stolen getting more than you already were by that client not paying for your time.

Good luck!

[kat303]

Amber, this is the 2nd time you've been scammed. I think, at this point you need to stop applying for jobs and take some time to learn about the procedures and what to look out for on this site.

https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/Getting-Started-on-Upwork/m-p/264214#M2460

I advise you to click on this link above and go through all the green links, Especially the section on Safety which is the one just above the section "Clients."

If you don't know that you need a contract before working, or that escrow needs to be fully funded before you start work, or that Tracker needs to be used if it's an hourly job, then you will continue to be scammed over and over.