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fernando_vaeni91
Community Member

Need Advice

Hi,

I am looking for freelancer jobs in upwork and have applied for entry level jobs recently. One of the clients asked me to contact via WhatsApp. So I did drop him a message. After explaining that he needs to check my identity for confidantial reason. He is asking for my full length pictures with my ID proof. I did not provide any.

 

Can someone please advice how much personal information can we share?

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Vaeni Devona,

 

I checked and it looks like actions have been taken against the job you are referring to already.  Please take a look at the list of tips for recognizing fraudulent jobs Lena compiled and posted Here.

~ Valeria
Upwork

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9 REPLIES 9
emiguelina
Community Member


@Vaeni Devona F wrote:

Hi,

I am looking for freelancer jobs in upwork and have applied for entry level jobs recently. One of the clients asked me to contact via WhatsApp. So I did drop him a message. After explaining that he needs to check my identity for confidantial reason. He is asking for my full length pictures with my ID proof. I did not provide any.

 

Can someone please advice how much personal information can we share?


Just don't, don't, don't. Clients shouldn't ask for this, it's probably/certainly a scam (identity theft, fake check, and others variations of the same scam), flag and move on.

 

ETA: As far as how much information can freelancers should share, based on personal experience, I limit myself to personal emails, or skype id, in case a video interview is going to be schedule, but that's it no more. I only shared my phone number with one client, and it was after the contract was already in place and money exchanged.

Thanks for the advice

prestonhunter
Community Member

Vaeni, This is not a real client.

 

This is a scammer or identity thief.

 

No real client needs to see your ID.

 

Tell him: "Thank you for your interest in hiring me. Yes, you may check my identity information. Upwork has all of that information on file. I authorize you to contact Upwork in order to verify my identity or obtain any information that you need."

 

[but do not send him any pictures or scans or identity details directly]


@Preston H wrote:

1) No real client needs to see your ID.

 

2) Tell him: "Thank you for your interest in hiring me. Yes, you may check my identity information. Upwork has all of that information on file. I authorize you to contact Upwork in order to verify my identity or obtain any information that you need."



 1) Some (very few) do. Either because it is their company policy or because they know no better or because they are big Enterprise clients with especially high levels of security demands. Whilst nobody should just hand over ID to any client, and certainly not a new one or one without a LOT of history, the request alone does not make a scammer, necessarily.

 

2) If she is new Upwork won't have that on file and even if they did, they would not hand it over to a client. Why lie just for the hell of it?

 

Just tell the client that Upwork discourages the sharing of ID documents and to contact Upwork directly and be done with it. No need for elaborate lies.

 

 

 

Thanks
kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Vaeni Devona,

 

I checked and it looks like actions have been taken against the job you are referring to already.  Please take a look at the list of tips for recognizing fraudulent jobs Lena compiled and posted Here.

~ Valeria
Upwork
digiphics
Community Member

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Stop, Block Client and Learn from this. I'm so sorry you had this happen! It really ticks me off how you were starting to be victimized.

Be Safe Vaeni..

Petra:

In answer to your question: Nobody is suggesting lying to clients.

 

Upwork DOES have information about all freelancers.

 

And as freelancers, we CAN indeed authorize clients to ask Upwork for information about requesting IDs or identity confirmation.

 

This is a way to "thread the needle," as it were... in situations where we think a client may be a legitimate client, but we don't want to provide that information ourselves.

 

A freelancer is not saying "no." She is saying: "Ask Upwork."

 

It is true that there may be specific types of information or specific image scans that a client or scammer could ask for which Upwork may not have for every freelancer, or may not have for any freelancers. But I'm not suggesting telling a potential client any specifics about what Upwork has. Upwork does have some information about every freelancer (including a name, city and profile photo). If a potential client contacts Upwork customer support directly, the client will be provided with appropriate information according to Upwork policies. Upwork representatives might tell the client that the freelancer has undergone a video identity verification process. They might tell the client that the freelancer has gone through an address verification process that involves providing a scan of their driver's license. They might tell the client nothing at all, but only that they recommend freelancers NOT provide identity information directly to clients.

 

If the client is simply a new client who doesn't understand that it is inappropriate to ask a freelancer for their ID, or if a client some kind of enterprise client who is legitimately asking for such information, then asking them to contact Upwork allows a freelancer to stay engaged with the client and possibly get hired, without providing compromising information to a scammer.

 

The main point of all this is very simple:

- a real client will have their questions or concerns addressed

- a scammer will not contact Upwork and will not be provided with what they need to work their scam

That's totally true! In my case when I asked him to contact me through Upwork message for identification he withdrawn from the conversation. And lied that he is hiring for 4 years now whereas he had recently joined and never hired anyone before. So I believe it's a scam and Upwork has taken action against the job listing.
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