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aaron_channel
Community Member

New Upworker, scammed. Would really appreciate advice 7/17/19

I am new to Upwork, I was invited to interview for a content creation job by **Edited for Community Guidelines**. Once I responded via messenger he misinformed me as to the manner in which I was supposed to do work on Upwork. (i.e. he expressed that I would be payed once I submitted the work via Upwork messenger without his formally accepting the contract) 

It seemed strange, but he had a number of positive reviews and had spent a reasonable amount of money on Upwork, so I decided to trust him as I assumed his reputation would be worth more than the small job I was doing.

I submitted work to him, via messenger and he cut contact and never payed me.

My messenger logs clearly indicate him scamming me, telling me to do things improperly, thanking me for turning work in on time, and then cutting contact when I asked how I would be payed.

I'm really new here, this was my first job and it has soured me on this site.

Do I have any recourse? If I can't be payed, which seems reasonable since I failed to follow Upwork's procedures for entering into a contract due to **Edited for Community Guidelines**lying to me as to what they were, can I at least submit this messenger log to the admins and have him censured?

Any help would be appreciated, this site seems really legitimate, and I hadn't expected to be scammed right out of the gate.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
wlyonsatl
Community Member

Aaron,

 

It really is worth your while to review everything Upwork provides about how its sometimes illogical and opaque but ultimately workable systems, rules, protocols, etc., etc. work. But you'll have to accept the fact no matter how much you read or what videos you watch as a new user of Upwork, you will have to be ultra-vigilant in which clients you decide to work with and even a bit clairvoyant to totally avoid all the possible pitfalls of using Upwork.

 

Totally trusting all clients is an expensive luxury for a freelancer.

 

Reconcile yourself to making a few (with any luck) inexpensive mistakes early on and don't hesitate to ask questions on this board. There is a lot of real experience and knowledge here, though you'll have to wade through the inevitable condescension, smarm, etc. that exists on every message board.

 

For example, I was recently notified by Upwork that the credit card payment by a recent client was declined by the client's bank. Upwork reviewed my TimeTracker logs and saw no problem with my claimed time and activity and would honor its commitment that "an hour worked is an hour paid," so I will be paid in full for the hours I booked on Upwork working for this dishonest client.

 

If any part of those two sentences don't make total sense to you and you plan to do hourly work on Upwork, figure out how that system works ASAP to save yourself some wasted effort and lost income. Upwork can't protect you as well as you can protect yourself.

 

Good luck.

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11 REPLIES 11
petra_r
Community Member


Aaron C wrote:

this site seems really legitimate, and I hadn't expected to be scammed right out of the gate.


Scammers prey on newbies, you will be able to avoid them if you stick to the basic rules (no work without being hired on an hourly, or fully funded contract)

 

Google your content frequently as you still own it. You can do a take-down-notice if you find it anywhere.

 

I intend to be more careful in the future, and certainly accept my responsibility in this, if I had more carefully followed your advice (which was obviously also give by upwork when I started here) this wouldn't have happened.

 

To your knowledge I can't have him censured for his actions?


Aaron C wrote:

I intend to be more careful in the future, and certainly accept my responsibility in this, if I had more carefully followed your advice (which was obviously also give by upwork when I started here) this wouldn't have happened.

 

To your knowledge I can't have him censured for his actions?


You can report him, just use the "flag as inappropriate button" on the job post.

 

You need to change your entire approach. I looked at your profile and it SCREAMS "Please scam me! All the worst clients on Upwork:  Please Abuse Me!"

 

Up your rate dramatically and completely rewrite your overview for crying out loud, you are on a path to hell with it as it is.!!!!!

 

Your overview is supposed to sell you.

 

I honestly laughed out loud.

You're right, I sound desperate. Honestly, I am, but I guess I should be selling myself better.

 

I'll start from scratch. (I'll also flag the guy who scammed me, it's a small thing, it was only a couple of hours of work, but I hate seeing people get away with being dishonest)

 

Thanks for your time. 

O.M.G. this profile!

 

Change your overview profile and hourly rate now!

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

It’s ok to be desperate just don’t show it to the clients. I was also desperate when I came here, I just pretended I wasn’t. So let’s both say, from now on, we are highly motivated!

Decide your worth, write your profile to convince clients of your worth, do work to prove it!

Thanks Mark F.

I'm rewriting my profile now, chuckling as I work.

I really did come off as desperate, and I don't know why I thought that would be an appealing trait in a potential freelancer.

Now I'm shooting for highly motivated.

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Aaron,

 

It really is worth your while to review everything Upwork provides about how its sometimes illogical and opaque but ultimately workable systems, rules, protocols, etc., etc. work. But you'll have to accept the fact no matter how much you read or what videos you watch as a new user of Upwork, you will have to be ultra-vigilant in which clients you decide to work with and even a bit clairvoyant to totally avoid all the possible pitfalls of using Upwork.

 

Totally trusting all clients is an expensive luxury for a freelancer.

 

Reconcile yourself to making a few (with any luck) inexpensive mistakes early on and don't hesitate to ask questions on this board. There is a lot of real experience and knowledge here, though you'll have to wade through the inevitable condescension, smarm, etc. that exists on every message board.

 

For example, I was recently notified by Upwork that the credit card payment by a recent client was declined by the client's bank. Upwork reviewed my TimeTracker logs and saw no problem with my claimed time and activity and would honor its commitment that "an hour worked is an hour paid," so I will be paid in full for the hours I booked on Upwork working for this dishonest client.

 

If any part of those two sentences don't make total sense to you and you plan to do hourly work on Upwork, figure out how that system works ASAP to save yourself some wasted effort and lost income. Upwork can't protect you as well as you can protect yourself.

 

Good luck.

martina_plaschka
Community Member


Aaron C wrote:

I am new to Upwork, I was invited to interview for a content creation job by **Edited for Community Guidelines**. Once I responded via messenger he misinformed me as to the manner in which I was supposed to do work on Upwork. (i.e. he expressed that I would be payed once I submitted the work via Upwork messenger without his formally accepting the contract) 

It seemed strange, but he had a number of positive reviews and had spent a reasonable amount of money on Upwork, so I decided to trust him as I assumed his reputation would be worth more than the small job I was doing.

 


This was your error. If you don't have a contract, you can't leave feedback. So a number of clients could look ok at first glance, but you never know how many contracts they did not award because they got their work done for free. One indicator is the hiring rate, a low hiring rate is bad, because it's either a scammer or a person that changes his mind constantly about needing the work done. Stick with clients that have a hiring rate of 90% or higher to avoid those. 

Edit: seeing that you are located in the US, people will be offering to send you checks for office equipment. Don't accept their kind offer. They are scammers too, trying to stick you with a check that bounces. (not my best wording)

Aaron, here's my tip.  When you are new, practically every invitation you get will be from a scammer.  I didn't start getting "real" invitations until I had started getting some traction on the platform.  Invitations are always exciting to get when you're new but they aren't real jobs.

msublette
Community Member

Who knows how that client got good ratings?  Did he post real jobs and get real feedback?  Or did he have friends take on small jobs and pay them to give good reviews and then have them pay him back the rest.  All against Upwork TOC, but scammers gonna scam. What you probably realized, is that unless there is a contract in place the freelancer can't leave any feedback for the client.  So no matter how many times the client has done this and gotten free work, it isn't going to affec his rating.  Just be careful and don't do any work until you have a contract in place.  And before that, really juts rely on your gut as to whether the job sounds fishy or too good to be true.  I think that I have maybe gotten one scam offer/invite here.  Bump up your hourly rate.  You can always bid less on a job, but a higher hourly rate does tend to scare off scammers.

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