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Jessica's avatar
Jessica S Community Member

Recent Scams

I just started back working here a few days ago after YEARS of being away and most of my interviews are from scammers. They ONLY want to interview via text or app and when I say anything about a phone call because I was almost scammed once on a text interview, they ghost me. Am I the only one who is experiencing this? 

 

How do I secure more legit jobs?

5 REPLIES 5
Viacheslav's avatar
Viacheslav K Community Member

I don't have phone interviews often. Not every client likes voice/video calls.

Jessica's avatar
Jessica S Community Member

Yeah, i get that and I don't mind not having phone interviews! But they ALWAYS try to get me to buy something before I start work. Is that common or am I being paranoid?
Nichola's avatar
Nichola L Community Member


Jessika S wrote:

I just started back working here a few days ago after YEARS of being away and most of my interviews are from scammers. They ONLY want to interview via text or app and when I say anything about a phone call because I was almost scammed once on a text interview, they ghost me. Am I the only one who is experiencing this? 

 

How do I secure more legit jobs?


___________________________

Jessica, 

I think you should make your profile a little more consistent and specific. Remove 'Data Entry' and 'Any work'.  These are exactly the sort of words that attract the scammers.  Even if you do offer data entry, don't make it a focal point in your overview. 

 

Definitely do not include your CV in your proposal. This is another thing that will attract scammers and, if you give too many details, you could invite anyone to steal your profile and worse. You are not applying for a permanent  B & M job, but offering a skilled service or services. Clients should get a good notion of your background from your profile and  should also be able to see what you can do in your portfolio, which you should add. You could start by giving the links (without contact details) to the novels you have written, or take  a couple of excerpts from them, as well as  adding other wrting samples. 

 

Things have changed quite a lot since you started here, so you should read the ToS and the help pages to update your information. Adding contact information to a CV or adding a link to facebook and other social media is against the rules and regs, until you have a formal Upwork contract with a client in the bag. And so is any communication outside Upwork, until you have a contract. So you can generally count out anyone who wants to talk to you off the platform when they reply to your proposals. However you can phone/video chat and message via the message room. 

Jessica's avatar
Jessica S Community Member

This makes sense. Things have certainly changed a lot since 2015. All of the scammers I'm talking about wanted to talk off of the UpWork site, which is what gave me pause in the first place. Lol

I'm working to improve my profile. Question: what do you normally put in the Cover Letter spot for jobs?
Ch ali's avatar
Ch ali H Community Member

my  name is m Sami Khalid. I am contact wrting