Scam or no scam?

[arrtee]

I am new to Upworks, but am so far not impressed with my first job interaction.

I received an email from **Edited for Community Guidelines** regarding a job possibility from **Edited for Community Guidelines**. It was embedded in a PDF and indicated I was to communicate with **Edited for Community Guidelines** via Telegram, a chat application. At no time did I receive anything from a **Edited for Community Guidelines** email account. Additionally, **Edited for Community Guidelines** noted this was a job directly with **Edited for Community Guidelines**, not a freelance job from Upworks. This entire interaction appears to have been a scam, to harvest personal identifiable information from me. It is reprehensible that a company like Upworks would engage in such a scam.  Has anyone else had this sort of experience?

[colettelewis]

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Randy T wrote:

I am new to Upworks, but am so far not impressed with my first job interaction.

I received an email from **Edited for Community Guidelines** regarding a job possibility from **Edited for Community Guidelines**. It was embedded in a PDF and indicated I was to communicate with **Edited for Community Guidelines** via Telegram, a chat application. At no time did I receive anything from a **Edited for Community Guidelines** email account. Additionally, **Edited for Community Guidelines** noted this was a job directly with **Edited for Community Guidelines**, not a freelance job from Upworks. This entire interaction appears to have been a scam, to harvest personal identifiable information from me. It is reprehensible that a company like Upworks would engage in such a scam.  Has anyone else had this sort of experience?

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_____________________

It's a new scam. But what's with the **Edited for Community Guidelines**? Is she really from Upwork?

**Edited for Community Guidelines** does  not recruit in this way. 

[arrtee]

The email came from: 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

I know that masking email addresses is part of the anonymity of a platform like Upwork. The embedded PDF also brought me caution, but I proceeded, had the "interview" with **Edited for Community Guidelines**, and afterward had too many questions unanswered. 

Beaware folks, 

~R

[AndreaG]

Hi Randy,

I'm sorry to hear you encountered this kind of activity. I would like to confirm that action has already been taken against the job and the account you're referring to for violating Upwork's TOS. The team takes action against jobs that violate the TOS as soon as they become aware of them. For more information about staying safe while working on Upwork see here.

Thanks!

[arrtee]

The below, again, appears to be the same sort of "Telegram" scam: 

**Edited for Community Guidelines** Which indicates NO association from Upworks.

To date, alll  the job "offers" from Upworks have been scam emails and ploys to get PII -- personal identifiable  information. 

[AndreaG]

Hi Randy,

I checked and can see that the team has already taken action against the job you're referring to, as well as the associated client account. If you see a job or a message that violates Upwork TOS, please flag it for the team's review. Check out this help article for more information.

Thanks!

[martina_plaschka]

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Randy T wrote:

The below, again, appears to be the same sort of "Telegram" scam: 

**Edited for Community Guidelines** Which indicates NO association from Upworks.

To date, alll  the job "offers" from Upworks have been scam emails and ploys to get PII -- personal identifiable  information. 

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If you adhere to upwork ToS (not communicate outside of the platform) you are completely safe from those scammers. And no, they don't want your personal data, they want your money, they just talk you up to the point where the mark will cash a fake check.