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iamworking
Community Member

Scam or not?

Hi,

I am new to Upwork and I have received an invite that has the signs of a scam.

1. Asking me to give a copy of my ID, bank statement, bill etc. **edited for Community Guidelines**

 

2. Requiring me to purchase products and be reimbursed at the end of the month if I decided to be paid through Upwork. Will prepay me for products purchase if I agree to be paid through Paypal or bank transfer. 

 

However, the company website looks legit and this is the client history:

  • United States
    Evans 03:47 AM
  • 432 jobs posted
    80% hire rate, 1 open job
  • $1M+ total spent
    394 hires, 3 active
  • $24.20/hr avg hourly rate paid
    7,964 hours
  • Member since Jul 30, 2001

 Also, there are 57 good feedback on the client history. Thus I am confused. Can someone shed some light? Much appreciated. 

4 REPLIES 4
renata101
Community Member


@Daniel N wrote:

Hi,

I am new to Upwork and I have received an invite that has the signs of a scam.

1. Asking me to give a copy of my ID, bank statement, bill etc. **edited for Community Guidelines**

 

2. Requiring me to purchase products and be reimbursed at the end of the month if I decided to be paid through Upwork. Will prepay me for products purchase if I agree to be paid through Paypal or bank transfer. 

 

However, the company website looks legit and this is the client history:

  • United States
    Evans 03:47 AM
  • 432 jobs posted
    80% hire rate, 1 open job
  • $1M+ total spent
    394 hires, 3 active
  • $24.20/hr avg hourly rate paid
    7,964 hours
  • Member since Jul 30, 2001

 Also, there are 57 good feedback on the client history. Thus I am confused. Can someone shed some light? Much appreciated. 


Hi Daniel,

SCAM!!!!! Yes, stay far away from that one! And I'm sorry to hear that something like that happened to you. 

It sounds pretty fishy.  In fact, if they're asking you to purchase products for which you will be reimbursed, it's definitely a scam. 

Clients on UpWork pay you through UpWork, so you should never have to give anyone any of your banking details. The same thing with your passport details and any type of personal documents. And offering to pay you through PayPal or bank transfer is a violation of the Terms of Service (ToS).

I'm glad you posted to find out about it. You're on a forum now, but I think one of the mods should be here soon. To be honest, I'm really confused about what you're saying about the feedback too. And 1M total spending on the platform.

But what they're asking for means it's a scam.  I'm going to see if I can track down a moderator so you can give someone the details.

Hi Renata,

 

Thanks for the reply. 

 

Feedback - Freelancers providing comments and ratings on the client.

1M - How much the client has spent via the platform. 

 

If not legit, I was wondering why did the client received good comments and ratings on Upwork. 


@Daniel N wrote:

Hi Renata,

 

Thanks for the reply. 

 

Feedback - Freelancers providing comments and ratings on the client.

1M - How much the client has spent via the platform. 

 

If not legit, I was wondering why did the client received good comments and ratings on Upwork. 


I really don't know. That would throw me off too. But the details definitely describe a scam.

Is the screenshot from the client page you get to when you click through on the "View Job Posting" link on the invitation?

  

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Daniel, 


This is an unusual request and one we don't recommend meeting. Clients don't need this type of information, and I would recommend reporting this to the team if you come across other clients like this in the future so that it can be investigated further. 

I'll go ahead and check your account and forward this to the team for their review.
EDIT: Daniel, looks like you already have an open ticket for this client's request. I've followed this up with the team so that it can be reviewed. Thanks for filing a ticket!


~ Avery
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