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henderson-jamie
Community Member

Scam?

Hi all.

 

I'm new to the platform and have had contact regarding a position. It sounds fishy and wanted to feedback.

 

This is the first time i've used Upwork and my gut feeling is that there is some kind of identity scam going on. I could be wrong. Could i please get your advice on this.

So i received a call from this guy after sending my c.v. through to thier 'hr email address'... No number shows up on my phone from them when they call and he tells me about the role and would i like to work for them outside of upwork. Paypal being an option but i can go through Upwork also if i want. They ask for a c.v. I sent my c.v. to thier HR team and they then send me a link to hosting company email platform to login as they are creating me an 'alternative email to use'. This instantly sounded fishy to me... They also suggested i change my password for it which i didn't. Also fishy and my feeling was it could be a way to capture a password login'.I then have a telephone interview with a guy in India, which was ok but a little basic... After this they send me some documents to sign asking for passport details, passport photo and some other identity details. This again sounded very fishy. Thier reason for for thier own ID verification... Super fishy... Googling thier company also returned a very unprofessional view... Spamming facebook profiles and what looked like unbelievable information. I also phoned thier 'US' office where a lady answered... Not with the company name so i pressed her a little for the business details. It sounded fishy.

What's your views on this as i'm new to this platform?

They have invited me to join a webex for 'training' tomorrow via this alternative email link... Sounds fishy.. Lots of red flags when doing some digging on company.

I haven't sent them any info other than my c.v. which is more or less public online anyway.

Thanks.

6 REPLIES 6
g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Hi Jamie,

 

I would like to confirm that asking or offering to get paid outside of Upwork is a violation of our TOS.

One of our team members will reach out to you via ticket where you can share more evidence with us. Our team will also assist you further directly on your and investigate the client. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

Great thank you.

feed_my_eyes
Community Member

Yes, you've got numerous red flags there and you should report this project immediately (use the "flag as inappropriate" button at the top-right of the RFP page). The first red flag was the client suggesting that you should accept payment outside of Upwork - that's strictly against the terms of service and can get you permanently banned from this website. (Ask yourself - is Upwork a charity? The answer is no - they want their 20% cut of the project, and how are they going to get it if you're paid directly? So, of course this is against the rules.) The second red flag was asking you for a copy of your passport - why would anyone send this to a total stranger? So there was no need to spend further time researching the company. If you've got multiple red flags and a gut feeling that something isn't right, just report them to Upwork and let them do the investigating.

Hi, thanks for the feedback.

 

Yeah i think i kept looking into it as i know of the company they are looking to hire for local to my city. Some of the info they gave me checked out in terms of what i know too.

 

Well, it was good that you caught this in time; but regardless of what your investigation turned up, I think it's important to pay attention to your intuition when dealing with potential clients on Upwork. If you sense that someone would be a bad client (even if they aren't necessarily a scammer or technically breaking the rules), then you're better off avoiding them.

lysis10
Community Member

dannng they evolving. They going for the whole enchilada from stealing your identity to getting you to send a password. Noice.

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