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Lena's avatar
Lena E Community Member

Tips to Avoid Questionable Jobs

On occasion, you’ll see someone coming to the Community to ask, “Is this legit?” as they reference a questionable job post or request from another user.

 

With over 17 million users on Upwork, we recognize the need to remain vigilant about suspicious activity. And though we’ll continue doing our best to prevent or address that activity asap, we also count on you to continue being diligent in protecting your information and access. Educating yourself and trusting your instincts are key to safety.

 

To that end, here are some tips and best practices that can help you identify and avoid potential scams:

 

  • Circumvention: This occurs when a client or freelancer asks or agrees to pay or be paid outside of Upwork. It is not only against the Terms of Service, but it’s also an easy way  to fall victim to a scam since you will not be protected by Upwork’s programs, like Hourly Payment Protection. Read more about  circumvention and staying safe online.

Payment methods: There are a number of approved choices for making payments and withdrawing funds on Upwork that clients and freelancers can select from when making or receiving payments. Only approved payment options should be used or received for payment. Additionally, talent should not send payment in any currency to clients off the platform for any reason, even in exchange for payment on the platform. Be cautious of requests to buy, sell, or transfer currencies of any kind (regular or crypto). Being asked to buy, sell, trade, or transfer any form of currency, even for a fee on Upwork, is prohibited and should be reported. For example, purchasing or transferring Bitcoin or other forms of cryptocurrency on behalf of a client is a violation of Upwork’s Terms of Service and a common scam.

  • Phishing: This is when a client is trying to steal your password and information by directing you to a fake login page. Always double check that links or HTML files clients send you are for valid websites. Make sure the URL is correct, and never give out your personal information.

 

  • Free Work: This happens when you’re asked to submit work before a milestone has been funded, or you’re requested to do the job as a “sample.” If a client requests a sample project it should be paid. Avoid this by never starting work before the official contract start date and the first milestone is funded.  This is different from asking for samples of your past work or other questions intended to vet your skills before engaging you.

 

  • Payment for materials or to “submit an application”: Never pay anything for a client to consider your proposal/application or to work for a client, even if they claim that the money will be reimbursed. Although Freelancers should generally pay their own expenses and have the tools they need to do the work, be very cautious if a client ever asks you to pay for something up front or to pay them directly for anything needed for the project.    

 

  • Check-cashing fraud: This happens when someone asks you to process PayPal payments, or request favors to cash or deposit checks and money orders in order to send the money somewhere else. These checks or money orders are likely fraudulent and your bank can hold you liable for the funds, even if you have already sent the money on to the “client”.

 

  • Shipping scam: We’ve seen scams in which a client has requested to have goods shipped to you, which you would then repackage and mail elsewhere. These items can be stolen or purchased with a stolen card and unwitting freelancers can be acting as the middleman.

 

  • Click bait: Be skeptical if you’re asked to click on external links or sign-up for websites, as you may be falling for a click-bait scam, where a website makes money off of the click-thru traffic. Google the website before clicking to see if there are relevant reviews or red flags.

  • Personal info: Clients do not need access to your personal information, driver's license, passport, social security number, tax forms, etc. Do not share this information.

  • Other flags: Jobs which advertise benefits, medical insurance and training programs are often red flags of a scam client.  Be extra cautious with those types of posts.

We take security seriously at Upwork. You can find more information about Trust and Safety on Upwork in this Help article. If you think you’re the victim of a possible scam, immediately contact Customer Support – or use one of the “Flag as inappropriate” links throughout the site and in Messages.

 

In the end, trust your instincts and feel free to continue asking here in our Community. We’re here to help and we’ll continue doing whatever we can to make sure the good users of Upwork stay safe.

 

See more of our Stay Safe series: 

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150 REPLIES 150
Amy's avatar
Amy C Community Member

Hello, how were you able to get out of your scam?
Josephine's avatar
Josephine J Community Member

I'm new to Upwork, the prospect client is asking for my email to send her template to check how long will I gonna finish a work. We did not yet close the deal. Any advise? Thanks.
Joanne's avatar
Joanne P Retired Team Member

Hi Josephine,

 

I would just like to confirm, is the client asking you to send sample work? Please know that there has been an update to Upwork TOS, which you can read about in this announcementWe realize that some tools and services require the sharing of an email address to gain access. If you require access to a system before a contract starts, you may share your email address for the sole purpose of gaining access to a system. All communications, however, must still take place on the Upwork platform.

~ Joanne
Upwork
Josephine's avatar
Josephine J Community Member

Thank you very much for your reply.
Katie's avatar
Katie M Community Member

Perhaps a post that documents known scams so, list names like CJINK so that when new people come along, they can go to the post and just double check if the company they are being referred to has exhibited fraudulent behaviour.

 

I'm only a newbie but did a lot of research before I started, and thankfully I did. I can only imagine how many people have fallen for their "buy the workstation".

 

I actually did a bit of research into their company and what the official CJINK website and what the people claiming to be from CJINK say are very different.

 

It instantly rang bells for me as they were asking me to buy their workstation and make a totally refundable payment to have access to the jobs.

 

 

Jennifer's avatar
Jennifer D Community Member

Katie, like I've mentioned previously (like in this thread here), a blacklist of names or similar is pointless, because scammers can read it too and they'll just use different names. They're already not using their own real name or company so it's no trouble to them to just change to a new name/company. Your second post with more general information about general things to avoid is a much better idea 🙂

Nichola's avatar
Nichola L Community Member

When is Lena's post going to get official visibility?

Jennifer's avatar
Jennifer D Community Member

It should be required reading, Nichola. I'm at the point where I feel like I need a template response directing people to it saved somewhere so I can just copy-paste...

Krista's avatar
Krista W Community Member

How do I report a suspicious offer? I see a link to go to Customer Support but that only leads me to this community. This 'company' said they intend to work with me off of Upwork and they pay through check or bank transfer. I told them I only wanted to work through Upwork and they agreed. Then I noticed they did not have a verified billing method. When I told them the non-verified billing method disqualified me for Upwork's Hourly Protection they said 'goodbye'. I am new and this was my first offer.

Mohammed's avatar
Mohammed G Community Member

You can report them through the Job posting page (Flag as inappropriate) or the Messages center (Gear button> Report message)

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211063118-Report-Suspicious-User-Activity

 


This 'company' said they intend to work with me off of Upwork and they pay through check

It's a scam!

Krista's avatar
Krista W Community Member

Thank you Mohammed. I appreciate the specific instructions and was able to see the 'flag' button on the job description. Is it good policy to only apply for jobs that have verified payment?

Joanne's avatar
Joanne P Retired Team Member

Hi Krista,

 

Mohammed is correct. By flagging the job, our team can review and take appropriate actions. Please also check out Tips to avoid questionable jobs. You might also want to check out the information here to learn more about staying safe on Upwork. 

 

I'd like to note that receiving and paying outside of Upwork is a violation of Upwork TOS. All payments should be done on Upwork only. 

~ Joanne
Upwork
Krista's avatar
Krista W Community Member

Thank you Joanne. I was glad I had read through some of the safety protocols before communicating with these people. Now I plan to only apply for jobs that are payment verified - hopefully that will help.

Mohammed's avatar
Mohammed G Community Member

You're welcome Krista! Unverified payment method is not necessarily a red flag, there are a lot of legitimate clients just starting on Upwork who haven't verified their payment method yet.

 

The important thing is to not start any work until the payment method is verified & you have a contract in place.

Scammers are mostly targeting new freelancers, so you have to be careful!

Sri's avatar
Sri S Community Member

Yes this is totally a good idea as new user of Upwork, I myself almost fell into a scamming activities but took the effort to do some research on the client who offered me the task. 

Gerald's avatar
Gerald H Community Member

Why is this post not in the fixed-threads-section of the "freelancer" part of the forum? Meanwhile an estimated 25% of postings there are from newbies having been defrauded by one of the scams described by the OP.  

 

Edited to add: Ok, not all of them actually were defrauded. Luckily some were bright enough to dodge the bullets, but still these safety precautions need to be posted permanantly on top of the relavant sections of the forum i.e."Freelancers" mainly.

Pandora's avatar
Pandora H Community Member


@Gerald H wrote:

Why is this post not in the fixed-threads-section of the "freelancer" part of the forum? Meanwhile an estimated 25% of postings there are from newbies having been defrauded by one of the scams described by the OP.  

 

Edited to add: Ok, not all of them actually were defrauded. Luckily some were bright enough to dodge the bullets, but still these safety precautions need to be posted permanantly on top of the relavant sections of the forum i.e."Freelancers" mainly.


There is also a thread about this in the Freelancer Forum. This is the content area, where only very specific data is stored, and it's ONLY an educational area. That is to say, we can discuss, but only the Mods put posts here.

 

I should add that Upwork is fully aware of the number of scam posts that are being posted, and they are working on updates to the Forum even as I type this. We don't have an ETA yet on these big changes, but my fingers are crossed that it happens before the end of 2016 (the changes are complex beyond what you might belive).

Gerald's avatar
Gerald H Community Member


@Pandora H wrote:
There is also a thread about this in the Freelancer Forum. This is the content area, where only very specific data is stored, and it's ONLY an educational area. That is to say, we can discuss, but only the Mods put posts here. 
You probably mean the tread "Job warning signs". This one is so long, it is daunting to see these many pages. I doubt it looks very attractive to noobs to read this much. I think a short summary like the original post here should be there in the fixed section or somewhere above or be in a package that all noobs have to read before their profile gets approved.  Even a mandatory test covering this topic would make sense IMO. 

@Pandora H wrote:
I should add that Upwork is fully aware of the number of scam posts that are being posted, and they are working on updates to the Forum even as I type this. We don't have an ETA yet on these big changes, but my fingers are crossed that it happens before the end of 2016 (the changes are complex beyond what you might belive).
Good to read this. I sure hope for the best. Some effective measures against the spammers would sure add to the attractivity of this site. 
Wendy's avatar
Wendy L Community Member

Thank you for the information.  Just today I was invited for an interview and they had links to redirect me etc and I got to the Google site myself.  Ended up having the interview and they were pretending to be a very large placement agency.  At the end they were giving me the laptop, printer and scanner but I had to purchase the software and they would reimburse me immediately.  I told them I felt this was not a valid job and to remove me from their listing.  Considering I am new to Upwork and only have one very small contract, it was hard to do.

 

I am sure good contracts are just waiting around the corner for me!

Joan's avatar
Joan P Community Member

what about companies that list they are looking to hire 88 freelancers. is this a scam?

Jennifer's avatar
Jennifer M Community Member


@Joan P wrote:

what about companies that list they are looking to hire 88 freelancers. is this a scam?


 You could be open minded or you could avoid the risk that it's in the .0000000000000001% chance of being legit 

Tammara's avatar
Tammara C Community Member

Hi lena, I have been recently asked to submitt a sample of my work to a client before i actually started to work. the clients email address is **Edited for Community Guidelines** From reading your post this is a free work scam! I hope that Up Work will handle this matter. I plan from now on to be carfeul of the offers that i receive.

 

Thanks!!

Valeria's avatar
Valeria K Community Member

Hi Tammara,

 

It looks like that client has already been removed from Upwork. If a client requests free work or offers to pay outside of Upwork in the future, please flag their job posting as inappropriate or submit a ticket request to report them.

 

Thank you.

~ Valeria
Upwork
Tammara's avatar
Tammara C Community Member

Thanks Valeria!

Tiffani's avatar
Tiffani M Community Member

Hi,

 

Last question, how do you submit a ticket request because I tried to and for some reason didn't see the option to submit a ticket request for my issue so that's why I had to use the forum.

 

Thank you for providing the ticket request "How To'

 

Tiffani