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scottek
Community Member

Uncomfortable with client's approach

I'm new to Upwork and with my very first inquiry from a potential client, they wanted to work outside Upwork and wanted personal contact info (name, address, phone, etc). I didn't feel comfortable with this. I would appreciate feedback on what I should do. 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

re: "Please elaborate on your last comment about deal-breakers."

 

Usually if a potential client asks for your phone and address, then you are dealing with a scammer.


But not ALWAYS.

 

Particularly with phone numbers... there ARE legitimate clients who will ask for your phone number.

 

MOST clients do NOT ask for this. Some do.

 

So I am saying, there ARE legitimate clients who may ask for phone number - and even ask for an address on an NDA or something. So I can't say for certain that somebody who asks for a phone number or address is a scammer.

 

I won't say those particular things in and of themselves are "deal-breakers" (meaning - there is no way I will deal with them).

 

======

And FYI:

If you ever DO want to proceed with setting up a contract with a client who asks for contact information, you do NOT need to provide your "prime" information. You can provide them with alternative information that will work, but which isn't so personal:

 

- email address? Use a throw-away single-project email address. You can create free email addresses using many services. You don't need to provide your prime email address.

 

- phone number? You can create a specific-purpose phone number for free using services such as Google Voice.

 

- address? You don't need to provide your actual physical home address. You can provide a P.O. Box or local post office location where people can send you mail C/O, etc. Talk to your local postal office or commercial mail box service about this. There are lots of alternatives.

View solution in original post

22 REPLIES 22
florydev
Community Member


Scott K wrote:

I'm new to Upwork and with my very first inquiry from a potential client, they wanted to work outside Upwork and wanted personal contact info (name, address, phone, etc). I didn't feel comfortable with this. I would appreciate feedback on what I should do. 


Although it is premissible to contact with a client outside of Upwork I think you are right to be cautious.  I would in particular want to know what they want with my address.  

 

How do they want to contact you?

 

 

scottek
Community Member

They chose to contact me through Google Hangouts. I went through an interview, was "hired", and then asked to provide my info. I wasn't able to ask about not using Upwork until after the interview. After the request for my info, they then said a "swift" response was necessary. I really felt uncomfortable with it.

 

petra_r
Community Member


Scott K wrote:

They chose to contact me through Google Hangouts. I went through an interview, was "hired", and then asked to provide my info. I wasn't able to ask about not using Upwork until after the interview. After the request for my info, they then said a "swift" response was necessary. I really felt uncomfortable with it.

 


New US based freelancer + Google Hangout Interview = it is a scam.

They want to send you a (obviously fake) check.

 

Simply flag as inappropriate and move on.

 

scottek
Community Member

Thanks, Petra R!

florydev
Community Member


Petra R wrote:

Scott K wrote:

They chose to contact me through Google Hangouts. I went through an interview, was "hired", and then asked to provide my info. I wasn't able to ask about not using Upwork until after the interview. After the request for my info, they then said a "swift" response was necessary. I really felt uncomfortable with it.

 


New US based freelancer + Google Hangout Interview = it is a scam.

They want to send you a (obviously fake) check.

 

Simply flag as inappropriate and move on.

 


You didn't bring out the Flowchart of Shame...

scottek
Community Member

Thanks for your help, Mark!

florydev
Community Member


Scott K wrote:

Thanks for your help, Mark!


You are welcome although I was really setting Petra up to answer the question (I was pretty sure I already knew you were going to say GH).

 

Sorry that you got your hopes up.  I don't know much about what you do but I believe peristance pays off here.

 

For some unsolicited advice, I think you should reconsider your profile and instead create a brand statement for yourself.  You want to say something significant, distinct, and memorable about the work your provide that speaks directly to anyone who looks at your profile.  Although we are in a sense selling ourselves we are really selling what we can do for our clients.

eddy_a
Community Member

I'm new to Upwork and I dealt with the same thing. I was interviewed on Google Hangouts and I was told I got the job. They even emailed me a letter of employment. Now that I read through this thread I'm very concerened because I sent some personal info to this person. The company he's with is apparently **edited for Community Guidelines**. Should I be seriously worried?

prestonhunter
Community Member

Not every client and freelancer are meant to work together.

 

There is NOTHING WRONG with that.

 

If you don't want to provide any type of information to a client, then don't.

 

If the client doesn't want to work with you because of any of that, then he is welcome to not work with you.

 

After completing over 200 jobs on Upwork, I can tell you that it is EXTREMELY RARE that any of these clients had my phone number or address.


But there are a FEW to whom I provided that information.

 

It certainly isn't required. And it should always be something you THINK ABOUT.

 

Generally speaking, I would say these requests ARE a red flag.

 

If you're new to Upwork... I would just flat-out say: Don't do it.

 

After you gain some experience, then I would not describe these requests as a deal-breaker.

Thanks for your response, Preston. Please elaborate on your last comment about not commenting on deal-breakers.

 

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Scott,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Thanks for flagging this for us. I've checked and it looks like the job has already been taken down because it was in violation of Upwork ToS and action has been taken on the client account. 

 

Please, check this help article for more information on how to use the flag option found on each job post or message to report any suspicious or inappropriate content. Also, check out this post for more tips on how to avoid questionable jobs.

 

Thank you!

~ Bojan
Upwork
scottek
Community Member

Thanks, Bojan... I appreciate the help!

re: "They chose to contact me through Google Hangouts. I went through an interview, was 'hired', and then asked to provide my info. I wasn't able to ask about not using Upwork until after the interview. After the request for my info, they then said a 'swift' response was necessary. I really felt uncomfortable with it."

 

Ah... Okay.

Now that you have provided more detail, we know that you are simply dealing with traditional scammers.

 

They are trying to steal about $3000 out of your bank account.

There is no real job here.

 

Stop communicating with them. You may report them to Upwork using the "Flag as inappropriate" button link on the job posting.

re: "Please elaborate on your last comment about deal-breakers."

 

Usually if a potential client asks for your phone and address, then you are dealing with a scammer.


But not ALWAYS.

 

Particularly with phone numbers... there ARE legitimate clients who will ask for your phone number.

 

MOST clients do NOT ask for this. Some do.

 

So I am saying, there ARE legitimate clients who may ask for phone number - and even ask for an address on an NDA or something. So I can't say for certain that somebody who asks for a phone number or address is a scammer.

 

I won't say those particular things in and of themselves are "deal-breakers" (meaning - there is no way I will deal with them).

 

======

And FYI:

If you ever DO want to proceed with setting up a contract with a client who asks for contact information, you do NOT need to provide your "prime" information. You can provide them with alternative information that will work, but which isn't so personal:

 

- email address? Use a throw-away single-project email address. You can create free email addresses using many services. You don't need to provide your prime email address.

 

- phone number? You can create a specific-purpose phone number for free using services such as Google Voice.

 

- address? You don't need to provide your actual physical home address. You can provide a P.O. Box or local post office location where people can send you mail C/O, etc. Talk to your local postal office or commercial mail box service about this. There are lots of alternatives.

Thanks again for all the helpful info, Preston

feed_my_eyes
Community Member


Scott K wrote:

I'm new to Upwork and with my very first inquiry from a potential client, they wanted to work outside Upwork and wanted personal contact info (name, address, phone, etc). I didn't feel comfortable with this. I would appreciate feedback on what I should do. 


Working outside of Upwork is against the TOS and could get you banned from the site. Politely explain to the client that payments must go through Upwork, and if he/she continues to insist, report him/her.

Thanks, Christine. I recognize the opportunity that Upwork provides and I certainly don't want to do anything to jeopardize it.

Christine makes an excellent point about one of the other aspects of your original post that most of us weren't focusing on:

 

As she said: ALL money must be processed through Upwork.

 

But we don't actually do our work on the Upwork site.

 

(New freelancers are sometimes confused by this.)

 

So... for example... clients are NOT allowed to send you a check or offer to pay you directly through PayPal or something. (But if a client asks you to write an article, you would use your own tools for that. Upwork doesn't provide a platform or tools for writing or programming or illustration or anything.)

re: "I'm new to Upwork and I dealt with the same thing. I was interviewed on Google Hangouts and I was told I got the job. They even emailed me a letter of employment. Now that I read through this thread I'm very concerened because I sent some personal info to this person. The company he's with is apparently Mohr Partners. Should I be seriously worried?"

 

Should you be worried?

Well, that is all a scam, as I hope you now realize.

 

There ARE identity thieves out there. But to the best of my undestanding, this particular scam is focused on getting money from your bank account. So if you haven't sent them any of your money, then you have managed to avoid the main problem caused by this cam.

 

Sending him your personal information isn't a good thing.

 

But if you just sent them your name and address?

...well, your name and addres are already out there. (LOTS of companies have that information. Otherwise you wouldn't be receiving so much junk mail.)


These scammers are not going to go to your house or anything. They don't even live on the same continent.

 

But it is good that you learned that this is a scam, so that you won't be tricked by people like this in the future.

All I have him was my name and address. No money was exchanged on either side

re: "All I have him was my name and address."

 

Meh.

 

Forget about it.

 

These guys just wanted to send you a fake check. You didn't play along with their script, so they dumped you. It's over.

 

So many people already have your name and address... it's not worth worrying about these guys having it. (Upwork even sticks a map to my house on my Profile page.)

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Edison, 

 

I checked the client you are referring to on your post and can confirm that actions have been taken against the client's account for a violation of the Upwork Terms of Service. 

 

I would recommend that you read up on these freelancer resources and these tips for avoiding questionable jobs, for help getting started, and for more information about working safely through Upwork. 

Hopefully, these will help you identify red flags when interviewing with a client. 


~ Avery
Upwork
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