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m_terrazas
Community Member

When will Upwork enforce its own TOS?

Following a thread that Nikola S. (mod) closed and before being able to answer.
It is not the first time I have commented on any of this, and it will not be the last.

 

I am exactly "up to the nose" of all the "designers" who STEAL the designs of other designers.
I don't know how many of them I have flagged. For stealing items for their portfolio, for selling the deletion of the watermark, for having links to their portfolio or other portals, for copying presentation, for lying.

The last ones I've flagged, I sent them to CS after flagging some up to 5 times.
They replied that they had taken action. I let some time pass, and what happened? Nothing.

 

Asking again, the answer: "the result may not be to your liking however we only take actions on reported user based on our ToS"
They have all gone against TOS in some way.
NO ACTION has been taken.

Result, I find more and more liars on Upwork and it does nothing. Now I have really checked.

 

ADD: As an example, the closed thread freelancer. He boasts of having copied the presentation and some logo. The profile is still open and the mods only make the thread close.
Huge sigh!

17 REPLIES 17
mtngigi
Community Member


Maria T wrote:

Following a thread that Nikola S. (mod) closed and before being able to answer.
It is not the first time I have commented on any of this, and it will not be the last.

 

I am exactly "up to the nose" of all the "designers" who STEAL the designs of other designers.
I don't know how many of them I have flagged. For stealing items for their portfolio, for selling the deletion of the watermark, for having links to their portfolio or other portals, for copying presentation, for lying.

The last ones I've flagged, I sent them to CS after flagging some up to 5 times.
They replied that they had taken action. I let some time pass, and what happened? Nothing.

 

Asking again, the answer: "the result may not be to your liking however we only take actions on reported user based on our ToS"
They have all gone against TOS in some way.
NO ACTION has been taken.

Result, I find more and more liars on Upwork and it does nothing. Now I have really checked.

 

ADD: As an example, the closed thread freelancer. He boasts of having copied the presentation and some logo. The profile is still open and the mods only make the thread close.
Huge sigh!


It's infuriating. I just responded to a post where someone wondering why he's not being hired got a response from Christine A, who looked at his portfolio, did reverse image searches, and of course found it filled with stolen work. It's all about the bottom line, but I have to wonder how many clients never come back once they've been ripped off by a fake. Clients Upwork cannot afford to lose.


Virginia F wrote:
............................


It's infuriating. I just responded to a post where someone wondering why he's not being hired got a response from Christine A, who looked at his portfolio, did reverse image searches, and of course found it filled with stolen work. It's all about the bottom line, but I have to wonder how many clients never come back once they've been ripped off by a fake. Clients Upwork cannot afford to lose.


Christine is being very fast!
I don't know other specialties, but design is riddled with liars.
And they keep showing up, and worse still, they keep allowing them to show up.
Exhausting.


Maria T wrote:

Virginia F wrote:
............................


It's infuriating. I just responded to a post where someone wondering why he's not being hired got a response from Christine A, who looked at his portfolio, did reverse image searches, and of course found it filled with stolen work. It's all about the bottom line, but I have to wonder how many clients never come back once they've been ripped off by a fake. Clients Upwork cannot afford to lose.


Christine is being very fast!
I don't know other specialties, but design is riddled with liars.
And they keep showing up, and worse still, they keep allowing them to show up.
Exhausting.


It's very exhausting, and one of the reasons I've given up on Upwork. There are thousands upon thousands of great, talented, honest designers ... I cannot fathom why every single (fake) profile is accepted in an already bloated category. The only thing being achieved is clients who use this site once and never come back. I see profiles signing up as "data entry" freelancers, but oh, by the way, they can also design logos and brochures and anything else you might need (because they know how to steal).

 

Yes ... exhausting.

a_lipsey
Community Member

If they won't enforce TOS regarding academic fraud, why would they enforce TOS regarding stolen profiles and fake/stolen portfolio items? Why do they let people "fix" their profiles once they've been discovered? Someone who steals others' copyrighted content and portfolio images isn't going to stop scamming just because they tidied up their profile. 

mtngigi
Community Member


Amanda L wrote:

If they won't enforce TOS regarding academic fraud, why would they enforce TOS regarding stolen profiles and fake/stolen portfolio items? Why do they let people "fix" their profiles once they've been discovered? Someone who steals others' copyrighted content and portfolio images isn't going to stop scamming just because they tidied up their profile. 


Yes ... this happens across the board and in all categories. Though I do think it's easier to get away with in some categories. It's too bad Upwork spends so much time and effort on nonsense directives, rather than focusing on what the real problems are. Bogus profiles continue to proliferate, unchecked ... and I guess as long as they're making money, who cares?


Amanda L wrote:

If they won't enforce TOS regarding academic fraud, why would they enforce TOS regarding stolen profiles and fake/stolen portfolio items?  


In a way this is even worse, because the academic fraud clients are ASKING freelancers to cheat, so at least they're getting what they paid for. The same cannot be said for graphic design clients.

m_terrazas
Community Member

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Flagging the profiles and portfolios, DOES NOT WORK.
And less when in response they ask you to attach screenshots and links of the infractions. Yes, of course, and what else?

 

In fact, sending links to the originals doesn't work either.

As long as deliberately scamming clients is not a ToS violation, it is all up to the clients to make sure they have enough time and money to investigate freelancers and then follow up. The new ToS changes make it even easier for scammers.

m_terrazas
Community Member

I already said that I didn't plan to stop drawing attention to this, so here I am back.

 

Since I made the first post, all the profiles that I have marked for violations are still there.
I mark them again every so often, but it still doesn't do any good. And yes, I have them saved so I can control them.


- Why do Upwok allow some freelancers to have in their first line of the presentation the links to their profile in other portals? If it is something that is now allowed, tell me, I could use it very well.
- Why is a freelancer who has sold a stolen logo (and is on his list of jobs done) allowed here? Not to mention that almost everything in the portfolio is stolen.
- Why is it allowed to be sold as an option "watermark removal" if this is an infringement of both the freelancer and the client? If it's okay for Upwork, tell me too, it's an easy thing to do and I could sell it.
- Anyway, why is Upwork overlooking so many infractions that are being reported in the forums and flagged in the profiles? I would like an answer that is not "canned".

 

And for the moderator who is kind enough to answer, please do not ask me to give more information. All of this was sent to CS and, guess what...

 

And I'm only talking about my field, but what you read about the others is maddening.


Maria T wrote:

 

And I'm only talking about my field, but what you read about the others is maddening.


All categories are affected. A client who gets ripped off by a designer or translator will not come back to UW when they need to hire a developer or writer or editor or survey researcher. And they will tell their colleagues and friends. The costs of this inconsistent, ineffective ToS enforcement are immeasurable and real.

 


Phyllis G wrote:

Maria T wrote:

 

And I'm only talking about my field, but what you read about the others is maddening.


All categories are affected. A client who gets ripped off by a designer or translator will not come back to UW when they need to hire a developer or writer or editor or survey researcher. And they will tell their colleagues and friends. The costs of this inconsistent, ineffective ToS enforcement are immeasurable and real.

 


Upwork can't be bothered to take care of the awful scam stuff going on. No, they're too busy dreaming up endless ways to interfere in every freelancer's business.

 

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/UW-Get-out-of-my-client-messages/m-p/860422/thread-id/53...


Phyllis G wrote:

Maria T wrote:

 

And I'm only talking about my field, but what you read about the others is maddening.


All categories are affected. A client who gets ripped off by a designer or translator will not come back to UW when they need to hire a developer or writer or editor or survey researcher. And they will tell their colleagues and friends. The costs of this inconsistent, ineffective ToS enforcement are immeasurable and real.

 


This is exactly what is happening to me:
How Upwork makes me lose clients  

It is interesting, that given these posts are in the public domain, Upwork smugly thinks it is OK for everyone to have their say before they close the thread, but without any intention of upholding its fragile ToS. (I still have a query open, never replied to, about a person who has lifted part of my profile.) 

 

There was a time when Upwork did make some effort to close down on people who plagiarized, stole, misrepresented, or who were simply not ready to freelance. Perhaps the revenue from buying connects is keeping everything afloat?

 

This is difficult to imagine - but seems to offer the only reason for the complete lack of respect for genuinely qualified people who have invested in this platform, but who are being completely shafted in favour of far too many fakers.   

Ok, once again, when attention is drawn to the theft of images, they close the thread and, to something else.
Upwork, don't you realize that, apparently, the only way to control these scammers is by calling them on the forum?
Because, even flagging them, nothing is done.
**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Maria and others,

 

No, posting in the Community forums is not the course of action to report violations. Public accusations of misconduct, incompetence, or other wrongdoing are not allowed in this Community and will continue to be removed and threads moderated. That is why we encourage users to report any suspicious content or activity directly to our Trust & Safety team privately by using appropriate tools instead. There are privacy and security reasons that prevent us from going into detail about our internal processes or discussing a specific reported profile, job or message.

Our Trust & Safety team is constantly adapting to the needs of this growing platform and improving our methods of detecting, reviewing and actioning violations as well as educating our users about Upwork TOS.

~ Valeria
Upwork


Valeria K wrote:

Maria and others,

 

No, posting in the Community forums is not the course of action to report violations. Public accusations of misconduct, incompetence, or other wrongdoing are not allowed in this Community and will continue to be removed and threads moderated. That is why we encourage users to report any suspicious content or activity directly to our Trust & Safety team privately by using appropriate tools instead. There are privacy and security reasons that prevent us from going into detail about our internal processes or discussing a specific reported profile, job or message.

Our Trust & Safety team is constantly adapting to the needs of this growing platform and improving our methods of detecting, reviewing and actioning violations as well as educating our users about Upwork TOS.


Thanks for showing up Valeria. What annoys me is that a mod has only appeared when something is done wrong, like in this case calling Upwork directly or adding some data that needs to be edited (the link to the closed thread is purposely set, sorry, a way to call your attention).

 

And, I'm sorry to have to contradict you, but NO, the methods that they mention are useless at all. As I said, I have bookmarked profiles and sent messages to CS and it has been of no use in months.
I'm still checking the profiles I have saved.

 

And another method that seems to be of little use is PMing a moderator. I sent one with a bunch of fake profiles and he hasn't even read it.


Valeria K wrote:

Maria and others,

 

No, posting in the Community forums is not the course of action to report violations. Public accusations of misconduct, incompetence, or other wrongdoing are not allowed in this Community and will continue to be removed and threads moderated. That is why we encourage users to report any suspicious content or activity directly to our Trust & Safety team privately by using appropriate tools instead. There are privacy and security reasons that prevent us from going into detail about our internal processes or discussing a specific reported profile, job or message.

Our Trust & Safety team is constantly adapting to the needs of this growing platform and improving our methods of detecting, reviewing and actioning violations as well as educating our users about Upwork TOS.


Considering the fact that reported profiles are still active even after months, people using stolen overviews and portfolio items, claiming to have a qualification they do not have and profiles that have been reported by multiple clients for scamming several $k out if them, it is hard for us to understand how we can trust the Trust & Safety team with the safety of this platform as a reliable source of income. We are constandly working hard to follow the ToS and report only freelancers and clients when we have enough evidence that they are violating the ToS.
This behaviour (not removing freelanders that have violated the ToS multiple times) just had me lose a client who had planned on spending ~50k, while her friends decided not to use Upwork due to the treadment their friends experienced. Do you think my client will put the entire project on hold just because I cannot continue working with her due to the ToS?

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