invitations to interview outside upwork platform

[adrianne63]

hello, all

My question is that I am new to Upwork, and have watched the Upwork 101 new freelancers video, I received an invitation to interview with an Upwork job posting, however, the response came thru my personal email with a link to go outside the platform to interview on Skype. Also posting a position with no payment verified.  So far I am still looking for the 1st position as a freelancer. Should I decline the invitation after responding but not accepting the interview just not to look bad? Even though the posting is not valid to my following Upwork protections? How do you know if the position is on the up and not scams that get accepted into the job platform? I appreciate your advice, 

Thank You,

Adrianne King

[pgiambalvo]

Decline it, it is a scam. Also report them.

[adrianne63]

I actually did report it, so I am happy about that. I did not respond, it was sent thru a personal email for an invitation to join a skype meeting, however, the client did send a declined invitation to me, which I am hoping does not come up on my stats. I also have been trying to understand if I submitted this proposal and then got a scam proposal to interview back in the messages platform with an outside link response, I cannot get the boosted proposal points back understood, is there a way to receive the proposal points general refunded? or is it up to the freelancer to just figure it out and lose connections?  Thank you for your time, I appreciate your response.

Adrianne L. King

[feed_my_eyes · Accepted solution]

You watched the Upwork 101 video and they didn't tell you that it's against the Terms of Service to be interviewed off of Upwork before you have a contract? 

This is a scam. How do I know? 1. New freelancers don't get invitations from clients; that usually only occurs after you've established a good reputation here. 2. Wants to interview you on Skype. Upwork has a perfectly good messaging, calling and video conferencing system, so there's no need whatsoever for somebody to ask you to interview on Skype unless they're trying to scam you. 3. Unverified payment method. That's not a red flag by itself, but in combination with the other two things, it screams "definite scam".

Read this if you're still not sure how to recognise scams: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...

[adrianne63]

Hi Christine A.  I actually was thinking that it seemed funny, but here's the thing? this client must be pretty good at this I had a personal email yes but the invitation was sent in messaging in the Upwork platform which I followed. In the messaging, I found the link to go outside to join a Skype conference. So I have been learning every day, I understand it is of course about getting experience as I go. Hopefully, in the near future, I will become more experienced, My neighbor and friend actually referred me to the Upwork Platform so I am happy to be here. I do not respond to payments unverified and then the wording of the posts is another flag, of course, I did report this job post so hopefully, in the future, I will learn and follow the blogs and be extra careful. Also, I have just come across the article about trainers to help start-up freelancers, however, it seems that their sessions are now locked to new requests. Thanks for your response. Open to new suggestions and i will follow up on your link!

[feed_my_eyes]

You received an email notification because anytime a client sends you a message on Upwork, Upwork will forward it to your email address. That doesn't mean that the message is "from" Upwork or that it's not a scam. A scammer doesn't have to be clever in order to paste a Skype link into an Upwork message.

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Adrianne K wrote:

So I have been learning every day, I understand it is of course about getting experience as I go. 

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It would be better to spend time reading everything that you can get your hands on before you send any more proposals, instead of trying to figure it out as you go along. Even if coaching isn't available right now, there are tons of webinars and help articles. 

[fe49239b]

I, too, am new.  I bid on one job, even added extra connects for higher consideration.  The job posting stated it was a "start up", but the email I received said the company was Nestle.  And provided an https link to click to connect to their interviewer.  I reported it as I believe this is against guidelines.  Very disappointing for my first experience.

[adrianne63]

I can only suggest at this point in my experience keep reading up on the community and report i do wish we could find a differential to search the good from the bad proposals. I came across as i just mentioned above there is coaching people and the academy at the top of this page is new as well. Good luck, be careful and read and reread the postings. knowledge is power sharing is the best way of communication. Hopefully, we are successful.  I agree it is a little disheartening to get the scammers to start. It seems they choose their wording in postings a vague communication job description.    Thanks for your response. adrianne

[b2147d50]

I just joined upwork and sent out a proposal as well and it was the same thing but link was to telegram.  so not what i was expecting from my first experience with upwork.