🐈
» Groups » Writers & Translators » Forum » Re: Writing Fake-reviews
Page options
laurasieg
Community Member

Writing Fake-reviews

Hi,

I am new to Upwork so don't know all the ins and outs with the hiring process, but I am trying to be careful as I've heard a lot of scammers are operating on the platform. I just got an offer for writing short articles in French, which turns out to be writing fake 5*reviews on Amazon for $5 - for a book I am not even expected to read. I am obviously going to turn the offer down as I find this highly unethical if not illegal, but I wanted to have your opinion on that.

Is this serious enough to be red flagged? Should I mention to him that his practice is risky/illegal/unethical? Is this commonly found practice on Upwork?

Thanks!

8 REPLIES 8
versailles
Community Member

Don't talk to the client, they know they can't do this. Report the job. It's against Upwork's TOS.

 

I would have express interest, just to get the link to the book. Then I would report the client. Then I would send a word to Amazon with a copy of the job posting and the messages exchanged.

 

But then, I'm mean and I hate those people.

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless
VladimirG
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Laura,

 

You made a good call turning down the work this client offered since this is a ToS violation. Please submit a support request or send me a pm with the job post link and a screenshot of the client's request, showing the nature of the the work they have, in order for our team to review and take action. 

 

Please review the safety tips derived from Upwork ToS, freelancer resources and thank you for reporting.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

It is often appropriate to stop communicating with a problem client, or a scammer client, or a client who is asking you to violate rules.

 

It is rarely helpful to directly confront a client and accuse a client of wrongdoing.

 

Before a freelancer does so, the freelancer should think carefully about this question:

 

"How do I, personally, benefit, by directly telling a cient he is doing something wrong? Can I simply tell him that I won't participate in his project and then stop talking to him."

A freelancer always has the option to report a client to appropriate authorities without directly confronting the client.

 

In many cases it is appropriate to simply NOT go forward working with a client, and NOT report the client to anybody. For example, a client may ask a freelancer to create an advertising illustration for a pork product or an automobile with low fuel efficiency.

 

But the freelancer's own religious values or sociopolitical beliefs may be violated by working on projects associated with these products. It is appropriate for the freelancer to decide to NOT work on these projects. But these projects do NOT violate any Upwork ToS, so it would not be okay for the freelancer to report the client to Upwork Customer Service.

 

This is different from a situation in which a freelancer is asked to write fake product reviews and post them on Amazon.com's website, which is a direct violation of Upwork ToS, and thus something that can be reported to Upwork.

 

The distinction between clients who are violating Upwork ToS - and clients whose projects simply violate our own personal beliefs or ethical values - is an important distinction to make.

Rene, you're the equivalent to Janean and her on-going academic writing warfare.

Now if only Upwork would treat academic fraud as directly and succinctly as they do fake reviews.

@René -

 

Allez-y, mon vieux!


@Janean L wrote:

@René -

 

Allez-y, mon vieux!


 Seriously Janean, are we going for the vouvoiement?

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

@ René --

 

Just testing, to see if you were awake and noticing!

 

Alors, vas-y!