Scam Jobs Only

[pamela-martinez]

Hi everyone, 

I've been working with upwork for years now, but lately I find that my feed is full of scam jobs. 90% are scams... has anyone been seeing this and do you know how to fix it? 

Thanks

[mathgirl]

Yes! The same scam jobs over and over. Poorly written, with "payment unverified". Probably created with scripts.

Let me add that  you also get the jobs that you apply for with a gazillion connects and that don't get viewed at all, those that get viewed and stay open for three months. You also get the interviews with clients asking you to join their platform (who pick another candidate when you tell them you want to stick to Upwork...and who also leave the job open keeping you from getting you gazillion connects back). Then you also get the scammers who respond to your proposal, whom you have to educate about keeping it on Upwork and not to send you questionable files. 

It's like a jungle. 

[pamela-martinez]

Exactly! It's been getting out of hand. My question here is, how do we get rid of those jobs being the only ones we see? Because I've noticed that often the "real jobs" are left behind and lost between the waves of scams jobs. 

[the-right-writer]

The way to get rid of them is for freelancers to stop applying.

[2bd7a40a]

On the hiring side (I accidentally do this) because there is no restriction on me creating new jobs. So sometimes if the requirements or timings change, there is nothing forcing me to close the job and I can just simply open a new one.  If I happen to look at the applications, people will see "client last looked at the job 1 hour ago" and think it's still active. Very misleading.

[pamela-martinez]

I totally understand that! And it happens a lot.. I also believe that your job post was not a scam anyway, because you are still hiring someone and paying them for the job. So it wouldn't really be a scam if you close it afterwards or find someone to do the work. 🙂

[f1c9c818]

I accepted many works for 3 days and most of them are not responding. I'm wasting my connects and Upwork tells me to "Buy more connects". Why should I buy more connects? To sending letter to scam jobs? Some of my proposals are waiting for long time to reply and nothing happens. My connects just stuck in proposal waitings.

[5d835742]

It does seem like there is no shortage of "Scam Jobs" 

I'm new, I fell for one. Once. But that's how it works here I am learning. Apply to things that you really want to do. 

Read the clients listing carefully and if anything seems off, next. This is like Tinder for job hunting 😜 hahaha

Like I said, I'm new so I don't have experience of UW when it was not like this. 🙂 

[pamela-martinez]

It is a "search and find" kind of activity. However, and as an advice, scam jobs are also being shown as: you work on an hourly contract, everything seems fine, you get paid, client rates you 5 stars, closes contract, and then they delete their payment method. Upwork issues an obliged refund because the payment method didn't work, and you are left with nothing but hours of unpaid work, which is not protected by Upwork. 

So for us freelancers who have been here over 7 years, scam jobs are being shown more, which means having to change search and find strategies...

What do you think about that? As you are new here... maybe you have a different perspective on how to do it? 🙂

[5d835742]

Wow, I'm not sure about your case. That's horrible to have actually put in hours of work to then be ripped off. 

I wish we could have a client rating system or a forum where we can actually talk about specific clients. I mean look at us freelancers, our profiles are all out and the client gets to see everything we did. Should go both ways.

I know that when I would apply to traditional jobs, I'd be on Glassdoor, LinkedIn and everywhere I could get a hit on the company name.

Why does it have to be different here? 

[the-right-writer]

Since it falls to the freelancers to "fix it", the solution is to not violate the Terms of Service. If freelancers stopped willingly breaking the rules, the scammers would go away, starved of the feast. The problem is, the freelancers insist on breaking the rules. The vast majority of freelancers who are scammed, did it to themselves, by not educating themselves to the Terms of Service and following them. Some will even argue for the scam, after being informed, some will do it anyway.

We "fix it" by every freelancer reading and following the Terms of Service. If freelancers stopped going off the platform, before an Upwork contract is in place, 95% of the scammers would disappear. If freelancers stopped believing people need jobs like typing from one format to another, the scammers would go away. If freelancers stopped believing someone was going to pay them a lot of money for nuthin', the scammers would leave. If freelancers stopped believing that they can just sign up, with no marketable skills and make money, the scammers would flee in droves.

We can "fix it." Everyone needs to have an honest look at their profile and proposals. Are you sending up red flags that you are ready to be scammed? Is your profile complete and professional? Are your proposals professional? Understand that scammers can also be clients with a history. Freelancers, and clients, should not trust anyone, until they are vetted and proven genuine. You don't need to search Google or look up names. The freelancers need to follow the rules.

I have posted on this topic before, and no one cares. Not even the scammed freelancers, who will do it again.

If the freelancers don't give a flying fig, and won't even follow the rules, which results in scams, there is no solution. No matter Upwork's part in the scams, if the freelancers constantly break the rules, Upwork can't "fix" anything. They wrn freelancers multiple times to stay on Upwork until a contract is in place, yet freelancers break the rules constantly, and then whine Upwork didn't save them.

The other category usually involves chargeback, which are very serious and damaging to the freelancer. The business is supposed to also suffer financial damages, but I have no figures on Upwork in that category. In these cases, if it's an automatic tracker, there are issues with protection because of too few keyboard stroke, mouse movements, and memos. This situation is not the fault of the freelancer on the chargeback, but if they didn't do the necessary step's, some have lost it all. Upwork is supposed to offer protection if all the requirements are correct.

How many freelancers are willing to do the right thing? I would like to hear from them, because it is usually total silence from those who support following the rules and making the platform a better place.

Why do I care if people are scammed? I try to warn them, and it does drag down every aspect of the platform, flood it with scammers, and clients leave when they see the quality of the ones who jump into the scams.

[pamela-martinez]

Of course!  But that is not the point of my question at all. 

Upwork states that they offer payment protection against scams and that they validate their clients. I also have a client account, and I can tell you, they don't validate anything. However, my question was not "how do you stop yourself from applying to a scam job", my question was, how do you stop seeing so many scams in your feed. 

I have 100% job success and am Top Rated Plus, so I am one of the freelancers "willing to do the right thing" as you mention. That being said, Upwork is still allowing scam jobs to be posted. I am not asking how to stop that because I know it would stop if everyone stopped repyling to those. But since I know I can't control freelancers all over the world, my question remains the same. 

How do you stop scam jobs from appearing in your search feed?

[the-right-writer]

How do you stop scam jobs from appearing in your search feed?

I did give you an answer.

You can try to use a filter, but they don't work accurately, and now with only 200 characters. Using more would render the platform unstable, according to Upwork. And that's it. If you think Upwork is going to change, I think that's obvious.

That leaves the clients and freelancers. The clients just want the job done. They don't care unless they are scammed. The scammers love it. So, now we are down to freelancers. We do have the ability to change the platform and get rid of most scammer. All we have to do is follow the rules. I know you do, and you want an Upwork solution. You won't get one, and I am pointing out a solution to the problem.

[pamela-martinez]

Darling, are you ok? This is not personal! 

I am wondering why I saw you in other posts claiming that you were done with Upwork, and with people and with working here, yet you are still here?

You don't even want to be a freelancer in Upwork anymore, so why are you literally picking fights with everyone in this community?

I just saw several threads of you commenting posts and giving the same aggresive replies.

You do not give answers, you give obvious statements: "If the whole world stopped polluting, eating meat and caring for their carbon footprint, we wouldn't have so many global warming issues". That's an obvious fact that gives no answers or logical reasons to the question itself. It is just a statement to make you sound "knowledgable" when, in fact, you are not saying anything.  

Also, I never asked Upwork to tell me how. If you read my question! (again pointing it out), I asked if anyone was seeing the same issue and if someone knew how to fix it. You obviously don't, so maybe go reply to someone else's post with obvious statements?

[the-right-writer]

I have no idea why you are so bothered by my posts. I will wait and watch as you fix the problem.

I do know how to fix it. I gave the answer. It's not my problem that no one will, and no one, will even encourage others to do so. Let’s complain and do nothing. No thanks, there are too many ways to make positive changes. I choose action over complaining.

What are you doing to make the platform better?

[pamela-martinez]

So now you are waiting? I thought you "were done" with all of this. 

I believe we see things from a very different perspective. To me, giving a one dimensional picture is not fixing the problem. I do wish you good luck with that, though. 

What am I doing to make the platform better? For starters, letting others know that we are all experiencing the same issue.  I'm sure you don't understand that, since you only have 58 jobs and have earned 20k, but I can give you some pointers, if you'd like 🙂 Just let me know!

[the-right-writer]

Deflection, when you have nothing else..

[pamela-martinez]

Oh, my apologies! I thought you would want to learn how to be better. I understand if you don't. Kind of obvious 🙂 Good day!

[72a39dbf]

Hi: I am new to Upwork and I am a video editor. Sometimes clients ask me to do a test edit for them to assess my editing skills. I do a whole ad for them and they appreciate my work and then they are gone - not to be heard at all. Is this normal? 

[pamela-martinez]

Well, having tests tasks is normal. However, you have to assess how much work you are delivering to someone as a "sample". If you are basically sending them the complete work they are asking for, as a sample, then they won't need you to do the job anymore. 

It is normal to ask for samples, just make sure you are not giving away too much. Just enough for them to evaluate your work

[the-right-writer]

Yes, it's normal to be scammed, if you don't follow the Upwork rules.

It is against the Terms of Service for the client to ask for free work. If they want to assess your skills with their work, then they hire you. Yes, the freelancer does the test, which is just a part of the project, and with multiple freelancers, the project completed for free.

If you haven't, read this post and follow the links. It will take you through the Terms and the Red Flags on Scams from Wes. Educate yourself on the rules and how to protect yourself from more scammers.

Never do free work, samples, etc. Send a sample of previous work or refer them to your portfolio, which should represent your work. It's always a violation and a scam when the client wants free work.

[f3e86fe6]

Pamela, I feel you.
I also just started out like two and a half months ago. Until now, it was cumbersome but it worked, which was refreshing coming from Fiverr or me trying to find jobs manually.
I'm in the 3D visualization field, I'm not sure if it's entirely overrun. But while having had no reputation, I got around to making 3k, perhaps I just got like really really lucky? Because this month now, I haven't earned a single $ yet,  but I've spent 50$ on purchasing connects. 95% of proposals don't even get viewed, all jobs stay open like forever and I started to notice all sorts of scams too.
Jeanne, pardon me, but while probably many scams can be avoided by just following the upwork rules, that picture you are painting is too one dimensional.

About the fist scam upwork notified me themselves, because one of the .pdfs in the downloadables of the proposal containted a fishing link.
In my field I am required to see the clients products, to be able to tell if their pricing is realistic and if I should apply. I'll need to buy a 2nd computer, just to minimize my risk as far as possible when viewing attachments, because litteraly every file, could just be malware. And that will be the computers main job, viewing upwork job offers, so I don't get totally screwed if something ever happens. I've never felt the need the need for a 2nd computer, just to be able to visit a website before upwork.

Today I applied to jobs posts again and noticed how one contractor interviewed every single one after more people sent in their offers. I also got an interview, and the contractor requested to me to purchase the asset pack which was linked in the briefing. I responded kindly, that it is very uncommon to have freelancers to A, purchase assets required to do the job and B. requesting everybody to purchase something to get worth the clients concideration. I was asked to show proof that I own the asset pack. Obviously the mentioned asset pack was just AI generated crap (it's complete mush) that gets sold for 30$ and it looks very much like the contractor simply tires to lure people in to purchasing the asset pack.

Scams come in so many different forms and shapes, it isn't always obvious at first glance which job offers are scams. When we talk about scams, it is not only about avoiding falling into the actual trap, but the damage is already done, when we apply. 16 connects, 3,75$ with taxes, gone, just to say hi. And with my last job getting me 100$, I have now spent 50% of that for connects with no job in sight. It's not like that this was Upworks only source of income, they get 10% on top of everything I do here. So right now, things are on the edge of me really asking myself of how many connects I should try before giving up. It feels like a casino right now.

I'm a simple man, who's simply looking to do good honest work, and it's super nice it has worked until here, but half of feburar is over and I was not able to make a single dime yet. Instead I've invested two weeks writing applications, spending the earned money of which upwork already got paid for on connects. Time I perhaps should have invested differently, learning a new skills and else. My mind right now just can't rest until I have another gig, it just develops naturally. I'd like to work, but I can't, buggs me a bit.

It would be nice if the journey on upwork can continue, but a picture is painting itself, that the upwork experience at least is not a constistent one. And I guess we chat and communicate to share ideas, to find a balanced solution, to make it work.

But it's good to hear that I'm not the only one observing massive weird things happeing. I also noticed the psycological side effects of writing a ton of applications, getting rejected with no feedback. It can feel miserable and dampen the mood. You perhaps start changing the way how you write your applications because you don't know what the cause for the issue is and actually start writing bad applications.

I'd be interested to read how things develop for you, I think it's good to talk about it just to stay sane 🙂
I wish you a lot of luck, and thanks for sharing your impressions!

[pamela-martinez]

Hi Oskar! 

From what you write, you are having a hard time too. I've been here for over seven years now, and it has gotten much more complicated over the last few months. 

As you mention, as freelancers (unfortunately) we are always subject to this kind of thing happening. I do hope we get to find a solution or a way to see less scam jobs and get to the real ones 🙂 

In the meantime, I hope your freelancing journey goes great!!