There’s no greater joy to an UpWork freelancer than landing that first job.
But there’s one aspect that every freelancer dreads: learning too late that the project was nothing but a scam. Or that they have been dealing with a deadbeat client who won’t pay.
Unfortunately, scam clients are nothing new to the freelancing arena. And since the recession, the number has been on the rise.
Several weeks ago, my friend Abnera read my post on how I made my first $10,000 online and immediately contacted me.
Of course she has always know that I freelance part-time on Upwork and make money doing it.
However, until that time, she had never been keen to learn more about my experiences as a freelancer.
So we started talking and ended the discussion by agreeing that come April 20, 2013 she would begin her freelancing journey. I offered to coach her through the process.
So obviously I recommended UpWork since I’m more familiar with it and walked her through the nitty gritties.
In no time, her profile was up and she started applying for jobs.
A couple of days later, I received another phone call from Abnera.
She wanted to meet me.
Based on the level of excitement in her voice and the urgency with which she wanted to meet me, I could tell that she was burning to share with me some good news.
So we set up a date and my guess was right. She had just landed her first UpWork assignment.
So, before beginning the assignment, Abnera thought it wise to share the details of her first gig with me as her coach sort of to get my “sign off” as I have experience having been at it for 3 years plus.
Of course I had also warned her of scam employers and she didn’t want to be a victim.
Unfortunately, what Abnera thought was a lucrative gig turned out to be a sham
Based on my years of experience freelancing on UpWork, I was able to pin-point the red flags in good time before Abnera burned her fingers.
However, as a new freelancer it is no easy task differentiating the wheat from the chaff. So below are 5 red flags I noticed about the job:
What's Covered in This Article
Unlimited Number of Hours Per Week
When you freelance on UpWork, an employer can hire you either 1) on an hourly basis; or 2) on a fixed term contract.
If hired on an hourly basis, the employer has the option to set a limit to the number of hours you can work per week, or leave the option as unlimited.
The maximum hours a contractor can work per week varies from employer to employer and is dependent on various factors.
Usually it’s based on the nature of the task at hand, the freelancers’ UpWork track record, individual employers’ flexibility, among other factors.
In rare circumstances though, you will find an employer or two who will leave this option as unlimited. This is atypical especially when the employer is new and is dealing with a new UpWork contractor.
However, this is not to say that all unlimited hourly contracts are a scam. Personally, I currently have several assignments where this is the case.
But this is understandable bearing my 5 star UpWork rating and 800+ hours worked.
What I’m saying is that as a freelancer, you should watch out for such details and do your due diligence. Not all that glitters is gold.
Abner’s contract was unlimited hours per week and we became suspicious. On digging further, we realized that…
The Employer Payment Details Not Verified
Verified Payment Method
Before you begin any UpWork assignment, confirm that the employer’s payment method is verified.
And how do you do that? Simple.
At the bottom of the job posting, check for this green shade on the $ sign.
If the client has hired you on an unlimited contract and their payment method is unverified, most probably it’s a sham.
On further analysis, I realized that there were several other contractors that this particular employer was probably shamming because…
Several Other Contractors Hired To Perform Similar Task
Check how many other freelancers have been hired to perform the same task.
More often than not, you will find that more than one contractor has been hired to perform a task similar to yours.
This is more common especially for routine tasks such as data entry.
Another puzzling mystery about the entire gig was that…
The Payment Per Hour Was Ridiculously High
And no, I am not saying that you should charge low fees for your services.
What I am saying is that there should be some proportionality between service offered and pay.
This particular employer offered Abnera an abnormally “high” hourly pay for the kind of routine tasks she was going to do. This coupled with the unlimited weekly limit was another red flag.
Click here to learn how to charge for your freelancing services.
By the time we got to this point in our analysis of this gig, I was almost certain that Abnera’s greatest excitement was about to turn into her greatest disappointment. Being the devil’s advocate in this situation, I advised Abnera to contact the employer and politely raise the above concerns that we had just noted.
The Employer Never Responded Back
An employer not responding to communication is not a good sign.
But we still decided to go ahead and give him the benefit of the doubt.
So I advised Abnera to deliver 2 hours’ work for the week and that should he not pay, then we can make an ultimate decision.
You guessed right…
There Was No Payment For Work Done
On UpWork, when a freelancer is working on an hourly job, while logged on to the team application, the application records time worked and bills the employer real-time.
However, the employer’s credit card gets billed only if their payment method is UpWork verified.
Additionally, the UpWork work week ends on Monday when all the week’s work is aggregated in preparation for payment.
At this point, any money earned on hourly jobs is held in an “escrow account” for 10 days during which neither the client nor the contractor can access it.
This is in an effort to give the employer time to verify that whatever was billed was actually work done. It also gives the two parties time to sort out any potential disputes that may have arisen as a result of work done.
Thereafter, on the Wednesday of the following week, if the employer raises no disputes, the money moves from escrow and is available on the freelancer/contractor’s UpWork wallet to withdraw using a method of their choosing.
As at the writing of this post, the employer’s payment method has not been verified, the employer has never contacted Abnera, and has never received payment for the two hours of work done.
This was the final nail on the coffin. I advised Abnera to end the contract and move on.
On looking further, I also discovered that …
The Client Had Initiated the Job Interview
In UpWork, either the freelancer applies for a job or the client initiates the interview by inviting a freelancer to respond to their posting.
While a client initiating the first contact does not necessarily make a client suspicious, it calls for a pro-active approach to the matter.
Most genuine clients usually would make the initial contact for reasons such as the need to attract only experienced freelancers with a verified UpWork rating, freelancers that posses a special skill required for a particular job, need to weed out unqualified applicants and hasten the hiring process, and such similar reasons.
However, when a client approaches you as a newbie and has qualifications like those already described below, again, perform due diligence.
Bonus for Abnera
Although Abnera lost 2 hours of work, she tells me she’s glad she went through this experience sooner rather than later on her freelancing journey.
She’s wiser today and just last week landed a long-term article writing job. And NO, it is not a scam.
Have you had your fingers burned in your freelancing career?
What did you learn from the experience?
Are you more pro-active in your approach?
What are you doing to prevent a repeat?
Share with us in the comments section below…
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