Scams and scammy intent are everywhere, here’s a story by an online freelancer over at Upwork:

The freelancer got an invite to work for a reputable US-based company. The role is for a data entry task an the title is Admin Clerk. Skill requirement is accuracy, fast typing, and proficiency in the English language. The offer was very generous, $30 and hour, amazing! Then that was when everything went downward spiral.

The interview went on over chat, the interviewer was claiming to be a graduate of a US university. Ironically, there were obvious grammatical errors – especially on the use of “a” and “an”. The freelancer felt that there was something fishy. The offer was too good to be true BUT the interviewer claimed to be a US national and a university graduate but there were glaring grammar errors.

Here comes the interesting part, the freelancer passed the interview and is now being endorsed for training. But first, they need to get her mailing address so they can send a company-commissioned laptop. Will be shipped overnight, laptop is paid for the company. Wow! Felt like she hit the jackpot.

But wait, for her to be start the training the laptop should be installed with Quickbooks and Microsoft Office 2014. The freelancer should pay for the licenses of the software totaling $212 as an investment since she’ll be making $30 an hour. Scam confirmed. She offered to buy the license herself and send the license codes to the interviewer but they declined. Scam confirmed.

They have an authorized provider for the software, she’ll have to send them thru bank deposit or Western Union money transfer – she said “Hello, this is 2016!” There is Paypal or credit card payment online. Scam confirmed again.

This was reported to Upwork but the freelancer wanted to share this again because for sure they are preying on a lot of people and hopefully no one gets scammed.

Please share this to your online freelancer friends as a warning! Based on a survey, a freelancer at Upwork.com or Freelancer.com submits a proposal between 15 to 20 times before getting an offer thus they are vulnerable to scams like this.

Moral of the story – when it’s too good to be true an offer, it’s scam.

There are no shortcuts in life.