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> Upwork just banned all Russian accounts(Jews will be next, I think)
What the fuck, man?
Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
41–50 of 208 posts
Re: Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
#42Just wanted chime in with second a second anecdote that I was going to post.
We needed a Django developer. Put an ad on Upwork at the high end of the recommended salary range. The ad specified US Eligible worker for legal reasons.
Of the 10 or so applicants, seven flat out refused to appear on webcam so I decided to talk to the eighth.
This person claim to be in Seattle. Having lived there I asked them two relatively simple questions. First, can you see the space needle from where you’re sitting? Answer: Yes.
Second, what color is the bubbly music museum next door? Obviously, this is a trick given it’s multicolored. My candidate, who did not lack bravado, guesses white.
I get that being born into particular circumstances is luck of the draw. On the other hand there’s a reason that people are willing to pay more to hire US-based workers.
I believe this has become a general societal problem. People running so called two-sided marketplaces regularly fail to take responsibility for gaming by one side. I would further argue that Upwork has even more responsibility given the monitoring of and commission they take from an ongoing relationship.
The US probably has too many regulations - in my opinion - concerning immigrant workers; however, no temp agency could get away with what Upwork is doing without facing severe repercussions.
I’d like to see Upwork punished.
Re: Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
#43I ran into this a few years ago and wrote about my experience: https://mtlynch.io/upwork-scammer/ tl; dr - I caught an Upwork freelancer blatantly copying other freelancers profiles. I reported it to Upwork, who said they'd handle it but couldn't tell me the details I reached out to the freelancer's other clients to tell them the freelancer was a fraud, and they said Upwork had never notified them.
yea, Upwork said they can't disclose to me what action(s) they took "due to account privacy" You mean...the account privacy of someone pretending to be me?
20 years ago, someone stole my credit card information and bought some stuff as me. I'm in Michigan, and they sent a bed and mattress to Florida. I called the store first, asking about the charge. Verified some part of the card number, name the order was under, etc... I asked what address it was sent to. "We can't tell you that. Our privacy policy prevents that".
Me: "So... you're charging what is my credit card, you've verified my identity, you acknowledge this order was placed in my name, and you're happy to take my money, but you won't tell me where 'my' order was sent?"
Sears(!): "Yes, that's correct".
Called the bank... got a 'fraudulent charge' form faxed(!) to me, which I filled out and sent back same day.
Re: Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
#44I'm looking for advice on a similar issue. Somebody is impersonating me on dating sites and blackmailing women. They convince their victims to send nude photos, and then they threaten to send the photos to their families. The scammer (or scammers) use photos of me that used to be publicly available on social media. They also use my real name, presumably so that the victims see a legitimate LinkedIn profile when they…
Sorry to hear about that problem. Maybe you could put a warning about the impersonator on your LinkedIn bio.
Yep definitely, put it as the first thing in the bio so it hopefully gets indexed by search engines. Maybe even set up a website that ranks high for your name so you can warn others.
Re: Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
#45I'm looking for advice on a similar issue. Somebody is impersonating me on dating sites and blackmailing women. They convince their victims to send nude photos, and then they threaten to send the photos to their families. The scammer (or scammers) use photos of me that used to be publicly available on social media. They also use my real name, presumably so that the victims see a legitimate LinkedIn profile when they…
If you can prove you've suffered damages due to this (which maybe you can, if it affected your employment), you could sue John Doe, which would get you subpoena power against OKCupid.
You probably wouldn't be able to collect from the scammer (who is likely in another country), but I guarantee you'll get OKCupid's legal department's attention, and they might be able to put a stop to it.
The lawsuit would also create a paper trail that you can use to exonerate yourself in the future.
Sadly, this is unlikely to be the sort of case an attorney would take on contingency.
Re: Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
#46One simple way would be require video submission where you have to speak your name and mention that you have joined upwork as a freelancer. But then upwork would have to spend more money on validations. They probably don't care as much. I sometimes hire from upwork. My litmus test is simple. I want to talk to you for 5-10 mins on video. If you cannot show up or have issues doing a video meeting, I won't proceed. It m…
According to Upwork support, they do something like this before a contract is actually signed. But in my opinion that's way too late in the process - someone impersonating me could completely ruin my reputation before any contract is handed out
I did one gig on Upwork and at no point I went through a process like that. The client invited me to their Slack, we discussed some more then they accepted the proposal and I did the work. At no point I had to do a video verification step with Upwork itself.
Re: Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
#47How is upwork not liable for this? I imagine there is a cachet that comes with having profile on upwork that the people committing felony identity theft rely upon.
The law doesn’t apply to big companies in the US.
Re: Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
#48Just wanted chime in with second a second anecdote that I was going to post. We needed a Django developer. Put an ad on Upwork at the high end of the recommended salary range. The ad specified US Eligible worker for legal reasons. Of the 10 or so applicants, seven flat out refused to appear on webcam so I decided to talk to the eighth. This person claim to be in Seattle. Having lived there I asked them two relatively…
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Re: Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
#49I've been on the other side of this, hiring fake people. I'm actually going to stop using Upwork after almost 10 years. It's such a cesspool of fraud now that I can't figure out how to find the honest people. As an example, I recently hired someone who showed his face on video and had great communication skills. Next time we did a call, he had no video and sounded totally different. It turned out to be a subcontracto…
> It's such a cesspool of fraud now that I can't figure out how to find the honest people. now ? I've heard similar horror stories going back years. Perhaps you were lucky in that you got more positive than negative out of it earlier?
It's very possible I was lucky. I also only worked with people who were willing to appear on video, had long work history, and didn't do more than a single job at a time.
Recently I had thought that maybe prices had gone up, and I was just not paying enough for the honest, individual contractors, but even at $120+/hr, we were getting people misrepresenting their skills or trying to trick us with subcontractors.
Re: Tell HN: Upwork has an impersonation problem
#50I deleted my LinkedIn, it’s a source of information that the general public doesn’t need to see. I don’t want to broadcast my employment history to the world. I think the value of LinkedIn is diminishing and will continue to decline.
It's been around for 20 years or so, never had any real strong value, but they keep trying.
If I want to get in touch with someone I worked with ages ago, LinkedIn is still a good way, or even the only way. The value will decline if people stop adding contacts when they meet new people. Is that happening?