Common Scams in Freelancing

[Jasmine]

If you are a freelancer working online, you might be, one way or the other, have been scammed. Common scams related to freelancing are:

Employer refusing to pay after the service or work is delivered

Employer disappearing after the service or work is delivered

Employer not paying full amount

Employer asking you to revise work multiple times

Interestingly not just employer, even the freelancers are scamming the employer. The common scams related to freelancers are:

Freelancer not delivering the work after receiving payment

Freelancer submit the same work to multiple clients

If you work on freelancing platforms, you can easily avoid most of the scams as there is a service that works as a medium between a freelancers and employer. However, once you start working independently, you as a freelancer will be at risk of not being paid, or if you are a client, you will be under the risk of not getting the job delivered.

Have you been scammed?

 

[Mika]

I have not been scammed by a client. That's because I work on freelancing platforms and when I apply for freelancing jobs I see if the client has a verified payment. I also do not apply for a random job, I check the employee profile, how many jobs he has completed, and what his track record is. I have also accepted freelancing contracts from complete stranger outside the freelancing platforms, however, I always use the Escrow service. I first ask the client to deposit money with escrow, and when escrow confirms to me that it has secured the payment submit the work ad ask the client to release the payment. There has been no dispute so far. If you are new to freelancing, you might be overwhelmed to accept the job the moment it is offered to you, however, you should always do a background check and see if the client is genuine.