I received an email asking me how I avoid scam on freelance sites. So I thought I should do a post about that. The truth is these freelance sites have turned into something different. Back then, you almost got over 100% real projects. Today, some sites have gone crazy. You will almost get 50% of the jobs or projects being fake projects.
Below are my quick ways to avoid scam and fake projects on freelance sites
– Read the job poster's profile
The first thing I do is check the project owner's profile. Most of the time, “time wasters” can't take the time to add any valuable information on the profile pages. But, I also take in to consideration that some good clients don't have the time to work on their profile pages. That is when I go to the next step.
– Read the poster's reviews
One of the most useful features on freelance sites is the ability to write reviews and comments about the people you have worked with. The mistake freelancers normally make is not taking the time to manually read the reviews. Once they see that the client has over 10 reviews, they assume that is a genuine client. That is totally wrong and you don't want to do that. Some one may have 10 reviews but half of those are complaints. So, make sure you take time and manually check those reviews.
– Quality of the project description
Like in the profile pages, these fake project posters don't have the time to compose a proper project description. Read the description and only spend your time to bid or apply if it makes sense to you. If you are not sure, apply then wait for the reply.
– Reply from the project owner
After you have applied for the job, you can still get to know if a job is legit or not by the reply you get from the client. If the guy straight forward asks for your email, then think twice. They may just be gathering emails. The second thing they will do is send you to another page to find more details. While there are projects that will need you to get started off the freelance platform, a fake person may just be looking for traffic to their site.
Just follow this few tips; they will save you lots of time that you would have wasted writing proposals and bids. This is my quick way to avoid scam on freelance sites. In the comments area below let me know what you think, and what you do to stay away from scammers.
