Reblogged from Writer Beware®: The Blog
Writer Beware is a blog mainly aimed at writers of fiction, but its latest post by Victoria Strauss is a chilling warning for both freelance copywriters and anyone who hires them to watch out for scams.
I’m reblogging the piece in its entirety, but I’d recommend anyone concerned about this to read the original blog too, where there’s always a lively discussion in the comments.
Scam Warnings For Freelancers
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware
Identity Theft
This week, freelance writer Heather Boerner (who has published with such well-known venues as The Atlantic and The Washington Post) alerted me to her experience with a scammer.
Heather discovered the scam when she was contacted, out of the blue, by an individual who claimed to have hired her through a freelance jobs bidding website called oDesk. From an article about the scam by one of Heather’s colleagues, Paul Raeburn:
[Heather] quickly realized that she had been the victim of identity theft. Somebody–a fake Heather–had gone to Boerner’s website, copied her resume, downloaded her photo, linked to her website, and created an oDesk account offering services as a writer….
“It’s an elaborate scheme. It’s really bizarre,” said Boerner, who has alerted some of her colleagues…”The guy who notified me of this said he had hired Fake Heather to do some writing. Fake Heather then hired people to do the writing for her [or him].” The person who notified Boerner said he gave Fake Heather $1,000.
Heather isn’t the only one who has been victimized in this way. Freelancer Carol Tice encountered the same scam (and possibly, the same scammer). From Raeburn’s article:
[Tice] received an email from someone wanting to know if Tice wanted to continue the writing project they were working on. “I assured her that I had never started article writing for her, and certainly wasn’t going to continue,” Tice wrote in a blog post. “I didn’t even have any idea what topics she was having articles written about!”
As was the case with Fake Heather, Fake Carol set up a Skype account outside the U.S. (in London), and used Tice’s name, photo, and website to connect with clients on a freelancers’ website (in this case, Elance).
It’s not clear whether this is a new trend in scams, or one person’s ripoff scheme. But if you post your resume on bidding sites, it’s something to be aware of.
How can you protect yourself? Some suggestions from freelancer Barbara A. Tyler:
♦ I strongly recommend that writers Google themselves on a regular basis. That can provide the first tip-off that someone is pretending to be you.
♦ Pay attention to any emails you get that seem off-kilter for whatever reason and investigate them like Carol did.
♦ From the flip side… if you get work through bidding sites (any bidding site, not just Elance) always, always, always do as much research as you can into the person hiring you.
Free Samples
This is not a new scam–in fact, it’s a very old one. But I was reminded of it this week when a freelancer forwarded me this email she received when she responded to an ad:
Thank you for your interest in the Freelance Creative Copywriter role we recently posted. We reviewed lots of responses and based on your background/experience we have decided to move you to the next step in the process.
The next step in the process involves completing the attached assignment. Please read the background information and then put together your copy. We ask that you return your completed assignment to me by Monday, November 10th.
This will help us gauge your writing skills and abilities as it relates to meeting our needs and expectations.
Now, this “next step” may simply have the company’s cheap-ass way of auditioning writers naive enough not to know that pro freelancers don’t provide free samples (they may agree to write test pieces to see if they’re a good fit, but not without compensation). Not precisely a scam, though certainly a scumbag move.
But it may also have been a sleazy outfit’s attempt to obtain free content–in which case the writer, having completed the “assignment,” would get the brushoff and later on discover that her copy had been used on the company’s website or elsewhere online, without attribution. (In fact, this is something that can happen even if you do get paid.)
Wisely, the freelancer decided to blow the company off. It can’t be said too often: always carefully research any job you’re offered or are solicited for. Google is your friend. And listen to your gut. If something seems off, don’t ignore it.