This probably goes for all the bidding sites, but so far I’ve only noticed it on Elance and GetAFreelancer (or just “Freelancer”, as it is now known).
The scam begins with a posting that’s nicely paid: in this case it was a $3k budget with articles paid at $15 a pop.
Everyone bids.
A private message then appears for the bidders, reading something like this:
“I think we can work together. Our company uses the facilities at somesite.com, where the full job details are posted. If you’re not already a member, please use the following URL [somesite.com/referral] – membership is free by referral, so you won’t have to pay the usual setup costs. Don’t forget to upload a photo and educational background (there’s strict manual moderation and we wouldn’t want you to be removed).”
And guess what? Yup, there’s no company or job. It’s just someone who took a job on the bidding site to get “real referrals” to the membership site in question. Congratulations, you just earned a dishonest freelancer a few extra cents.
Thankfully, I saw this one coming and didn’t register. The giveaway was “strict manual moderation” on a site claiming to have 5 million members. Now that’s a full-time job!
Remember the Hill Street Blues line: “Be careful out there.”
Update: The project in question has now been cancelled by the dubious owner. I’ll take that as confirmation that it was a fake. The site scamming for members (via a third-party, perhaps) was VK.com – be warned.
I don’t usually do this sort of post, but this is exceptionally bad news. I wanted to point everyone to a particularly frightening aspect of the new Google search that includes real-time results from Twitter (which, in itself, is a horrific thought).
Everyone concerned by spam – and particularly parents of vulnerable children – should read this now. The predatorial aspect alone is enough to make a person’s blood run cold.
Google Enables Real-Time Spam And More on Outspoken Media.
Quotes and proverbs have been driving me mad for the last couple of days. For no apparent reason, it seems that well over half the people I follow on Twitter and other social networks have decided to suddenly begin spouting well-known phrases from… well, wherever. Pet hate. Grrr.
Maybe it’s because Christmas is coming. Maybe all my online friends are drunk at the same time. Maybe they’ve run out of things to say. Or maybe it’s an alien mind-control method, designed to remove any possibility of logical thought from the human species.
I thought you might like to see some of the gibberish I’ve noticed:
