My first message- scam

[bethanybryn]

Hello all,
I created my Fiverr account and created my first gig only yesterday. I was surprised and happy to see that I had a message today hoping it would be an order I could help with. However, it was somebody who sent me a google document and when I opened it, it was asking me to create a US Upwork account for him/her and I would be paid $150 monthly for this. The person was from China. I told him that I could not help him and then received a quick message saying I may be violating terms and conditions after sending my response. So because I’m new here, I have a couple of questions…
1.) what did I do to cause a flag on the terms and conditions?
2. ) is it normal to receive these types of messages? (is it possible that they are targeting new accounts because we don’t know better?) - I don’t want this to discourage me from staying on Fiverr but I’m obviously quite disappointed.
3.) what is the best way to handle these things?

[equityconsul]

Hi Beth,

I just started a few weeks ago. I also received a few messages. I knew these were spam. The terms of service is prompted on lots of key words about contacting outside and much more. So it was automated. You didn’t do anything wrong to the best of my knowledge. I just hit report or the spam button and within a day I can see the user on message history disappear (meaning their account is deleted/banned).

I hope I was of some help. Good luck!

Regards,
Ryan

[imagination7413]

In answer to your other question, yes, this is sadly very common. Scammers target new sellers for exactly this reason. The filter isn’t perfect and you’re likely to get more along this same vein. Here is a helpful thread that can give you a few more signs to look out for.

They want to talk outside of fiverr not only is it against the rules and you have to run the risk of getting banned, any professional seller or company would not break the set TOS. It is a lot easier for scammers to get your personal info after they have your email, number, or social media account, and you put yourself in danger. You are a new seller It makes sense that scammers would prey on new sellers, as they are inexperienced, often desperate for sales, and don’t know how to differentia…

[bethanybryn]

Hi Beth,

I just started a few weeks ago. I also received a few messages. I knew these were spam. The terms of service is prompted on lots of key words about contacting outside and much more. So it was automated. You didn’t do anything wrong to the best of my knowledge. I just hit report or the spam button and within a day I can see the user on message history disappear (meaning their account is deleted/banned).

I hope I was of some help. Good luck!

Regards,

Ryan

Thank you Ryan! I noticed I had another message of the same type from a different user. I’m glad to hear that I didn’t do anything wrong as I certainly didn’t think that I had.

[bethanybryn]

In answer to your other question, yes, this is sadly very common. Scammers target new sellers for exactly this reason. The filter isn’t perfect and you’re likely to get more along this same vein. Here is a helpful thread that can give you a few more signs to look out for.

They want to talk outside of fiverr not only is it against the rules and you have to run the risk of getting banned, any professional seller or company would not break the set TOS. It is a lot easier for scammers to get your personal info after they have your email, number, or social media account, and you put yourself in danger. You are a new seller It makes sense that scammers would prey on new sellers, as they are inexperienced, often desperate for sales, and don’t know how to differentia…

Thank you so much for this helpful information. It’s really sad that we have to deal with this.