How to Spot a Scammer or Spam in Your Fiverr Inbox: A Handy Checklist

[hollarmheeit]

But sir, assuming the content list for here is not dictated in the info seen.

 

What can we do to know sir.

[imagination7413]

4 hours ago, hollarmheeit said:

But sir, assuming the content list for here is not dictated in the info seen. What can we do to know sir.

If it's not one of the obvious ones on this list, then there is no way to one-hundred-percent know for sure. For a scammer, the whole point is to not-get-caught. 

If you've gotten a DM that's making you suspicious, and you want another person's opinion on it, you have to share said message. Be sure to black-out the username, though.

In the end, though:

On 6/25/2023 at 9:42 AM, smashradio said:

Finally, use your common sense [...] If something doesn't feel right, be very careful. 

[rabihumakhan]

The timezone thingy is funny, and silly. On another forum where I'm a top-rated seller, I was contacted by an enterprise/corporate client. I was told they're from the US but their time was only one hour ahead of mine. I behaved very rudely and told them they're a Scammer; however, my bad, their time though seemed one hour ahead of me, I had pm and they had am. 😂. 

However, we made it to collaboration after an hour of 'funny fight'. And guess what, they are now my major client who buy monthly. 

[webholice]

I have received emails from four people who asked me to contact them via Telegram. They have also asked for my personal email address. However, when I refused to provide any information and suggested working through Fiverr, they stopped responding. Fortunately, Fiverr permanently removes such suspicious profiles.

[clauugaarcia_]

I just created my fiverr account and I am recieving a lot of inbox messages from people who have created their accounts in february (aka the last six days) and have no reviews or profile pictures. I know the ones with emojis are scammers but how can I identify the rest? 

I immediately got an inbox of someone sending me a pdf file with information and an email. It seemed legit but I still dont trust people here for some reason. Also I recieved an inbox of someone asking for help with a project but no more info. What should I do to proof they are legit?

[donnovan86]

14 hours ago, clauugaarcia_ said:

I know the ones with emojis are scammers

Not necessarily. There are different signs you should be looking out for:

• Scammers try to make you work for free, they ask for a free sample made using their guidelines, but never offer to pay for it.
• They encourage you to get in touch outside of Fiverr, which is not permitted and it will get you banned. They promise they will pay you more since they avoid fees, but obviously they just want free work.
• They will sometimes link you to another platform or website, trying to acquire your personal info.

These are only a few things that show you are dealing with a scammer. Honestly, any time people ask for free work saying they pay later, it's a good idea to avoid them. Same with sharing personal info or getting paid outside of the platform. Avoid those things... 

[clauugaarcia_]

3 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

Not necessarily. There are different signs you should be looking out for:

• Scammers try to make you work for free, they ask for a free sample made using their guidelines, but never offer to pay for it.
• They encourage you to get in touch outside of Fiverr, which is not permitted and it will get you banned. They promise they will pay you more since they avoid fees, but obviously they just want free work.
• They will sometimes link you to another platform or website, trying to acquire your personal info.

These are only a few things that show you are dealing with a scammer. Honestly, any time people ask for free work saying they pay later, it's a good idea to avoid them. Same with sharing personal info or getting paid outside of the platform. Avoid those things... 

Should I trust the ones who tell me to contact them on some weird telegram username?

[filipdevaere]

3 hours ago, clauugaarcia_ said:

Should I trust the ones who tell me to contact them on some weird telegram username?

No, they are scammers. They ask you to get in touch outside of Fiverr (Telegram), which is not permitted and it will get you banned.

Edited February 7 by filipdevaere

[puspojit_biswas]

I want to check the following things while I think the client is possibly a scammer.

• Username of the client: Is it a meaningful username or just some random letters?
• Account creation date and previous project reviews as a buyer: Is it a newly created buyer profile? What are the reviews about him as a buyer?
• Time zone: Is the buyer in the same time zone mentioned in the location?
• High-price offer for small tasks: Is the client offering a high price for a small task?
• Contact outside Fiverr: Is the buyer asking for contact outside Fiverr?
• Suspicious project type: Is the buyer asking for the projects against Fiverr's TOS?
• Low project description and asking for clicking a link or downloading file: Is the buyer not providing details of the projects and asking to click a link to check the project details or download a fake project details file? Never click any link or download such files before malware scanning. 

However, Fiverr chat intelligence monitors the chats very effectively. If it detects any suspicious chats, it automatically marks the chat or user as spam and closes the chat. We can also report and mark a chat as spam and block the buyer if we find the buyer is suspicious. 

[faisaltushar]

Most of the time scammers will provide you suspicious links that doesn't have SSL certificate. Also, their profile most of the time is new and they don't have any track record of placing orders. They will also offer you more price for a project than expected. 

[zahir_is_here]

 

 

From my experience for past few days I had noticed some signs that I want to share here, so that you can be safe from this scammers. 

 

2. They will offer you a huge amount of money. Like they will offer you 2000 USD for a job which is cost around 20 dollar maximum. So don't fall for them. Money is important but you have to be patient.

3. Time zone. before excitement just say " Hello! how may I help you ? " Then care fully look into the buyers time zone. if it looks suspicious then immediately say generic message like  " Hello! thanks for your reply, how may I help you ? "

4. Check their previous rating score.

5. Also check when they created their account.

6. Check the spelling of their name.

7. Never ever click to any link. I repeat Never ever. Be smart and scan any kind of link doc, pdf, or any file through some virus scanner.

8. Don't deal any customer who wants to connect to you via Telegram or other link plat form. 

9.  There is a special kind of scammers who will message you like hi hello and they will say, they want to complete a job from you. then they will go offline. Whereas you are waiting patiently but that buyer won't come. After a day to days letter they will again come to your chat box and say something which is not meaningful at all. they are like killing your times. 

 

Share all of your experience here 🙂 Have a good day.

[vibronx]

And most of the fake sellers are from another country that I won't mention here. 

[modegrau]

It’s a shame Fiverr has no user validation or KYC process especially in a space where a lot of the products that are provided, are digital or downloaded. They tell the user everything not to do but at the end of the day the platform is enabling a place for anonymous hackers and Trojan horses.

[edc_lab]

Good advice here, especially the one related to links and files.
To sum it up, if an offer is too good to be true, 99% of the time is a scam (well, I would say 100% actually).

[dancalado]

Hello everyone.

I just started my first gig on Fiverr, some 5 hours ago, and already received messages from 6 different people (in all likelihood, all scammers).

All of them are on Fiverr since this very month, Feb of 2024, and have 0 ratings. And all but one wants to be contacted via Telegram.

Is this how it's supposed to be here on Fiverr? Because if so, after a while, everytime I receive a message, I'll have little interest in checking it out, always assuming it's not a real buyer. 

Can something be done about this?

Can somebody please explain to me why almost all of them want contact via Telegram?

Thanks and cheers to the community.

 

[mafizhazra]

⁤I've encountered a concerning issue on Fiverr where I've received a total of 8 messages from potential scammers. ⁤⁤They've instructed me to join Telegram, which seems suspicious. ⁤⁤

[coderjibon]

Wow, thank you for this post. There is a lot of information here. I am going to bookmark it and each day try to master one of the points  I skipped when setting up my seller account). I came on to Fiverr as a buyer years ago and just now have transitioned to the seller. I'm determined to make this work as my family is counting on it. Time will tell as you said and I do believe as I put in more time to become familiar with selling on Fiverr, I will only be able to grow. 

Thanks again! This is bookmarked for my daily read 🙂 

Edited March 5 by coderjibon

[bishopmusiq]

I agree with your points. I almost fell victim to one of those scammers on Fiverr a while ago. There is this sense of urgency that he was pushing on me with a bulk load of work, and he won't place an order until all the work is done. Just empty promises! LOL! I'm glad i was sensitive enough to discern he was a scammer.

[desmond_aubery]

19 hours ago, creativecolumn said:

#8 - 🚩 Frequent changes to project scope or requirements

This is a common red flag. While some adjustments are expected during the course of a project, excessive changes can disrupt workflow, cause delays, and lead to misunderstandings. It's important for freelancers to establish clear boundaries and communicate effectively to manage scope changes effectively.

 

#9 - 🚩 Requesting excessive revisions beyond the scope of the initial agreement

Another warning sign is when buyers request excessive revisions that go beyond the scope of the initial agreement. While revisions are a standard part of the process, continuous requests for significant changes can lead to scope creep, delays, and dissatisfaction for both parties.

 

My first two clients had a habit of trying this.

I have typically included the final agreed project scope of supply before order placement, then in the project itself, immediately after order placement.

I quote against a major scope change as this is not a 'revision', but an 'extra' to the original scope. Over the course of my Engineering career I made certain to correctly define the project scope and scope of supply, before proceeding. I reflect this back to the client when they attempt scope creep.

If the client still tries to be unreasonable, I offer an elevated quote for the changes - while all the while being as professional as possible.

[brandprada]

Thank you for highlighting this as I am a newbie here and experienced this in an hour of setting up my gig/profile. Truly helps to have a safe community to guide each other. Appreciate it. Way to go! 

[jason_coloso]

On 2/13/2024 at 9:25 AM, dancalado said:

Hello everyone.

I just started my first gig on Fiverr, some 5 hours ago, and already received messages from 6 different people (in all likelihood, all scammers).

All of them are on Fiverr since this very month, Feb of 2024, and have 0 ratings. And all but one wants to be contacted via Telegram.

Is this how it's supposed to be here on Fiverr? Because if so, after a while, everytime I receive a message, I'll have little interest in checking it out, always assuming it's not a real buyer. 

Can something be done about this?

Can somebody please explain to me why almost all of them want contact via Telegram?

Thanks and cheers to the community.

 

Wife was pretty shocked to see what Fiverr has become.  Years ago when she did gigs here (She went offline a long time ago due to the no moonlighting policy in her company) the only issue she had were clients who nitpicked her work, but still paid her right anyway.  
 

[wp_motion]

Is there any method to reduce the amount of scams/spam?

 

[imagination7413]

8 hours ago, wp_motion said:

Is there any method to reduce the amount of scams/spam?

Not by us users. It's Fiverr's filters that are letting them through. All we can do is report them.

[martinacaraffa]

Hi! I'm a new freelancer. I've been taking Fiverr seriously for like a month, and I received my first bigger order, yay! 

I'll go straight to the point: Is it possible as a Fiverr seller to get scammed by a buyer? 

The client in question ordered 8 hours of work for $80 from my virtual assistance gig, as he needs me to manually copy into an Excel sheet a few thousand lines of data. He seems like a great guy, we had great communication and everything went really well so far, I even sent him a screenshot of the first few lines of the document to know if he liked the structure I had used and if I could keep going like that, and he said he loved it! I have not seen any red flags. However, as I am already like 4 hours into the project and I am pouring my heart and soul into it to make sure he is happy with the results, I am starting to get some intrusive throughts in the back of my head saying like "what if once you're done and deliver the document he cancels the order and runs away with your work for free?". He really seems like a genuinely nice person that would not just steal my work and run, however my anxiety is telling me that it could maybe potentially be an option, as I have read on Quora and Reddit of sellers who have had this experience.

Do you have any advice? I really don't think it will be the case for me for this specific order, but did you guys have any bad experience where the client did not pay and ran with your work? Any tips on red flags to potentially look out for in general when talking to clients and taking orders? This will be helpful in general, as I might run into this stuff in the future (I think everyone does at least once in their lifetime). I already know about scammers that try to lure you off the platform or that try to have you literally pay, but have you ever been scammed like on the platform and with the client placing a legit order?

[priyank_mod]

4 minutes ago, martinacaraffa said:

Do you have any advice? I really don't think it will be the case for me for this specific order, but did you guys have any bad experience where the client did not pay and ran with your work? Any tips on red flags to potentially look out for in general when talking to clients and taking orders?