Freelancer

Answer: It is a PR platform that enables scammers to appear legitimate or verified. Freelancer doesn't care. They get a sizeable commission no matter if the posting is legitimate or not. Example: A fake ebook listing. Needs author to write 50000 words for US$ 2000. Unwitting freelancer bids and is 'awarded project' with message saying hurry up and accept. Once accepted, freelancer takes 'project fee' while you get tied up in their help callcenter trying to recoup not only the fee but potentially the fake employer gleaned from you using their platform. This site will be in the news soon. Trust me.

Answer: Hi Dejan. This happened to me in 2014, I lost a lot of money too, I withdrew the money on a Wednesday after the client had paid me $1000 in full. Then the next day, Thursday, I got a message that my withdrawal request was cancelled and the money reversed back to employer. My account was suspended and when I asked why, I was told that the employer looked like he was fraudulent and that the money might be fraud. Up to date, I am still bitter, angry and sad over that $1000 but I never got it back and Freelancer closed the person's account and that was that. So I hope this answers some of your questions and I am deeply sorry for your loss after such hard work. All the best

Answer: Freelancer.com focused on employer only, they just want as many employer and project as they can regardless of their country, verification status and deposits. However all the restriction is for employee. This is the reason Freelancer didn't stop them to post project without deposit. Almost 90% projects are fake (either posted by freelancer itself or fake/fraud employers). You have to be careful. Keep following things in mind will prevent you from fraud much. 1. Don't work for Employers from India/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka/Nigeria/Israel 2. Don't work for Employers whose name looks like Indian 3. Once the project is awarded to you, don't accept it unless the employer created initial milestone. Wait for at least 12 hours after milestone creation then accept it. 4. Ask for release step by step, don't work on next milestone unless previous is not released 5. Withdraw money from freelancer as fast as you can.

Answer: You can't say its fake but at the same time you can't just trust it fully. My point here is: people do get things done for the price but when it comes to money/payment, you can not trust freelancer. Sometimes it gets reversed from your account and you won't even get a satisfactory reason for it. I suffered a loss of 900 USD. All I get to hear that employer had some account issues and we can not disclose this any further. If you looking to work as a freelancer, go odesk or upwork and any other site first and then freelancer.com. Small incident: I worked for a client, designed the logo got the parent for it. Next day when looged in, my account showed negative balance ( payment reversed). Support: employer have acc. Issues Client: never came back or responded to any mails. Result: I worked and still in debt.

Answer: Agree, do not use credit card details - freelancer is a terrible organisation when it comes to finances - they just debit your card at will, no warning, no opportunity to review the transaction, no notification of the charge - you just find out once you get your bank statement. Be very, very wary of this company - not saying their dodgy, BUT they are very devious when it comes to transactions. I think their motto is - "debit any time, just don't tell them and they wont complain"

Answer: Good afternoon Rostyslav, unfortunately this has happened to most users of Freelancer including people who have been awarded projects. Ensure that you do not start any work or event accept a project until the following criteria have been met: 1. Project awarded 2. Initial milestone/deposit created 3. Client agrees to release the first payment immediately after you accepting the project. If they are unable to do this, tell then politely that you are unwilling to start on the project and keep looking for honest, legitimate clients. Be careful at all time on this website, even if you do vey thing by the book and the client still doesn't pay, the Freelancer support team will not help you. It is left to you to contact the client and chase the payment even of they delete their account.