A Common Freelance Writing Scam
If you use forums such as Digital Point to find freelance writing work, make sure that you watch out for scams. This is not to say that every buyer is a scammer, but there are quite a few that are. While I have written about this in the past, I never supplied any samples of “scam emails/private messages.” Well, this time things are different.
Check out this private message that I received at Digital Point last week:
We need over 300 Articles for our website,
But as a sample, we would like to have 1 article supplied to us for its validation, before work is given for whole 300 articles bunch.
We require an American Native, to write it and not an Englishman, as it will be targeted to Americans.
The topic of Sample article to be supplied is -
” Experian credit report ”
It should pass copy space, and have 800 - 1000 words.
If the article is passed by us, you will get order of whole 300 articles together. So we want an American Native to do this work for us.
You can read reference article to know what kind of work we are looking for :
Reference article -
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=787093
Work to be completed in less then 24 hours for this just 1 article, and rest full 300 bunch can take upto 1 month or less by you.
Reply me fast with your msn and sample article on topic above, so we can deal over.
Upon receiving this, I knew immediately that it was a scam. Not only did it read like a scam, but I noticed that the sender also forwarded the same message to four other writers. This is a common ploy in which the scammer asks for one free sample in exchange for bulk work in the future. Of course, they simply take the samples from each writer who falls prey, and then use those on their website or blog. In the end, they get solid content without paying a dime.
In order to keep things going, I sent a quick reply and waited. Sure enough, the scammer sent another private message. This time it said:
Hello
As mentioned, sample article will be checked so that we can provide you 300 article work.
We can maximum pay $ 1900 for the work, 60 % advance , rest after work.But for that your sample has to be approved by us, which should be -
The topic of Sample article to be supplied is -
” Experian credit report ”
It should pass copy space, and have 800 - 1000 words in american tone.
So send me sample article fast, as i am already counting on few people and will send advance to one who is fast.
Sample article is not included in 300 articles job, it is JUST SAMPLE work from you for us.
Thank You
As you can see, there are quite a few dishonest people lurking around these forums. And unfortunately, they are not just on forums. These scammers will also send you emails, and many times get the nerve to call on the phone.
To avoid being duped, make sure that you are very careful about any job you accept. And of course, never complete any work unless you get paid first!
February 11th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Digital Point is one of the dirtiest corners of the Internet.
That’s why I think I love it so much. It’s a three-ring circus or a car wreck you can’t stop staring at.
There’s some money to be made there though. If you’ve got a smart head on your shoulders you can get around there without getting scammed.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
[...] zzhang wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptExperian credit report ”. It should pass copy space, and have 800 - 1000 words. If the article is passed by us, you will get order of whole 300 articles together. So we want an American Native to do this work for us. … [...]
February 12th, 2008 at 7:06 am
I love these guys asking for whole letter samples. After all, why do freelance writers need to submit writing samples when they have their blogs for exactly this reason?
I never had to submit a single sample myself. All I do is point them to my blogs and if that isn’t enough to get the job, then nothing else will be.
It’s great you wrote this article though Chris since many newbies might not see through this scams.
Monika
February 12th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Thanks for the feedback guys and gals! It is very important for newbies to know that this sort of scam is out there…
February 12th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
For a publication that asks for native speakers to write their articles, his/her english isn’t so great him/herself!
February 14th, 2008 at 8:03 am
[...] A Common Freelance Writing Scam @ Chris Blogging. I am a fan of Digital Point, but not for getting work. Lots of the jobs are low-ball offers and the work being done is usually poor. Scams abound too as Chris notes in this post. [...]
February 19th, 2008 at 5:53 am
[...] use all the “free samples” and run with it on their websites/blogs. This is actually a common freelance writing scam which Chris talked about not so long [...]
July 25th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Are freelance scams common?
July 24th, 2010 at 2:58 am
I wrote 69 Articles. He didn’t send payment. I spend half of my day to write articles for him. After that, I wanted to withdraw from the team because I am feeling too burden. He initially said post up to 50 articles so that I can get payment. I have posted 39 articles in Zirkon and 30 articles in Kalti. He said it is not fair I didn’t finish 50 articles. But I have already written them. And He changed all the articles I wrote for him to be posted under username Giuseppe at his site shuttervoice.com. Later, he changed his username to Mike. Here is full URL which contain all the articles he stole from me. His username is socialwebexpert. I had given him a negative iTrader. http://www.shuttervoice.com/author/admin.
He seems to think that he is right in not paying. Shuttervoice.com is scam. He told me he refuse to send payment and have moved all the post to his Wordpress account Giuseppe. Previously, he did said that he didn’t want to pay me because my posts didn’t bring in any profit for his blog. It was the first day I made the posts and he said this. I didn’t know that my posts have to earn money. He owed me $113.