Scams in Freelancing – How to Identify One Right at the Beginning

Freelancing has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the biggest advantages is that you get to work when you want, and that you can work anytime during the day or the night, and in the longer run, you might make more on a financial front than a job. However, no job is without its disadvantages, and freelancing has its own disadvantages. One of the biggest disadvantages is the scamsters that are abundant in freelancing. It is very sad to say that scamsters exist in freelancing at every point. The one who takes money from you but does not deliver the work or the one who takes work from you but does not pay – both these aspects are part and parcel of the freelancing world.

However, there are some ways in which you can recognize a scam right at the beginning, when you do not have too much of a risk. Here are some of the concepts that you should keep in mind:

Too much work, too soon: If the person has given you too much of work at the get goes, and not paid you even a token amount up front. There are many chances that the person might just fly away with your work or your money, or both.

Paid for Working: Come to think of it, would you pay to work in a company in real time? If not, then why pay to work online? Of course, there are several websites that ask for an optional subscription, but then, you will rarely find a good work opportunity wanting you to pay money to work with them.

Insane timelines: Never, ever take work which has difficult timelines if you do not know the person for a while. The story of a person taking work on insane timelines does not always have a fairytale ending. There have been cases where people have taken work at insane timelines, given below par work and therefore not get paid for ‘bad work’, and cases where people have taken work at insane timelines, given the best of work, even taken in their friends for the work and then left without payment. Remember that in most cases, the only contact you have of a person is an email address. Therefore, very careful about what kind of work you take.

Payments: Payments are quite complicated in the freelancing world. If you are just beginning to work, you will have to just trust the person that they will pay you. However, once you have a good profile, you can always ask for a percentage of portions of the amount upfront.

These are some of the aspects that you should keep in mind while taking up freelancing work. Such and many other scams are carried out almost every day in the freelancing world. Just make sure that you do not fall for any of these traps and you will surely find freelancing to be a fun, easy and fast way to make money.

Mike Greaves is a self-made entrepreneur, a well known travel consultant and internet marketer. Over the years he has traveled across the world and has numerous writings credited to his name in many renowned publications. His areas of writing include travel experiences including reviews of best beach vacations and he has also gained expertise in areas of outsourcing, freelancing sites and freelancing.

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