Hello
I am by nature a very docile human being and do not write such posts normally but the torture that I have suffered at the hands of Freelancer.com has annoyed me enough to speak out against this harassment and to speak out against this self-proclaimed ‘World’s Largest Outsourcing Marketplace’
I have been a member of this site since November 2012 and have been successful in getting great reviews and ratings (5.0 which is maximum on this site) and a repeat hire of 50%.
Screenshot of Repeat Hire Rate and 5.0 reviews
I could waste the time on how I came across the site and how it was a good gig till the time it all turned into a horrible nightmare, but I will rather focus on the issues that I have faced on the site and what I think can be done to prevent this site from scamming other users out of their hard-earned money. I will enlist all the red flags which I found on the site which show carelessness on the part of business owners and potential pitfalls for fellow freelancers. However, before I begin to enlist the minor red flags, I want to draw attention of the entire world and especially the Australian Government to the scams which I have suffered from at the hand of this Scam website.
As I stated above, I have been a member of this site since November 2012 and I have earned good reviews on this site. This growing reputation and stellar reviews (Reviews Screenshot) helped me in landing two high value projects, one for $ 5000 (Translation of 250 pages from Spanish to English) and another for $ 7500 (Sending out business emails to Top Executives for a Business Consultancy Firm), with my account balance by Christmas 2012 having a net balance of $ 1500. After the initial bid and customized samples being provided as per their requests, both the projects were awarded to me and a 100 % milestone payment was created for each. Yes, it was a happy Christmas and the new year looked promising with both the projects scheduled to end on January 22nd and 25th 2013 respectively. The acceptance of the projects had already caused a debit of $ 1250 as commission charged by Freelancer.com, even before the milestones had been released.
The projects were completed on time and budget. The payment of both the projects was remitted by 28th January, 2013 and the payment was credited to my account as well. I was ecstatic. It is not every day that you earn $ 12,500 within one month on a platform, you are relatively new to. I had planned to withdraw the money as soon as I completed one more project which I had been awarded towards the end of the aforementioned projects.
The project was a $ 10 repeat hire project by a previous employer with the username “nancysaumya” which had been discussed via email. It was a one page translation from Spanish to English and I had been provided the files already via emails. I requested the employer to create a project on freelancer which she graciously did. I mailed the file and the milestone was released soon after.
Within a short time, I received a mail from the freelancer.com staff that my account had been limited due to security reasons, pending which I would be unable to withdraw or transfer funds from my account.
I was asked to provide a Government Issued Identity document, a residential proof as well as a recent photograph of mine which was supposed to be taken in a manner similar to convicts in my country and answer some questions to elaborate more on the project which I had done for nancysaumya.
My $ 14000 were at stake, I had no option but to comply. I complied. Not once but three times and every time I got the standard request to resubmit scans of a different id every time with each mail ending with a ‘We look forward to your cooperation and understanding’.
And today when I logged in to my account on the site, I saw to my horror that my account balance has been reduced to $ 99 with both of the previous two projects declared invalid and the accounts of both those employers blocked. Neither of the employers, on being contacted via email, have had their money refunded by the site, which means that the money is still with the site.
I am at a loss of words, in deep psychological shock and feeling the physical side effects as well (my hands shake and I have cardiac palpitation); not to even mention the financial setback I have received due to this entire problem. Some one please tell me what to do about this scam website. I want my money and I want me revenge. Most of all, I want to ensure that this website cannot do this to anyone else ever again in the future.
I invite every one to share any similar stories they may have about this site or any other similar website via comments. All comments are vetted so please do not spam.
For more on Freelancer.com Scam, please check –
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