How to Spot Fraudulent Freelance Writing Jobs Online on Popular Sites Like Craigslist

If you’re new to freelance writing, not only can it be difficult to tell a legitimate job from a scam, it can also be downright impossible. This is because online freelance writing job scams are evolving. Like all criminals, the bastards behind them evolve as more and more people catch up with their methods. So how can you protect yourself? How to avoid being taken advantage of? Here are three ways to do it.

1. Find the contact information: Not only should you look for it, but you should try to communicate with the company through the methods it provides.

While many companies post anonymously on sites like Craigslist to avoid being bombarded by job applicants, sometimes a legitimate company will contact you to at least acknowledge receipt of your materials upon request.

Scam companies, on the other hand, can contact you with “deals”, for example, sign up on our membership site for just $ 2.95 / month; sign up to receive job opportunities directly to your inbox for just $ 1.95 / mo. Once they have access to your account, they will generally debit your account between $ 40 and $ 97 per month or more, every month.

2. Look for details: Speaking of submitting materials, scam companies operate at both ends of the spectrum: they will either ask you for specific things up front or they will ask very little of you. It all depends on what your scam is.

Some want free content, so they can request “original” writing samples; Others want money, so they will only ask you to submit specific (scant) information so they can get your contact information and spam you later with their fraudulent offers.

3. Mass content requests: If a company contacts you with a large content order and you don’t pay a certain percentage up front, it’s probably a scam. Your game is to get free content.

I am an SEO writer. One day, I received an email from a company that wanted 40 items. I don’t remember what it was on. They provided me with a list of keywords and asked me when I could complete the order. I said within 3 days and that we require a 50 percent deposit to get started. They resisted; I walked.

Many times, companies will say that they will pay you after you have completed a certain number of articles. You just never hear from them after they’ve delivered the initial content.

There are more ways to spot freelance writing job scams online, for example, if they ask you for money to get job opportunities or if they ask you to submit “original samples” without pay, and so on. Just do your due diligence and if it doesn’t suit you, for whatever reason, go for it. Don’t be convinced of something. Your subconscious is working here. Listen to it.