I was Google-ing around about stuff, and I found this post…
I wanted to order some services through the Freelancer. I deposited more than $1500, and after that freelancer has suspended my account.
They required a scanned copy of my passport. I have contacted them in Live chat and asked to explain why they have stolen my money. They said that this information is confidential. Then I asked them to provide me their certificate of registration to make sure they are serious company and my documents will not be used in fraudulent purposes. They have refused to do it and started to blackmail me that will not return my money. Finally I have sent them my passport.
The next day I have received a message that my passport is accepted, but they also need a photo of myself holding a piece of paper with the verification word and my username on it!!!!!!!
I have contacted their supervisor and asked him why they require my personal information and who gave them the right to make verifications. He has answered me using a template that they can’t share the reason of suspension, and the right to require personal information is GIVEN TO THEM BY THEIR TERMS OF SERVICES!!!! How is it, huh? I have asked him whether their Terms of Services have the constitutional power, after that he has started to blackmail me again they they will never unblock my account.
I asked him how many verifications are they going to make, and he has promised that this is the last one. I have done the necessary photo and uploaded it.
The next day I have opened My Account and have seen… that they even haven’t responded me!!!!!!!!!!!! I have contacted them again and asked what’s the matter. They have said that they also need my photo with the verification word on paper and my passport in the hand! I have said that yesterday I was promised that previous photo will be the last proof they require from me, they told this is not true. Then I asked them why have they lied me, and they have told me that they simply don’t take responsibility for the words of other support agents!!! Then I required to invite the supervisor I talked to the previous day, but the support agent has refused to do it and left the chat.
I have contacted their support again and asked them whether they have the document that allows them to collect personal information of their customers. They have said “Yes, we have it!”. Then I asked them to provide me a scanned copy of it. The support agent has answered using a template that this document is confidential in nature and not for public disclosure. I have said that THE SCANNED PASSPORT is a confident document, same as the photoes of its owner that is holding it in the hand. Also I have said that this kind of documents is not confidential, and if they refuse to provide it, it means they DON’T HAVE IT AT ALL!! After that support agent has stopped responding at all and some minutes later left the chat conversation without any explanations.
I have sent them the photo they required again, but have decided that this will be the last document I send to them. Also I have mentioned in the description that in case my account is not reactivated within 24 hours, i will have to report a problem to PayPal.
How do you think, what have I seen the next morning? They have refunded money!!!
Now it is obvious for me that they simply TRIED TO STEAL MY FUNDS AND WHERE WAITING UNTIL 45 DAYS WILL PASS AND I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO OPEN DISPUTES. THAT IS WHY THEY MADE SO MANY VERIFICATIONS!! But after I have mentioned that I will open disputes they have decided that it is better to return me money.
As a result of my report I want to point out that Freelancer.com is a fraudulent company. Why? They collect your personal info, but at the same time they have no rights for this: they don’t have a document that allows them do it. How do they use it? Well, there are lots of ways on the internet how to use personal information in fraudulent purposes.
Please think twice before you send them anything – FREELANCER.COM EVEN DOESN’T HAVE THE CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION! Also they use any chance to steal your funds, SO IN CASE YOU HAVE YOUR ACCOUNT SUSPENDED, OPEN DISPUTES IMMEDIATELLY!!! IF YOU FAIL TO DO IT, THEY WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY.
And if you haven’t use freelancer yet, but you are going to do it in the near future, then read my article and think twice whether you need so much headaches at once.
PLEASE REMEMBER – FREELANCER.COM is a SCAM!
But maybe you can go around this one. You can actually talk to the employer and negotiate and ask for milestone. Ask them to pay you through Paypal to ensure you that you will be paid. You can actually negotiate with them and they probably know what Freelancer.com does. You can actually just used Freelancer.com as a middlemen to get jobs online 🙂
I am most unhappy to confirm… this nicely looking box has a toxin inside. They are indeed scamming. I got myself suspended twice (togther with my money) to get to know at the end that I was not to blame. Was there any “sorry for the inconvenience” from them? NO!
yes, if you google for more, their style is to suspend an account. 🙂
Hi everyone. My name is Emir and I work for Freelancer.com. I came across this post. We’d like to inform you that the repost from Scam.com has been resolved. But I’d like to take my time to address these other concerns.
We’d like to assure you the Freelancer.com is not a scam. We have over 3.4 million users worldwide and to date we have paid out more than $120 million dollars to freelancers. We’re one of the most reputable outsourcing companies in the world. We’ve been featured in the best trade publications, including respected and prestigious International news networks. We’ve won several international accolades as well.
With the vast amount of transactions and millions of users going through the site, Freelancer.com’s policies and security procedures are in place to create a safe environment for freelancers and employers. We’ve taken into account your feedback and we’d like to assure that we will continue to work on improving on what we do.
Thank you very much and we hope to see you again using Freelancer.com.
Emir freelancer.com is a scam website.. never transfer money to websites like freelancer.com. why? when you buy on ebay do you transfer money to ebay? aswer we all know ..is no.what you do is only pay money for scam..and what you’ll get some unexperienced guy or even company ..lol. avoid freelancer.com of all cost as we can see freelancer worker >> Emir just did great job.. I wrote here coz freelancer.com website is only for scammers and unexperienced designers, web or app developers.. alert(“Hello! I am an alert box!”);
DONT LIE PLEASE ///
Million people know that freelancer is scam and you have spent 120 million dollars.
Drink some medicals please
I used Freelancer.com for the first time a couple of days ago and yesterday I selected a freelancer. (On the day of registration Freelancer took a $10 deposit from me).
The successful bid was $100 and the milestone was $100, so basically the freelancer wanted the full amount upfront.
When I paid the milestone their system took *two* payments: one for $97.54 and the other for $102.66. I was logged into my email account at the time and got Paypal email alerts within seconds of making the milestone payment showing these two sums.
I was completely shocked – I was flabbergasted that they took money automatically from my Paypal account (I soon read on the internet that Freelancer take money without notifying people by email that they have supposedly signed them up for “pre-approved” billing).
This would not have mattered so much *if* their system had not taken two payments.
I read on the internet of someone else this has happened to: their payment was duplicated *and* support tried to tell them they must have done something wrong their end. That’s what happened to me. I know I definitely didn’t press anything twice.
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/wingz-florida-c588353.html
I got on to support and after alleging wrong doing my end, they basically tried to tell me that the money would be a credit on my account. At that point I admit I started swearing as they said they could not tell me if or when I’d be refunded!
I have now contacted Paypal’s fraud department and they said they will investigate. I have sent them a few links and intend to put my case on as many warning sites as possible to alert people to this scam company until they refund me.
Ps – I managed to get the telephone number of their UK Manager (I’m based in the UK) he was said he’ll look into this for me. I wait and see with interest.
PPS
I would advise you to contact Paypal’s Fraud department if you too were signed up to pre-approved payments without your knowledge.
They’ve stolen from me too. $500 approximately. But I’ve started a campaign to fight back and I’m contacting all the appropriate authorities.
I am going to try to find out if there is any way to lodge an official complaint against this company with the Australian government. My understanding is that the company is headquartered in Australia. In the meantime, I’ve cancelled my subscription and will no longer be doing business with them.
Hello Katherine. Emir here from Freelancer.com. I regularly visit online forums, sites and blogs to address concerns about Freelancer.com and I came across your post here. We appreciate your feedback.
I’d like to assure you that Freelancer.com will not take any account funds. If your account has been suspended and you have stored funds inside it, please do not worry. It is still there. It’ll be made available once you’ve settled the issues with your account.
Please be assured that Freelancer.com is a legitimate business. We are not in the business of defrauding people of their money.
We understand that support has been in contact with you and your issue has been resolved. Should you have further enquiries, please send an e-mail to customer-support@freelancer.com and we’ll address it promptly.
Thank you very much.
Hi, can someone please confirm or deny, if freelancer.com has the right to ask for the confidential information, such as passport number etc. I’ve already asked a lawyer, and he said that he’ll look it up and as far as in the States, they are not allowed to do so, since they are not a bank or a government organization.
Furthermore, if the answers is no, can someone explain the process of litigation in New South Wales. Thanks
Freelancer is about to scam by end of 2012 or early 2013, through reliable internal resources it has been revealed that due to many acquisitions and merger, freelancer.com management is in sever financial crisis and also is on a check by US government due to money laundering issues. so, freelancer.com is finding it hard to match with the requirements, have taken back support totally to their old address i.e. Support.getafreelancer.com, and also not providing online 24/7 support, Please beware that its about to scam anytime, withdraw ur earning if u ve any there and also find the new freelancing website.
Freelancer.com has the worse staff and “customer support”, if it can be called a “customer support”, the staff is VERY rude, totally unprofessional, you can open a ticked and wait untill you die for an answer or you can receive a copy-paste stupid answer. They have the WORSE customer support I EVER seen!!! Also they have A LOT of cases where they “block” users accounts which have quite a lot of money and steal all the money. Don’t use freelancer.com!!!
Hi Arshad,
My name is Max and I work for Freelancer.com. I’m helping one of my colleagues to address concerns about Freelancer. We appreciate the feedback. I’d like to assure you that Freelancer.com is doing well. We recently acquired Scriptlance, the fifth largest freelance marketplace in the world . With the acquisition, Freelancer.com is now an even stronger marketplace. Another new development is we’ve added Translation & Languages to the list of jobs you can outsource. Expect to see more site features and services to better serve our over 4 million strong user base. To know more about these Freelancer.com updates, please visit this link – http://blog.freelancer.com/
I’d like to assure you that Freelancer.com does not defraud people of their money. In fact, we have paid out more than half a billion dollars to freelancers around the world. We are a global company which is why we strictly adhere to international laws and regulations.As for the support links, we have upgraded our Support Center to a new system wherein ticket IDs will have a new format. We’re asking our users to log into the old support center in case their issue concerns an existing problem with the old ticket format. We’ve also made it easier for you to contact us with support@freelancer.com or use live chat to talk with our Customer Support Teams 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.I hope I’ve addressed your concerns.
If you have further concerns or enquiries, please send an e-mail to support@freelancer.com and we’ll address them immediately.
Thank you and have a great day.
Freelancer.com has no responsibility for enforcing any User rights
The site is legitimate. I’ve used it and won projects. And their support is pretty helpful. Had a double fee charged to my account and I e-mailed their Support. After a day, they refunded me the double charge. And everytime I have an enquiry that isn’t covered by their FAQ, I send an e-mail to their support and they respond pretty quickly and clearly.
Hi,
I just wanted to share with you an alternative solution to Freelancer sites. It is a Facebook App called Alatask and we just launched it.
Alatask helps users post casual tasks and earn money. We are not taking any fees and believe that the power of social network can reduce fraud and increase level of trust between participants.
I hope you will give a try.
Thanks,
Astrid
ON THE 16th OF OCTOBER 2012 I SENT THE FOLLOWING EMAIL TO FREELANCER.COM:
“Dear Sir/Madam,
As you may already know university students from all over the world,studying for computer science related degrees
are regularly posting programming assignments in freelancer.com and are hiring other people to do their assignments for them…that ofcourse being a very good form of cheating.
Being a computer science graduate myself and having been in debt for a long time until I paid off my degree loans, I would like to know, what is your official view on this matter that has great ethical and to some extent I feel potential legal implications.
What is the exact message you are sending to thousands of individuals like me who have paid or have borrowed money in order to study at a university and obtain a degree WITHOUT cheating , requiring from those same people to verify their education and skills and to even pay for that verification process when you at the same time are helping others to FAKE their education skills?
As a member of freelancer.com I demand an official answer on this matter.
Regards,
Aris Alamanos”
I HAVE NOT YET RECEIVED ANY ANSWER…
i’m pretty sure that Freelancer will do something about it. here’s the thing. While it will be easier for them to pass their courses, do you think they’ll benefit from letting other people do their work? Once they’ve joined the workforce, they won’t have the knowledge and knowhow like you do. You’ll be in a better position and figure out complex programming tasks while they’ll be scratching their heads and realize that they shouldn’t have taken the easy way out.
I confirm. They are liars and thieves. These thieves appropriate earned money with some secret reason “we dont trust your employer”. But where were this “security reason” when they receive money from employer?! Nowhere!. Dont trust them and dont work with fraud company. And do not listen to them screamers like “max from freelancer.com”. Lie.