Freelance Employment Scam

If you are a freelancer and a member of any online platform like UpWork or nDash etc., BEWARE!! There is a new group of people targeting freelancers or people looking for employment, ESPECIALLY if you're new to the site. I have personally been targeted 3X in one week by these people who claim to be from different companies like BAYER AG or DXC TECHNOLOGY, wanting to hire for various positions that will throw you off their REAL objective: to get you to cash fraudulent checks! Hint #1-if it sounds too good to be true, there's a 99.9% chance IT IS!! Hint #2-They invite you to interview using the Google Hangout forum! Hint #3-They ask you to check out their website and it seems legit-in fact, it probably is! But trust me, that's not who is hiring you. Hint #5-The pay is ridiculously high per hour, and they have a "training period" in which you also get paid $15-19/hr., it's work from home and you choose your hours. Most also entice you with added benefits after a 3 month or so period. Hint #6-they want you to get materials to start training, but claim they will pay for them, and offer to send you the funds. Then they send you a check from a "trusted client" and that's the problem.
I spent hours and hours thinking this first job was real. I KNOW SCAMS and this one fooled me, as it was a trusted company (BAYER AG) and they had a legitimate (sounding) answer for everything. Even sent me an employment/hire letter to sign and send back, had Bayer logo etc. They don't ask for money up front, or even bank account information. BUT IT'S A SCAM SO BEWARE!!!

Thank you for reporting the scam. Could you post the email addresses/phone numbers they are using? If you could post some of the emails that would also help. Make sure to remove your personal information before posting.

I got hit with the same scam on UpWork.com. I was "hired" as a proofreader for Bayer AG and it all seemed pretty legit at first. As I became aware of the scam, I realized there were several red flags that I should have noticed, but I was excited about the job so I guess I looked past them. I wrote an email to Bayer AG to let them know and have pasted the relevant data below:

"I was recently contacted and hired to work as a proofreader for Bayer AG, which may come as a surprise to the good people at Bayer AG since this is clearly a scam! At first, I was excited and thought I was actually being hired by the company, but after the "interviewer" started asking me about hardware purchases followed up with an offer to purchase thousands of dollars of equipment for me via a check, I knew it wasn't legit. I have posted a copy of our conversation and the relevant email addresses used for your reference. Please do what you can to investigate these people. It's a horrible thing to do to someone who is looking for work. I was incredibly excited at first, but this is clearly a scam.

I applied for work and was initially contacted by James Jackson via UpWork (https://www.upwork.com/ab/proposals/1148322303459917825) where I pick up freelance writing and editing jobs. I was sent the attached (Bayer AG Project Invite) with the address: [email protected] (should have been a red flag) and began an interview process via Google Hangouts (yet, another red flag). They sent me the attached check, which certainly appears real. I strung the guy along for a little while to see how far they would take it. The way it was supposed to work, I was going to "deposit" their bogus check and then pay some "vendor" a large portion of the money to procure some equipment. That would leave the victim owing the bank thousands of dollars once it all bounced, without a new job, and nothing to show for it.

As you can see by the chat log, I very stupidly gave up my name, address, phone number, and email address before I came to my senses. This was presented as a real interview, and I was duped at first. As you can see from the UpWork job posting, they are targeting veterans. As a retired Soldier, I take exception to that, so if there's anything I can do to help your investigation, please let me know."

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