Every day on freelance forums you can see messages about unscrupulous employers, and not only beginners, but also experienced workers are the victims, although the latter are relatively rare.
In the world of freelancing, however, as in any other field of activity, there are deceivers. Honest performers often suffer from customer deception.
How to solve the problem with dishonest customers, who are often called "scammers", at the moment it is impossible to say for sure. Of course, you can find many different proposals on the network, for example, create blacklists on exchanges or force employers to pass certification, but such tricks do not work to the full.
Of course, the "black list" section can be seen on many exchanges, but there are not many unscrupulous employers listed in them, due to the fact that freelancers simply do not want to waste time on this. Yes, and this measure is dubious, because changing an account is a matter of five minutes.
Beginners will have to try to avoid contact with "scammers". And for this you need to know some basic rules.
First, the most effective and common way is to take an advance payment. Of course, the requirement for full prepayment for their services is absenteeism, especially since such a request can confuse the customer himself, as well as call into question the reputation of the performer, and this entails the refusal of services. It is worth noting that there are significantly fewer unscrupulous performers than employers, because it is no secret that earning a reputation is quite difficult, and a freelancer has no other advertising on the network, except for his good name. Before starting the execution, it is enough to demand from the customer at least part of the budget, for example, 50%. So a freelancer in any case will remain at least with some money.
Secondly, various exchanges and services have now come to the aid of freelance workers, which allow them to get money for the work done without unnecessary risk. It works roughly as follows: the freelancer takes the order, the employer confirms this and funds are withdrawn from his account, and is in a "frozen" state. The employee will receive this money only after the completed task is approved by the customer. The disadvantage of such a system of work is that such services, as a rule, are not free. But sometimes it's better to pay a commission than to lose your earnings altogether.
These precautions will reduce the number of scams in a freelancer's life by 90%, but they are rarely used. Sometimes the customer is not satisfied with the conditions, but in a different situation the performer himself. It is always worth remembering that it will definitely not be possible to completely protect yourself from deception, but it is worth trying.
