For the first time in my freelance writing career, I have been scammed by an individual posting as a prospect client for my writing services. This fictitious character dropped me a message asking for my rates to which I diligently replied, not thinking for a second that he might be a hoax.
The client first asked if I could write articles about diamonds. When I answered yes, he then proceeded to ask about the rates of my services. When I told him my rates, he asked if I could lower it a little as he would be ordering in bulk of 10 articles and he was low on budget. I told him I don’t often give discounts but I could lower my rates to $8 a piece for him. He then replied if I could produce the articles within 24 hours. His reply sent a warning shot through my veins and I immediately replied that 10 articles within 24 hours and with that kind of rate I was giving him were impossible. I told him that if he really wanted to have the articles within 24 hours, I might be able to make some arrangements but he would also be required to pay additional fees for the expedite processing or production of the articles he ordered.
The fake client continued to make negotiations for his supposed articles and in the end, agreed to order only 1 article to be submitted within a 24-hour time frame.
I wrote the article and managed to submit it on the agreed time and billed the client for it. The fake client replied to my email telling me that he was processing payment and the money may be reflected in my Paypal account soon.
Days passed and no money entered into my Paypal account. I contacted the fake client and reminded him of his dues to which he readily replied that he would arrange the payment on the next day. The next day came and still no payment was made. So, I contacted him again, trying not to lose my patience and rant through email. He again replied and told me that he would process the payment by Friday (I emailed him on a Wednesday).
I waited until Friday only to learn that still no payment had been made. Saturday and Sunday passed without a word from the fake client. Come Monday, I sent him another email telling him that if he will not send payment for the article, I would publish it on one of my websites and he would not be allowed to use it for his own purposes. Again, he replied that he would process payment as soon as possible.
Another week came to pass and no payment was made. It was a bad experience for me. All writers know how hard it is to write a piece of article and not to be compensated for the effort afterwards. It wasn’t just an article written out of hurry. It was well-researched and well-written like an informational, high quality article should be.
This experience made me learn the following lessons:
- An email that goes into your spam folder is likely to be spam. I actually found the email of the fake client on my spam folder but thought that it must have been a mistake so I moved it into my inbox and proceeded in making a reply to his queries. I know. That was silly of me. I should have known better.
- A lowballing client may be a scammer. I have clients that have no problem with the rates I am giving and I love them! They pay well and right on time. Clients who low-ball providers, however, seem to take some time before they are able to pay what they owe their writers or providers and they seem to pay only after several proddings and email reminders.
- When a client asks for a number of articles within a 24-hour time frame or within such a short period of time, take it as a warning sign. Don’t trust.
These are only some of the warning signs that a client may scam you. There may be more. If you have also been scammed by a client before, you may leave a comment and share to us your experience with scammers posing as legitimate clients.
