Divorce under the guise of a transaction without risk on free-lance.ru. How not to become deceived

Not so long ago, the site free-lance.ru very significantly changed the conditions for the accumulation of rating by the performers. The main innovation that caused a storm of discontent freelancers - a reduction in the impact of customer feedback on the rating of the performer. If earlier, it was possible to earn a good rating without money by collecting positive feedback from employers, now the surest way to be at the top of the list is to place orders through the Transaction without risk .

The idea of ​​a transaction without risk is very good. The customer agrees with the contractor about the work, they negotiate the task, the amount of remuneration and deadlines. After that, instead of prepaying 50% to the contractor, the customer transfers 100% of the amount to the site account. The contractor sees that the amount is reserved, does the work, shows the customer the result. If all is well, the customer p says “Okay” and Freelance transfers the full amount to the performer. If disputes have arisen, the free-lance acts as a judge, listens to the parties, checks the results of the work and, at its discretion, issues a verdict:
- or return the money to the customer
- or pay for work in the agreed amount to the performer.
Only 5% from every freelance and everyone is happy.
')
However, in practice, a transaction without risk has become an excellent reason for the customer to lose 100% of the amount . Below is my story about how I almost lost $ 200 on this service. At once I will make a reservation, free-lance.ru itself has nothing to do with the scammer!

I needed to write an application for shooting a web page with scrolling. Work at one time, the task has clear boundaries. Why not find a freelancer for this? I created a project on free-lance.ru and waited.

Literally in about 10 minutes I was in ICQ, several people knocked and offered their services. After talking with the first one, it turned out that he wouldn’t do such a thing, but the second one requested a full technical task and, after reading it, confidently stated that there is an experience in the implementation of this and it is quite realizable in 3-4 days. The agreed budget of $ 200 is suitable for him. Plus, he added: “During the work we will communicate and if there are any controversial issues, it’s up to us. On payment, I agree to work through the transaction without risk. ”

Further, since I had not used the SBR before, the executor advised me on what a “risk-free transaction” was, how to work with it, and what it gives:

[11.09.2011 16:58:31] worker:
?
[11.09.2011 16:58:41] Roman:
. , , ?
[11.09.2011 16:58:56] worker:
.
[11.09.2011 16:59:06] worker:
, .
[11.09.2011 16:59:45] Roman:
5%?
[11.09.2011 17:01:00] worker:

[11.09.2011 17:05:45] Roman:

[11.09.2011 17:06:23] worker:
www.free-lance.ru/users/-/portfolio
[11.09.2011 17:07:53] Roman:
, -,
[11.09.2011 17:08:32] worker:
, . ,
[11.09.2011 17:10:14] Roman:


Everything is cool, a person with 31 positive feedback from employers, no negative or neutral reviews. Communicates politely, helps. All bundle:

[11.09.2011 17:11:11] Roman:
, ?
[11.09.2011 17:11:23] worker:

[11.09.2011 17:11:50] Roman:
?
[11.09.2011 17:12:17] worker:
www.free-lance.ru/norisk2
[11.09.2011 17:18:44] worker:
5000. 1000 .

Hmm, the performer is even ready to receive 1000 rubles upon completion. Trust me. Everything is super.
Here are just the interface of the RRF. I am from Ukraine and RRF for me according to the conditions is available only when transferring through a bank ! When selecting the appropriate switch, booking money WebMoney box is blocked:


I decided to read the conditions of working with the SBS (Thank you to freelancing for a clear 15-page (!!!) document. Very helpful: ()) At the same time I asked a question on-line support for free-lance.ru. In support I was told that I would enter money through WebMoney it is POSSIBLE, the conditions for work only through a bank for Ukrainians in the SBR apply to those who wish to RECEIVE money, that is, for the contractor.
In ICQ, my candidate also confirmed what was said: “We worked this way with many customers and there were no gaps. I worked with Ukraine. Just put that you are a resident of the Russian Federation and that's it. ”(Spelling is preserved)
Um, oh well. Changed the switch, chose replenishment via WMR? The transaction without risk was created:


“Now you should receive a notification” - they tell me in ICQ, and indeed, the message arrives in the personal mail on the site:


Message from the account "Deal without risk", all in a bundle. I went to transfer money. I entered the details, I checked separately that the code in the purpose of payment is correct. Already almost clicked "confirm" on the page of the board, but drew attention to the incomprehensible fact:
Recipient's business level is -1.

Hm Free-lance.ru is a large website, created a long time ago, how can it have a negative business level? Hmm, and the creation date of the account is today's date. What the…
I wrote to the online support service again. Like, so and so, should I really get this message?
- No, you are a victim of fraud ...

This is how it is. I was in the same clique from the loss of 5000 blood rubles.

Fraud scheme

The fraud scheme is pretty simple. This is called " Social Engineering. " The candidate writes to you on one and your contacts, NOT through the site free-lance.ru. It seems another person gives a link to the account of a person with a good positive reputation. He says he can do your job. Ready to work through the transaction without risk.

Since free-lance.ru is actively trying to get freelancers on the SBR, we can expect that many freelancers will want to raise their rating using this method of payment. After reading the description of the service, the novice customer will not see anything wrong in it and will agree. Will create a project on the original interface of the original site. The executor will “confirm” the acceptance of the order and the customer will receive a “service message” in free messages with a free-lance with a request to transfer the required amount for reservation. Suspecting nothing, the customer will transfer the money to the fraudster’s wallet, expecting that they will be reserved for the RRF.
After that, the scammer will quickly cash out webmoney and disappear.

How not to get caught

1. Be careful when you transfer money. On the Webman before each sending money displays the business level and the date of creation of the account. For proven services, the business level value will be positive and very large (100+). In addition, hands to transfer money to the service do not. Webman has a special automated interface for writing off money. In it, you simply confirm: “Yes, I want to transfer money to the details already filled in” Yu, you don’t need to enter any IDs.
2. Before transferring money to a freelance performer, ask him to send at least one private message through the web interface of messages on the website itself free-lance.ru.
3. All messages from the most free-lance.ru or its employees come with a note . This is a damn bad notice, but still a mark that allows you to distinguish the scam from the original administration of free-lance.ru
4. UPD: If you write on icq, you can punch the number on the basis of fraud . My "hero" there already managed to light up . Thanks to Lockal for the tip.

What can be done with a fraudster?

Free-lance.ru can not do anything. The support team told me that the maximum they can block the account of a fraudster. But since he did not write to me through the site interface, then ... :(
Contact scammer:
icq 1726665 ,
WMR: R115041663869 .
UPD: It was possible to extract the cheat IP address from the logs. At the time of 18:10 in Kiev 09/11/2011, his IP was 93.84.57.101. Judging by the times , two , three , four, and GA, this pepper is from Gomel, Belarus. Uses the services of provider Beltelecom and Opera version 9.80 on Windows XP. If you believe this , then he is also engaged in sending spam.
If this topic is read by someone from the law enforcement authorities of Belarus, visit the guy, say hello to him, please.

PS Compare how a false service message of an accout looks like when it is already blocked and a real administration message:

and

Is it really impossible to make the administration's messages more distinct from the messages of other users? Place on another background, write in a different color, and so that it is impossible to simulate ...

PPS By the way, the task is still relevant. If anyone can write on Delphi a procedure for creating a screenshot of a long (multi-screen) site, so that this desktop application works correctly with FF, Chrome and Opera (they opened the site in the browser, clicked the button in the application and clicked on the browser. The output is a screenshot ), then write in a personal. We will agree on payment :)