A warning about Upwork

I won’t bury the lede with this one: no matter who contacts you or what the pitch is, never share an Upwork account.

If someone reaches out to you asking to borrow your Upwork account, or asking you to act as a “senior so-and-so” to market services via an Upwork account, immediately report them as best you can. They’re trying to scam you.

Some context

As more engineers struggle to find opportunities, especially those entering the industry, it may become more tempting to find alternative streams of income. This is nothing new. I’ve seen a few booms and busts when it comes to the web development economy. It’s during those busts that I’ve witnessed a disturbingly consistent trend throughout my nigh-on ten years in web development, and it’s still happening today.

Upwork is one of the longest-running marketplace platforms for businesses and freelancers. It lets companies find and pay hired help for projects, and lets freelancers find and get paid for work on said projects. I don’t know how popular it is now, but it was fairly common when I was getting started to see early web developers try and cut their teeth on freelance projects via Upwork.

Ever since I started putting myself out there as a web developer, I’ve been contacted by dozens upon dozens of accounts seeking assistance. They’ll initiate contact, maybe with small talk or a plea for help. Eventually, they’ll ask you a favor. The request is always the same. Whether it’s that they’re located in a country that can’t access it, or they’ve been banned by mistake and their livelihood depends on it, they will ask you to play liaison to clients through an Upwork account you control, offering a percentage of or fee from the project’s profits.

Don’t 👏 do 👏 it 👏.

While it may be tempting to do so, never entertain the idea that the person pitching you a partnership where you put your name and reputation on the line and on an Upwork account is in it with your best interest at heart. If you’re caught, you would be the one losing your account and likely banned for the privilege. This kind of operation violates Upwork’s ToS, and might end up supporting illegal activities like money laundering, fraud, or impersonation.

Where’s all this coming from?

I’ve got my start in web development teaching myself how to code, and that’s was back when things were rough for me financially. While non-traditional paths into web development aren’t uncommon, it’s been my experience that people taking those paths come from an “up from the bootstraps” background. In times where many people in the workforce, both new and tenured, are financially vulnerable, hearing there’s a way to make money by skirting the rules a little can be tempting. So I say this in the hopes that it informs someone before they make a bad choice out of desperation: don’t share an Upwork account.