Quote: "I then learned this was a interviewee discovered through Upwork - so I asked for all the proof and continued my investigation
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I'm not sure how this actually pans out if it works. Can you really refuse to use video for the entire contract of the job? How do you get paid if you need to submit tax documents? Do you pretend to be me forever?"
Having over 15 years working as freelancer through Upwork I can answer that.
1 - Can you really refuse to use video for the entire contract of the job? Yes, you can. But only if you're good at your job. 90% of my clients never knew my real face. I only did video calls with the other 10% of them while we were already deep in the project(s) and trust was already well established. I do prefer voice over written chat though so I have weekly calls with all of them.
2 - How do you get paid if you need to submit tax documents? Upwork is great in that perspective. They have a lot of FAQ helping you with all tax informations and if that fails you have live chat too, with support. However, in this case, being the fact it was an impostor, Upwork style of getting paid and filing for taxes are 2 different beasts they frankesteined together. You still get paid under the fake name using your desired method of payment and filing taxes under your real name, which is done outside of Upwork's control.
3 - Do you pretend to be me forever? Not necessarily actually. You can do bait&switch. Bait clients, do good work for them, create a great relationship with them. Then either you create a new profile under real you and move projects there or move them outside Upwork forever. The fake identity sham is only there to help land the clients in the first place. Once you hook them and they depend on you, they really don't care about Upwork's protection and all that, they just want work to be done.
......
I'm not sure how this actually pans out if it works. Can you really refuse to use video for the entire contract of the job? How do you get paid if you need to submit tax documents? Do you pretend to be me forever?"
Having over 15 years working as freelancer through Upwork I can answer that.
1 - Can you really refuse to use video for the entire contract of the job? Yes, you can. But only if you're good at your job. 90% of my clients never knew my real face. I only did video calls with the other 10% of them while we were already deep in the project(s) and trust was already well established. I do prefer voice over written chat though so I have weekly calls with all of them.
2 - How do you get paid if you need to submit tax documents? Upwork is great in that perspective. They have a lot of FAQ helping you with all tax informations and if that fails you have live chat too, with support. However, in this case, being the fact it was an impostor, Upwork style of getting paid and filing for taxes are 2 different beasts they frankesteined together. You still get paid under the fake name using your desired method of payment and filing taxes under your real name, which is done outside of Upwork's control.
3 - Do you pretend to be me forever? Not necessarily actually. You can do bait&switch. Bait clients, do good work for them, create a great relationship with them. Then either you create a new profile under real you and move projects there or move them outside Upwork forever. The fake identity sham is only there to help land the clients in the first place. Once you hook them and they depend on you, they really don't care about Upwork's protection and all that, they just want work to be done.