Freelancing is awesome, but the industry is not immuned from the fraud that has polluted the world in various fields. Fake recommendations and profiles are quite common on many platforms. On Humans.net, we care about our users and prevent scams from happening. But we always recommend being cautious.
Check online profiles
Most people have other profiles connected. Although this doesn’t totally guarantee that they’re who they say they are, in most cases this will work. You can also check for consistency of the content they’ve put up across their different social and portfolio sites.
Google bio and avatar
Copy and paste the bio into Google to see where else it appears online. You can also do a Google Image search for their avatar. This will help you find out if profile photo is real and belongs to this person.
Check the website
If a freelancer has a website listed then make sure you check it out. If the link directs you to an advert or other unrelated company, then there are clear warning signs. If the website looks okay on the surface then don’t just leave it at that, make sure that the links direct to the correct sources.
Check feedback
Check the ratings from other clients. Ratings are there to help you quickly see who’s good to work with. If they’ve got 1-star review then it’s obviously unwise to proceed any further unless there are exceptional circumstances.
See examples of the work
Always ask a freelancer to send you examples of the work. If you think a claim they’ve made about the work might be an exaggeration then ask them for links to other materials that back it up.
Ask previous clients
If everything we mentioned before is right, the last step is to message people they’ve worked with to get 3rd party validation. 