Avoiding Common Fiverr Scams

Scams Run By Buyers

The most common Fiverr scams run by buyers are based on getting the work product for free or at a deep discount.

Buyer Scam #1 - Requirements Bait And Switch

This is the most common scam run by buyers, since to them it seems 'innocent', when in reality it's trying to leech free work from the Fiverr freelancer.

A requirements bait and switch happens when you establish exactly what the work product of the gig will consist of ahead of time, but mid-gig the client tries to change what the deliverable will be. For writers, they might ask for a few hundreds extra words of content. For artists they might ask for additional characters or features, or possibly the source files in gigs that don't include source material.

In essence, they'll imply that it's bad customer service to refuse their 'reasonable' request, and that they'll leave a bad review if you don't 'go the extra mile'. As of August 2023, there's also a 'Partial Refund' feature being rolled out that they might try to get you to use, effectively giving them a deep discount.

In reality, they've already agreed to the standards and deliverables of the gig, and by doing so have agreed upon the value of your time, experience, and effort. If you feel like you're being blackmailed into doing more work than agreed to, you should contact Fiverr support immediately. Clients are only allowed to rate on services that they paid for as part of a mutual agreement between parties. If they imply that they'll tank your rating because you won't do extra work for free, they don't deserve to be on the platform.

Buyer Scam #2 - Order Cancellation After Delivery

The scummiest of buyer scams is when they pretend that everything is fine for the duration of the project, collecting all rough examples with little to no comment, and waiting until delivery. Then they feign anger and indignity, saying they expected a much higher quality work product, and being so 'enraged' they either contact support to cancel the entire order, or they threaten to.

99% of the time they're trying to rip you off. If it's just a threat, you can apologise that their perception of the work product wasn't what they imagined. Offer to make reasonable revisions, but do not budge on price or offer to do a ton of work outside the agreed parameters. If it's a work product that can't be 'protected' or watermarked before delivery (writing and programming based gigs for example), let them know that you're sorry that they're dissatisfied, and that if they decide to cancel you'll put the results of the gig on your automated IP search, so that it doesn't accidentally get used by or resold to their competition.

It's critical that they understand the implication that you'll be defending your IP if they don't pay for it themselves, and that the process is automatic. Then they know that they won't get anything that they can use for free (or at least without a fight) if they cancel the order. But phrase it in such a way that it's for their protection, and for Fiverr's protection since they would be due 20% of the value of the work product if for any reason it got out into the wild.

In the event that the client does go ahead with a cancellation process, you'll need to ask support to consider the lack of feedback on any of your mid-gig updates, rough review copies, or progress reports. Note the expectations set in the gig itself as well as your chat conversations with the client. And if you feel like the client is simply trying to rip you off, don't be afraid to make a separate support ticket to privately tell them what you believe is going on. At the end of the day, the final decision and resolution is in the hands of Fiverr support.

Buyer Scam #3 - Asking To Pay Or Work Outside Of Fiverr

Some of these scams also double as spam, as they'll come to you as unsolicited offers to look at work terms on another platform (Telegram, a Google Doc, etc.). Once they get you away from Fiverr, they'll try to get you to work for no money up front, using no escrow service. Then they'll screw you.

The best rule of thumb to follow is: Any time a new client wants you to use external communications or payment methods, it's a scam. Fiverr records all chat and gig data so that support can review it. If there's communication outside of the Fiverr system, it's like it never happened. That's why so many dodgy clients are eager to chat with you on Telegram... they can pull their scams while remaining completely unmonitored.

Always steer clients back towards the Fiverr system. Will you have to pay a 20% commission? Yeah. But that's in exchange for sourcing the business, providing up front escrow, providing dispute resolution, and helping to protect you from scammers! When compared to what you would be paying for advertising and escrow services elsewhere, not to mention lost time and money from dodgy clients, the 20% fee is nothing.

Scams Run By Alleged Sellers

The most common Fiverr scams run by 'sellers' are attempting to conduct business outside of the normal gig system.

Alleged Seller Scam #1 - The Subcontracting Scam

One of the most common Fiverr scams is the offer to do exactly what you're doing in one of your gigs, but at a fraction of the price. These 'sellers' have no track record on Fiverr, and they often don't even have a gig set up. Seller Plus members might note that the accounts are at best a few weeks old, if not brand new, and they have no buying or selling history. But every once in a while, a hacked account is being used with an actual track record... but the person is acting so unprofessionally, you should be able to tell that it isn't the same person who create those gigs in the first place.

Most of the time, these scammers are working out of a call center in India using VPNs to hide their country of origin. They just contact sellers all day long and offer to subcontract for them. They often want all payment outside of Fiverr, so that their activity can't be tracked. Every once in a while they'll accept gigs on Fiverr, but they'll switch accounts after the first couple of cancelled orders or 1 star reviews.

The main goal of these scammers is to take on work, produce plagiarized or automated results, and expect to be paid. They're take translation gigs and just use Google Translate word for word. They'll take creative gigs an use AI generated art and text, virtually unedited. They'll steal someone else's free or open source project and submit that as their own work. Whatever the easiest, sleaziest way to complete the assignment is, they'll do that.

A variation of this is that they'll pretend to want to order something from you, and when you ask for requirements they'll say that you ordered something from them. And when they come back with the aforementioned stolen work product, they'll try to bully you into paying them.

Either way, just report these people as spammers and block them immediately. Never give a subcontracting job or any sort of work to someone who isn't using an actual gig, has no real profile, or lacks the communication skills to understand requirements. It's not a quick and easy way to subcontract out your work... it's the path to ruination.

Sometimes the system won't record your spam report as a valid response to the scammer. Then you have to contact Fiverr Support to get them to reset your response rate to 100%, which is annoying.

That's why I created this Quick Response which I now always send to the scammer just before blocking them:

'You need to create an official gig on Fiverr. Any attempts to circumvent the Fiverr system will result in your account being closed. Please contact Fiverr Support if you're having issues creating your gigs and becoming a legitimate seller.'

Feel free to open your Fiverr messages and click the lightning bolt icon. Then select 'Create a New Quick Response', copy and paste the reply that I use from above, and name it something like 'Spammer Reply' before saving it. Then you can Quick Reply to a scammer before blocking them, and your response rate shouldn't ever go down from that interaction.
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Alleged Seller Scam #2 - The Impersonation Scam

This usually happens with a hacked account, or if someone inside of a company goes rogue. They'll contact you out of the blue and eventually ask you to check out some strange link that you've never heard of before. The site they're sending you to might have a certificate warning, but they'll tell you that the company just hasn't registered it fully yet.

This is a phishing scam. They're sending this exact same request to anyone who has ever bought or sold to that account in the past. The site will either contain malware, or a form or login that you have to fill in so that you can continue. Anything you submit will be used to try to hack you or steal your identity.

Never click on strange links, and never go to sites with missing or expired certificates. Even if you think you know the person. The same exact scams get run from stolen mobile phones all the time, via text message. If someone is acting strange or making unexpected requests, immediately become suspicious. Look for a way to confirm that the behaviour you're seeing is genuine. If you still aren't sure, put in a support ticket with Fiverr and excuse yourself from the conversation, saying that something urgent came up and you'll get back to them. If it's a hacked account, they'll be able to tell almost immediately.

Scams Run By Supposed Professionals

The most common Fiverr scams run by supposed professionals are based on gaining a competitive advantage over you.
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Alleged Professional Scam #1 - The Cheap Review
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A fellow Fiverr seller, normally legitimate, will contact you to do a quick, cheap job that they claim they don't have time to do themselves. It will be the cheapest possible gig you can think of, often something quick and self explanatory.

But after you submit your work, which will be quickly accepted, they'll hit you with a scathing 1 star review.

This is most often done to tank your gig rating before you can become a threat to them. If it only costs them a few bucks, they'll make that back and much more if a single client goes to them instead of you because of the lower rating.

One of the solutions to this is to avoid taking the gig in the first place. You can do this by setting all of your gigs as 'Request to Order' only:

This means you'll have to approve each gig request, and an unscrupulous seller can't just order something cheap to tank your rating. You can even stipulate that certain gig tiers can still order directly without your involvement.

Another solution is to contact support with any suspicion that another seller is possibly trying to sabotage you before you complete the order. Request that they look to see if this seller has a pattern of '1 staring' competitors.

Of course they could try to do this through a fake account (also called a 'sock puppet' account). But they won't have any of the sales history of the original, and you wouldn't have any reason to believe their subcontracting story in the first place.

Alleged Professional Scam #2 - Terms Of Service Baiting

TOS baiting is when another seller gets into a conversation with you, intentionally trying to make you to break Fiverr's Terms of Service. This might be setting up a scenario where you request that they communicate with you via E-mail or Discord... something that only Fiverr Pros are allowed to do. It could also entail the misuse of Fiver Affiliate links.

It's hard to prove that such baiting is intentional. So really your best defense against this is is to take my Crash Course and make sure you understand what is and is not allowed. You should also get your free 'Online Freelancing Essentials' certificate from Fiverr Learn as soon as possible. This will explain how and why you keep your business on the platform, and proper client communication methods.