He Promised Me a Job. I Got Scammed Instead. | by Hiraatif | Jul, 2025

I Thought I Landed My First Freelance Job. Instead, I Got Scammed — and Suspended.

I was just trying to earn an honest living.
No shortcuts. No tricks. Just a girl, looking for a chance to work online and support herself.

I had already wasted money on online scams before — websites and mentors who promised the world but delivered only disappointment. And still, each time someone explained a new opportunity, it felt so real.
“This one’s different,” I used to think.
But it never was.

I told myself to stop trying. I focused on my studies. I stayed quiet. I tried not to let the disappointment eat me alive.

Then one day, a respected teacher introduced a new opportunity — freelancing on Upwork.
He said we wouldn’t have to invest any money.
He said many girls were doing it.
He said it was real.

And for once, I wanted to believe.

He helped me create my profile. Told me I’d be working only one hour a day.
Then came the twist:
“You’ll need to buy connects to apply for jobs.”

I had no money left. I borrowed $13 from my father — the last I’d ever ask — and bought the connects.

What happened next felt like a movie.

He asked me to share my screen via AnyDesk.
He applied to a job from my account.
I saw everything — and I started to doubt.

He was typing from both sides. The client and the freelancer.
The proposal was fake.
The job was fake.
The payment was fake.

But the 40 hours of work I did? That was real.

It was a YouTube automation project.
He said the client was Brazilian and didn’t speak English. He kept avoiding Zoom. I kept asking questions. He kept controlling the answers.

And yet, I worked.

Even the day before Eid, I gave my time, my energy, and my trust.

When the project ended, I asked for payment. He made excuses:
“Upwork will release it in a few days.”
“Don’t worry. It’s all part of the process.”

But two days later… my Upwork account was suspended.

He blamed me. Said I didn’t work properly.
But I knew what I did.

I reached out to Upwork. I emailed support.
And that’s when I learned the truth:

He had used a fake payment method.
The entire thing — every message, every instruction, every deadline — was just a setup.
He cheated the platform. And he used me to do it.

The payment was supposed to be $800.
Instead, I got nothing.

Yes, I cried. Yes, I broke.
But I also got up.

Because sometimes, life teaches you the hardest lessons in the most painful ways.

And here’s what I’ve learned:

In the end, skills matter.
If you have a real skill, you will reach somewhere — sooner or later.
But you have to be careful. You have to observe, research, and protect your trust.

Never hand your dreams to someone blindly.

Today’s generation is full of people pretending to help — but only a few truly do. And if we, as people, learn to support and uplift one another genuinely — this world would be a very different place.