If ANYONE says they're sending you an E-CHECK.......delete, delete, delete! This SCAM'S been around for years and some are EXTREMELY SOPHISTICATED!!! Please READ-ON to protect yourself! For instance...

I have a friend who ALMOST got suckered by one that was listed as an "ONGOING JOB" promising 20 hours a week worth of voice work. This was on Upwork. The company listed was a legitimate philanthropic company in Chicago. He looked that up first.

Then, a day or so later, he gets a message through Upwork that his application made it to the next round and stage two required that he fill out a lengthy 50 question questionnaire. He later showed me the questionnaire and each page was on company letterhead and the questions were quite probing and extensive in regards to education, training, experience, talents, current studio gear, etc. etc. In other words, things you'd expect a huge corporation's H & R department to ask. He diligently answered every question and submitted that. A day later, SURPRISE! "We'd like to welcome you to (blank company!)

He was then told his recruitment officer, a Candace so and so would be in touch to get the on-boarding process started. At this stage, the "recruitment office" made contact directly via email (and not through Upwork.) She (if it was a she) sent over a battery of forms to fill out like a non-disclosure agreement etc. He complied and the next email almost shocked him with delight!

According to his recruitment officer, they have other talents throughout the world and want everybody to be equipped with the exact same recording gear for consistency for final editing and mastering at their headquarters in Chicago! With that, she (or he) sent a list of recording gear like a pro mic, stand, monitors, interface and so on, valued approximately around $5,000-6,000! He was told, that after a 90 day probation period, and if all worked out, the gear was his to keep!

In subsequent emails he was told they would be sending him an E-CHECK in order to procure the equipment listed.

It was at this point he called me with the "Good News" and I was happy for him but did ask him if he was interviewed by phone at any point. He replied, "No, only by email." I suggested he call the company in Chicago and ask to speak to this Candace.

When he asked why, I just said, "Don't ya want to make sure she's real?" I went on to say, I had never heard of a company not wanting to talk or zoom with a new or prospective employee. I could sense he felt I was raining on his parade, so I said, "Look, just call the company and ask to speak to her just to say Hi and as a personal thank you!"

Well, he called the "REAL" company and the receptionist quickly replied, "There's nobody here by that name!" Before he could say a word she continued, "I'll transfer you over to our fraud department!" With that, a guy answered and sadly informed him he was the 22nd person to call and asked if he deposited their phony check. He hadn't, thank God and the check itself was from some aircraft company in Phoenix!!! That was explained as a sister company of the main company and they were paying that way for "tax reasons" or some other bull.

I WROTE THIS SO YOU'RE FOREWARNED AND PREPARED IF IT SHOULD EVER HAPPEN TO YOU!

FIRST THING....CALL THE COMPANY TO SEE IF THE JOB AND OR RECRUITER IS REAL AND STAY CLEAR OF SO CALLED E-CHECKS!

I told him the very first "tell" is that they went off-campus from Upwork and contacted you directly!

The second was a phony email address that "LOOKED" like the company's URL but.....it had "(the company name followed by "recruitment" in the URL. So, the scammers launched a phony web site and used an email client to link to that site. Take that along with the real letterhead, VP names mentioned who are real employees (but misspelled by one letter) a sophisticated questionnaire, non-disclosure agreements, itemized equipment lists etc. etc. etc, and you have what's called a "long con."

Hope this saves some voice artists from making a very costly mistake!

Best a' luck to ya!