i got scammed for the first time!

You are not the only person to have been defrauded by this person. See here: http://soniak01.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/fraud-on-a-reputed-freelancing-website/ and also here: http://www.imakemoneyeasy.com/threads/111586-WTS-50-SEO-articles-batch (may be the same person as 'soniak01', but at least one other member has responded to say that they were scammed). The only thing you can really do is to do as this person has done and to claim ownership of the articles and, perhaps, sell them to someone else.

I have never been scammed but I have been bothered if that counts. Are you not able to report that person for now so nobody in the future will get scammed? In the future try and work on smaller deals such as 5 articles at a time. I am sorry you got scammed but hope that won't prevent you trying in the future.

I would also think that its a good to be true deal. I was thinking of searching your articles over the search engine every now and then so that if the person who scam you will post your hard written article, you could get even with him/her by riposting it to the sites owner. And I hope you post could be a lesson for all of us to be careful on the deals that we engage at in the internet. As I said, i would had go for this deal if I am offered one. But, as you said you were already given a clue that this person is too good to be true.

Hi friend, sad to hear about this, are this person is from mylot? Scammers are available every where, we must be careful with them. Don't trust any individual person, as you mentioned you submitted 150 articles, it is not easy to write them. As an article writer i know about the pain and vain in this, surely the scammer will get punishment for his activity

Oh no, that's terrible! I also used to write articles online and I know how it is to put in hard work and meet deadlines. Have you reported that person to elance so he wouldn't be able to scam others again? Maybe you can also be on the look out for your articles online, if ever he or she will post it on a website. ANyway, it's his loss, not yours. You only lost money, but he lost his integrity.

Wow, 150 articles is not a joke. Too bad I kindabthought elance was a really legit site cause they have so many good reviews. This is the first time I've ever heard something negative about it, oh my goodness I hate them now, that's so notbgair making you work like that. Not to worry one way or another, karma will get back on them and not to worry cause one day that nehamukherjee85 will die eventually.

Well, though Elance and Odesk are prestigious sites, there are also some bad guys who take advantages of the sites to get their jobs done freely. So we must be careful when we do jobs there. I also encountered a cheat. It seemed that he was generous, because as we all know, most clients will bargain with contractors during the interviews. He didn't bargain at all. And when he gave all the contractors good feedback such as "excellent job""well done", etc. But when the time of the payment. He disappeared, no matter how you tried to contact him, he gave no answers. But thank god, at last, the site helped me to get my money. And gave me suggestions not working for the client any more. So i think though it is really annoying to meet a cheat, we should learn some lessons and never be caught by such guys any more.

The internet is full of so much scammer , I normally do writing for paying sites . I made my own blog that way I will not get scammed I am writing just for me . I am sorry to hear about you being scammed, those people make it bad for legit ones.

Oh. That is so unfortunate. There are really people out there who live for nothing but to get something in exchange of nothing. Tricky and very inconsiderate of how the others would feel upon knowing that there efforts were gone for nothing. Yeah, God will deal with him at the right time and he will have a dose of his own medicine. As for you, don't worry, I guess something will come out in exchange of that unpaid hard work. Well, just keep on and better be careful the next time. Thanks for sharing, this may serve as a lesson to all who are trying their best to earn online.

I am curious to how many words are required for each article. It would not be a good deal or worthwhile if this person asks for 500 words for each article, for example. Of course, many people can pay low and some writers are flexible with any payment. How many articles did u submit? Was it all of them? When E-lance notify you about this person, does the email specify any reason about this person? Does the profile mention how many people were paid in the past? Did you notify E-lance about this? Sorry for the list of questions. I hope that you overcome this and keep it positive.

Yes, this is the risk we take. I feel sorry about it, but know next time when people keep putting you off that there is something amiss. Do not submit more until you know about the person who is commissioning you. We all learn during the first few months what to do and what to reject.

Hi Zainirye, I so get your pain and your post actually encouraged me today as I was boiling over when I found out an article that I wrote as a test sample was sold by the client and he cancelled my order. Take heart and just do your best and the person who stole from you will get his or her just dues. Keep on writing and never give up. I will take this advise as well.Have a great day.

I have had one issue years ago with this they promised so much more work from home we will pay type of thing and nothing came out of it. I was instanly mad. I do have one question which other work from home sites do you use? I haven't been about to find any other good ones.

Hi, I'm sorry that you got scammed by this person..I don't think it was the company's fault but the actual client..It's really frustrating that there are scammers out there and i think we all learn from our mistakes..I don't think it's fair for you to stop working at all, it's only a matter of researching the person's file or feedback so we should pay more attention..You should be cautious of fixed price contracts too. I hope you will have a peace of mind after what had happened to you..and yes you should trust what your instincts tell you..You're an intelligent person..Life's full of trial and error and we become smarter and wiser people from it..As the saying goes there's no bad deed that goes unpunished.. Take care...

I had experienced being scammed also. I had provided someone for Facebook likes. It was a contest in Facebook actually. I really strove hard to provide excellent service to him. After the end of the day, I cannot imagine that he will scam me. Yes, God will be the one to punish him someday. I do believe also in karma. :( It is just like you are feeding your family through a scammed money. It is really better to have nothing than to earn everything through scammed things. I promise myself that I will not be fooled again. I really swear. I will be aware next on freelancing sites.

The virtual world is filled with scams like this and it is hard to avoid it especially when you are trying to earn some income online. However i would advise not taking this experience too hard and lose moral in earning money online. You may have wasted your efforts and failed to get the money you deserve, but that does not mean you did not manage to get anything away from this incident. Think about it, this experience allows you to take a clearer view on online earning and remind you how many scams are still here in the online world currently, and you will be more aware of such incidents and avoid it from happening in the future. Not being sarcastic here but it is true that the more scams you experiences, the more adept you are at spotting such scams and avoiding it so it is not such a bad thing after all. Just accept it and continue earning money in other areas.

Hello zainirye, That's so terrible. You had write 150 articles for nothing! I really want to thank you for sharing this information so we can beware at every step. If you posted those 150 articles on site like hubpages you can earn for long time.

Thats bad, but if its the first time you are a lucky one. I have been scammed many times over the last 5 years while working online. You never know who is really behind some of these sites.

That is just awful I am so sorry it happened to you. I am an employer on odesk and I know that writers are afraid of not being paid for their work. Here is what I do. I tell people I want 10 articles on a topic (and list the topic). I ask them to submit I article and I will pay them for that one article and if I am happy with their work I will offer the 9 more articles. That way if they are concerned about not being paid they are only out 1 aticle. I have never not paid anyone even I don;t like there work. If I am only paying for one article at least I am not out any big money and odesk is still happy with me. I have had writers ask me for payment prior to writing the articles which I will not do either. If I have them write the 10 articles I ask them if they want to be paid article by article or wait for the entire job completion for their payment. It is strictly their choice. I have had writers choose both ways- and I have no preference. Most of my writers ask me for more work so I figure they are pretty happy and I have had no complaints from either them or odesk. Next time you might suggest a pay as you go article payment. If the employer refuses go elswhere. If you think about it, it costs me, the employer, no more if I pay you article by article or all at once. Again I am so sorry this happened to you- it gives us, the employers a bad reputation and is totally unneccesary.

Yes you are right. Also I got scammed for the first time. I think not only me and you, also got scammed first time those are working work-at-time.