As soon as a content writer steps into freelancing, the first thing he comes across is stories of writers getting scammed. Such stories and instances demotivate content writers to take up projects that might help them build their careers and succeed as writers.

A Motivating project that made Sayantan almost QUIT freelancing.

One such incident happened with Sayantan, a content writer from Kolkata. While looking for freelance opportunities on Facebook, he came across a post by Ria Dev stating that she needed content writers for some generic blogs. Sayantan, without a second thought, pinged her expressing his interest in the offer. She responded and requested Sayantan to send her a sample blog for reference. 

He sent her one and she claimed to like the sample and offered him a freelance opportunity and mentioned that she’ll be paying him every month. Sayantan felt exhilarated and agreed to work for her. He started working and completed all his tasks on time and up to the required standard. 

After he completed the first month, Ria reduced the payment to 6000 a month, much lesser than what was mentioned before. Lowering the amount was not as painful as when she denied paying him at all!

A fraud client ends up making a hundred excuses!

On Sayantan’s demand for payment, she made an excuse that the client she sent the content to is not responding to her texts. Sayantan waited patiently but a few days later Ria responded saying that her bank account was hacked and she lost a great deal of money. On Sayantan’s constant demand for payment, Ria came up with multiple excuses, even made up a story of being ill and hospitalized, and requested Sayantan to wait for a month.

After a few days, she blocked Sayantan on every platform they were in contact on, and when he tried reaching her through an unknown contact number she blocked those numbers too as soon as she knew it was a call from him. He never heard from her again!

Disheartened by what happened, Sayantan gave up and posted his experience on Facebook. He still regrets losing the payment for his hard work and efforts. 


How can this be avoided?

The scam that happened with Sayantan was well planned and could have been avoided. Nonetheless, Freelancing as a career brings its own set of challenges. Now, the question is - 

How can you avoid getting scammed? 

  • Vouch is a sure-shot way of safeguarding freelance payments from frauds. 
  • Always ask for an advance.
  • Set milestones for each task.



This is Fraud Chronicle#6. Check back here for more fraud chronicles and frauds that you can protect yourself from.


Safety is not just about protecting your credit or debit card number. It's about getting paid for your hard work!


Note: This is a good-faith initiative to educate the world about how to avoid frauds like these. Do you have a fraud that you would like to report? Please write to us at letstalk@iamvouched.com