Beware of Scammers

[a2ztranscribe]

I have been a Fiverr buyer and seller for a few months now and overall my experience has been great. However, a few weeks ago I became aware of a new scam that is slowly making its way onto Fiverr and wanted to alert others. It seems that some individuals will pose as buyers and post different jobs in Buyers Requests. The scam is that these individuals will include a document supposedly detailing their request. However, when you open this document, it is macro enabled. If you make the mistake of clicking to enable macros you will find an empty document. What you may not notice though is that you have unknowingly allowed a Trojan type virus access to your computer. For those unfamiliar Trojan viruses provide backdoor access to your computer allowing others to steal various data such as credit card information, install more malware, record every keystroke, and various other malicious activities. Though Trojan viruses can’t self-replicate it is often very difficult to get ride of them. Therefore, in order to avoid this type of scam, I would recommend that sellers not open any macro enabled documents.

Has any else seen this or experienced this firsthand? Does anyone know whether Fiverr has any policies towards fraudulent buyers?

Best,
Brandy

[avrimusic]

Thanks for the useful tip! I haven’t experienced that kind of scam, but I’m aware there are other kinds of scams in the Fiverr community. I think you should report these buyers to costumer support.

[jhallawalla]

When i work,I work fast i read fast and i try to complete fast
So a guy said that he is impressed by my work and want to give me a big project
Big projects usually comes with a detailed description and demands “as they say”

So he attached a rar file and i didn’t unrar it just double clicked on it and i didn’t notice that the file was not doc it was exe means it was an extension/application

File disappeared from my computer and my webcam start to flash and some wierd things started happening,I had no idea so i called my friend who is an engineer

he checked and told me that someone installed keylogger on my system and my details are going away. However i don’t keep anything personal here only stuff of arts and designing.

He told me that my fiverr account is still alive because i didn’t type in my password.
my account is remembered on my pc and all my email accounts and credit card information. So that time luckily keylogger wasn’t able to get my keystrokes

He installed a new OS in my computer with Anti Virus however i removed it later.

Tips to avoid hacking your account or personal information would be:

1. Never double click on (application file .exe) from any customer
   no real person would ever give a software in order to understand work.

2. a good antivirus can block keylogger in an instant
   but not everytime and AV prog can slow down your computer in the long run

From that day i always check properties of files.

Add: Fiverr cannot stop buyers,Its very easy to destroy a seller on fiverr while a buyer can make another account easily and can carry on his low life jobs. However i don’t think that fiverr will take some good action if you say “Hey he just sent me a threat/virus”

No one else can protect you better than “Yourself”

Be safe |(:

[Guest ralucamath]

There are so many scammers on Fiverr. We should get rid of them and take care as well. That’s a grave thing. Do not keep important things on your computers! That’s the safest way. Or browse with different proxy.

[fivergraphics5]

Super tip and great heads-up for the Fiverr community!

Although some times when you get a weird message, you can kinda already tell the attachment maybe be a virus…especially if the message is like:

“Hi, pls ohhpen attached documen, it has awl informacions u kneed!!!” 😃 lol

[markusvoice]

Good tips.
As a rule of thumb, any files I download from potential buyers…particularly excel files or ones that are macro enabled…I automatically sandbox the files and open it in a safe environment. That might be good advice to use for all sellers going forward.

Thanks,

Markus

[cypress_pk]

Thanks for this alert and this type of scam is new. I never experienced such thing. You should must report to Customer Support Center of this activity.

[linkgurus]

Also, if you are using a window OS on your pc…no need to install any exertnal Av because the anitvirus on window is enough for you…If you are using anything lower than window 8, use window essentials for your safety while anything above the said OS window defender will surely do justice for you

[jimallenvoa]

Definite thanks to the author for sharing this. I’ve always been a little suspicious about opening attachments in Buyer Requests. Many of my other voice over friends do it all the time and swear that it helps them get work, but I’m more concerned about LOSING work if my PC becomes unusable.

[psychicbunny]

That happened to me once. Not on Fiverr but some creep I went to highschool with did something and the main thing I remember was my camera light flickering.

[eremin]

I use antivirus software and always check downloaded files. Thanks you very much for this information.

[stream77]

I am not surprised…Thanks for the tip…maybe Fiverr should put in a security policy that scan scan attachment before you guys can open it…Thanks

[warisalijoiya]

i just faced this situation ,Like few minutes back from now. Buyer has sent me excel file it has macros , which i allowed but my windows defender caught the Trojan files.
I am not sure if it has been removed completely or not.

[warisalijoiya]

My windows defender show this alert.

[iamzoid]

Hey, i got someone who sent me a link in which he had an offer and showed his contact info, am i in some danger because i clicked the link?

[klemerine]

This information is very helpful. But I have another problem - many times the documents/images I download are showing a blank icon and simply don’t have a file name extension. When I go to properties, it says Type: ‘File’ and ‘This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer.’ There is an ‘unlock’ option, but I don’t know if I should choose that? I can open those files with Paint for example, they are images.
I had one scammer who wanted me to install some program for tracking everything I do on my computer, I reported him/her.

[steve_maxell]

Open documents in Dropbox not locally