First buyer, but I believe it might be a spammer?

[romanceghost]

I’ve had my gig posted on the site for two weeks now, and today I managed to get my first order request. However, I’m worried it might be a spammer.

Why do I believe this? Because their user name is “********,” which sounds a little fishy to me. And on the order requirements page, they didn’t write anything directly toward me to let me know they’re actually a human.

Instead, they copied my text for the requirements and then attached a document saying, “Please find a document with the required information.”

There is a document attached, but I’m a little afraid to open/download it before I know if this buyer is legit. What should I do from here? Send a message back asking some more questions?

[tpsylighthouse]

Hi,

I am new on fiverr too, at least as a seller so more or less I understand your concerns. If your device (the one you work from) has a malware scanning programme installed, then I believe you would get a notification should you have attempted to download the file. If you don’t want to risk, you may visit an internet cafee or library to log in from their terminals (they always have the latest versions of malware detective software installed).

On the other hand, it would not be a bad idea to contact them as you say and politely ask to know the reason they pasted the requirements. Or say sth like "would it be inconvenient if I asked you to paste the content of the file as fiverr messages since I find it hard to open the file?
You can then judge by their response. Anyway, I wish you luck!

[fonthaunt]

I can’t blame you for being concerned about a possible scam (which I think you mean instead of spam.) The username does have an odd history and the attachment is a bit odd. One other thing, the username isn’t allowed on the forums, so I’ll have to edit that out for you. I think you got some good advice above. If the buyer doesn’t respond soon enough for you to deliver on time, you could initiate a mutual cancellation.

As much as you might hate to lose a potential first sale, your safety has to be considered and in this case, you might have the right intuition. Be sure to let Customer Support know about your concerns. They might not be able to answer you in time to keep you from cancelling, but they can check into the user history in case there are problems for other people.