As a copywriter that uses Digital Point to get clients I've noticed the last three months a deluge in criminal behavior from clients who are nothing more than rip off artists. Fortunately for me I have the law enforcement resources to go after them and as I type one of them is being investigated for fraud by PayPal. We all have to watch out for the scammers and be proactive in the writing community to prevent and resolve situations. Some of these scammers have big money stashed away. A good arrest and conviction means a lawsuit and their assets up for grabs. You will not have a hard time finding a lawyer who will be ready to go after the gold. I'm sure there are lots of tips offered by many of you who have been burned and sharing them helps keep the riff raff out. Best, Greg Boone http://www.boonestoons.com
True, DP and other freelance platforms are flooded with fraud. On one hand, Internet is the territory of freedom. We complain about NSA, Google and Facebook poking their nose in people's intimate stuff. On the other hand, they, authorities, totally disregard the thriving major and minor online scams. This is by no means a local problem of a single government, but a worldwide plague. Good for you to be able to take action. In most cases, freelancers resort to cry-wolfing on public forums to soothe the wounds.
Believe it or not Dan, there is something the honest members can do. We used to do it in the good ol' days on the web. It calls for the honest members to stop squabbling and hiding in corners and take a proactive roll. If we teamed up we would destroy the crooks on a massive scale.
What does it take? I mean, factually. What can you do? DP badly needs a regulation force because moderators only scratch the surface of an iceberg sometimes. Or worse, they clean up a crook's thread from legitimate comments by forum members warning newbies against fraud. What kind of policy is that? I love this forum, and I hate to see it sliding into freelancer.com-like garbage can.