I almost got hired to work for Red Bull. And when I say almost, I mean not by a long shot. These scammers know how to play on your emotions so well that you’ll miss all the red flags. Let’s find out how many red flags I missed.
Life as a freelancer
This freelance thing is a mission and a half. I feel like I’m learning more about how to accept “no” without actually getting a “no”, than putting my skills to work.
By “no”, I mean getting ghosted, scammed, and bamboozled. Basically, I’m learning how to take the “L” gracefully.
I started my Upwork journey November 2024.
I’ve read many a time that Upwork isn’t worth it because you don’t get paid what you’re worth. Not me. I got my first one-time gig almost right away, I got paid my asking rate, and I still stay in touch with that client. I figured all I had to do was add 10% to my proposed rate to compensate for the 10% Upwork takes.
Clever me …
That’s worked really well for me … except I’ve only landed one other one-time gig since then.
A swing and a miss
I have, however, taken to Microsoft Teams twice, which is a huge Upwork no, no. Only to have been ghosted … twice. Scam. Whew 😥 dodged that!
And another miss
I got to the “Invitations to interview” stage twice, only to be passed up.
And another miss
Aaaand, I got to the “Offers” stage twice with ideal clients. The first was for a Latina-owned start-up, and the second was for a medical professional in Canada who focused on childhood traumas and mental health.
Like, she knew who my mental health trauma guru is, Dr. Gabor Mate. He’s also a citizen of Canada so, you know. I was so excited; every mental health professional I’ve asked has never heard of him and his work and, really, they should. So should you! He’s changed my life … I digress.
The rose-colored glasses were officially glued onto my face. I started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel by way of a new home savings of up to 3 months, my senior pet’s bills that are adding up, a sorely needed upgraded phone, and all the organizing contraptions I could dream of to help with my decluttering.
The outcome of these two “Offers” were the same though. My enthusiasm was larger than the amount of time they were ready to offer. Less than that, they both were not ready for my services and the price they came with, nor the commitment.
No hard feelings. I just felt I like I was in-between limbo and “it’s gonna be a no for me, dawg” without actually getting updates. Which is the nature of the beast. I hear this is common as well.
Life lessons and ADHD
Personally, everything that has happened so far has been a great lesson for me. It’s quite the learning curve, and the whole process offers me that dopamine hit my ADHD brain loves! … Could this be the one?
On the other hand, one of the symptoms of ADHD is rejection sensitivity, which has been an Achilles heel of mine. If I’m being honest, these little rejections along the way, besides all the other rejections outside of Upwork, have left little bruises on my ego. They’ve tested my self-confidence.
Thankfully, my self-confidence was the first thing I had to strengthen to move forward in my self-healing journey. I learned that other people’s reactions are rarely about you. It’s all about perspective. So, I had acquired some much-needed calluses where the bruises landed 💪🏼.
Red Flags 🚩
Today, however, this one took the cake. Oooh weee I was already flying high without Red Bull wings as soon as I saw the Red Bull logo on the application.
Red Flag #1
The job details simply said, “Small Data Entry Specialist — Microsoft Word or Google Doc Assistant” … I already see one red flag I overlooked. “Small” Data Entry Specialist? Not “short-term” or minus the word “small”. “Small” is unusual. Almost, like a linguistic error. But, that’s not too abnormal.
Red Flag #2
When they messaged me, I was taken aback …
“basic educational achievements”? I thought, wow, a bachelor’s degree and 20+ years of experience really mean nothing now 🤔.
I brushed away my pride and inquired.
Red Flag #3
Immediately, the “video” I was referred to was an offer on Red Bull letterhead.
Damnit I was so excited, I yelled, “RED BULL?!”, out loud in disbelief, and the “basic educational achievements” thought withered away from my conscious.
And right here is where they got me, and I suppose where they get others. You see the “Red Bull” logo in all her gloriousness, and that can kick up some real competitive determination in some people … 🙋🏻♀️ some people.
So much so, that I totally overlooked the huge, DO NOT TAKE JOBS OFF OF UPWORK, rule. Which I had done before, remember? Both scams. I didn’t remember though because … “RED BULL”!
To give myself a little leeway, I did take one one-time gig off of Upwork, but it was quick, straightforward, and the payment went through PayPal. Badabing badaboom.
Red Flag #4
As directed on the contract offer, I contacted “Macy” on Teams to start the interview process. After some pleasantries, the application was sent over Teams for me to complete with the following statement:
P.S. You have to complete this session in less than 10-minutes before returning the completed copy here.
Whelllll, challenge accepted, Red Bull. Another hit of dopamine. I figured, okay, they wanted to see how long it would take me to comprehend and complete tasks.
In my head, “I am onnnn iiiiit” … “this is where I excel” … “don’t screw this up!”, as Eminem’s Lose Yourself was playing in the back of my mind.
Well, 10 minutes came and went. I ran into a couple of hiccups in editing and completing the form online. However, I knew this was an opportunity for me to maintain communication, provide confident options, and move forward. You know, show Red Bull how I deal with challenges.
Red Flag #5
The communication style came up, again. That’s where my instinct first kicked in. But I brushed it off as being AI or automated responses. These are the times we’re in.
I also took into consideration language barriers that possibly “Macy” was from a different country. But, on “her” Linkedin profile, “she” worked in corporate at the Santa Monica location.
Here are some examples:
- “Kindly find the paperwork attachment … blah, blah, blah.”
Kindly???? Hmmm (later repeated several times) - When questioned about not completing the payment portion, which I overlooked the first part outside of opting for PayPal for bonuses, I brought up PayPal as mentioned followed by, “Is that information sufficient”?
Reply: “Incorrect, a physical banking institution you currently have an account with”.
The “incorrect” was suspicious. - From there, “Macy” began giving me reasons as to why “she” loved working at fake red bull, telling me the benefits of this new text system of interviewing, then told me “she’d” get back to me in 45 minutes with the outcome of the interview.
Almost 45 minutes later, I received congratulations and was told I was one of three of the five who had been welcomed to the team. - Now, onto the contract. But before that, I was asked to rate the interview process. Daaaaaamn, that was smart, fake red bull.
I gave the quality of the interview a 9 and explained how the conversation sounded like AI or auto-generated, to which “she” replied:
And this isn’t AI at all, I made sure I was easy and make sure you understand to the simple and all aspect
I felt bad, more so for suggesting the conversation wasn’t authentic. I didn’t even realize the glaring errors in that sentence 🤦🏻♀️
Red Flag #6
I had just about signed my life away as it was getting closer to 5 pm. “Macy” gave me 2 hours to complete the contract approval letter, a bank verification form, and a W4.
We were to reconvene at 8 am the next day.
I was already going to inquire more about the bank verification letter, but the W4 is where my Spidey senses really kicked in. And when that happened, it was the biggest epiphany. Here’s what my instinct told me:
HEY YOU! YOU KNOW HOW YOU HAVE A HARD TIME LISTENING TO YOUR INSTINCT BECAUSE YOU WERE CONDITIONED TO IGNORE IT AS A CHILD???? THIS IS IT!!!! 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
Of course, the W4 asks for your SSN, which I was going to submit without it. But then I remembered reviewing the W4 in the supervisor position myself, and it hit me: if this is contract work, why am I completing a W4 instead of a 1099 nec? I wasn’t certain, but it just wasn’t sitting right.
Time to research
So, there I went cross-referencing like a mofo and searching all the names provided with “Red Bull” and/or scam and/or Upwork, online. Things weren’t adding up. I also found Red Bull’s fraud warning page and Upwork’s identifying scam page, and yep … wow.
Confronting fake red bull
I sent a message on LinkedIn to Macy, knowing I’d probably not get a reply. But gave her a heads up and gave her “Macy’s” Teams info.
A little after midnight, I emailed “Macy” the following:
Macy, I have a couple more questions.
I was reading on your fraud warning page that Red Bull does not “send e-mails from a public email account, e.g., GMX, Hotmail, Gmail, etc”, however the email from Tracy Miller was from a gmail account.
Also, can I submit the remaining documents without my banking information and SSN?
Thank you
…
One more question: I qualify for benefits even though my part-time contract says 10–20 hours per week?
To my surprise, “Macy”, had some good answers. They were checking out. No pressure to submit my bank and SSN, but she wanted a picture of my driver’s license. But the answers came in at 5 am when she said she would get back to me at “0800”.
After a few minutes “she” replied telling me, how much time “she’s” spent with me, how the DL was something needed to protect both of us, that “she’s” been transparent with me and is sensing some hesitation on my part, requesting for me to be transparent with “her”, and I just needed to let “her” know if I was still interest or not so “she” could offer this “opportunity” to someone else.
And damnit “her” end of the conversation was gone before I could go back to get it, but here’s my reply:
Additional red flags on the paperwork
- No phone numbers listed anywhere
- Andre Stein isn’t the CEO
- Jeff Hurford isn’t the CFO
- I get the blue and black distinction, but that looks like all the spots that were added
- If I’m part-time, how am I eligible for compensation and benefits? (contract offer)
- Aren’t influencers considered “ambassadors” (direct deposit)
- None of the job offers listed on the website and LinkedIn were close to the job title of “simple data entry,” nor did they offer remote clerical positions.
Opportunity missed?
Honestly, I’m not used to being this bold. I hate accusing people of things without being sure. As you can imagine, it hurt to turn down $980.50/week.
If this was in fact legit … bro do better. Freelancers deserve better.
So, I guess it took me 6 red flags to realize I’m not getting my wings. But did I miss out on my wings? Because I really feel like I got an even better set of wings after all of this.
Welp, at least for one day, I forgot about the scam going on in the government 🤷🏻♀️.
BEWARE everyone
because if they find out, “what you covet, you’ll find that, they love it
because they’ll guzzle up the thing you prize.
Beware, Beware, Be a very wary bear.
They’re quick and slick, they’re insincere.
Beware, Beware, Be a very wary bear
…
A Heffalump or Woozle, is very confusel,
A Heffalump or Woosel’s very sly
– sly — sly — sly.
…
If honey’s what you covet, you’ll find that, they love it
because they’ll guzzle up the thing you prize.
Beware, Beware, Be a very wary bear.
