Someone has been scamming freelancers on Upwork,
Freelancer.com, Telegram Messenger, WhatsApp, and other platforms on behalf of ITRex!
A person that goes by many names has been targeting IT specialists on freelance marketplaces, claiming to be the secretary to Victoria Sharina, Chief Human Resources Officer at ITRex Group.
The fraudster creates fake projects on Upwork, Freelancer.com, and other platforms. Then, when getting responses, he incites software developers to continue communication on Telegram or WhatsApp. Additionally, the imposter shares a contract template and project information file with the ITRex logo; here is the
PDF project document he has been distributing so far. However, freelancers must pay an insurance fee using PayPal, Citibank, Skrill, or Crypto to take on one of the projects. Once the money transfer has occurred, the fraudster abruptly ends all the communication, prompting the IT specialists to finally contact ITRex Group for clarification. Unfortunately, several people have already fallen victim to this fraud scheme.
"The ITRex Group team is beyond sad to have learned of the scammers. As a customer and people-centric company, we've always strived for transparency and integrity in our business operations and communication. We'd like to kindly remind fellow IT professionals that we neither hire freelance software engineers nor ask them to pay mysterious insurance fees. Our employees' corporate emails have the "@itrexgroup.com" domain name, and all of our official communication channels are listed on the company's Contact Us page. In addition, the representatives of our HR and business development teams have verified profiles on LinkedIn, and their contact information is available publicly online. And all of our payment transactions are handled by licensed financial institutions — and not crypto wallets or cryptocurrency exchange platforms," - says Olga Borodina, Chief Marketing Officer at ITRex Group