Behance is a powerful platform for connecting with potential clients and collaborators. As you review job inquiries, take time to carefully assess each message. Unfortunately, online job scams are increasingly common and it’s important to stay vigilant to protect yourself.
Tips for Freelance Job Inquiries
If a freelance project inquiry seems legitimate and you’re interested, use the Proposal feature (available in eligible countries) to manage all communication and transactions directly on Behance. Simply click “Create Proposal” under the inquiry to get started. This ensures a more secure interaction and gives you access to support from the Behance team if needed.
Tips for Full Time Job Inquiries
Take time to verify the company and the role before responding. Look for signs of legitimacy, such as a company website, a professional email address, and a detailed job description. We recommend keeping initial communication on the platform whenever possible. Avoid sharing personal or sensitive information early on, and be cautious of anyone offering a job without an interview or asking for payment upfront. If something feels off, trust your instincts and report the message to the Behance team.
Here are some best practices to protect yourself from messaging scams:
- If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Fraudulent jobs or opportunities will often promise outsized rewards for little work to entice victims, such as signing bonuses and advances. Often, scammers will try to lower their target's guard with compliments, promise a big opportunity, and then pull the scam.
- Behance or Adobe will NOT contact you via Inbox Message to verify your account.
- Slow down if the person contacting you is requiring a specific kind of payment like crypto, bank transfers, gift cards, checks or the wiring of funds.
- If someone is asking you to continue your conversation off-platform, especially to another messaging app, be aware that this may be a scam.
- Be wary of job postings or messages that include misspellings and grammatical errors.
- Avoid filling out unknown forms asking for personal information.
- Verify information from the potential employer to confirm their identity. Examples include company email address, phone number, or social media handles. Check this against the information on the company’s official website or using a search engine.
- If you suspect a job post or message is a scam, report it – our team will investigate and take action according to our Terms of Use and Community Guidelines.
- If you’ve been a victim of a scam, don't be quiet about it. Report it to your local law enforcement.
Example of a common job scam message:
Good Afternoon ___________,
I am George Taylor and I work as a Human Resources Recruiter at Company XYZ. I saw your profile here and I was impressed by youre experience.
Here at Company XYZ, we are always looking to grow our teams with talented people and achieve great things together.
I’d love to tell you a little more about the opening position and learn a few things about you, as well.
Are you available? If so, I’d be happy to coordinate via Google Hangouts and Telegram.
Work Hours Or Shift: Monday to Friday, 8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Salary: $25 - 40 /Hr
I hope you have a great day.
Sincerely,
George Taylor
For more info on common job/hiring scams visit:
https://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/current_top_10_scam_list.php
https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2025/03/what-are-signs-scam
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/10/business/online-scams-advice.html
https://www.consumerreports.org/scams-fraud/how-to-protect-yourself-from-common-scams/