How To Protect Yourself from Fraud: Key Tips for Talent

As a talent on Voices, you’re focused on getting work done, not worrying about potential scams. Unfortunately, fraud can happen in any industry, including on the Voices platform.

Here, we will cover important guidelines to help you stay safe, avoid fraud, and protect your personal and financial information. We have continually evolving systems in place to help protect our talent from fraud, but staying informed and sharing information with us is the best way to protect yourself.

In this article

1. Distinguish Between Managed Services and Self-Service Jobs
2. Watch for Certain Suspicious Behaviors
3. Never Contact Clients Directly Off-Platform
4. Fraudsters May Use Real Company Names
5. Canceled Jobs and Off-Platform Requests
6. What We’re Doing to Protect Our Talent from Fraud
7. Final Thoughts

Distinguish Between Managed Services and Self-Service Jobs

Understanding the difference between Managed Services jobs and Self-Service jobs is key to avoiding delays and identifying potential fraud. For Managed Services jobs, including datasets jobs, some offline communication, file submission, or even payment may be allowed due to specific client requirements.

Managed Services jobs will always appear in your hiring tab with a Blue V icon next to the job title, as pictured below.

For Self-Service jobs, all communication and file submissions must remain strictly on-platform. If you are arranging a live directed session with a client, it may require communicating contact information for whichever tool you are using for the session, but this would only happen after the client has already legitimately hired you and you have accepted an agreement—everything else should remain on-platform. If you are ever unsure whether a request aligns with the job type, it’s crucial to contact support before proceeding.

Watch for Certain Suspicious Behaviors

• Self-Service Clients asking you to send files offline: This is a common tactic used by fraudsters to bypass platform protections.
• Your audition was never listened to: If a client hasn’t reviewed your work but is asking you to continue with the project, proceed with caution.
• Requests to take communication off-platform immediately: Fraudsters often attempt to move conversations to personal email or messaging platforms to evade platform oversight.

A scenario that should set off alarm bells is something like a client claiming they have overpaid you and requesting your banking details to return a portion of the funds. This should raise a red flag, even if everything else with the job up to that point has seemed legitimate. Any requests to move off-platform for file submissions, communication, or payment—again, with the exception of Managed Services jobs, which includes datasets jobs—should be reported to the support team immediately. Sometimes this is simply a misunderstanding on the part of the client, but it’s always better to air on the side of caution.

Never Contact Clients Directly Off-Platform

If you feel uncertain about a client’s legitimacy, resist the urge to contact them directly off-platform; instead, let the support team know. They are equipped to verify whether the client is legitimate and can investigate any suspicious activity. Reaching out directly to clients outside of the platform can put you at risk and make it harder to resolve issues later.

Fraudsters May Use Real Company Names

One of the most challenging fraud tactics is when scammers impersonate legitimate companies or employees to gain your trust. They may use the name of a real company or employee to seem legitimate, but one key sign is the email address they use. A legitimate company will have a branded email domain (e.g., [email protected]), while fraudsters often use generic addresses (e.g., [email protected]). Always verify the email address and report anything suspicious to support.

Canceled Jobs and Off-Platform Requests

If you are ever asked to communicate or send files offline and then notice that the job has been canceled, this should be an immediate warning sign. In these cases, always reach out to the support team for clarification. They can confirm what happened with the job and investigate if necessary.

What We’re Doing to Protect Our Talent from Fraud

We have multiple systems to help protect our talent from fraud, and we’re actively working on implementing additional security measures.

We have a flagging system in place that pulls suspicious jobs into review and our support team investigates before allowing the job to go public. If we come across a fraud/spam job, the support team will shut down the posting and terminate the client account. With some fraud jobs now using legitimate company names, these are more difficult to catch until messages have gone to talent, which is why it’s so important to abide by our tips above. 

Our SurePay payment protection system ensures our voice over talent are compensated securely through the platform, and for datasets jobs, our partnership with Tipalti ensures datasets contributors are paid securely as well.

Our Terms of Service emphasizes the importance of keeping communication on the platform, which allows us to step in and help should any issues arise, and our Report a Concern functions on both the job and messages for talent to easily reach out to us if they encounter any suspicious activity.

Final Thoughts

Staying vigilant is key to protecting yourself from fraud. Keep all communication and file submissions within the Voices platform unless you’re working on a Managed Services job with specific requirements. If you ever feel uncertain about a client or a job, don’t hesitate to contact support for help. Fraudsters are constantly trying to find new ways to trick talent, but by following these guidelines, you can safeguard yourself against potential scams and focus on what matters most—your work.