Freelance writing job opportunities by IAPWE (International Association Professional Writers and Editors) can be seen flooding different job boards.
I can’t remember exactly where I came across their job posting, but I guess it was Problogger Jobs with a link redirecting to Workable job portal.
That said, I have come across their job offer in my email at least four times this year.
The email that sent this offer has csapptrack as its primary domain and when you visit the site, it automatically redirects to iapwe website. It is probably a portal under the main site.
With the first email, since I have had my fair share of online writing scams, I did a Google search of their name and then, BOOM!!! Lots of sorry cases reports.
Before I talk about other people’s experiences, here is mine.
First, I am sure I once applied for this job, but cannot remember ever applying again, after that; and I still get emails for a job offer from them.
I have nothing against this; however, here is my red flag.
When the registration form attached to the email is clicked, at first glance, you will not be presented with their various membership plans until you complete the form.
iapwe, what are you trying to achieve? Be upfront with the membership aspect of your site then I will know whether to register.
Once all details are filled in, then BAAM! You have the membership plans displayed.
This isn’t a red flag until you select the Basic (FREE) plan and forced to try out their Professional Membership.
Why can’t I just try out the platform with the FREE plan and then decide to upgrade the plan later?
Clicking Next will redirect you to a PayPal sign-in page. Once again, if this delivers the expected results, maybe I might be wrong, but others have horrible experiences, screaming, don’t try it.
A female writer, Bonny Albo, who narrated her experience after going through with the process, said in a Medium post, “31 days later, I receive an email from my bank. “Your account is overdrawn, please log in now to remedy”.
“While the IAPWE website says you can email them to cancel, it’s not true.
“The only solution is to cancel the membership on PayPal, and then do your best to contact them to get a refund. Keep all these emails, screenshot them, and then forward them to PayPal after about a week.”
Another writer, Mykii, in a blog post said, “Unfortunately, I had gone ahead and subscribed to the paid version because I really wanted to see if there would be any true benefit to having this access. Since there wasn’t I immediately decided to cancel my subscription – which is not easy. First there’s a form to fill out, and then (according to a few other bloggers who went through this ordeal) Amy will and confirm that you want to cancel.”
Maybe not a scam
A Reddit user who narrated his experience said; “I worked for them for 6 months years ago. They seemed extremely enthusiastic about me at first, but continuously sent my work back for nit picky, ridiculous edits. Every time I sent it back, I’d get it right back. It was never good enough. They never actually published any of the 10+ articles I sent in. I was paying them $15/mo for their board. In my opinion, they’re just à more professional/legitimate-sounding content mill. (sic)”
Another Reddit user has this to say; “I actually know quite a few people that have secured writing gigs via IAPWE. They’re not a “known scam”, they just need a lot of effort to utilize their resources, which can be tedious. I think many people want a quick, easy, high-paying assignment, with little to no effort. As IAPWE is not a get-rich-quick site, it leads to many negative reviews. The moral is: it’s not for everyone. Just because something doesn’t work for you, does not mean it won’t work for others.”
A Reddit user who presumably actually got a writing job on the IAPWE job noted, “I’ve written something for them, so they do actually have work without paying or joining anything. However, I’ve yet to get paid. They say they’re working out payment now, so I’ll try to report back and let you guys know if they come through.
“I applied in either May or June I think. I hadn’t heard all the stuff about it being a scam until afterward, but my experience was a bit different. I was never required to sign up for the paid program. I simply skipped all that and went to the freelancer area that’s free, which is where they have the jobs. It’s mostly medical, legal or tech blogs. I wrote one about the latest technology in medicine.
“They wrote me today after about a week and say it’s been accepted but they need to figure out the payment process because they’re having issues working with upwork. I’m just keeping an open mind at this point because so far, no one has asked me to pay for anything. I’ll be open-minded but also doubtful until I actually see payment. However, these jobs they had were complicated with a lot of complex instructions and it seems like quite a lot of work for a scam considering the jobs are all posted in the free section.”
VERDICT
IAPWE writing platform might not be a scam. My only concern is being forced to subscribe to their Professional plan despite selecting the Basic (FREE) plan.
The option for a trial of Professional Membership should be optional.
I could also remember one of the previous offers I got from them mandating I sign up with Freelancer.com to access their listed jobs while still requiring I sign up for a trial Professional Membership.
ADVICE
Since a handful of people have confirmed they got jobs from the platform, but none has confirmed ever receiving payments that justify the investment, freelance writers should be cautious when dealing with them.
EXTRA NOTE
IAPWE currently has a BBB rating of B but is not currently BBB accredited.
