- Edited
On Friday afternoon I received another offer out of the blue from a stranger. But this time, the positive note was that it was pretty detailed about the project, the company, their objectives. Previous scam offers instead, were very general and had no details at all.
Also, this contract offer is set to activate at a later date, one week from now. No rush, no stress.
BEFORE ACCEPTING THE OFFER, I replied by asking a few questions and suggesting to meet online after the weekend to discuss the project. The client agreed and added more details, and confirmed that he was pretty confident as he had analysed my profile carefully before reaching out.
A few days later we met and agreed to begin a collaboration, beginning mid next week.
It came out that his company is not far from where I live, and I have been invited to go there and meet with the team in person.
Needless to say, my preliminary search has confirmed who he and his company are.
ONLY AFTER THE ABOVE STEPS, I ACCEPTED HIS OFFER ;)
I asked him why he just sent an offer to a stranger. I suggested him that that is risky for him as well, in case a dishonest freelancer begins adding paid work hours without a preliminary exchange.
His answer was interesting: " If I send an offer I am pretty sure to secure a response from a freelancer i'm interested in. If I just reach out via a message, I might get no responses at all. Nothing bad has happened to me so far".
There's always something to learn out there! ;)