The Toxic Freelance Environment on MQL5

 

The MQL5 freelance market has become extremely vulnerable to widespread scam activity, with fraudulent actors operating freely and frequently on the platform. The absence of effective controls has created an environment where scammers - typically presenting themselves as "project managers" - proliferate unchecked, severely damaging professional standards.

These individuals, despite lacking genuine development capabilities, aggressively market themselves as experts while proposing laughably low rates (30 - 50 dollars) for sophisticated technical work. Their deceptive scheme follows a predictable but destructive cycle:

  1. They bait clients with impossibly low quotes and unrealistic promises;

  2. Once engaged, they insist on off-platform payments to evade oversight or they tell the costumer excuses like "my country does not allow me to use this method of payment";

  3. They subcontract the work to completely unvetted, incompetent third parties;

  4. The end result is predictably disastrous - either unusable code, partial delivery, or outright theft.

The consequences are severe and multifaceted:
• Legitimate costumers suffer financial losses and eroded trust
• The platform's credibility deteriorates from substandard outcomes
• Professional developers face unfair competition from fraudulent pricing
• The entire ecosystem becomes increasingly hostile to quality work

This rampant scam activity, enabled by the platform's inadequate safeguards, is creating a race to the bottom. Without immediate intervention to verify identities, validate skills, and enforce fair practices, the MQL5 freelance marketplace risks becoming completely overrun by bad actors, driving away both skilled professionals and legitimate clients permanently.

 
Francisco Rayol:

The MQL5 freelance market has become extremely vulnerable to widespread scam activity, with fraudulent actors operating freely and frequently on the platform. The absence of effective controls has created an environment where scammers - typically presenting themselves as "project managers" - proliferate unchecked, severely damaging professional standards.

These individuals, despite lacking genuine development capabilities, aggressively market themselves as experts while proposing laughably low rates (30 - 50 dollars) for sophisticated technical work. Their deceptive scheme follows a predictable but destructive cycle:

  1. They bait clients with impossibly low quotes and unrealistic promises;

  2. Once engaged, they insist on off-platform payments to evade oversight or they tell the costumer excuses like "my country does not allow me to use this method of payment";

  3. They subcontract the work to completely unvetted, incompetent third parties;

  4. The end result is predictably disastrous - either unusable code, partial delivery, or outright theft.

The consequences are severe and multifaceted:
• Legitimate costumers suffer financial losses and eroded trust
• The platform's credibility deteriorates from substandard outcomes
• Professional developers face unfair competition from fraudulent pricing
• The entire ecosystem becomes increasingly hostile to quality work

This rampant scam activity, enabled by the platform's inadequate safeguards, is creating a race to the bottom. Without immediate intervention to verify identities, validate skills, and enforce fair practices, the MQL5 freelance marketplace risks becoming completely overrun by bad actors, driving away both skilled professionals and legitimate clients permanently.

Sad but true. The hard lesson learned... Build your own website and control your own future.

 
$30... not even expensive enough for me to read their request. Plus, they all want open source code. As if I'm going to give them all my work so they can use it. Nonsense. Run away.
 
Gerard William G J B M Dinh Sy #:
$30... not even expensive enough for me to read their request. Plus, they all want open source code. As if I'm going to give them all my work so they can use it. Nonsense. Run away.
Yes. They want it all. And for 2 days fast.
 
Francisco Rayol #:
Yes. They want it all. And for 2 days fast.
As I said, if you can complete a large request in two days, it's because you have a large library or personal class. Giving them away is out of the question.
 
Gerard William G J B M Dinh Sy #:
As I said, if you can complete a large request in two days, it's because you have a large library or personal class. Giving them away is out of the question.
Surely. You would be giving away a lot of knowledge for free.
 
Francisco Rayol #:
Surely. You would be giving away a lot of knowledge for free.
No, no. Not free. $30 less the commission to be paid to the site. That changes everything.
 
Gerard William G J B M Dinh Sy #:
No, no. Not free. $30 less the commission to be paid to the site. That changes everything.

Until the site decides to offer a gptLance for 10$ a piece and 10free revisions xD

 
Lorentzos Roussos #:

Until the site decides to offer a gptLance for 10$ a piece and 10free revisions xD

😂

 
The most problematic things are the low prices and the higher target for withdraw through bank transfer, given there not other option that would work for everyone. The question about off-platform payments is reinforced by this fact. Add to that the fact of many serious freelancers biding on low priced projects and doing cheap works even after having many recurring customers and years of experience. Many of us are complacent with this situation, even knowing that will be able to withdraw only after 3 months or even more, continue charging low prices. Each one know about his needs, but knowing that will be able to withdraw only after the completion of dozen of projects the smartest thing would be increase the prices. After all many of us want to deliver high quality works and this is not possible delivring 100 projects per month. I have decided myself to no bid on any project and reject projects of recurring customers and dedicate my time to personal projects. I don't know if i will once again take a project as freelancer on this platform.
 
i was already overloaded with all the situation, but the question about withdrawals just made be more sure that i should stop giving my work for others and many of those who use the plaftorm to outsource the work that they can't do.