Wikipedia:Scam warning
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Scam warning: there are scammers who target new editors and Articles for Creation participants.
They may pretend to be Wikipedia volunteers or a professional Wikipedia editing or public relations firm, and then ask you to pay them for "premium Wikipedia services" – to create an article for you, accept or publish a draft article, prioritize the review process of a draft article, protect an article from editing or deletion, restore a deleted article, or monitor an article for unfavorable changes. This is a scam.
- Help from real Wikipedia volunteers is always free.
- Real Wikipedia volunteers will never ask you for money or any other compensation.
- No one can guarantee that a draft will be accepted or an article will be kept in exchange for payment.
If someone contacts you with paid offers:
- Do not reply. Stop all contact.
- Do not share personal or account information.
- Do not click on any links they send.
- Do not follow their instructions or send any payment.
What to do instead:
- Forward the whole conversation, including email headers, to paid-en-wp
wikipedia.org. - Delete the messages. If you shared any account details, change your password immediately and consider enabling two-factor authentication.
How the scam works
- Because Wikipedia activity is public, a scammer might watch the New pages feed, or the Articles for creation or Articles for deletion pages.
- They will typically look for draft articles that have been declined by a reviewer, articles that are tagged or nominated for deletion or that have been recently deleted, or new editors who are either asking for help with writing their first article, or trying to create an article in order to write about themselves or an article subject they have a conflict of interest with.
- After they locate a suitable target, they will contact the editor and claim that – for a fee – they can create an article, accept or publish a draft article or speed up the review of a draft, protect an article from editing or deletion, restore a deleted article, or monitor an article for changes.
- Some scammers will even falsely claim to be a Wikipedia administrator, Articles for creation reviewer, or employees of the Wikimedia Foundation (or claim to personally know or be "business partners" with one that will help).
If someone offers any kind of paid Wikipedia service, it is a scam.
Warning signs and behaviors
- They encourage, "require", or otherwise try and push you to communicate with them using other platforms or mediums that are non-public and off of Wikipedia's website, and will usually try and do so quickly and hastily.
- The off-wiki platforms they try to push you to use often include LinkedIn, Snapchat, Facebook, WhatsApp (or other social media services), Discord, or via email messaging. This is purposefully done and for many reasons: first, they do this because they want to isolate you, distract your attention, and prevent you from communicating with other members of the community or locating the proper instructions allowing you to perform the same Wikipedia activities that the scammer wants to charge you money for. They also do this in order to keep real volunteers, well-intended contributors, and security-aware editors or administrators from being able to assist you, discovering your conversation with the scammer, and shutting down their scam by blocking their account and informing the target. The quicker that they're able to move you away from Wikipedia's public communication channels, the less likely that they are to being discovered, blocked, and having their scam attempt ruined.
- They make unrealistic or impossible "promises" or "guarantees" with the services or help that they're offering.
- Examples of such "promises" or "guarantees" typically include getting a draft accepted or an article published, having an article protected from changes or deletions, priority or fast-track services or turnaround time (such as getting a draft article reviewed and accepted immediately instead of having it wait in line). The sole purpose, underlying intent, top priority, and ultimate goal of a scammer is to be paid or given money – nothing else. Scammers are willing to lie, promise, manipulate, con, coerce, and even threaten - if they believe that doing so will result in money being paid or sent to them. Absolutely nobody can promise or guarantee that a draft will get published, an article will be kept from deletion, or that an article's content will be monitored and kept safe from unfavorable changes or unwanted situations. If anyone comes to you with such guarantees or promises, this should be considered a big red flag.
- They claim to either be prolific editors or experts on Wikipedia, Wikipedia administrators or Wikimedia Foundation employees, users with "power", "command", "control", or "authority" over other editors or whether or not an article should be published or deleted, or users with "insider status" or that know, are friends or partners with someone who can help.
- These claims are usually not followed-up with any kind of verification or proof when asked to provide some. Scammers will typically make these kinds of statements while communicating with you – sometimes awkwardly and without you having conversed, mentioning, or even asking about it first – in order to trick or manipulate you into believing what they say, gaining your trust, and with the hopes that you'll follow their instructions (either unwittingly or after they've convinced you to pay them in exchange for their help, services, or special arrangement promised to you.
If you start receiving unsolicited offers for assistance, professional services, or priority handling of your draft submission, and if the user exerts one or more of the warnings signs detailed here, stop all communication with them, follow the instructions below in order to report them, and contact a trusted Wikipedia user for help.
Reporting scammers
- Forward the entire conversation, including email headers, to paid-en-wpwikipedia.org.
- Do not reply or respond to the scammer – even if to tell them that you are aware of the scam or that you are reporting their activity.
- Keep a local copy of all messages only if you need it in order to supplement a report with your bank or with law enforcement. Otherwise, delete the messages.
Wikipedia cannot help you recover any money that was lost or stolen as a result of any scams, but reporting the activity will help to prevent future scams as well as protect others from becoming victims. If you believe that you were defrauded, consider reporting the incident to local authorities or a consumer protection agency in your jurisdiction.
Paid editing
Some people are paid to edit Wikipedia. Paid editors are:
- not employed by the Wikimedia Foundation or by the Wikipedia community; they have no authority beyond that of any other volunteer editor
- required to follow Wikipedia's paid editing process of disclosure and policy
- required to follow Wikipedia's conflict of interest process of disclosure and policy
- required to comply with Wikipedia's usual policies and guidelines, and their edits will be reviewed by the community like any other edits.
Some paid editors create "sockpuppets" for each client they work with to try to hide their paid editing. Edits by sockpuppets can be reverted without discussion.
No editor can "guarantee" any outcome or result will occur on Wikipedia: not that a draft will be accepted, an article kept or deleted, any content remain kept or be deleted, nor any tags remain or be removed.
If you receive a solicitation for paid editing services that contradicts any of the above, the paid editor is misleading you. Before employing a paid editor, you should read Wikipedia's paid editing disclosure and conflict of interest pages and verify that they are following these rules.
Getting volunteer help
For volunteer help, see:
- The Teahouse: Q&A for new editors.
- The Help Desk: for questions relating to Wikipedia.
- Articles for Creation Help Desk: for questions about article submissions via the Articles for Creation process.
- Conflict of interest noticeboard: for concerns about paid and conflict of interest editing.