Staying safe on the marketplace

Written for people who are about to send or receive money

Plumely introduces two strangers and then stays out of the money. That is a genuinely useful arrangement — nobody takes a cut — but it also means that if you get defrauded, we cannot get your money back. So rather than a reassuring page about how seriously we take trust, here are the actual scams, in the order you're most likely to meet them.

The one rule: a client never asks you to pay them

If you're a creator, this single rule prevents the most common and most costly scam on marketplaces like this one. There is no legitimate reason for someone hiring you to require money from you before work starts.

No security deposit. No refundable deposit. No "we'll return it with your first payment".
No equipment, software or licence fee — including "just buy it through this link and expense it".
No registration, onboarding, verification or training fee.
No paying a third party they introduce you to.
Plumely briefs never require a creator to pay anyone anything. If a brief or a message asks, it is a scam. Report it.

Forged payment proof

Screenshots, SMS confirmations and emailed "receipts" are trivially faked, and there is a whole genre of scam built on the gap between seeing proof and having the money.

Only treat yourself as paid when the money is visible in your own banking app. Not a screenshot, not an SMS, not a payment-gateway email.
The overpayment trick: they "accidentally" send far too much and ask you to refund the difference. The original transfer is fake or will be reversed; your refund is real. Never refund an overpayment — tell them to reverse it via their bank.
Be wary of any urgency around a refund. Urgency is the point.

Getting ghosted after delivery

The most common non-criminal failure: the work is delivered and the client stops replying. Because payment is off-platform, there is nothing to claw back — so the protection is structural, applied before you start.

Take an advance. 50% is normal in this market and asking for it is not rude.
Deliver watermarked or low-resolution drafts until the balance clears. Send the master file last.
Confirm the agreement summary in the thread before you open the project. Timestamped, on-platform, and exactly the record a consumer forum or small-claims process will ask you for.
Treat a client who refuses to put scope and price in writing as a red flag on its own.

Free work dressed up as a test

"Do a short paid test edit" sent to thirty creators, where nobody is paid and the best submission ships. Briefs on Plumely must declare whether they require unpaid sample work, and ones that do are labelled — but the judgement is still yours.

Ask for a paid test. A real client with a budget will agree; someone harvesting free edits will not.
Be suspicious of a "test" that is a complete, usable deliverable.
Small unpaid tasks that escalate — do this, now this, now pay a fee to unlock payment — are a well-documented scam pattern, not an unusual client.

People pretending to be a brand

"Nike India" or a well-known agency posting a brief is flattering, and flattery is what makes people ignore odd requests. This is why Plumely shows the verified domain as text rather than a checkmark.

Read the domain, don't just look for a badge. A real brand verifies its real domain; an impersonator can only ever verify something like brand-india-media.xyz.
A brand-new account claiming to represent a large company is worth one email to that company's published address.
Unverified plus famous name plus urgent plus unusual request is the whole pattern.

Being rushed off Plumely

"Message me on Telegram" in the first reply is not automatically a scam — plenty of people just prefer their own tools — but it is the single strongest correlate of one, because it removes the record.

Telegram and WhatsApp are the most common channels for job scams in India. That's not a reason to refuse; it's a reason to agree terms here first.
Keep the negotiation, the scope and the price on Plumely. Move to wherever you like once there's a record of what was agreed.
Anyone insisting on moving before agreeing anything is removing the evidence, not saving time.

Phishing and fake payment links

Plumely will never send you a payment link, and never asks for an OTP, a UPI PIN or your password.
Check the domain on any link before you click. Lookalikes like plumely-pay.in are not us.
No legitimate client needs your banking credentials. An account number and a name is all anyone needs to pay you.

How to judge a profile

Verification badges on Plumely are deliberately written as facts with dates — "Domain verified: acme.co.in, 12 June 2026" — because a bare checkmark hides the information you actually need. Here's how to read them.

A verified domain proves someone controls that domain's DNS. It does not prove the company's legal identity, its finances, or that it will pay you.
A verified channel proves the holder of that Google account signed in. Channels are bought and sold, so it doesn't prove they made the videos.
Look at how many different people someone has worked with, not just how many jobs. Fake histories inflate the second number easily and the first with difficulty.
Account age matters. A domain registered last week and an account created yesterday is a pattern, not a coincidence.
An unverified account is not necessarily a scammer — everyone starts somewhere. It means the burden of proof sits on the work and the conversation instead.

If something goes wrong

Report it from the brief, profile or thread. Reports are reviewed by a person, upheld ones become visible on the profile, and a removed account cannot re-verify the same domain or channel — which is what actually stops repeat offenders. Keep your own records too: Plumely cannot recover money, and for that you may need to go to your bank, the cyber-crime portal, or a consumer forum.

FAQ

Why doesn't Plumely just hold the money in escrow?+

Escrow means becoming a payments business — a cut on every deal, KYC on every user, and a dispute process. Plumely chose the other trade: no cut, no hold, and honest warnings instead. Whether that's the right trade for you is a fair question to ask before you use it.

Someone scammed me. Can Plumely refund it?+

No. Plumely never held the money and has no way to reverse a payment made between two other people. Report the account so it's removed and can't re-verify, and pursue recovery through your bank or the relevant authority.

Is a verified account safe to work with?+

Safer, not safe. Verification proves someone controls a domain or a channel today. It says nothing about intent. Take an advance, stage your deliverables, and keep the agreement in writing regardless of how many badges a profile has.

How do I report someone?+

Every brief, profile and message thread has a report control. Pick the reason that fits — non-payment, requesting fees, impersonation, stolen portfolio — and include specifics. Reports with detail get actioned faster.

Questions about any of this?

If something on the marketplace looks wrong, tell us — early reports are the ones that prevent the most harm.