Wikipedia:Scam warning
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Scam warning: scammers target new Wikipedia editors and Articles for Creation participants.
They may pretend to be Wikipedia volunteers or a professional Wikipedia editing service, and then ask you to pay them to create an article, accept, publish, speed up the review of a draft, protect an article from deletion, restore a deleted article, or monitor an article for 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, Articles for creation, or Articles for deletion pages.
- They look for drafts being declined by a reviewer, articles deleted or nominated for deletion, new editors asking for help with a first article, or new editors writing about themselves or with a connection to the topic they are writing about.
- They then contact the editor and claim they can create an article, accept, publish, speed up the review of a draft, protect an article from deletion, restore a deleted article, or monitor an article for changes in return for payment.
- Some scammers falsely claim to be administrators, Articles for creation reviewers, or employees of the Wikimedia Foundation.
If someone offers such a service, it is a scam.
Warning signs
- Off-Wiki communication at LinkedIn, Snapchat, Facebook and other social media, or your email address.
- Guarantees of acceptance, protection from deletion or changes, priority or fast-track service.
- Claims of special authority, abilities, or insider status.
Reporting scammers
- Forward the whole conversation, including email headers, to paid-en-wp wikipedia.org.
- Do not reply to the scammer.
- Delete the messages. Keep a local copy only if you need it for your bank or law-enforcement report.
Wikipedia cannot help you recover money, but your report helps prevent future scams. If you believe you were defrauded, consider reporting 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 deleted without discussion.
No editor can guarantee any outcome in Wikipedia: not that a draft will be accepted, an article will be kept or deleted, that any content will remain or be deleted, nor that any tags will 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:Paid editing disclosure and Wikipedia:Conflicts of interest and ensure 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.