Wikipedia:Scam warning

• Scammers will look for declined draft articles, articles recently deleted, editors writing about themselves or about a subject in which they seem to have an intense interest, and so on. When a suitable target is found, they will contact the user and offer "services" to them in exchange for payment - such as writing and publishing an article for them, getting a draft article accepted quickly, preventing or reversing deletion of an article, or protecting an article from changes.
• Scammers may claim to be Wikipedia administrators, Wikimedia Foundation staffers, or other "influential people", or claim to be able to pull strings with editors willing to circumvent Wikipedia rules in exchange for payment.
• Scammers will push and insist that you communicate with them outside of Wikipedia.

They may want you to use LinkedIn, Snapchat, Facebook, WhatsApp, Discord, email, or the telephone to communicate with them instead, so that legitimate and security-aware Wikipedia editors won't be able to see what's going on and alert you of the scam.

• Scammers will promise "guarantees" with their services.

Any "guarantees" that are offered or promised are complete and blatant lies. Absolutely nobody can guarantee anything about what will happen on Wikipedia - whether it be today, tomorrow, or next year. (And they're certainly not going to refund your money if your wishes don't end up being met.)

If someone contacts you and offers any kind of Wikipedia "assistance" or "services" in exchange for payment, it is a scam:

• Stop all communication with them immediately and cut all ties; block them from being able to contact you ever again. 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.
• Forward the entire conversation, including email headers, to paid-en-wp@wikipedia.org.
• Keep a local copy of all messages and correspondence, but only if you need it in order to supplement a report with your bank or with law enforcement. Otherwise, delete any and all messages, communications, links, and files that they've sent you.
• If you clicked on or opened any links, or downloaded and opened any files that they sent to you:
  • Change your Wikipedia password immediately.^[1]
  • Run a full malware scan on your device.

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.

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.

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.

• Wikipedia:The truth about paid Wikipedia editing
• Operation Orangemoody
• {{Scam warning }}

• Wikipedia information pages
• Wikipedia warning essays

• Wikipedia semi-protected project pages