Contena - scamming freelance writers

As a professional freelancer, I constantly keep an eye out for new opportunities. So when I noticed a website called Contena, I was quick to apply.

I received the response that the website currently didn’t take on any new writers, but that I would be notified when there were vacancies. True to their word, a short time later I received a notification that Contena would be “opening its doors” to 50 new writers on February 28^th at 12:00.

I had high hopes, kept myself available on February 28 and visited the site for registration as soon as I got the green light.

My hopes were smashed within seconds. To become a member of Contena, writers were required to make six payments of $97. I’m not in the habit of swearing, but on this occasion I thought … WTF!

I’m a member of two other freelance sites and they never asked me for a penny. On the contrary, they pay me.

No sooner had I said no to Contena’s offer, or I received an email …

“Earn $1,000 a month. You complete our course and use Contena to land one client. This client is willing to pay $100 per article and wants 3 articles week. Each article takes you about an hour to write.”

The next day another email …

·  You are making $100 / hour.

·  You are making an additional $1,200 / month.

·  You are working 12 hours a month.

As an experienced freelance writer, I didn’t believe a word of it and neither should you. If this were true, just about everyone who can string two sentences together would quit their job and become a freelance writer. No more getting out of bed at the crack of dawn, no more commuting, no more braving the elements, no more working for peanuts.

Cortena promises people who work only 12 hours a month to make $1,200. Can you image how much one would make if you were to apply yourself from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.!

This is all bogus of course. Clients don’t pay writers $100 for an article. Most clients offer 3 to 5 cents per word or $20 to $25 for a 500-word article.

Established writers might get as much as $50 for an article, but that is still a far cry from the $100 Cortena promises.

Cortena itself is doing very well though. Imagine if 50 writers fell for their scam, that is $97 x 6 x 50. That is $29,100 and all they had to do was set up a website, make some promises and then wait for unsuspecting, naive writers to fall for their scam.

Whoever visits the Contena website will see that they have plenty of jobs available, but all of them are bogus. Click on a link, any link, and you are forced to register and pay. After you've paid, the jobs disappear, supposedly taken by other writers. When I asked some to the point questions, I never heard from Kevin (the founder of the scam site) again.

If you’re a writer, far better to become a member of Constant Content or Crowd Content. You don’t have to pay a penny and you’ll have plenty work to keep you busy.