Both sides of a freelance deal are taking a risk on a stranger. These guides explain the machinery built to reduce it — escrow, milestones and disputes — including what it covers and, just as importantly, what it does not. They also cover the scam patterns that show up in every freelancer's inbox and how to recognise one before it costs you a week of work.
Every freelance scam attacks the same moment: the handoff of work or money before either is secured. Learn the seven recurring patterns, what a legitimate client never asks you for, how to verify one in five minutes, and exactly what to do in the first hour after you realise something is wrong.
Escrow solves one specific problem — committing to pay a stranger before you have seen the work — and it is worth knowing exactly what it does on LanceGuru today, because funding a milestone records the commitment rather than collecting the money. How to split a project into milestones both sides can judge, write one acceptance criterion each, reject a deliverable well, and what evidence decides a dispute.