When Editing Work Turns Into Unpaid Scams

I started editing last year and it seems like it’s hard to get clients. I’ve gotten into three different situations where I worked and didn’t get paid. The first one was a video editing agency. We agreed I edit and get paid monthly based on how many videos I edited that month. I worked for a month and a half but no money was coming in. I was always requesting and nothing was happening; they kept giving me one excuse or the other. One morning I woke up expecting to edit another job but lo and behold, nothing. I texted them on WhatsApp, it ticked just one message. I messaged the boss on WhatsApp, still the same thing. Instagram, where I met them, no reply. And that was how I didn’t get paid for my editing a whole month. Fast forward, I met another guy on Instagram. We agreed to pay me weekly, but at the end of the week I didn’t get anything too; he still kept giving me excuses. I didn’t want to talk about this until I saw a comment on YouTube where multiple people were complaining of the same thing too.