Upwork is not fulfilling the Fixed Price Protection of Escrow Amount ?

[asad_329]

Hi,
I was hired by a client on Upwork who was looking for anyone holding crypto currencies. She funded the amount in escrow and asked me to transfer some amount to her crypto account as she said she had balance stuck in her Upwork account. She setup the milestone and funded the amount agreed in escrow. Client was a Upwork Plus Client and had a verified payment method at the time of hiring. 
So, I trusted upwork escrow protection system for fixed price and transferred the amount to her crypto account. Job completed successfully she left 5 star review and payment started processing.
But next day I got mail from Upwork that my financial accounts are on hold because the client's account was fraudulent and they have decided to reverse the money in escrow to client's account.

How could upwork not know that the client was scamming them when they verified their payment method and upwork also gave them a Upwork Plus Client Badge to scam Top Rated Freelancers.
And now they are not even bothering to answer my queries on support and live support don't have enough knowledge to answer me on this case.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you!

[5ef8bf6c]

Hello Asad, 

I have also found the "escrew" system to be worthless as a client had made an unauthorized payment. See the below quote from Upwork. I feel very let down that clients can essentially scam contractors with such ease and that Upwork does not feel the need to protect contractors in such cases. 

It's abundantly clear to me that a contractor is better off running contracts outside of Upwork without the misleading "escrow" system. 

I'm interested in collecting such stories so please do let me know of other cases in this regard. 

 **Edited for Community Guidelines**

[asad_329]

Hi David,
Yeah they also told me the same thing but if you read their TOS it is clearly stated that Upwork can hold funds in escrow or release them to freelancer or client as permitted by law or can also act in sole discretion. They told me that client was a fraud and they have removed her from marketplace but still they are reversing the payment to her which is totally unfair and now they can't give a satisfactory answer and accept their mistake that they allowed them by giving them Upwork Plus Client Badge and Verified Payment Method Badge to target us. 
They didn't give any warning when I was working on the project but as soon the payment started processing they put a financial ban on my account and told me they are reversing the payment in escrow.

[5ef8bf6c]

This is a similar response to the one I got. I should note that Upwork are claiming to be fighting to gather the funds from the bank so I will update accordingly. 

 **Edited for Community Guidelines**

Did you try the Subpoena-Protocol to attempt to obtain the details of the client? I'm based in the UK so I'll have to investigate the law here and perhaps contact the relevant contractor unions here for advice. Again, I will post anything I discover. 

[asad_329]

CS told me this just now:
 **Edited for Community Guidelines**

So, we can send legal notice to them to obtain detailed information about the client.

[2a05aa63]

They should really put a big red disclamer before fixed contracts about chargebacks.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Asad,

I understand your frustration. Upwork does provide Payment Protection for fixed-price contracts. However, please note that in cases of fraud, abuse or violation of the User Agreement, the Upwork Payment Protection may be revoked and the money may be reversed.
I encourage you to review Upwork Terms of Service and Fixed Price Service Contract Escrow Instructions specifically for more information as well as this help article for some tips on staying safe when working on Upwork.