I have ordered service and paid through paypal but i got scammed!

[1fb89bc7]

Hello! I am pretty new on Upwork, and I ordered one service and paid $470 total.
He asked me to pay through paypal because of upwork fees, but he said he would need $50 through upwork so i could provide him a review and he has great job success. 

I paid $420 through paypal, and now he is not responding and neither delivering his work. 

What can i do to report and get $470 back?

I honestly thank you for your advice and help!

[hfspeegle]

I'm sorry, but you used Upwork incorrectly. You should review the ToS. All payments for services acquired on Upwork must be made through Upwork. You have no recourse to get a refund through Upwork. Your only chance at getting your money back would be to file a dispute with PayPal.

You should also report the freelancer for asking for payment outside of Upwork.

[iamchunchunchun]

Report him at once, and if it is not too late and you are really lucky, you may get your $50 back. The $420 is absolutely gone, though.

I flagged your post and hopefully a mod will come to help soon.

[dataextract]

And dont ever pay outside Upwork and apart from losing money,  your account will also  terminated for violation of ToS.

[aocumen · Accepted solution]

Hi Bulent, 

As others have mentioned please know that it is a violation of the Upwork Terms of Service to pay and be paid off the platform. Please expec the team will follow up with you regarding this.

[resultsassoc]

Others have pointed out the Terms of Service issues. There's another, even more important, issue.

Client and freelancer are not just contractually obligated to pay through Upwork, they are ethically obligated as well. Upwork has performed a service, introducing the pair, and offering a platform for payment and issues resolution. The fact that your freelancer was willing to cheat Upwork should have told you he would have no hesitation in cheating you. I've been a client and provider for a dozen years.

I tell every freelancer I hire that we have contractual and ethical obligations to pay through the board, and to do future work for two years only through the board. I tell every client the same thing. I report every effort by a client or freelancer to bypass the obligation.

[hodgesh]

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@Bill H wrote:
The fact that your freelancer was willing to cheat Upwork should have told you he would have no hesitation in cheating you. I've been a client and provider for a dozen years.

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 The client most likely didn't know that paying off-platform was "cheating." The unwitting confession here in the forum is the proof.