What to do when a freelancer tries to scam yo...

0b2e8d96 · ‎03-19-2021

Hi,

I've posted a fixed-price job and gave the contract to one freelancer. A week later he provided me with a joke. It's not that the code doesn't work, but there is no code to work.

It's a nodejs project and the guy didn't even know how to install it. There was not a single line of Javascript code in it, a complete fraud.

How can I stop him from getting my money deposited in Upwork escrow?

Cheers.

057b9239 · ‎03-19-2021

Wow, I just went through this myself. Unfortunately, Upwork is going to force you to pay him regardless of how fraudent his actions are. Then if youre as unlucky as I am, they will block your account instead of his. For about a month. They will say make a dispute, but the dispute that gets made from the hourly dispute will only dispute whether he logged his hours, so if he did, you won't see a dime back. When I tried, they deleted my dispute. So then you will likely have to call in and get their support team to help you. They will pass a message to the dispute team that will get back to you eventually, then they will give the freelancer about a week to respond to the claim, then if they don't respond in a week, they will give him more time to respond. Meanwhile Upwork is giving him freedom to do anything he wants on the platform while they completely stop you from doing what was according to the contract you agreed with them.

Sorry you fell into the trap. I finally resolved everything, but best of luck getting out.

0b2e8d96 · ‎03-19-2021

Thank you William for sharing this grim experience. I'll see what I can do with Upwork support. BTW, shouldn't escrow protect both buyer and vendor? My experiences with Alibaba are great, if you didn't receive what you've ordered, the vendor doesn't see the money. It seems that Upwork has its own view on an escrow account.

Cheers.

petra_r · ‎03-20-2021

Sinisa P wrote:
BTW, shouldn't escrow protect both buyer and vendor?

Escrow does protect both parties, as long as the money is still in escrow, neither party can run away with it without the other's permission.

William's situation was completely different as it was an hourly contract.

richard_wein · ‎03-21-2021

For fixed price (escrow) contracts the client is, if anything, better protected than the freelancer. If there's a dispute and no agreement is reached and neither party is willing to pay for arbitration, the client wins by default, and gets back any unreleased money in escrow.

yitwail · ‎03-19-2021

Sinisa P wrote:

How can I stop him from getting my money deposited in Upwork escrow?

Cheers.

Sinisa, as long as you didn't approve the milestone, you can just close the contract and the money will be returned to you in a few days.

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce

petra_r · ‎03-19-2021

John K wrote:
How can I stop him from getting my money deposited in Upwork escrow?
Sinisa, as long as you didn't approve the milestone, you can just close the contract and the money will be returned to you in a few days.

This is true provided that the freelancer does not dispute it.

0b2e8d96 · ‎03-19-2021

Thank you, John, I'll try that.

What to do when a freelancer tries to scam you