May 22, 2019 03:56:20 PM by Natanael R
May 22, 2019 01:39:13 PM by Cheryl K
WOW!
How did you randomly get picked again?
Did they decide that their first verification wasn't good enough?
There's a difference between verifying for safety and to protect the platform and just messing with people.
Did Upwork tell you why you needed to do it again?
May 22, 2019 01:46:45 PM Edited May 22, 2019 01:52:09 PM by Natanael R
Yep, i opened a support ticket just in case but seems so. I can't submit any proposal , this message is displayed in my account ( https://i.imgur.com/1jrswWE.png ) and i got an email telling me my account was frozen:
"Please note we have placed a temporary hold on your account until you successfully complete verification. During this hold, you will not be able to submit new proposals or edit your profile picture."
Well, at least it is not Saturday like the last time and i'm sure it is not random:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/OcU8x.gif
I hope i don't have to pay to be verified again, but who knows.
Update:
More weirdness, i can't even request a verification again:
https://i.imgur.com/1ti9yTZ.png
May 22, 2019 03:32:02 PM by Valeria K
Hi Natanael,
I understand your frustration. Occasionally, we may need to ask freelancers to verify their identity even if they have done it in the past. We wish we didn't have to do that but, unfortunately, since accounts often get sold and taken over, we sometimes need to confirm that the account is used by the original owner. This is done to ensure trust on the marketplace.
We appreciate your cooperation and patience.
May 22, 2019 03:56:20 PM by Natanael R
May 22, 2019 07:22:16 PM by Avery O
Hi Natanael,
I apologise if this is an inconvenience for you. I wanted to check if you are unable to access the link on this support ticket, or if it does not automatically lead you to your support pages, and load a chat window? The same link should be available as a notification on your Upwork account.
Let me know if there are issues so that I can look into this further.
May 23, 2019 01:33:53 AM Edited May 23, 2019 01:34:21 AM by Natanael R
Hi:
No, neither the link or my profile "identity validation" work. The validation link redirects me to this page: https://i.imgur.com/T0UHw28.png and my profile says "video call completed" with a wrong date as i explained before. When i open a support ticket all i get is the same copy/pasted reply from your FAQ and my ticket is set to solved.
Is there any way to contact with someone competent with a higher tier of support that could actually check what's going on and stop pasting automatic replies?.
I also apologise for this inconvenience for you.
May 23, 2019 02:54:39 AM by Aleksandar D
Hi Natanael,
Thanks for reaching out. We are sorry for the inconvenience. One of our team members will reach out to you directly via support ticket to assist you further with your Video Verification.
Thank you.
May 25, 2019 05:06:53 AM by Natanael R
I was never contacted directly by any support operator as Aleksandar told me. After reopening the same ticket and receiveing the same "we apologise, check the verification instructions in this link,etc" reply for the 5th time, i finally i was able to verify my profile after trying in 5 different devices and browsers, looks like there was some issues in the verification process.
Regarding the verification call:
What i liked:
- She started speaking in english and then changed to my native language(spanish). I liked it because it is a good way to catch fake accounts.
What i didn't like:
- The upwork operator does not have the video active. If they want to validate my profile i want to verify who i'm talking to. The link they pasted in the upwork chat is not enough secure for me.
- She asked for my address. That info is in upwork but i don't feel confortable giving personal information in a 3rd party videoconference call and i'm not sure if that's breaking the GDPR. I gave it but complained.
- She asked me what were the purpose of my active contracts. Again surprised because upwork have the contract details but i'm not supposed to talk about the details due to NDA signed with my clients. In this case i refused to give info about my contracts.
- After my complain she told me that it is a new process which is false because i had the same one 2 years ago but in skype.
- After my profile was validated i received this email:
"blablabla
Please note in the future we may ask you to verify your identity again as part of our ongoing effort to keep Upwork secure and fraud-free."
So there's a verification loop ....
I'm not again the verification process for any user but 2 verifications in 2 years is annoying for a customer that:
- Is working and active in odesk/upwork since 2012.
- All my contracts have 5 starts( except the ones with no reviews, some clients do not understand the feedback process).
- Never received a complain from a client.
- My score is always 95-100, it depends of how active i am.
- Verified with a video call in 2017
- Verified with an id card scan to get the new badge
- Account info verified a few years ago with receips and passport scans.
I know that all i will get is another "we apologise, thanks for the feedback" and i will have another account hold soon with the same process. All i ask is to read your customer feddback and try to improve the process. Upwork does NOT have the resources to verify all accounts, so it is very important to improve the process to detect frauds. I can spot a fraudulent account or at least with a high chance to be one just with a few searchs.
My feedback to improve it:
- Send an email asking for a video verification with a due date BEFORE freezing the account, If the customer ignores the email, proceed with the account hold.
- Use your own videoconference system, do not use 3rd party providers.
- Ask your operators to identify themself, the name in a chat is not enough.
- Only verify the customer name and picture. Personal info like address is pointless.
- Do not ask details about contracts. No, you are not supposed to do it.
- Pay attention to new customers and cloned accounts, old customers are NOT your enemy.
- Block the VPN(ovh, digitalocean,etc) and TOR usage in the upwork site to bypass the country origin. You are not supposed to hide in upwork, and if your country is blocking the site, you are not supposed to be here.
- To prevent frauds, you can add country rules based in scores. All fraud systems have scores rules based in countries. Check your banned account stats and you will realize.
- Pay attention to contract feedbacks. If someone bought an account he will start receiving bad feedbacks.
THANKS
May 25, 2019 08:07:59 AM by Wendy C
Natanael wrote:
"- Send an email asking for a video verification with a due date BEFORE freezing the account, If the customer ignores the email, proceed with the account hold.
- Use your own videoconference system, do not use 3rd party providers.
- Ask your operators to identify themself, the name in a chat is not enough.
- Only verify the customer name and picture. Personal info like address is pointless.
- Do not ask details about contracts. No, you are not supposed to do it.
- Pay attention to new customers and cloned accounts, old customers are NOT your enemy.
- Block the VPN(ovh, digitalocean,etc) and TOR usage in the upwork site to bypass the country origin. You are not supposed to hide in upwork, and if your country is blocking the site, you are not supposed to be here.
- To prevent frauds, you can add country rules based in scores. All fraud systems have scores rules based in countries. Check your banned account stats and you will realize.
- Pay attention to contract feedbacks. If someone bought an account he will start receiving bad feedback."
I FULLY CONCUR!
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