A "client" wanted to scam me and gave me bad feedback.

[9c7c2d7f]

Hi everybody! My name is Juan and I'm from Argentina. I had a problem with a **Edited for Community Guidelines** client. I made the mistake of accepting the contract.

First he asked me for composition of horror music. communication was weird, he insisted that I turn on the tracker. I worked and I was sending him versions of horror music and asking him if he liked them and he did not answer my questions.

I worked like this last week, and on saturday he asked me to do a skype and he had an **Edited for Community Guidelines** accent. I asked him to turn on the camera and he didn't. Then he explained to me that he didn't really need a job, just to turn on the tracker to charge usd for upwork, and that I give him a percentage of that in bitcoins.

I assume he is using someone else's credit card, or is it a scam towards me. Also, at one point he told me to turn on the teamviewer (I would never do it). yesterday he told me to turn on the tracker all day.

He also told me that he is doing this with 2 freelancers from Argentina for 1 year and it is going well. He asks freelancers to charge the usd he sends through upwork and then send it to him in bitcoin. I'm not interested, I prefer to work for real.

Now I have 2 problems:

1) 208usd dispute. I worked for real and I think I have all the evidence to win the dispute. But when I want to answer the dispute I get a technical error. I already spoke with 5 support people and no one could help me. (I attach the screenshot) 

We are sorry! We are experiencing a technical problem and cannot process your request right now. Please try again in a minute.

2) Feedback dispute. Someone managed to delete a **Edited for Community Guidelines** customer feedback? They told me they are going to review it, but in the meantime, the bad review is still there.

I'm sure this is not a real customer. I saw that he is posting similar works with other users. I can tell from the way he writes and what he offers.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

I already flagged this post. But it's still there.

In support contact they are not being able to help me with any of this.

Here is my profile:
https://www.upwork.com/fl/morenojuan

thanks for taking the time to read! Hopefully someone can recommend what to do.
Cheers
 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[prestonhunter]

Juan:

I am sorry to hear that you had to go through this experience.

It was inappropriate for this client to ask you for a refund.

I really do hope that Upwork personnel who work on this will understand the true nature of this situation and help to ensure that you get paid for your work.

[jozsab1]

It's getting a requirement to have a voice meeting with every client to make sure he can be trusted or not.

To be honest I instantly refuse work from people who look shady.

Also had a couple of bad experiences, so I try to cut my loses as soon as possible. After 2 days I refuse to accept money and simply ask him to close the contract if there is even chance for a shady result.

[prestonhunter]

re: "It's getting a requirement to have a voice meeting with every client to make sure he can be trusted or not."

I don't know.

If that is something you feel will benefit you and your freelancing efforts, then of course you should do that.

For me?

I RARELY have ever spoken to any of my clients. Most clients I have only communicated with through Upwork text chat, or through email.

I noticed in the original poster's post that he mentioned something about where the client was from, the client's accent, etc.

I don't have any argument with freelancers who are interested in that sort of thing. Personally, I have no interest in that. it is common for me to not know where clients live. Sometimes I don't even know their name.

I understand that in Europe it is necessary for freelancers to have the name and/or location (address) of a client. But that doesn't mean that freelancers are making decisions about whether or not to work for a client based on that information.

I turn down many job offers on Upwork, usually simply because I'm too busy. Aside from that, I mainly make decisions based on the type of work. Obviously if a client is not willing to pay my rate, then I don't consider working for him.

[AndreaG]

Hi Juan,

I'm very sorry to hear about your experience. I checked and can see that you already have support cases opened for both of your concerns - the dispute and the feedback from this client. Rest assured, the team is working to address them. I'll be following up with them and we'll have this addressed, the team just needs some time to review all the details.

We appreciate your patience.

Thanks!

[9c7c2d7f]

Thank you Andrea. They answered the ticket about the feedback (I think they are talking to me about that one)

"They have reviewed all the information you shared for your report against the client and found no policy violation from them."

The only thing left is to use my ability to delete feedback for being top rated?

It would be nice if upwork has better tools to locate scammers.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Juan,

Rest assured action has already been taken against accounts where violations of Upwork TOS have been confirmed. Please, allow the team some time to update you regarding the dispute status as well as your concern with feedback on the contract. Unfortunately, we can't discuss the details here in the Community, but the team will be communicating with you via the support ticket.  

[9c7c2d7f]

thank you very much Valeria! They already answered me about the feedback, and in fact they were able to help me. thanks for the support, I love working in upwork and I will be more careful with the contracts that I accept.

I just need to be able to resolve the money dispute. I suppose they will send me an email soon.

bye!

[petra_r]

---

Juan M wrote:

The only thing left is to use my ability to delete feedback for being top rated?

---

That is what the perk is there for.

[9c7c2d7f]

but the perk is not infinite. that's why I asked for help. I prefer to use it for a bad feedback where the customer is real and not a scam.