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p-virdzinija
Community Member

Client alongside with messages fully dissapeared + asked for e-mail communication

Hello, first let me start that I am new to active use of Upwork and I am trying to get my first job hence I am applying quite actively even to not verified payment jobs etc. I do try to apply to those clients who have good ratings but I did apply for several where clients are also new and not verified. 

 

With that on the mind in the morning I got a positive response from the client telling me I am right for the job, just to confirm my acceptance to write to her e-mail account. I wrote to upwork message platform saying I am grateful for the opportunity and that I will confirm also via e-mail. WAS THIS OK FROM MY SIDE? Did I do something wrong, is this ok with Upwork? No payment outside of upwork was mentioned. I just wrote to e-mail, I am confirming my interest, thank you for the opportunity. Client had not verified payment account.

 

Since client remained silent, nor did I receive files to start my work, nothing happened. Later today I logged in to my account, messages between me and client disappeared, also the proposal for job vanished (it says is no longer available). Does anyone have idea what happened? And did I do anything wrong?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Best regards,

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Hi Virdzinija,

 

While I can't share details for another user, I would like to clarify that communicating outside of Upwork is not allowed until an official contract is formed. 

To learn more about getting started on Upwork and how to protect yourself, check out our resources Here. Please keep in mind that In order to be eligible for our Upwork Payment Protection you will need to be hired on an official contract and fulfill the criteria required. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

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8 REPLIES 8
g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Hi Virdzinija,

 

While I can't share details for another user, I would like to clarify that communicating outside of Upwork is not allowed until an official contract is formed. 

To learn more about getting started on Upwork and how to protect yourself, check out our resources Here. Please keep in mind that In order to be eligible for our Upwork Payment Protection you will need to be hired on an official contract and fulfill the criteria required. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

Hello Goran, many thanks, reading through provided materials, I sincerely do apologise for my ignorance and will not repeat it again, now I know better. Best regards, VP

prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "I am applying quite actively even to not verified payment jobs"

 

Sounds like a good idea.

I don't even pay attention to if a client is payment-verified or not when I apply to jobs.

I just make sure they're payment-verified before I start working on the contract.

 

re: "With that on the mind in the morning I got a positive response from the client telling me I am right for the job, just to confirm my acceptance to write to her e-mail account."

 

You are wise to realize that this client is asking you to violate Upwork ToS. It sounds like you already know that you could have your Upwork account suspended if you are caught doing this.

 

re: " I wrote to upwork message platform saying I am grateful for the opportunity and that I will confirm also via e-mail. WAS THIS OK FROM MY SIDE?"

 

Was this okay?
Not really.

You should not have said you will confirm via email.

 

You can share your email address and communicate via email AFTER you have been officially hired with an Upwork contract. Not before.

 

re: "Since client remained silent, nor did I receive files to start my work, nothing happened. Later today I logged in to my account, messages between me and client disappeared, also the proposal for job vanished (it says is no longer available). Does anyone have idea what happened? And did I do anything wrong?"

 

What happened is that you told the scammer that you will only receive payment through Upwork, and the scammer realized that even though you are new and don't understand all of Upwork's rules, you know enough to avoid getting scammed.

 

So the scammer gave up. The scammer was going to try to steal money out of your bank account, but based on what you told him, he knew you wouldn't fall for his standard trick.

Hi Preston,

 

Many thanks, unfortunately, I was not smart enough, I did my research on forums after I already responded and have seen that people are doing so (using various platforms to communicate but that it is important that payment is via upwork but after you as mentioned contract is accepted), but now I realize my mistake, I thought by saying that I am the right for the job using the lines I got it if I want it,  I thought that contract was established immediately after my confirmation (that work in progress will be shown after I receive the files to work on), so in that moment I did not see anything bad since she did not ask for free work or to pay outside of Upwork, so I figured for some her peace she wants another way of confirmation (honestly at the moment did not think much of it). No details were discussed or anything outside of Upwork. Now I do see how ignorant was this from me, borderline stupid, I was just overly excited for the job and did not use my common sense.

 

I will take additional time to better understand how to protect myself and will certainly not put myself into this position again. Many thanks for the fast reply and your input, it was really helpfull.

 

Best regards, V.P.

martina_plaschka
Community Member

There is absolutely nothing wrong with jobs that don't have verified payment. Since you are new and experienced, I would advise you to stilll stay away from them for now. It is absolutely not a sign the client is a scammer, but in this case it was. Upwork probably kicked the client from the platform completely. 

To stay safe and not risk your own account, you must never communicate outside of upwork before hire. No emails. Nothing. It's the first thing a scammer will try to get you to do. You probably didn't know it was forbidden. But you should have. For your own safety. Read the terms of service very carefully now. 

Hello Martina, many thanks for your reply, will do, I did not know, as explained in my reply to mister Preston it was my ignorance and over excitement for the job that got me. Best regards, VP


Virdzinija P wrote:

Hello Martina, many thanks for your reply, will do, I did not know, as explained in my reply to mister Preston it was my ignorance and over excitement for the job that got me. Best regards, VP


Yes, the prospect of that first job is very exciting, and this is when many newbies lose all common sense. That is understandable. (Not saying that you did.) Scammers will try to take advantage of that fact, combined with theri inexperience. Good thing is that aside from that nothing bad happened. Once you have a good upwork history, they will leave you alone. When starting out, you need to be extra-careful. 

tlbp
Community Member


Virdzinija P wrote:

Hello, first let me start that I am new to active use of Upwork and I am trying to get my first job hence I am applying quite actively even to not verified payment jobs etc. I do try to apply to those clients who have good ratings but I did apply for several where clients are also new and not verified. 

 

With that on the mind in the morning I got a positive response from the client telling me I am right for the job, just to confirm my acceptance to write to her e-mail account. I wrote to upwork message platform saying I am grateful for the opportunity and that I will confirm also via e-mail. WAS THIS OK FROM MY SIDE? Did I do something wrong, is this ok with Upwork? No payment outside of upwork was mentioned. I just wrote to e-mail, I am confirming my interest, thank you for the opportunity. Client had not verified payment account.

 

Since client remained silent, nor did I receive files to start my work, nothing happened. Later today I logged in to my account, messages between me and client disappeared, also the proposal for job vanished (it says is no longer available). Does anyone have idea what happened? And did I do anything wrong?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Best regards,


I would suspect that the client's gig was removed by Upwork for violating the TOS. As a result, the messages and other records related to the gig were removed also. 

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