Client paid bunus to register domain

[seonancy]

Hi, Today I got a reply from a new client for a job. He posted a job for website development and hired me at @20$ per hour.

Additionally, he/she sends $300 to register a domain at the NameCheap website. 

Suspicious is he hired 5 freelancers for the same job but did not discuss any work. 

Kindly help me.

[pgiambalvo]

It's a scam. Report them and block them and don't accept or send any money. Now that Upwork knows about this, they should notify the other 5 people immediately before they get scammed.

[roberty1y]

It isn't necessarily a scam, if the freelancer isn't being asked to pay for anything before being paid by the client.

[pgiambalvo]

Of course it is. No one needs to hire 5 people and pay them 300 to register a website for them. And to be paid as a bonus? Come on.

[feed_my_eyes]

It's probably another one of those "oops, I accidentally overpaid you, could you send me a refund via PayPal?" scams. Or, the website that he's asking to register with is a scam - the freelancer will send money to this website, then the client's payment method on Upwork will fail and she'll be left holding the bag.

Nancy, you should flag this for Upwork to investigate, and in the meantime, do not send this client any money off of the platform, and tell him to register his own website.

[roberty1y]

Is the $300 to register the site paid through Upwork? Anyhow, it seems strange that anyone wants to pay so much to have a website registered, which they could easily do themselves. It may be a plan to have a website that's untraceable. 

[7ddf8bb2]

Dam! I have been scammed. Please upwork please! He/She had a review, payment verified and past payment record as well. That's only why I purchased on his/her behalf. I want the bonus money that was paid to me. How can you say that bonus was given then not give it. You are supporting the scammers by this. You failed to take action even after one year of this scam, I was scammed.