Feature Request - Additional Stats on Client Profiles to help prevent scamming

[ericaandrews]

There's been an increasing number of scammers & unscrupulous folks posting jobs to the site in the past 6-8 months along with increasing reports from freelancers regarding clients simply not paying, doing 'chargebacks', fake/non-working payment methods, requesting 'refunds' weeks after payment of milestones in order get free work, or filing bogus 'disputes' to try to demand extra work from a freelancer beyond what was agreed upon - often long after a milestone was approved and paid.

To help us freelancers: Upwork should start collecting and including the following Stats on each Client's profile to give freelancers more information to help avoid working with 'problem' clients:

• 1. Total number of 'chargebacks' initiated by the client across all projects/contracts
• 2. Total number of 'refund' requests initiated by the client across all projects/contracts
• 3. Total number of 'disputes' initiated by the client across all projects/contracts
• 4. Total number of 'disputes' freelancers had to initiated against the client
• 5. Total number of times the client's payment method or account has been 'put on hold' or 'suspended' during their time on Upwork
• 6. Number of "Arbitrations" if any occurred after a 'dispute'

I think adding these stats to the Client profiles would go a great ways in helping freelancers identify and avoid 'problem' clients that have shown a pattern of behaving unscrupulously.  

Think about it:  If a client has 10 contracts in their Upwork history and has requested 6 refunds, filed 3 disputes, and initiated 1 chargeback, that's a client nobody should be working because that client is simply ripping people off and making excuses not to pay anybody.  

Unfortunately, not every client that does a 'chargeback' gets suspended/terminated from UW (Plenty of freelancers have reported that clients that do this often remain active on Upwork and keep right on posting more jobs.) 

In addition, when a freelancer decides the client is too much hassle and simply agrees to a 'full' refund requested by the client, the 'job' disappears from their history and the client's history, with no way for the freelancer to leave FEEDBACK and warn others the client is demanding 'refunds' to avoid paying for work.  If other freelancers at least have information that the client REQUESTED these refunds, other freelancers would be able to look at that client's profile, see immediately that the client is 'trouble' and a bad client, and simply avoid them.  If a client is repeatedly demanding 'refunds' everytime they hire a freelancer across multiple jobs/contracts, then something is wrong with that client.

Please consider adding these stats to the client profiles so freelancers can use this information to spot 'red flags' in client behavior and avoid likely terrible clients.  Thanks.

[pgiambalvo]

All this sounds good to me.

[kfarnell]

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CJ A wrote:

• 1. Total number of 'chargebacks' initiated by the client across all projects/contracts

Are you saying that clients are no longer banned after initiating a chargeback? When did this change?

[ericaandrews]

It appears they don't always:  You'll find MULTIPLE reports on these forums of clients running the 'chargeback' scheme and being allowed to remain active on UW, still posting 'jobs' and ripping more freelancers off.  Like this one from a Top Rated Plus freelancer who was a victim of a 'chargeback' scam when the client didn't get the 'refund' they demanded after demanding unlimited numbers of 'iterations' and 'modifications' to the work :

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Frustrated-with-Upwork-and-how-they-are-handling-a-dispu...

Even if Upwork did 'ban' the client who did a chargeback, it isn't going to do much good because Upwork doesn't require much but a fresh new e-mail address for the same 'client' to simply create a new UW account and do the same thing:  If they required clients to go through Photo ID verification (the way freelancers do), that would fix THAT problem of clients who like to scam being able to quickly and repeatedly created new UW accounts after they get banned or suspended.  New emial addresses are easy to create.  New Driver's licenses, passports, and other governement-issued photo IDs....not so much so.

A 'ban' doesn't do much good if UW didn't take the time to verify the identity of the client with a Photo ID: They're basically just banning the email address associated with the client, not the actual client.     When a client wants free work, or extra work the freelancer refuses to do, they demand a 'refund'.  When the freelancer refuses, the client them commits a crime (a felony in most states) by LYING to the bank and claiming they were 'scammed' or 'robbed' by Upwork, causing a charge-back and basically forcing a 'refund' by going outside the Upwork system.   It's disgusting, and the clients that do this need to have it documented clearly on their profiles so that other freelancers know the 'client' is a crookd and a thief and to stay away from them

[kfarnell]

So you don't know when it changed, then? Never mind, you can no doubt point to where it says the approach has changed. The thread you cite actually points out that the client's account WAS suspended.

Although it's true that creating a new email address isn't very onerous, acquiring multiple credit cards one after the other to keep creating accounts like you describe is rather more tricky.

[ericaandrews]

Sorry, but "acquiring" new credit card number is NOT 'very tricky".  I have been in the IT industry for 24+ years, including as an ethical HACKER. Getting a "new" valid credit card is as simple as knowing which sites to look on and what software (like Tor) to have loaded on our computer. You can actually DOWNLOAD large 'bundles' of valid credit cards by the hundreds, thousands, or even...MILLIONS.  If you ever put in a credit card on any web site anywhere, their is a 95% chance that card number has already been "data leaked" and posted somewhere where millions or billions can access.   A good hacker  can 'print' new credit card numbers faster than a cashier can print a receipt at a cash register.  If you feel 'comforted" but the fact somebody has a "verified payment method", then you truly don't understand how the internet and cybercrime works.   I do this for a LIVING, trust me: A "verified payment method" isn't worth the screen pixels it's written on. 

Also, the post I referenced, the freelancer made CLEAR that the offender was still ACTIVE on Upwork. I don't trust what Upwork said. I trust a fellow Top Rated Freelacer, not Upwork.  If you think Upwork is doing a "great job" protecting you, have fun with that, but for the  rest of here in REALITY, they are NOT.  Scams and Spam are running amuck, and they are doing absolutely NOTHING about it to stop it.  Period

[kfarnell]

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CJ A wrote:

> Sorry, but "acquiring" new credit card number is NOT 'very tricky". 

That is not what I said.

>  If you feel 'comforted" but the fact somebody has a "verified payment method"...

Neither is that. I never claimed any level of comfort or discomfort. 

> Also, the post I referenced, the freelancer made CLEAR that the offender was still ACTIVE on Upwork. I don't trust what Upwork said. I trust a fellow Top Rated Freelacer, not Upwork. 

And other 'fellow Top Rated Freelacers'  said differently. 

> If you think Upwork is doing a "great job" protecting you, have fun with that, but for the  rest of here in REALITY, they are NOT.  

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And I never said that, either. 

Disagreeing is one thing. Misrepresenting what someone says to serve an agenda is quite another.