How does upwork check the Clients?

buonaventura · ‎05-25-2018

How is Upwork checking the Clients?

I was betrayed and German prosecutors are sueing me for money laundering.

Seems that no one at Upwork cares. I was contacted via Upwork, got a contract and fulfilled the job.

Got no money and Client used my data to buy stuff from the net.

Would someone from Upwork make an effort to care?

Regards...

petra_r · ‎05-25-2018

@Florian R wrote:

I was betrayed and German prosecutors are sueing me for money laundering.
Seems that no one at Upwork cares. I was contacted via Upwork, got a contract and fulfilled the job.

Got no money and Client used my data to buy stuff from the net.

When you say you "got a contract" - do you mean an official Upwork Contract? I bet you fell for some lame old scam and there was never a proper (real, on Upwork) contract.

Clients (PROPER clients, the ones that actually hire and pay via the platform) are verified by their payment method. If you decided to work outside the platform (No proper Upwork contract on your Contracts page ) chances are it was an unverified client.

Either way there is nothing Upwork can do. I have no idea what you think they should / could do for you at this stage. As they say in Germany "Das Kind ist schon in den Brunnen gefallen" (it's too late)

I hope it can all be sorted for you with the German Staatsanwaltschaft.

vladag · ‎05-25-2018

Hi Florian,

I'm really sorry about the problem you're having and having your identity compromised. I've checked and see you haven't been hired on Upwork thus far, so please take screenshots of your conversation with this client and share the job post link with me via private messages or right here on this thread, so I could check if our team addressed their account yet and take appropriate steps in line with Upwork ToS.

Note that we strongly advise against sharing your personal details with clients or other users, since you can get hired and receive payment on Upwork without placing yourself at harms way by providing private information. Please review the safety tips we shared here in order to work safely on Upwork, note that payments need to be processed through the platform and make sure not to start working without an active contract on Upwork.

~ Vladimir

prestonhunter · ‎05-25-2018

Upwork does care about things like this. Upwork expends huge amounts of money and time and effort creating help documents, instructional videos, seminars, and staffing customer support and hiring Forum moderators... All to help freelancers know how to use the platform safely and correctly.

But Upwork can not force newbies to read the directions before using these powerful tools.

It IS OKAY for a freelancer to use the tools without reading the instructions first. But only if she is willing to accept the consequences.

Speaking generically, and not about any particular situation, we all feel bad for a freelancer who had bad things happen to her. But that does not change the fact that the freelancer violated Upwork rules, ignored Upwork instructions, and made half a dozen mistakes that led to those bad things happening.