How to Report A Scammer client?

[d893cb66]

Hi
This user Scammed me, he contacted me through a private message on Upwork and offered a job reskinning a Game for 150$,

He said he would pay me on Wednesday. So I trusted him and started the job without the Contract thinking on Wednesday we will create the contract and then he will pay me. 
So I finished the job 100% perfectly how he wanted but when Wednesday came he didn't want to pay me the 150$ that he offered me to do the job. When I sent him the proposal, he wanted to cheat and he changed it to 100$. And then when I asked him why he changed the price that it was already agreed that he would pay 150$, he replayed that it was a mistake and he thought he was talking to another developer. So I said ok no problem, can you please change the proposal to 150$ the amount you offered me before we start the job?  then he replayed by threatening me, I quote:
"I give you twenty minutes if you don't accept I will cancel the proposal and hire another developer to redo the Game" 
So I again asked him politely, to please update the proposal to reflect the agreed amount 150$ so we can finish the job.
Then he cancelled the Job proposal right away. So I lost many days of work with this client, you shouldn't have Client scammers like this, please do something about it before he scams others, if he hasn't done it already. I wouldn't even imagine someone like that could be working at Upwork, is just giving you a bad reputation to Upwork and hurting developers. I trust him because he had 24k spent on Upwork, so I'm still in shock at how this client got away that long in Upwork without any investigation or Ban. 
Also, I find it very strange that you charge that much money for connects and other staff and you don't even have a proper report system to report scammers like this client. You need to protect your Freelancers more. Please can someone have a look at our chat see by yourself how scammer is this client? 
What can I do next?  Is good at least I didn't give him any files yet of the final project as I just uploaded them to my website so he could test the final game and he was very happy with the job. So I just lost many days of work, like 45 to 50 hours.

[df5be1b3]

Hi Tarek,

I am sorry about your situation. I can see you are new to Upwork and I will suggest you take your time to learn and understand how Upwork works by starting with the academy courses. 

Before you start any work, you have to make sure a contract has been initiated and the money has been paid to escrow (for fixed projects).

I will advise you not to work by trust but work with professionalism. Follow the rules, don't be desperate and you will succeed.

I wish you all the best. 

[1bb4f72d]

Hi Tarek,

I'm sorry that this happened. I understand that to better connect with clients, you would build trust. I tried that once and I ended up not getting a contract that had me get free labor. Anytime you do any work for a potential client, you would need to set up a contract. If they ask for any work before that, then you would find someone that is following the Upwork guidelines correctly. 

[d893cb66]

Thanks (Obed & Brandon) 
For your (comments & tips) it will definitely be a good learning experience for the future.
I have to say in my 10 years of freelancing I have never met any client like this. He offered for the job 150$ and he was extremely happy with the final job, yet he didn't want to pay the 150$ just 100$, but now he opened two new jobs to do the same job that I did and he is offering 150$ again. This person doesn't make any sense, why would you not pay 150 for a job that is already done that you tested and that you are extremely happy with?
Honestly, doesn't make any sense and he is acting weird.
But I am moving on, I dont want to spend more time on this, lesson learned.

[1bb4f72d]

In some cases, it would be better to consider not taking any payment since the client could give you a bad review that can affect your JSS.