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itzcollinpowell
Community Member

I think I have been scammed by Upwork and its not fair, My account should be reviewed

Now I saw a post from a client saying he needs a cryptocurrency expert the client is from the UK and he said he is into real estate and wants to explore the crypto world but they have some bans on crypto in their country. I actually Sent a proposal and it was accepted before we started this discussion.

 

Now he said he would pay me hourly for teaching him, and also I would help him buy some crypto because he cant in his country and he has tried a lot of things I did some research and found out that it was true.

 

So finally we had a zoom meeting he could not share his screen and so he sent screenshots of his binance not having a p2p section so I believed he could not really buy.

 

So he said I should send him crypto and he would pay me on upwork.

 

Firstly we spent an hour or more on our first contract and he paid me. He even sent the invoice and I researched and found out that it takes a 5 day security period for the payment to reflect in my earnings.

Wow, I was happy just made my first earning I went ahead to verify my account, it was also successful.

 

After that, the client gave me lots of bonuses and requested that I send him crypto and that he is eager to buy so he can show his friend that has been having the same challenges as him.

 

I sent Crypto and he gave me bonuses. To cut the long story short.

 

I checked my transactions and am seeing some return transactions of all the funds I was paid by the client, upwork suspended our contract (the new one we had for hourly training), and I already did all the client said to do and trusted upwork to deliver my funds cause I taught they were reputable but it seems not so.

 

On top of that, they gave me a certificate of earning 0$ and I cant still make my profile visible.

 

I think I have been treated badly by upwork and it's not fair something should be done.

 

My account was also blocked from withdrawal.

 

Now it seems like I lost my crypto and upwork ran away with my money, I never knew upwork was a scam also. Am disappointed.

 

To resolve this issue I need my crypto back, I can leave my hours of work and teaching to waste I followed the rules but still got scammed.

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
yofazza
Community Member

So I just stumbled upon this job post about buying crypto where the client is recently registered, payment verified, and having 2 scams in progress already: The crypto is job #3.

 

The jobs:

 

  1. I need a basic website for my business. it needs to be clean and basic! all my products are sunglasses for men and women. you can make the website with whatever you want but not WIX. with that said i will also need you to add products, their descritpion , the prices. make and about of page, faqs page, privacy, return policy, terms and condition. i need this done in 2 days if possible. $500

  2. Hi, i need someone that can connect a theme to a shopify account and edit some small things. $100

  3. Hello, i need someone to guide me through how to buy crypto coins $75

 

How to tell freelancers in job #1 & #2 about this? 😑 

 

And how to not fall into this? If the scammer is like the one described in this thread, experienced freelancers can be tricked as well (into "working" on Job #1 & #2).

 

Upwork must be really confused right now.

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

View solution in original post

79 REPLIES 79
petra_r
Community Member

You weren't "scammed by Upwork", you violated both (!) of the 2 most important parts of the Terms of Service and clearly didn't think before you acted.


As a result, you were scammed by a con-artist.

 

It is completely beyond me how anyone could ever, for one minute, think that any real "client" would ever buy crypto for HUGELY more than it is worth on Upwork. Or believe that you can't by cypto in London. The story is so ridiculous...

 


Collins K wrote: I followed the rules but still got scammed.

You didn't follow the rules and Upwork doesn't have the money. Those bonuses never went through (of course)!

If you want your crypto back, you can TRY to contact the platform you sent it on, they MAY be able to help.


You are really lucky though, others lost literally thousands.

  1. What rule was violated


Collins K wrote:
  1. What rule what violated

1. Financial transactions of ANY sort outside of the Upwork platform

2. Communicating outside the platform before a contract is in place.

 

Plus the rule of basic common sense that nobody in this universe (or any other) would REALLY pay REAL money to buy crypto via Upwork from a stranger.

The zoom call was monitored by upwork

 

Ok what about my hour of teaching

 

The zoom call was made after the contract was made and I had my pay after


Collins K wrote:

The zoom call was monitored by upwork

Ok what about my hour of teaching

The zoom call was made after the contract was made and I had my pay after


If you were hired on an hourly basis to teach somebody about what crypto is, that is a legit job. You will get paid if you used the tracker correctly. 

The problem here is that that small legit part was connected to a fraud, in which the client never paid upwork, so now all the earnings go down the drain. The client gets suspended permanently, and you might be too, that's up to upwork to decide. 

You have the following options: reverse the crypto transactions to you get your money back or convince the client to pay you through upwork. I don't know if the first is possible, I don't know about crypto and don't want to learn about it. The second is unlikely since this was a scam from the start, using a fraudulent or stolen credit card. 

I see thank you ma'am

We had a discussion on zoom that was the so-called accepted platform for communication on upwork, we discussed in-depth even to our personal lives schooling and all, the first transaction we had was a test, I was trying to prove to him that I was not a scam, but then I was also thinking he was one of those nice guys I have met in the past, I even told him of my experiences as a freelancer and all, and appreciated him for his patience and well did.

 

The issue here is that I trusted the invoices and popup notifications that upwork was giving me more than my instincts, I delayed in transactions did research and all, and asked my friend that was experienced using upwork they said bonuses cannot be reversed.

 

Basically, I was thinking the guy was a nice guy because I believe there are nice guys in the world.

 

I asked google can a bonus on upwork be reversed they didn't show me any reversal case so am like wow it's true he has sent the money.

 

"Plus the rule of basic common sense that nobody in this universe (or any other) would REALLY pay REAL money to buy crypto via Upwork from a stranger."

 

People do it on p2p platforms buy crypto from strangers.

 

What you should be telling me is the client was not genuine and unfortunately, it's a scam, he forged and upwork payment not abusing me Miss, Mrs, or Sir

 

Aside from the financial transaction outside upwork I was paid on a contract and the payment was also reversed

I get that it's an awful experience to get scammed. Nobody here is happy you lost money. 

This guy was good, no doubt. He got your confidence. That's why they are called conmen (or women). Con stands for confidence. This is how it works. 

 


Collins K wrote:

I delayed in transactions did research and all, and asked my friend that was experienced using upwork they said bonuses cannot be reversed. I asked google can a bonus on upwork be reversed they didn't show me any reversal case so am like wow it's true he has sent the money.


Asking a friend whether bonuses can be reversed is not "doing research". And you can't have looked this up on Google either, or you would have gotten dozens of matches from Upwork freelancers saying that their bonuses didn't come through after buying crypto. Spend some time actually reading the available materials on Upwork - everything that you need to know is right in their help pages and in the forum.

prestonhunter
Community Member

Upwork is not a scammer.

Upwork is a service that clients use to find, hire and pay freelancers.

 

Upwork does not scam people.

 

Therefore, by definition, you were not scammed by Upwork.

 

You particated in a scam.

 

I truly am sorry about what happened. I know you are sincere when you express disappointment.

 

But it is important to understand the truth about what happened.

itzcollinpowell
Community Member

My question is what should I have done, let's leave out the crypto part.

I worked for an hour and my payment showed and now it is reversed.

What should you have done?

You should not have worked with crypto unless you absolutely knew what you were doing. Crypto is inherently risky.

 

You lacked sufficient expertise is the subject matter to work with it and not get hurt.


Collins K wrote:

My question is what should I have done


SERIOUSLY?

 


Collins K wrote:

I worked for an hour and my payment showed and now it is reversed.


Of course it is. Upwork doesn't pay you to participate in fraud. And you didn't "work for an hour"-

And what do you mean i did not think before I acted you ar trying to say I don't have brains or an a fool


Collins K wrote:

**Edited for Community Guidelines**


She's the right person here. She's trying to help you.

What I need now is an explanation not abusive and **Edited for Community Guidelines** replies.

 

She is not trying to help she is trying to make me feel bad and foolish I don't need that.

 

The other man is nicer

What is **abusive** & **Edited for Community Guidelines** about my reply??

 

You want an explanation, right? Here it goes:-

 

As a freelancer on Upwork, you're supposed to provide services you hold expertise in.

 

You don't get involved in scams, frauds, or digital crimes.

 

You participated in a scam in this particular situation because you expected that someone is going to pay you money for free. That never happened. The opposite happened. That 'someone' stole money from you. Why? Because you violated the rules.

 

Anyways, I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

ETA: Scammers are getting very smart nowadays, so stay cautious and stay safe.

 

Her reply I meant

 

 

itzcollinpowell
Community Member

Upwork did not scam me then what happened, How come a fake invoice reflected and showed, and now everything is**Edited for Community Guidelines**

 

And my second issue is I have a certificate of earning and I can't make my profile public still


Collins K wrote:

Upwork did not scam me then what happened,


You sent real money to a scammer who never paid the money to Upwork. You thought there was such a thing as "Easy free money on the Internet"

 


 How come a fake invoice reflected and showed,

You do understand the difference between an invoice and a receipt, right?

 


And my second issue is I have a certificate of earning and I can't make my profile public still


What is the problem with your certificate of Earnings? To get your profile set to public just go to this page and click on the green button, then wait.


Collins K wrote:

Upwork did not scam me then what happened, How come a fake invoice reflected and showed, and now everything is**Edited for Community Guidelines**

 

And my second issue is I have a certificate of earning and I can't make my profile public still


It is possible, that having transferred funds outside of Upwork and thus violated the TOS, that you will be removed from the platform. If you want to remain, your best course of action would be to review the TOS, understand what went wrong and make it clear to Upwork's customer service team that you will be more careful in the future. 

 

The crypto scam is very popular right now. So, maybe Upwork won't blame you for falling for it. But, you need to take responsibility for doing better going forward. 

Outside of Upwork, make sure you familiarize yourself with your jurisdiction's KYC and AML laws before getting into making crypto transfers for a fee. 

itzcollinpowell
Community Member

The issue here is that I taught having a payment invoice is prove that a payment has been made and it's clear that it's not true.

 

It clearly means that on upwork payments can be forged 


The issue here is that I taught having a payment invoice is prove that a payment has been made

No. An invoice is basically a document that says "Please pay us $"


And anyway, you're not allowed to send money to a client in any form, so this transaction was never OK.

 

Quite apart from the fact that nobody would ever really buy crypto at hugely inflated prices on Upwork.


Collins K wrote:

The issue here is that I taught having a payment invoice is prove that a payment has been made and it's clear that it's not true.

 

It clearly means that on upwork payments can be forged 


That is not untrue. If a client uses a stolen credit card, for example, the real owner might have the transaction reversed. A scammer can use that time to convince people that he paid, which he never did. 

The best way to not lose money is to know the ToS and be aware that any payment outside of upwork - including buying or selling crypto - is explicitely and strictly forbidden. 

OK I GET THAT

martina_plaschka
Community Member

How is it ever plausible that a UK person can't buy crypto? 


Martina P wrote:

How is it ever plausible that a UK person can't buy crypto? 


Or doesn't have a street address and a postcode in the wrong format that does not exist.

I did my research on that and what I found is that there was a ban


Collins K wrote:

I did my research on that and what I found is that there was a ban


There isn't! People in the UK can OF COURSE buy crypto. And even if there was some ban in the UK (which is nonsense), there are literally ENDLESS ways how people can buy crypto without paying crazily over the actual value via Upwork. Nobody would ever do that.


Collins K wrote:

I did my research on that and what I found is that there was a ban


IF there was a ban on buying something in the UK, then there would be a good reason for it, so you were helping somebody to do something that they weren't supposed to do. If a person wants to pay you a lot of money for a small amount of simple work, it's either something illegal, or they want to scam you. If you want to work on Upwork, set reasonable fees and do honest, actual work - don't expect that this is an easy way to get rich quickly. It's not.

 

And stop blaming Upwork. They didn't scam you, the "client" did, and you happily went along with it out of greed.

 

Hey ma'am hold it there I didn't even tell him a quote I tried to help him buy it was to no avail we did a test and he confirmed I was genuine, then all of a sudden he said he has made a payment I asked that I refunded it but said not to worry I should send him crypto and keep the money. I did not ask for a quote or tell him a price, he knew the price he even said someone else asked for 1000$ for $4000 that it was too high, I was trying to help a dude that was seemingly low on crypto knowledge.

 

So don't bring all these stories of greed here because you don't know me and don't assume **Edited for Community Guidelines**

 

 


Collins K wrote:

I did my research on that and what I found is that there was a ban


Binance (which you mentioned in your first post) has been banned in the UK. Cryptocurrency itself has not.

There are also special cases where individuals have challenges buying even if its accepted in their Country or Location


Collins K wrote:

There are also special cases where individuals have challenges buying even if its accepted in their Country or Location


If there were such a case, the individual could have their pick of tens of thousands of freelancers on Upwork who are delighted to perform small, simple tasks for very little money - the individual wouldn't have to pay hundreds in order to get this done. And if you had been charging the client a fair price for the work yourself, instead of trying to take advantage of them, you wouldn't be in this situation.

 

Hey ma'am hold it there I didn't even tell him a quote I tried to help him buy it was to no avail we did a test and he confirmed I was genuine, then all of a sudden he said he has made a payment I asked that I refunded it but said not to worry I should send him crypto and keep the money. I did not ask for a quote or tell him a price, he knew the price he even said someone else asked for 1000$ for $4000 that it was to high, i was trying to help a dude that was seemedly low on crypto knowledge.

 

So don't bring all this stories of greed here cause you don't know me and don't assume **Edited for Community Guidelines**


Collins K wrote:

Hey ma'am hold it there I didn't even tell him a quote I tried to help him buy it was to no avail we did a test and he confirmed I was genuine, then all of a sudden he said he has made a payment I asked that I refunded it but said not to worry I should send him crypto and keep the money. I did not ask for a quote or tell him a price, he knew the price he even said someone else asked for 1000$ for $4000 that it was to high, i was trying to help a dude that was seemedly low on crypto knowledge.

 

So don't bring all this stories of greed here cause you don't know me and don't assume **Edited for Community Guidelines**


It is not so difficult to understand.
Let's see, you've kept the conversation going on Upwork, right?
If so, this part is fine.
You had a contract, still good.
You have bought crypto for a client and sent it to them, correct?
If so, wrong, you have violated the TOS. You run out of money.
Easy, right?

Ok before i violated TOS, i was paid for a contract teaching for an hour what happen there


Collins K wrote:

Ok before i violated TOS, i was paid for a contract teaching for an hour what happen there


There are very specific conditions to qualify for Upwork's hourly payment protection, and it's clear that this job breaks at least one of them. So, no, even that is gone.

 

I'm sorry you got hit this way, but it's a very common scam (though the scammer seems to have put a bit more effort into it than most). I think one of the mods linked to this, but I'll do it again here: read this post before you continue. It will help you recognize other scams.

 

What I'm seeing in your post is something I see a lot in other new freelancers' posts after they've been scammed: a basic, but very incorrect, assumption that Upwork will protect you and that if the job is posted on Upwork the client has been vetted and the job is safe. None of that is true.

 

OH I SEE, Thank you sir

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