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jafferyy
Community Member

MY ACCOUNT GOT HACKED AND $6000 WITHDRAWN BY HACKER

Hi there, 

On last Monday, I received an email that my payment of almost $6000 is being processed to bank which got me shocked because I didn't do that. I checked my account real quick and saw that some Japan based bank was added into my payment methods which didn't belong to me. I contacted Upwork support on urgent basis while payment was in processing and asked them to block that payment. While they were calming me down instead of blocking that payment, I got another email that payment has been processed, on that, I shared the screenshot with them and requested them again to block the activity. 

Upon that, they blocked my complete account and told me that they'll get back to me shortly. Fast forward to Tuesday, I receive their mail to verify myself by providing documents, I did. Got next email after 40 hours of that verification email with same requirements, so I provided my details again. Now on thursday they activated my account again but no payment. Emailed them again and got response by Friday that they'll be having meeting with me over Google Meet. Had meeting with them but it also was about verifying myself which I did again. But still no update on Payment Reversal. 


And today I got their email that payment cannot be reversed and some excuses along with that. My question to Upwork is why do you write "IF YOU DO NOT AUTHERISE THIS REQUEST PLEASE CONTACT US" when you can do nothing about it? Those $6000 were my hard earned money which I earned from working day and night. I want that back. Please help me!!

36 REPLIES 36
g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Hi Hasnain,

 

I'm sorry to hear about the bad experience you've had and the inconvenience this has caused you. 
I checked your account and I can see that you're communicating with our team directly on your ticket. Feel free to follow up directly there with any additional information or questions you may have and our team will assist you further. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

Hi Goran, 

Last reply I got from them is that they have refused to revert the payment. So, I'm so confused at the moment about what I should do.

petra_r
Community Member


Hasnain R wrote:

Last reply I got from them is that they have refused to revert the payment.


This is not true. They told you that they are unable to revert the payment, not that they "refuse" to do so. They literally can't.

 


Hasnain R wrote:

why do you write "IF YOU DO NOT AUTHERISE THIS REQUEST PLEASE CONTACT US" .


To make sure your account can be made safe and verified.


Also, your Upwork account wasn't hacked, strictly speaking, someone got your log-in details somehow, via you entering them on a phishing page or because it was actually the associated email that was hacked. That should be your first step - securing your email

 

jafferyy
Community Member

I can agree on the phishing part but I can assure that my email was and is completely secure. 

And was you mentioned that they write that line at the end of email. Then why did they not block the payment when I contacted them immediately about it. 

They likely tried but were unsuccessful. I remember I asked them to reverse a payment to Payoneer like within 10 minutes of issuing it because Payoneer was going through some legal troubles, and they were unable to block it. It's not the case that if you tell them quick enough it's guaranteed that they can block it. I truly think your best bet is tracking down where the money went to, who is the owner of the bank account. Who knows, maybe the person who stole the money is not a stranger, but someone that could access your computer / phone. Try to get as much information as you can. Let us know if you are somehow able to get the funds back!

To my understanding, Payoneer case is a bit different as they release Payoneer Payment instantly. But Bank Transfer take time and as I warned them at time, I expect them to refund the amount to me.

deborah-ponzio
Community Member

Do freelancers receive an alert when their bank withdrawal details are changed? 

Hi Deborah, I got 70,80 emails as per attached image. I couldn't see the one which was actually about that payment method is added.

I already mentioned that to Upwork support. At the same time, my concern is, I asked them to stop the payment before it got processed. So, what happened there? Why did they mention in their email that we can contact them in case we don't autherise the payment? **Edited for Community Guidelines**

tlbp
Community Member


Hasnain R wrote:

Hi Deborah, I got 70,80 emails as per attached image. I couldn't see the one which was actually about that payment method is added.

I already mentioned that to Upwork support. At the same time, my concern is, I asked them to stop the payment before it got processed. So, what happened there? Why did they mention in their email that we can contact them in case we don't autherise the payment? **Edited for Community Guidelines**


I would suggest that contacting someone does not guarantee that they can solve your problem. Would it be better for them not to say, "Contact us"?

 

A payment reversal may no longer be an option and it is possible that halting the payment was not an option by the time you made contact. None of us have access to the exact timeline or facts. If you want redress, your next step would be to get those facts. I don't know how you should go about doing that. I would be very upset to lose $6000. But, the cost of hiring someone to help you reclaim it may be too high for you to do anything. That is a bad situation for sure. 

 

Can you continue to communicate with Upwork to get more details about whether they are taking additional action against whomever withdrew the funds and what those actions are? That would be the next step in the fact gathering process.  

jafferyy
Community Member

My question remains, then why do they have that phrase in their emails. Because if they have that, that means they're repsonsible and their delay made me loose my hard earned money.

a_lipsey
Community Member

If you have been hacked then I suggest you check the filters in your email account. If they have access to your email, they may have set a filter to automatically delete payment emails, so you wouldn't catch on. I was hacked back in 2019, and they did something similar with emails related to "shipping". 

 

Upwork may not be able to help you, unfortunately, because you got hacked. It really sucks, and maybe they will be able to claw back the payment, but unfortunately if you got hacked, you would likely have to prove that they were hacked and not YOU were hacked. If you don't have two factor authentication on your account, I would recommend setting it up. The hackers would not likely have been able to get to your funds if you had it set up - noting this for other freelancers who are worried this could happen to them, not to blame the OP.

I added that now obviously but I am worried about my hard earned money at this point. 

I agree that I didn't have 2 factor authentication and I do agree that it might be caused by neglegance but all I am saying is, I contacted them in time. Before the payment for processed. When it was in processing. I contact them and requested them to STOP THE TRANSACTION.

But they didn't or they were too slow to respond. I really need help and support from the community so I can get my hard earned money back.


Hasnain R wrote:

I added that now obviously but I am worried about my hard earned money at this point. 

I agree that I didn't have 2 factor authentication and I do agree that it might be caused by neglegance but all I am saying is, I contacted them in time. Before the payment for processed. When it was in processing. I contact them and requested them to STOP THE TRANSACTION.

But they didn't or they were too slow to respond. I really need help and support from the community so I can get my hard earned money back.


Please know I'm not blaming you. My comment was to help educate others so they don't get in this situation, but I certainly don't blame you. Remember, I learned this the hard way being hacked myself. 😞 I am on your side, but unfortunately, processes are what they are, and it's likely by the time you saw the money being processed, it was already too late for Upwork to do anything. I'm very sorry this happened to you. 

Upwork has a line added in their email which quotes "If you did not initiate this payment, please contact us  immediately. " What is that for then? Why do they have that if they cannot do anything?


Hasnain R wrote:

Upwork has a line added in their email which quotes "If you did not initiate this payment, please contact us  immediately. " What is that for then? Why do they have that if they cannot do anything?


Sadly, I do not know. I do know that Upwork has a lot of "lines" in different places that seem to mean nothing. 😞 

jafferyy
Community Member

ADD ON TO this is, all the funds that I lost are from the clients that I brought to upwork.

They were paying me outside via direct payment methods but I thought it'd be better and safe on Upwork. But it is very discouraging for me and others if Upwork isn't able to help me out with this.

Can anyone of you forward my issue with Upwork authorities or their team so I can get any serious help?

tlbp
Community Member


Hasnain R wrote:

ADD ON TO this is, all the funds that I lost are from the clients that I brought to upwork.

They were paying me outside via direct payment methods but I thought it'd be better and safe on Upwork. But it is very discouraging for me and others if Upwork isn't able to help me out with this.

Can anyone of you forward my issue with Upwork authorities or their team so I can get any serious help?


Well, there's a lesson learned. Never introduce a third-party to your business if you don't have to. 😞

jafferyy
Community Member

But my mistake I thought Upwork might be safe. 

Hi Hasnain,

I understand that this is a frustrating and stressful experience. I checked on your case and it looks like yesterday our Account Security team provided an update about their investigation and detailed information about the events. We won’t be able to discuss it here on this public thread, but I encourage you to refer to their message in your ticket #33910054.

In general, I’d like to note that two-step verification is available for all Upwork users as a form of protection against unauthorized access. For more information about keeping your account and information safe, please refer to this help article.

~ Valeria
Upwork

Hey Valeria, 

I've been waiting for their reply after their yesterday's email where they mentioned that they cannot reverse the transcation. So, I'm not sure what I should do. 

First approach was to come here and ask the community for help on this, second might be that I'll call out on Social Platforms on why they didn't stop the transaction when I even mentioned them about the activity while payment was within upwork. 


I'm really confused and panicked at this moment and really need help. 

Hey Valeria, 
It's been 2 days. No reply from Upwork!

tagrendy
Community Member

This is scary. Try to get information on which bank the payment got transferred to, maybe you can contact the bank and let them know about the situation.

Cannot go further as that bank is removed from my account. IDK how even they get a bank account with my name in Japan while I'm from Pakistan. 

You can ask Upwork to maybe provide details of the transaction. Even if it's removed from your account, I'd think Upwork keeps logs of transactions. 

hamzayaseen786
Community Member

I've been inviting my clients to Upwork for a long time and this has scared me. I always consider my money is safe in Upwork but if this is their response on critical situations then I guess it's better to have your outside clients off Upwork. 

 

And I am not sure who'd be the right guy here taht can connect you to Upwork team buy they should refund you to portray people that Upwork is secure.

They should. But at the same time, it's been more than 2 days and they haven't replied back.

hydra2016
Community Member

I feel exactly the same way here, after 6 years on Upwork tonight a "refund" was issued automatlically to client, despite the client leaving 5 * and good feedbacks on contract. 

Really worried about the situation, when the work was done, client seemed happy and funds were "pending" to be release. 


Caroline W wrote:

I feel exactly the same way here, after 6 years on Upwork tonight a "refund" was issued automatlically to client, despite the client leaving 5 * and good feedbacks on contract. 

Really worried about the situation, when the work was done, client seemed happy and funds were "pending" to be release. 


Your "refund" is a completely separate issue from the OP's, which is because his account was hacked. In your case, while Upwork uses the word "Refund" what it really means is your client didn't pay, and since you didn't use the time tracker properly (that's the only way you wouldn't be covered by payment protection), Upwork "refunds" those hours. You need to reach out to your client and ask them to update their payment details and they can issue you the "refunded" hours by bonus. 

a6d91258
Community Member

This is unbelievable. I had the same experience today. I presented a formal inquiry asking about a transfer that I didn't do and Upwork decided to suspend my account without any explanation.  I respect all rules, pay for fees, and have an excellent customer relationship.  Upwork didn't clarified me if this is a hold or suspension due to something that I don't know. I wrote them a lot, really, and I'm sure they're not going to return funds and I don't care, but why they suspend my account without providing me any explanation? I'm worried because I have significant earnings that I don't know if can withdraw. There is a completely lack of information and respect toward the freelancers since the customer support associates don't provide the whole information. If I knew that reporting this incident would produce an account suspension, I swear I never have done this report. It's seems like a retaliation at this point. 

Now, they'll just hold your account suspended for a week while giving you one reply every 24 hours. And it'll take a week for you to get your account back. 

Well, I'll wait this week then. I can go through my account, and I can see my reports and pending and review milestones and hours, and I also can communicate with clients because the chat is not restricted. However, and obviously, I can't make proposals. It seems that we're guilty of being hacked and robbed. I fell like the criminal here for presenting a formal inquiry. 

jafferyy
Community Member

That's what happened to me. They suspended my account on Monday. On Thrusday they allowed me to go back in but payment withdrawel was limited. And then on Saturday they activated that. So, on Saturday I had full access of my account.

Hey Hasnain,

I lost my $2800 on 17 March. I had the same experience with a Japanese bank account and Upwork still investigating. I don't know what to do. 

68fd3f46
Community Member

Happened to me just now and I am not able to load the support and help page it is showing server down . Can anyone suggest to me what to do?

 

how much?

Hi Bhat,

 

If you are referring to the withdrawal initiated today, I would like to confirm that this withdrawal was auto-initiated by the system as a scheduled withdrawal. Feel free to message us if you have further questions.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Upwork
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