New scam on Upwork?

[mercyt]

A client sends a contract and says that he wants you to handle finances, so he sends me a bonus. When I tell him to wait until the money is available he requests a refund but Upwork has already taken their 20%. When I issue this refund will I remain with the negative balance that Upwork has taken?

[pgiambalvo]

It's not new, but yes, you have been scammed and will not recieve any money. Upwork is currently unable tp prevent this type of scam from being posted, and should do more to warn people about it. NEVER communicate off platform until a contract is in place, and NEVER buy anything for or from anyone.

[mercyt]

Thank you! Just ended the contract without issuing any refund.

[feed_my_eyes · Accepted solution]

When you issue a refund, no, Upwork doesn't keep their service charge so of course you wouldn't be out of pocket. But if this is a scam where the client wanted you to buy bitcoin for them (which is strictly against the terms of service for you to provide, btw), the payment will be reversed without you approving a refund.

[mercyt]

Thank you so much!

[mercyt]

Funny thing, the client actually hired me and has payment verified! so he sent a bonus and immediately initiated a refund request.

[feed_my_eyes]

Bonus payments aren't covered by Upwork's payment protection, so it doesn't matter if the client is verified and doesn't mean that they're not a scammer. If you're doing a fixed price project, the money needs to be in the escrow account, NOT paid as a bonus. Read this so that you'll know what other scams to watch out for: https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/List-of-red-flags-for-scams/m-p/1017044

[pgiambalvo]

Verified payment method means nothing when it comes to help deciding whehjer someone is legit is not. In fact, I think it lulls some people into thinking that they are legit. It is also no indication on whether you will actually get paid or not.

[martina_plaschka]

Yes that could be a new scam, or a variation of the cryptoscam.

We have seen some instances of this; it starts with crypto, the the client claims he overpaid and requests a partly refund. 

This is pretty devious, since the freelancer not only spent his own money on crypto, but refunded believing that he was reducing the bonus payment he thinks he received. 

But that's not how it works. Even when the bonus disappears, the refund doesn't, because the client refunded from his account, not a specific contract.