Report

[zoryt]

Hello Upwork team,

a man have threated me today that he will report that I take jobs outside of Upwork. But he does not even have an account on Upwork and he did not offer a job via this platform so I didn't even apply to him because there were no offers from him. He have contacted me via Skype for a job and I asked him to make me a job offer via Upwork at first and than he said he does not work with Upwork and that he haven't an Upwork account. I mean theoratically I can work outside of Upwork when the employer did not contact me via Upwork. I did the job for him, he paid me with paypal and today he said to me that he wants the half of money back because my work was apparently bad and he said that I have used google translator what I didn't. I never use google translate and when you see my profile you know this. He have sent me the "corrected" work and that was bad. That was more like google translate. I say to him that I refuse to pay him back because my work was flawless. Than he started to threat me that he will report to Upwork that I have worked outside of Upwork. I had to pay him back. When I did it he said "I will report you anyway." He threated me that I never will work ever at any translation platform and that he will ensure for this. This is bribery and this is punishable. I didn't do anything wrong because there was no job offer nor contact with him via Upwork. I don't want the money back, he can have it. But I beg you to not suspend my account. And what can translators like me do to avoid situations like this?

Kinds regards

Zorana

[lysis10]

I'm confused. Why even mention upwork if he didn't find you on upwork? Why are you worried if you never even talked to the guy through upwork? If the two of you never even spoke through Upwork, then what are you worried about?

[millermelanie]

I agree that she has nothing to worry about concerning the threats, since the client did not access her through Upwork to begin with.  Perhaps the OP mentioned Upwork hoping to handle the job through the platform so she would have the protection Upwork provides.  Looks like she may have needed it.  I wouldn't have refunded the money.

[zoryt]

Thank you for replying also.  Like I said at first I refused to pay the money back.

[zoryt]

Thank you for replying to me. I am worried because he has threatened me. 

[lysis10]

I wouldn't have refunded the money either, but if she got paid through PayPal they are hard to work with if you get a dispute. They are more likely to side with the client.

I don't understand why you'd be scared if he's never even contacted you through Upwork. And how would the guy even know about Upwork and taking work offplatform? How would he know to use that against you? 

Seems fishy, but if you never talked to him using Upwork, then he first has to find you and let me tell you even my customers have a hard time finding me by name, so you're in luck there.

[zoryt]

He wanted my profile link from Upwork. He founded me because I have worked with him 4-5 years ago but not through Upwork. 

[katrinabeaver]

My guess is he does (or did) have an Upwork account or he wouldn't know about taking payment off platform.  

[zoryt]

He said to me with this words: "I don't care what you say. I don't even have an account on Upwork."

[lysis10]

meh seems really odd that someone would be asking these questions and threaten you with something like this if he had nothing to do with upwork. Sounds like there is more to the story.

idk but if he never contacted you through Upwork then I don't know what you're worried about. 

[zoryt]

Thank you. But I thought if this is really my fault than it is better that I write to Upwork before he does it.

[lysis10]

Well if it's your fault, writing them ain't gonna help. Brace yourself for the email and if you value your account don't do it again.

[zoryt]

Of course I value my account. I start to think that he needed somebody for a translation but he didn't want to pay. 

[tlsanders]

You did not have to pay him back. I'm very sorry that you did that before seeking advice. 

If you and the client did not originally connect on Upwork, you have nothing at all to worry about--except the fact that you were scammed by a client who intimidated you into giving away your work.

[zoryt]

Thank you, Tiffany. Like I said at first I refused to pay him back and than he started to threat and bribe me. It could be possible that he does this to many translators because he said that he doesn't care about Upwork and that he only wants Upwork's translators.

[tlsanders]

---

@Zorana T wrote:

Thank you, Tiffany. Like I said at first I refused to pay him back and than he started to threat and bribe me. It could be possible that he does this to many translators because he said that he doesn't care about Upwork and that he only wants Upwork's translators.

---

 Yes, it's very possible that he makes a practice of this and then bullies and blackmails people into refunding his money or accepting no payment. 

I don't know where you're located or where the client is, but that's called extortion in the U.S., and people go to jail for it.

[zoryt]

I am from Germany. He said that he is from Romania but who knows...

[alanhorenstein]

I am so sorry you had to go through anything like this, Zorana.

Still, this is a great lesson in the value of Upwork payment protection. I know you tried to move the cold contact onto the Upwork platform. In hindsight, that is the only way you should do business.

Even better, figure out early who is going to be a troublemaker and avoid him entirely.

Thanks for sharing this lesson here. I'm sure your profile will be just fine.

[zoryt]

Thank you for your nice words. I've said him that he should make me an offer via Upwork but like I've said he didn't want it.