Upwork refunded my payment to client

[4cd25cf5]

It's is fixed contract and my clients pay me in four milestone of an amount $485. He has approved and released all milestone and I successfully complete my job. After that I get a notification from upwork that your contract is on hold then I ended my contract with him. Now today I received an email that you refunded payment to client its refunded by upwork.And clients upwork profile is not now available. 

I also contact upwork via chat but they forward my issue with specialized team but I didn't get any email from them. 

What should I do?Does I will get my payment. 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[0a3f6fad]

I had the exact same thing happen to me. I think this may be because you were on a milestone not hourly contract. 

The best thing to do is reply to the message or forward it to **Edited for Community Guidelines**, They will tell you exactly what has happened and how you may resolve it. 

Hope this helps!

[pgiambalvo]

There is no resolving it.

[the-right-writer]

The community members know exactly what happened. There is no resolution. Chargebacks happen will all sorts of jobs. There is no way to resolve being scammed. No one, including Upwork is going to pay when someone rips you off. The same thing happened to him as the many others who are scammed. The end has come; there is no getting money back, or help.

Any attempts at communication with the scammer are pointless. They got what they came for and have moved on to a new mark. And there are thousands and thousands of them out there, just waiting to be robbed.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, it is the freelancers fault for not following the TOS and rules. I'm sorry they lost money, but what can you do when people refuse to follow the rules? Trying to game the system has risks.

[0a3f6fad]

I don't think there is a resolution, but the information and advice I was given by the support team was helpful to know moving forward. Some people need that extra bit of confirmation from a "higher up." 

[the-right-writer]

Whenever someone has a question like this, I notify the moderator. They decide if and when, and to whom they respond from their own rules.

[martina_plaschka]

The client's credit card could not be charged. You will not get the money. 

[4cd25cf5]

Why would not I get my money as I have followed all upwork terms and conditions. How should I know it's stolen card as it's payment method was verified and he has 5 review and he has spent $10k+ it should be responsibility of upwork to verify client whether it's scammers or not. 

[pgiambalvo]

You will never get paid and there is nothing you can do about it. The client's card was probably stolen and Upwork offers no protection from that.

[4cd25cf5]

Then how this freelancer gets his payment. And it's also shown in his profile. Same day we get hired

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[seadorffx]

I am experiencing the same situation...I also need a solution please 

[the-right-writer]

If your situation is the same, you will never see the money because it was never there.

[django_expert]

it is maybe your client must have stolen the card info of someone else's and now the owner had requested to refund his money back. it is really a big issue and it is a kind of scam.

[4cd25cf5]

Then how does this freelancer gets his payment he and me get hired on same day. 

[4cd25cf5]

I and another freelancer name as **Edited for Community Guidelines** gets hired for a same job on the same day.But when I post my concern  on community I got replies that client have stolen card bluh.... Bluh. That is why payment is reversed. 

But another freelancer named as **Edited for Community Guidelines** get paid but not me. Does you have any answer to this? 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[martina_plaschka]

HIs payment will be reversed too. 

[4cd25cf5]

He has withdrawal all his payment

[pgiambalvo]

If that's really the case, then he'll have it repay it to Upwork.

[martina_plaschka]

Do you know him??

[m_terrazas]

---

LIYAQAT M wrote:

I and another freelancer name as **Edited for Community Guidelines** gets hired for a same job on the same day.But when I post my concern  on community I got replies that client have stolen card bluh.... Bluh. That is why payment is reversed. 

But another freelancer named as **Edited for Community Guidelines** get paid but not me. Does you have any answer to this? 

---

Have you bought something for the customer? Crypto or something like this?

By the way, you can't put that profile picture of another freelancer here.

[4cd25cf5]

I and another freelancer worked on same project gets hired on same day and client approved all milestone to me and him also. But upwork reversed my payment by saying client is involved in fraudulent activities but another freelancer who worked on same project gets payment and he has withdrawal all his payment. 

My question is if client was involved in fraudulent activities then both freelancer payment should be reversed or both should get paid. 

Does you have any answer to this questions@upworkcommunity

[martina_plaschka]

1. How do you know he was paid?

2. How do you know his payment will not be reversed?

You posted a few times about this already. You probably will have to find a way to let this go. 

[pgiambalvo]

If the other freelancer withdrew the money, he is going to have to pay it back to Upwork.

[the-right-writer]

First, Upwork did not refund your money. Unfortunately, they use the term "refunded" for some weird reason when it really means they tried to use the card, and it was invalid. The job was a scam. They may have used the same card to "hire" multiple freelancers.

The client's profile disappeared because he/she was a scammer. There never was an actual financial transaction. Upwork will do a tiny test run on the card to ensure it's valid. It was at the time because the person who owned the card didn't know it was stolen yet. Once their bank pulls the card, any purchases are invalid.

I don't know of anything you can do. The money is gone - because it was never there. I will notify the moderator, but there isn't anything they can do, either.

[pgiambalvo]

Maybe they could add parenetheticals to "Payment verified" and " In Escrow" saying "This does not mean that the client's card might later be discovered to be stolen and you will not get paid and are not protected from that happening."

[martina_plaschka]

---

Peter G wrote:

Maybe they could add parenetheticals to "Payment verified" and " In Escrow" saying "This does not mean that the client's card might later be discovered to be stolen and you will not get paid and are not protected from that happening."

---

No, we don't need that. If 90% of freelancers suffered from this problem, yes I would agree that this warning should be there. Or if people that have been scammed forget about it and get scammed again. 

But you and I and many others very well know that it is a problem for a minority of freelancers. That minority that is inclined to fall victims to scams would be better served to do the needful - read the ToS and learn. And apply. We know there is no way around that kind of experience and knowledge, and no hand-holding will ever make it possible to save all of them from themselves. 

[pgiambalvo]

It's not a matter of hand-holding, it's a matter of honesty and transparency. Expecting people to find this out by discovering it buried somewhere in the ToS and then deciphering what it really means when it comes to getting paid is just ridiculous.

[wlyonsatl]

I completely agree, Peter G.

Upwork should make it clear in its confirmation that it has "verified" a client's payment method that this "verification" does provide any guarantee whatsoever that the client's payment method will work when needed to pay for the freelancer's work product. (If that notice annoys any experienced freelancers they can just ignore it.)

And Upwork should stop referring to these payment reversals due to bank chargebacks as "refunds." Payments from fraudulent payment methods are at no point valid, so nothing is being refunded by either the freelancer or Upwork.

No one outside Upwork knows how frequently fixed price contracts result in non-payment to freelancers due to client fraud, but even one is too many for some freelancers - we likely hear about only a fraction of these "refunds" on this board.

Upwork needs to fix this problem.

In the meantime, Upwork, just call a spade a spade and name these reversed "payments" something along the lines of "Fraudulent Payment Reversal" or at least "Invalid Payment Reversal," so new freelancers easily understand what risks they undertook when agreeing to a fixed price contract.

[pgiambalvo]

Yes. Thanks, man. Be honest and clear.

[812dd08c]

Hi Liyaqat,

I certainly understand your situation and I'm sorry to hear that you got caught off guard about this reversal on your account. As other members mentioned in this thread, if the client fails to pay the invoice for the milestone, it'll be reversed. 

I can see that you've been communicating with the team handling your case and a support ticket has been created. You can always check here or your email for updates and please continue communicating with the team if you need further assistance. We seek your patience and utmost understanding while sorting this out for you. Thank you!

[renata101]

Hi Liyaqat,

In case you're still in the dark about why Upwork might be refunding the client's money (or otherwise removing it from your account), I believe the job the job for $485 was called "Purchase Items." I'm not sure what the details of this contract were, but the heading suggests you were buying something for the client, which could be the source of the problem.

It's really important to read the legal pages to understand what you can and can't do on contracts. I don't know the details of that job, but it seems that if they're pulling it, it's likely most of the amount of the contract is dedicated to paying for something the client wants you to purchase on their behalf. If so, that's a violation of the terms of service:


The heading on this section of  the Terms of Use is particularly poorly chosen, but the statement itself is clear enough.

https://www.upwork.com/legal#unfairtreatment

[4fb1c97b]

Hi great community, a client left me 4.0 rating and the last client I worked with didn't leave any feedback. Ever since then, I have not been getting invite. Please, what can I do to start getting invites again?

What is the best way to optimize my acount to appear on upwork search engine

[renata101]

Hi Moses,

Good to see you on the forum.

It might be better to find a thread where client feedback is the topic of discussion. Or you can start your own thread! The original poster (OP) is trying to figure out a different question. 

[xonestech]

Hi, I would suggest you to raise a dispute and share all the proofs in screenshots with upwork team. They are very supportive and understand our side as well. 

I believe this time you could not get your payment back as once it's released to the client OR to the freelancer, it can not be back but I am sure this would help you in future to safeguard your payments.

Alwways keep screenshots of the work and communications with the client and create a folder in your machine with the name of client and communication threas. Make sure you clarify eveything with your client upfront and keep it in written in the form of his/ her approval. Always get the next mileston amount escrowed and submit that escrowed milestone as soon as you submit the work of that milestone. Once you submit request to release the milestone, client can not withdraw that fund unless you approve and if client would not approve it, it would get auto released by upwork team after 15 days so you can secure atleast the current milestone amount (if not the remaining amount of your project).

I hope it helps. Please feel free to get in touch if in case you need any further assistance from my side. I will be happy to help you with the required.