Upwork scam!!!

[#1]

Last staturday, A client called **edited for Community Guidelines** invite me to submit a proposal to an app development project. Then he told me he need to pay somebody in china for an app, but he do not have the payment method in china. then he sent me the money as bonus of this project and i paid as he required. after that, he asked me to pay more. i refused him. then after a while, I can not see the message room. it shows room not found. how can he do this. i think only upwork can do this then i ask for support, the support said i do not need to take any action. before i can get the money, upwork refund the money to him. apparently, upwork scam .

[#2]

Hi Xiufen,

Upwork takes great measures into keeping their global marketplace safe. They count on your help and diligence to make the Upwork experience as safe as possible. You can read up about staying safe on Upwork here.

Kind regards,

Elonah

[#3]

Upwork help Scam!

Last staturday, A client called **edited for Community Guidelines** invite me to submit a proposal to an app development project. Then he told me he need to pay somebody in china for an app, but he do not have the payment method in china. then he sent me the money as bonus of this project and i paid as he required.

after that, he asked me to pay more. i refused him.

then after a while, I can not see the message room. it shows room not found. how can he do this. i think only upwork can do this

then i ask for support, the support said i do not need to take any action.

before i can get the money, upwork refund the money to him.

apparently, upwork scam .

[#4]

Hi Xiufen,

Please feel free to flag the job by clicking on the flagging option so that our team can review the job and take appropriate action. Please check the help article shared by Elona Jade for more information on how you can stay safe. 

[#5]

Upwork Scam freelancers

[#6]

Hi Xiufen, 

I understand why this can be a very frustrating experience for you. I want to clarify that the message room with this client was removed because actions have been taken against their account for violating the Upwork Terms of Service.

As a gentle reminder, please know that asking a freelancer to pay for work and offering and accepting pay off the Upwork website violates the Upwork Terms of Service. Please refer to this support ticket if you have further questions regarding this concern. Since another team is already handling this, please don't hesitate to update the same ticket thread if you have other questions regarding your account or the contract. 

[#7]

Yes, it does seem like a scam. Upwork will do all they can to help you. Please read this to help keep yourself safe from scams in the future: https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/List-of-red-flags-for-scams/m-p/1017044/highlight/true...

[#8]

You violated the ToS:

3. PROHIBITED SITE USES

Certain uses of the Services are not allowed.

You may not use, or encourage, promote, facilitate, instruct, induce, or otherwise influence or cause others: (1) to use the Services for any activities that violate applicable law or for any other fraudulent or harmful purpose or (2) to transmit, store, display, distribute or otherwise make available content that is illegal, fraudulent or harmful to others.

3.1 EXAMPLES OF PROHIBITED USES OF THE SITE

The following are examples of uses that are prohibited on or when using the Services:..

• [...]
• Requesting or providing services that primarily concern making purchases on behalf of another, including the purchase of cryptocurrency or NFTs;

[#9]

You don't need to keep posting this over and over. If you hadn't broken the rules, you would not have been scammed. Hundreds and thousands of FLs use UW every day and comply with the Terms of Service which we all, including you, promised to follow when we signed up. The platform is infested with scammers because FLs who are willing to break the rules make it worth their while to be here. So, where is the problem, really? 

[#10]

you are wrong.

why scammers can delete the message room?

why they can get their money back after they scammed?

[#11]

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XIUFEN Z wrote:

you are wrong.

why scammers can delete the message room?

why they can get their money back after they scammed?

---

You misunderstand how this works. The scammer can't delete a message room. When upwork deletes the job posting, everything disappears. The scammer never paid any money. 

[#12]

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XIUFEN Z wrote:

why they can get their money back after they scammed?

---

They can get their money back BECAUSE they're scammers. You won't get paid if you work for a scammer, they'll only take your money. You need to follow the rules and keep yourself safe, because Upwork is not going to vet your clients for you.

[#13]

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XIUFEN Z wrote: why they can get their money back after they scammed?

---

They can't get their money "back" because they never paid any money in the first place. That "bonus" never happened.

[#14]

You were scammed because you broke the rules.  Upwork is infested with scammers because despite their best efforts, they are unable to stop them all. This makes it attractive for scammers to post here because they know that freelancers will be exposed to their scams, and once freelancers are exposed to them, they  know that some will break the rules and fall for them.