Upwork solicits me to reply to a spammer

[#1]

A spammer contacted me with a dodgy message via my project page a few days ago.

I flagged his message to Upwork.

Today I received a message from Upwork reminding me to reply to the spammer.

Is this normal? Thanks for any suggestions 😉

[#2]

My guess is, this is an automatic "funneling" activity setup by Upwork.

When a prospective client (a scammer in your case) contacts you through your project, Upwork's funneling scripts sees this and automatically sets the next funnel message ("Don't forget to reply to the client who contacted you about your project.")

It is a lot like these forums when you post a message. A day or so from now, you might receive an email with a message like: "Don't forget to accept a solution in your [Upwork solicits me to reply to a spammer] post."

As far as I know, all of this is automatic, and those funneling scripts probably cannot see that you flagged the message as inappropriate; the scripts only see that you were contacted and notifies you to follow-up.

[#3]

Yes, I guess so, and what if the automatic funneling brings automatic consequences? That's my concern. And this guy has not been removed from the platform as per yet. 

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Hi Deborah,

Thank you for reaching out. Are you referring to the automated message that Upwork sends whenever you receive a message from a client and you haven't responded yet?

I checked this for you and followed up with the relevant team regarding your report. Kindly allow us time to review the account. In the meantime, you can block the client if you wish to not receive any message or consultation request from them in the future.

[#5]

Thank you, but the block button does not appear in the 3 dots area close to his messages. I can see a "leave room" option, is that what you are referring to?

[#6]

Hi!

This is another evidence that Upwork can't and/or is not interested in detecting and deleting scammers from the system. 

They are interested in keeping scammers, so the freelancers buy to Upwork connects to apply for jobs, and boost their bids, instead of protecting the freelancers from scammers.