What does it take for a client to get banned?

alexwilsonsblog · ‎10-22-2019

I have been reporting clients left and right that are trying to violate TOS - mostly trying to pay off platform. I used to get a response from Upwork that a posting had been removed after reporting it. Lately, nothing.

Over the past few weeks I have had four or five (losing count) proposals where the client contacted me and either directly sugested working off platform or tried to hide it on here by reaching out directly and making the offer off platform after finding me on social media or similar. The culprits have all been overseas firms that have a history of not paying for their work (I check up on other sources to find out more about them). I reported every one of them and never heard a thing back from Upwork.

Ever since switching over to the new rates and connects, the quality of opportunities has dropped into the gutter. The platform has been overrun with scammers trying to sneak in free job postings among other crud.

m_sharman · ‎10-22-2019

Good question. I know job posts which violate TOS are removed regularly, not sure how that translates to the client who posted them.

I suspect you won't receive much in the way of helpful information on this point, I recommend you apply carefully and run away from anything crazy.

alexwilsonsblog · ‎10-22-2019

It was reported and the posting, along with the myriad of others I reported recently, are all still up and waiting for suckers to be drawn in.

This last one did not even try to hide it. They sent me an email off Upwork with their horrbile NDA and then stated they would pay me net 30. Not happening...

BojanS · ‎10-22-2019

Hi Alex,

We appreciate your reports and rest assured all flagged jobs are reviewed for violations. Were the clients you are referring to offering payments off Upwork within the job post description? If you still have the links to those job posts, could you please send them to me in a PM? If messages where they offered to pay off platform were sent outside of Upwork, could you please include screenshots?

Thank you!

~ Bojan