financial account was suspended and a big sum blocked

[mydes]

Hello! Hope someone can help me. Odesk suspended my account August,25 ("Unfortunately, we had to put the financial side of your account on a temporary hold while we review a certain transaction on your client’s account."). I have about $7,5k now which I can't withdraw. This money was earned from different projects and I worked hard to earn each dollar. I provided all information which was requested for current project. But haven't received any answer (only auto-answers) and any instructions how to unblock my account. I can't work also and afraid my account will be like a newbie without activity. At the earlier of September me and my family are planning a trip: booked hotel, bought tickets and made visa. But now when I see that such big sum was blocked I don't know what to do with this trip too. Please, can someone from oDesk stuff help me: clarify situation, provide instructions, and accelerate process? I really hope for your help, thanks! Best regards, Anton

[khangkhung]

Hi Anton, I got my financial account suspended too. I can still work but I can't withdraw my earnings. Check your email. I'm sure they sent a ticket regarding your account suspension and why they suspended your account. In your odesk profile, in the help button. Follow up your ticket using the live chat function. Do it daily. I just hope my suspension will be lifted soon.

[mydes]

Hi Ryan! Thank you for your concern. I recieved the e-mail with one question, and I give full answer at the same day and sent all extra information. But my account is still suspended and noone still communicate with me.

[kdgcom]

Good luck getting a REAL ANSWER to your questions or concerns. In case you haven't noticed, they cut and paste automated answers. You'll get the same answer every time you ask the question. Nobody in customer service has any authority, nor will they escalate the ticket to someone who does. They all just play pass the buck, hoping you will eventually give up and jump off of their carousel.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Anton, I am really sorry to hear that your account has been suspended. I would recommend you keep communicating with the department that is handling your case via the ticket. They will do their best to resolve it as soon as possible. Here on the forums we cannot discuss individual reasons for suspensions. I hope the issue will get sorted out soon.

[mydes]

Hi Valeria, Thank you for your answer. I tried to discuss my problems via tickets but haven't received any answer. There is a really big sum blocked on my account. As I wrote I should go to trip with my family. But I'm forced to delay this because can't withdraw earned money. Best regards, Anton

[dnaleigh]

Anton, what ever happened to your acount?  Mine was frozen today for the same reason and I am worried I won't get my money.  Thanks

[sk-andaleeb]

Hi,

Did you get your account back?

[andreyi]

Valeria, I had similar issue. Is it possible to escalate the ticket higher tier of support who are able to answer without copy-paste? Regards, Andrey

[junelle]

oDesk, what exactly do you do with the money in these accounts when they're blocked???

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Junelle and Alana,

Thank you for your questions. While we are not able to share specific reasons and procedure for these temporary suspensions here on forums, rest assured that once the issue is resolved the financial account is immediately resumed and the freelancer is able to withdraw the money. Anton's account was resumed a while ago after everything had been sorted out. 

[ferdieadriano]

Hi, Valeria.

I know that individual or specific reasons for account suspensions shouldn't be discussed, but verifying the information with the account owner first prior to the suspension will be more productive, right?

I mean, my financial account was suspended earlier as well. The reason provided was really not that smart on the side of the representative who suspended it. I just wish they verified the information first before doing this kind of thing. 

Now I'm losing clients and money because of this.

[ferdieadriano]

I received a notification via e-mail earlier that my account got suspended. (the reason will not be discussed per the forum admin's ruling). 

However, based on what I've seen here in the forums, reinstatement of the account takes a long time, most of the time several weeks to a couple of months. This is not good since my main source of income for my family is through this site, my fiancee and my daughter live with me. I don't even ask my clients to pay via PayPal because that would be a violation of oDesk's policy. And I haven't violated any other policy's as well.

I'd like to request assistance from the adminstrators since the representatives I've talked to says they can only send a message to the department that handles this kind of concern.

I've been paying the 10% oDesk fee and the $0.99 withdrawal fee without complaint. But this act of suspension without any good reason due to non-verification with the account owner is truly disappointing.

I can rant all day, but the only words I can utter at the moment are, "Please help me."

[mluchavez20]

I guess it is best to review again the oDesk policy. There might be rules that you may have overlooked. If you are very sure that you have not violated any rules, you can always contact support to follow up your reinstatement of your financial account. As of now, the best thing is to be patient. I hope your FA gets reinstated soon. I hope that helps. 🙂

[ferdieadriano]

@Melissa,

I can't post the reason for the suspension here, but based on what they said in the email notification, it is quite clear that I did not do anything wrong. If anything, the oDesk fraud analyst who did this is trigger happy. Freezing my financial account greatly puts me at risk of not being able to earn money for my family. Right now, I have several job offers and I don't know if it will push through due to this. 

I've been patient and I've been paying my dues to oDesk. I just hope they get better trained people to handle this kind of situation. 

Oh, and I have contacted support twice. In both instances, they informed me that they can only follow up on the ticket, another department is handling the issue, and they can't do anything else except copy and paste canned text.

[lyambarreau]

Hi Ferdinand. I'm not sure why your account's been suspended, but my account was 'limited' in regards to financial transcations due to a phishing job offer I accepted. I changed my password and security question. I also sent identification just to be on the safe side and it took around 3-4 days to be dealt with.

I don't think your account has been suspended for the same reasons as mine, but  think oDesk will deal with it rather quickly.

Best of luck

[ferdieadriano]

@Lyam,

It's good to know yours got reinstated. The reason for my AS is different from yours. It's not even valid since the agent who did this did not investigate thoroughly prior to suspending my FA. 

3 to 4 days is a very long time of not receiving work and earning money for me. It'll greatly affect how I bring in hard-earned money for my family. 

I've already sent several messages to the agent who did this, and I've even offered to send scanned government issued IDs. As fast as they suspend a FA, they're as slow with getting back with an appropriate response to the affected freelancer. 

My questions to the agent who did this is, "Why would I do what you said I did when I have excellent freelancer and client profiles? Do I need to have a separate Internet connection for my fiancee in order for her to work via oDesk even though we live under the same roof? Is it necessary to avoid having my fiancee use my own laptop to access her oDesk account instead of hers even though our daughter was using it to research for her homework assignment?"

I'd love to hear the agent's answers for these questions. Sorry, but I am very, very upset at the moment.

[lyambarreau]

Hey Ferdinand,

It's unfortunate because although my financial transactions were 'limited' - I was still able to work and receive an income (just not withdraw it), this doesn't seem to be the case for you which is unfair.

I've read many stories where people's accounts being restricted due to complaints even though their feedback has been 4.9+ with many hours worked.

If the issue is what I think it is, surely I.D verification (from you and your wife) would clear up any assumptions and allow them to unsuspend your account...

Best of luck.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Ferdinand,

I am sorry for the inconvenience. I have followed up with our Team about your issue. Somebody should update you about the status of your suspension as soon as possible. Thank you very much for your patience.

[ferdieadriano]

Hi, Valeria!

Everything's been cleared up. The issue has been resolved. Petra was really great! She made sure everything was explained in detail. 

🙂  Thank you very much, Valeria. 

[junelle]

wow, you mean OUR Petra? cool!

[guennounmiriam]

Hello Valeria!

You seem to be  a great help to a lot of freelancers and would love to seek your help and support please.

My name is Miriam Guennoun and I am not able to withdraw any money due to a suspension in my account.

I have no idea why this is happening. I work very hard and this is how I am supporting my family. The end of the month is coming to a close and I have bills to pay ( rent, electricity...) I have a one year old daughter and is working hard for her and have not been able to provide for her for the last few days. You can see that I have three jobs and that I have a good feedback score.

Please Please help me solve the issue. this is the message that I am getting : Financial transactions for Miriam Guennoun (2062076) have been limited.

I lost sleep overt this and can't stop crying. Please help me. It has been an honor to work with Upwork and really hope to get this solved.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Miriam,

I have followed up with the team about your account suspension and they will provide more details as soon as possible. Please, continue communicating with them through the open ticket.

Thank you!

[ernesto-evangeli]

Hello Valeria,

I am happy that there is one person like you on earth who is kind.  God bless you Valeria.

I am planning to tell my sister about this forum.  Maybe she doesn't know.   She has been upset for over a year now sincer her oDesk suspension without explanations from oDesk before.

Thanks alot.

Ernesto E.

[aman-bansal]

Hi Velaria,

I am also facing issues with my financial account as it has been temporarily suspended and I am waiting from so many days to hear back from the agent and she is not responding. Can you please check the issue with it and get it resolved. 

[luiggi_rosado]

Hi Aman,

Thank you for reaching out and sorry to hear you haven't heard back from the team. I've followed up with them on our end and they'll be getting back to you soon to assist you further.

[ernesto-evangeli]

Hello Valeria,

My sister, Lilia Tan has been an active freelancer of oDesk.  Her account, according to her was suspended around 1 year ago for reasons she doesn't know.  During the time she was suspended, she has an ongoing writing job.  So, she was really upset.  She tried to asked oDesk before, but there was no positive answer.  

I have an account here since oDesk time, but never had any work done since I never attempted to accept one.  Many of those offers, tried to convince me to go out of oDesk site and work with them altogether.  As I am aware of the situation and possible suspension, I never accepted those offers.

Good for me, I am employed with a big university here in Saudi Arabia so I am not yet so concern about money earned from here.  However, I pity my sister who has been suspended here. I am trying to help her by sending her some money to sort her life again.

I hope you can tell me what to do to tell my sister in return.  Thank you Valeria and God bless you and your family.

Ernesto E.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Ernesto,

I would suggest your sister communicates with Customer Support to resolve the issue or obtain more details about her account suspension. Unfortunately, I don't have enough information and will not be able to share much here in the Community.

Thank you!

[danielberg]

Hi Valeria.

My financial account was suspended for the communicate methods.  Customer service teammate  asked me to send the image of contact.

So I sent them, then  he asked me to verify my ID.

But for personal matter , I couldn't verfiy it.

I don't want to withdraw my money.

I want to refund it to my client.

In this kind, what should i do?

I asked so many times and many times to refund  it to my client.

But there is only one thing that I am suspended.

What shall upwork do in this case?

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Daniel,

Unfortunately, your account will remain suspended until you verify your identity with the documents requested. Please, see more information here and communicate with the team via the ticket.

[danielberg]

Hi Valeria.

You also avoid answering the question i asked.

I want to hear where the money goes and Such case i  want to refund to my client,  how will upwork act ?

If you can answer clearly, that would be very thankful.

Sorry for annoying before christmas.

But i hope your understanding my position.

[lysis10]

"Daniel" the eyeglass model. I see that you have a successful career as a model on several sites. Grats!

[petra_r]

Maybe you should have thought of that before trying to get away with operate an account with a fake identity?

[mikhalkov-sergey]

Dear Valeria, 

My account also financial suspended and I am not able to withdraw money. I have opened a lot of tickets but yet I don't have any answer. Please advise what must be done.

Thanks
Sergey

[katrinabeaver]

---

@Sergey M wrote:

Dear Valeria, 

My account also financial suspended and I am not able to withdraw money. I have opened a lot of tickets but yet I don't have any answer. Please advise what must be done.

Thanks
Sergey

---

You shouldn't open a lot of tickets.  You only need one.  The more tickets you open the longer it will take to get an answer.  

[vladag]

Hi Sergey,

I see our agent advised you how to proceed in the message they posted on your main ticket so please follow their instructions in order for our team to address your account suspension.

[gerrhenlim]

I got the same problem too. My finacial transaction was limited and I can't withdraw my money. I hope it will be fixed soon since I badly needed that money. Pls let me know if you have you accounts reinstated already, Thanks

[gerrhenlim]

I have already sent valid ids to the odesk support and yet I haven't recieved any updates yet. I am willing to cooperate just to resolve this issue quick as I badly need my hard earned money.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Karen Michelle,

I have just checked and I am happy to inform you that your acount has been reinstated earlier. You should now be able to withdraw your earnings without any problems. 

Thank you very much for your patience and cooperation.

[juggy_nids]

Hello. 

I got same issue somedays before that my finanical Account is suspended. 

I have given all the proofs that your Risk managment Team has asked but I did not get any reply from your side. 

I have given all the Info for Current Projects and also have given contact info to your team but still I did not get reply. 

Please tell me via which medium I can contact your Risk Management team. 

Regards,

Jagbir