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morania
Community Member

I think I got scammed

I got a job as a translator, but now the client demands a payment so I can get my funds. How can I proceed?

11 REPLIES 11
sofia2008
Community Member

A real client will never ask you to pay anything. Keep in mind you are here to earn money, not spend it. They just want your money. They will never pay for the project anyway. Make sur you do not communicate outside of Upwork or pay anything outside of Upwork or accept payment outside of Upwork. These are all violations of Upwork Terms of Service you agreed to when signing up.

 

Were you properly hired on Upwork? (hourly or fixed price project)

 

Here are some ressources to keep you safe and make sure you follow Upwork rules. 

SCAM : STOP buying PUBG, CRYPTO, NFT, etc… on... - Upwork Community

Get Started – Upwork Customer Service & Support | Upwork Help

Upwork Customer Service & Support | Upwork Help

Upwork Legal Center

List of red flags for scams - Upwork Community

Freelancing 101 on Upwork - Upwork Community

Report Suspicious User Activity – Upwork Customer Service & Support | Upwork Help

Understanding and Using Connects – Upwork Customer Service & Support | Upwork Help

Tips to Avoid Questionable Jobs - Upwork Community

mwiggenhorn
Community Member

Absolute scam. Flag them, block them and move on.

 

I already paid. Im stupid I know. The payment was through Payeer. Is there something I can do to retreive my money? Please help!

Thank you, I just flagged a possible scam... I'm so happy that I can come here and ask for advice because I feel like scammers take advantage of us because we are new.

petra_r
Community Member


Irena G wrote:

I got a job as a translator,


No, you didn't get any job at all. You fell for a scam and almost certainly violated at least one serious rule, risking your account in the process.

 

In future, never communicate with any prospective client outside the platform under any circumstances.

By not violating the terms of service you avoid the scams and, as an added bonus, you won't get suspended from the platform for violating the terms of service.

 

renata101
Community Member

Hi Irena,

Never send a client money.

I'm not a moderator, but as a freelancer, I can see your profile page. You have one hourly job, which looks like it's your first contract on Upwork. I'm guessing that's not the client who is trying to scam you.

If you think you have a second active contract, there's no sign of it. This means that the client never sent you an offer and you never accepted one. So there's no contract in place for the work or the payment, and there are no funds in escrow.  The job may have been fake, and because you've done the work, you probably feel hooked into paying them in order to be compensated for your work. Don't send the client money. Report the client and explain the situation to a moderator or someone in customer service. If they can help you, they will, but I think the time you spend doing the work is probably lost. If you had a fixed-rate contract, you could have submitted the work through the submission form and you could dispute the client's refusal to pay you. But since you don't seem to have a contract, you're unllikely to be paid.

I'm sorry this happened. But I'm glad you posted about it here before sending the money.

I already sent the money :(((
It was through Payeer. Can I get them back somehow? 😞
Please forgive my dumbness. I'm not here long

I don't know. I doubt it, but you might be able to contact Payoneer and explain the situation. I think the transfers are completed too quickly to be able to stop one. But it's worth a call. Or maybe you could contact your bank to stop the payment if it hasn't gone through. But again, I doubt this is a realistic option. 


I've never tried to cancel a payment with a payment processor. At the very least, you could find out if there's a way report them to Payoneer.

Before you take any other jobs, please read this:
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...

What most scams do is try to get you hooked into paying. In this case, they seem to have set up up with a fake job. So you did the work and you felt invested in it. 

quarinteen
Community Member

report them

pgiambalvo
Community Member

The client violated the terms of service, commited a crime by scamming someone, and as an added bonus, will continue to be able to do so because their posts are not being blocked by Upwork before new freelancers who don't know the ropes yet are exposed to them. Like this poor woman.

re: "Is there something I can do to retreive my money?"

 

No.

 

Sorry.

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