Scam

[simoness]

Hi, Im 16 years old student.

A week ago I found a job as a book translator on upwork.com. I managed to do the work, but there is a problem with the payment.
The people who were supposed to pay me what should have been 3000 dollars asked me to pay first: currency exchange 350 dollars - I somehow paid that, but it already seemed suspicious to me. After that I have to buy the code and activate it - I didn't understand at all what the code was for...but somehow they convinced me and I paid (800 dollars). I thought that that would be all and they would finally pay me, but today when was the payment supposed to take place - so according to them it was rejected and that I still have to pay for the dashboard upload.... I was like, what kind of scam is this? So I asked them if they would return the money I gave them, and they said - that it won't be possible until I pay 3000 dollars for the dashboard payment. Hell I paid 6000, I have to pay back half of that amount (3000) and I get the bonus back - which hell should have been $12,000. What kind of scam is this (From 3,000 dollars to 12,000 dollars???). Otherwise, I have already paid 1150 dollars, which we actually refuse to return. Please help me get my money back so that my parents don't charge me. PLEASE

Files: **Edited for Community Guidelines**

[NikolaS]

Hi Simon,

Thank you for reaching out to us and bringing this to our attention. I shared your report with our team for further investigation and appropriate actions will be taken according to our internal processes. 

Please know that a real client will never ask you to give them money to start working, cash a check for them, work for free, or provide your personal information. Never get paid or pay someone outside of Upwork. You may open yourself up to scams or fraud, and lose Upwork Payment Protection. You may want to check this help article and this thread for more information about staying safe on Upwork.

Additionally, please know that all Upwork users must be 18 years of age or older. Therefore, if an account owner is younger than 18, due to privacy and legal requirements, their account will be closed and the account information deleted.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Nikola S wrote:

Additionally, please know that all Upwork users must be 18 years of age or older. Therefore, if an account owner is younger than 18, due to privacy and legal requirements, their account will be closed and the account information deleted.

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His profile is still active.

[bf0dc59c]

Hi Nikola,

I got enrolled with upwrok yesterday and I got hired, soi wanted to make sure of some things, so my employer is paying me 3000$ but he never asked me to pay any cash before that , but he asked me to send him my CV which contains my email, phone number, name and that's pretty much it, the period of the job is 2 days and today is the second day so I'm supposed to get paid today or tomorrow, I asked him about the payment method and he said it will be sent to my bank account as soon as I'm done with the project :(I didn't send him any info about it though) and according to what you said that the payment shouldn't be outside of upwork so do you think this is scam cause I can't afford to get scammed .

Thank you 

[feed_my_eyes]

Yes, it's a scam, and you could have avoided wasting your time if you had followed Upwork's terms of service. Contacting a client outside of Upwork and accepting a payment outside of Upwork are grounds for having your account banned. Also, please realise that nobody is going to pay you $3,000 for two days of work. You need to make massive improvements to your profile if you want any chance of being hired by a real client. Read this: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...

[pgiambalvo]

Scam.

[feed_my_eyes]

You didn't use Upwork correctly, and ended up falling for a scam. You need to immediately tell your parents about everything that happened and have them contact their bank. But you're definitely not going to get paid for any of the work that you did. 16 years old is much too young to be trying to run your own business (although you shouldn't feel too bad, since many people who are older than you have also fallen for this scam).

[pgiambalvo]

You will never get your money. Sorry this happned to you.

[luqman_mak]

As Christine has told you. Inform your parents, or whoevers card you used. Tell them to contact their bank about the payment and hope the bank can reverse it. Do that as fast as you can to improve your chances.