Telegram Conversation

[sumayyah92]

Hi, 

I am new to Upwork. I am a medical graduate, and created a profile to work as a freelancer. However, I am not too experienced on Upwork. So, I saw this job posting few hours back and the hirer asked to contact them on Telegram, which I did (I didn't know it was a violation of the Upwork guidelines) unfortunately. His username on Telegram was**Edited for Community Guidelines** and he claimed that he was looking for a freelancer for a typing job. What seemed shady is that he was offering "20$ per JPEG files' amounting to $2000 for a total of 100 pages. 

He sent me a PDF, but before I started working on it, I decided to research thoroughly about telegram conversations. I asked him further how the payment would be effected, to which he replied bank transfer. 

Now, I know I have violated the Upwork guidelines, but I am also new to this website. I would like to know what I could do further. I can't seem to find the job posting on Upwork anymore. I would think it has probably been flagged by a user. 

I don't want to be suspended from Upwork. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Sumayyah 

[williamtcooper]

Sumayyah,

Never go off of Upwork's site for any reason until it's a paying client. All payments must remain on Upwork at all times. Please click the Academy link on the top of this page for how to best use Upwork. Thanks!

[ArjayM]

Hi Sumayyah,

We truly appreciate you reaching out to us and reporting this. I'm sorry to learn about this disappointing experience you had with a client. William's correct! Firstly, sharing contact information before a contract has started is against Upwork's Terms of Service and all communications prior to the contract starting must take place on Upwork. Also, getting paid outside Upwork is dangerous and against our Terms of Service.

The removal of the job post is a confirmation that it's been flagged as inappropriate and has been removed by Upwork for violating the TOS. We also encourage you to let us know if you find anything suspicious has happened by using the Flag as Inappropriate option throughout the platform. You can learn more about user reporting here.

You may want to check this help article and this thread for more information on how to stay safe on Upwork. I hope this helps.

[d9fc6d8d]

Being new is not an excuse for breaking the rules. I would hope you understand that, since you're a medical graduate.