The buyer committed fraud and now I am in trouble

[#1]

Hey Everyone,

I registered in 2018 but started working full-time recently. I landed my first contract, and turns out it was some kind of a scam that has now put me in the middle of a dispute.

I sent the buyer an offer; he assigned me the job, and I completed it. He accepted the delivery, rated my work, and approved the payout.

About a day later, I received an email from Upwork that it is under investigation of some sort. Ok, I understand, things can go wrong; well, it kind of went really wrong (I believe).

My understanding is that here on Upwork, I can only begin a job once the platform tells me that I am assigned the contract, and I may begin. This statement (to me) means that the client has paid, money is in the escrow, and now for me to get paid is to deliver excellent work.

Am I wrong to assume that?

Isn't this how it works?

What am I missing here?

Any help will be highly appreciated because now, all my financial transactions are "suspended."

[#2]

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Mansoor H wrote:

My understanding is that here on Upwork, I can only begin a job once the platform tells me that I am assigned the contract, and I may begin. This statement (to me) means that the client has paid, money is in the escrow, and now for me to get paid is to deliver excellent work.

Am I wrong to assume that?

Isn't this how it works?

What am I missing here?

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Unfortunately, there are scammers operating on this website, so you can't assume that it's okay to do every type of project. It's expected that if you're capable of running your own business, then you're capable of vetting clients and using common sense when it comes to participating in any fraudulant activity.  

What exactly was the job?

[#3]

As I told you in the thread about SCAM, you are talking about your first contract and you have 6 this year.
If you don't tell us which one you had the problem with and why you say the client committed fraud, we can't say much.