How are scammers getting into Upwork?

[3d4e5922]

Hello,

I have had so many scammers sending me invitations and just recently had one private message me with an offer, which I accepted.  Since then, they will casually check in and see if I'm available to meet and when I say yes, they ghost me.  They're getting smart by using the private meeting room because you can't flag them. How are these scammers getting into this platform?  I feel like all payments should be verified and there be some kind of background check to ensure these "clients" are legit.  This has been going on for me since I started back in August 2021.

I know I'm not the only one getting flooded with scammers.  Is there anything that can be done?