Unauthorized withdrawal from my colleagues upwork account

[0b38080f]

Hello Everyone,

My colleagues upwork account got hacked and amount withdrawn request has been placed by someone to some Japanese, account ending with 6650. Somehow, he checked the transaction history and got to know about that illegitimate activity on his account. He immediately informed upwork team about the matter and they logged his complaint with Ticket number 35918353 and given assurance to hold the payment until matter is resolved. His account is also locked so I am posting on his behalf and he can’t do any activity until it is unlocked.

But after that he got notification for releasing the payment to the hacker’s account (ending with 6650). I don’t know if upwork team seriously working on this issue or not. As he already contacted security team, endless supports and all going super slow.

I am putting this matter here to raises awareness among all Upwork users. Upwork must increase its assistance for certain essential issues and strengthen system security by admitting some flaws. It is evident that Upwork's verification procedure is weak, and there must be security LOOPHOLES. I wish there was no more HACKING with anyone on Upwork. I would request Upwork to keep this matter in high priority and resolve this matter as soon as possible.

[AveryO]

Hi Hemant, 

I'm sorry to learn about your friend's account. I won't be able to share more information with you about your friend's account to comply with our privacy policy. Your friend should be able to reply to the support ticket through the email address associated with their account. Please let them know that they can reply on the same ticket thread so they can be further assisted. 

[0b38080f]

Hello Avery,

Thanks for your response. We work for the same agency. Its been more than 24 hours and and there is no action from Upwork on this and still waiting.

[NikolaS]

Hi Hemant,

Thank you for following up. I reached out to the team handling your case and one of our agents will follow up with you on your support ticket as soon as possible to assist you further. 

[0b38080f]

Thank you for your response Nikola. But In spite of informing the immediately, there was approx $10 k withdrawn from the account. Pls, help to recover that amount too.

Hemant

[0b38080f]

Hello Avery and Nikola,

It's been a complete 2 days yet we haven't got any information regarding our stolen money. When we link bank accounts to our Upwork profile. Upwork verifies it and checks the name and other details. How this was missed by Upwork and what sort of security implementation they have done after getting complaints from many freelancers? Because there were no account setup emails we received, we informed immediately, and still, funds were successfully withdrawn after we put complaints and multiple follow-ups.

[759e32fa]

Hi Hemant,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I can see that you opened a support ticket regarding this issue and our team has already responded to you about the original ticket being updated. 

If you wish to update the team with new information, I highly suggest that you ask your agency owner to post it on the original ticket thread. Otherwise, I would recommend avoiding sending follow-ups on the same ticket thread because it goes back to the end of the queue every time a new message is added.