"Refundable fee" required by clients

[f049767a]

Hi! So, I just created my account a few days ago. And in every contact I've had with possible clients, they tell me I'm required to pay a "refundable fee" of 50$ for them to "have insurance I'm serious about the work". I wanted to confirm, is that payment required by policy? Should I do it or is it a scam? Is that the way the platform works?

[renata101]

Hi Andrea,

This is a scam.

You should never send a client money on this platform. There are no registration fees, there are no bank fees, and there are no security deposits up front. Upwork will charge you a fee if you complete a contract and you're paid by the client. 

It's important to get to know how the Upwork platform works before you start to accept contracts. 

Sophie listed a bunch of useful links here:

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Scam/m-p/1053516#M665458

Unfortunatley, there are a lot of scam posts right now. Upwork says it is looking for a solution, but I don't know how long that will take.

Wes wrote a really good article about recognizing scams that's posted on the Community Blog:
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...

[f049767a]

Thank you very much! I had a feeling this wasn’t right but I wanted to make
sure, since I’m new on the platform and getting to know the process.