Got Scammed by client, need opinion!

[abdelatifguerfi]

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all doing well, and sorry for this long story I need an opinion and want to give you the full vision of what happened.  

on the 17th of November, I applied to an App design job, a new client on Upwork, payment method was verified. the client asked me to design the app in 24H, I know it was rushed but offered a good hourly rate and the app wasn't too complicated. so I accepted and designed the app with him the next day and we were able to finish it. I tracked my hours using the Upwork tracker.
then on Saturday, we agreed to do the app logo and last touches. while I was working (on Saturday) the tracker stopped and the contract got suspended. the client has an issue. 

I left a message to the client, and after some hours he answered telling me that he will check into that and doesn't know why it happened. later he told me that he still don't know how to solve that and then sent me a very suspicious message about buying crypto for him to pay for his developer and he will pay me through Upwork and pay me very well if i can help him with that. I totally refused and directly went to Upwork support asking why he got suspended but the support can't share this information. 

by this time I knew something was off, so went to fix my memos to make sure they are all good but it was impossible to cause the contract is suspended! normally I have the right to update them until the end of the week. again went to support they tried to update the memos for me but figured also that it was impossible and told me later that unfortunately, we can't update them because the contract is suspended. 

on Monday payment was in review, and today normally they should be available, and as expected they didn't cause the client couldn't pay or I don't why exactly! I reached out to support and finally told me that the client is suspended for that story of crypto which apparently he asked other freelancers before me. Also, they told me that I won't be eligible for payment protection because of THE CLIENT's violation of the rules! 

Please, I want to know what I did wrong in this whole story, why would I not get paid if it's all the client's fault and I did nothing wrong? All I did was design an App and tracked my hours with the Upwork tracker. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and look forward to your answers! 





 

[ashrafkhan81]

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Abdelatif G wrote:

Also, they told me that I won't be eligible for payment protection because of THE CLIENT's violation of the rules!  

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This is totally absurd! Why should you not be eligible if the client is in violation? 

But before that, please ensure the client's payment was verified BEFORE you started the work. All hours logged are automatically tracked and there should be enough activity and comments for the memos. 

I think if you satisfy all of the above you will be eligible for the payment protection, the only reason why I see they told you that you do not qualify for payment protection is that you may have failed to satisfy all the required conditions. 

If you do not meet the conditions for payment t protection, take a lesson from this and move on, however, if you satisfy all the conditions you need to reach out to support explaining why you feel you must get the payment protection. 

[abdelatifguerfi]

Hi Ashraf, thank you for your answer! 

the client payment method was verified, and I meet all conditions of payment protection, the only condition I had issues with was on some parts of my logged hours I didn't update the memos while working, and support didn't let me update those even tho the week work didn't end. But even without an update, I have a few hours that have the correct memos and are fully eligible. 

But the reason the last support agent told me that this will not go through payment protection, is the violation of the Upwork Terms of Service. so I asked if I did anything that violates and the answer was "no". i'm attaching down a copy of what I have been told exactly. 

Support: One of the requirements of the payment protection programs is that it should be without any violation on terms of service
Me: did I do any violation?
Support: No, Abdelatif, and we're sorry that the violation on the client's account is affecting your payment. This contract has been taken down due to Terms of Service violation and we are unable to cover the project under the payment protection.

[ashrafkhan81]

This is strange! 

Yes, you should be eligible for payment protection for the hours that qualify. 

The only other possibility I can think of is about the nature of the job, did you create an app that could possibly have violated the ToS? The job itself could have been in violation of the ToS.

If that is not the case, perhaps try asking support why are y ou being held responsible for something you did not do? 

[abdelatifguerfi]

Yes, i'm very confused that's why i'm writing. the app is a very simple app that help users download videos from social media. 

I kept asking the agent what was my fault in all of that, but the answer always was about the violation of the Upwork Terms of Service by the client 

[martina_plaschka]

There was a recent update to payment protection, you need to check the ToS. 

[abdelatifguerfi]

i'm checking the rules through this page https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068288-Hourly-Protection

as per the rules mentioned in this page I did nothing wrong. please let me know if I'm missing something.

[martina_plaschka]

Go directly to the ToS, this article is not updated. 

[abdelatifguerfi]

Hi Martina, this is the only part I found it might be related to this situation and it doesn't apply to me.  also have to mention that support were sending me the article I have sent you to check rules of hours protection.

Hourly Payment Protection does not apply to: hours billed by Freelancers whom Upwork believes, in its sole discretion, to be aware of or complicit in another User’s violation of this Agreement or the other Terms of Service; or (i) Freelancers whom Upwork believes, in its sole discretion, to be involved in actual fraudulent activities or abuse of this Payment Protection.

the hours I logged in are all related to designing the app me and the client were working on, then AFTER work was finished and the account was suspended, the client asked if I may pay his dev in crypto which I refused.  plus the support agent has told me that I did no violation.

[prestonhunter]

Freelancers can't expect payment protection when dealing with crypto.

If a freelancer gets scammed when dealing with crypto, it is the freelancer's fault. Not Upwork's fault.

When a freelancer gets scammed when dealing with crypto it means - be definition - that he lacks sufficient expertise to be dealing with crypto. By accepting the job, the freelancer was fraudulently claiming to have sufficient expertise to deal with crypto.

Sorry.

[abdelatifguerfi]

sorry if i didn't explain well, But I didn't deal with crypto at all! all I did was design an app. after the client got suspended, he sent a message through dm asking if I can offer extra help by paying his developer with crypto..etc and I totally refused. 

by the time he asked, we have finished the app design on figma, and his account was already suspended. also the job offer didn't mention anything about crypto, and when working on the app client was fully focused on app and didn't mention at all crypto. 

[darrenwall74]

The freelancer wasn't dealing with Crypto; he created an app. The client spoke about crypto after the agreed work was completed; that's what got the client suspended.

[abdelatifguerfi]

Exactly Darren! 

[yofazza]

The rubber clause and bendable rules. This happened before.

> Crypto

How would he know he's going to be introduced to the crypto scam when it was a normal job at the start?

[abdelatifguerfi]

Yes how would i know, plus all we did was do the main task with the client which is design an app, after the client got suspended and everything stopped. he asked for paying his developer with crypto and i refused. 

[darrenwall74]

You did absolutely nothing wrong, and from what you've explained, it seems like a flaw in the Upwork system left you exposed.

In fact, it's possible that the client knew his/her actions would lead to suspension. So he/she/them asks multiple freelancers to do legitimate work and, after receiving the work, circumvents the payment system by talking about Crypto. 

Unfortunately, it's not the first time I've read about this; and it makes of mockery of the system.

[abdelatifguerfi]

Yes, thank you for your answer! 

i'm very confused by this, and feel like I paid the price for a situation where i'm not wrong at all.