Reversed Fraudulent Payments

[d16e5bdb]

Hello freelancers,

I finished an assignment job for a client on the same day of the offer acceptance, he released the money at the same and he gave me feedback now the money is pending in my account, but after one day of the job I got an email with subject "Reversed Fraudulent Payments," it says:- 

"We recently found evidence of fraudulent activity from a client that you were working with. We’ve suspended your client which ended your contract. Any available funds were also reversed from your account back to the payment method. 
 
We’re sorry for the inconvenience but we reviewed your contract and it is not eligible for Upwork's Payment Protection."

Does this mean that the pending money will return back to the client and I won't be able to withdraw them later, I'm asking because they're still in my account as pending money?

If yes, what should I do to keep them and withdrew them later?

[ashrafkhan81]

Yes, the pending money will also be reversed and unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it and you cannot withdraw the funds. 

If by any chance, there is a delay from Upwork in reversing the funds please do NOT withdraw the funds, if you somehow withdraw funds for that transaction your account will go into negative and upw9rk will put limitations on your financial account and the funds will be collected from any future contract payment. 

[d16e5bdb]

What about the feedback?

[25005175]

Supposedly feedback (public and private) will be removed if Upwork finds the Client guilty of fraud on that contract.

[d16e5bdb]

Thank you Jonathan L.

[PradeepH · Accepted solution]

Hi Zeyad,

Thank you for your message. I am sorry to hear about your experience with the client. As mentioned by Ashraf, the funds will be automatically reversed from your Upwork account shortly. Since there is no earning on this job, the feedback left by the client will not appear on your Upwork profile. 

Thank you,

Pradeep

[d16e5bdb]

How can I secure myself from like situations in the future?

How should I know if the client is a fraud or not?

Can the money stay in my account or not?

[25005175]

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...

[22b45b3f]

Client has given me bonus money to purchase his domain i had purchase his domain and after that i got email from upwork that they had paused my contract with that fraud client and upwork has reversed his bonus money and now that money is showing in my balance as a negitive amount... what does that mean how can be my balance got negative when I don't get any bonus from that fraud client?

[ArjayM]

Hi Mashal,

I understand your frustration with the reversal of the payment. Please note that bonuses aren't covered by the Upwork Payment Protection, which means that if the client fails to pay the invoice for the bonus, it'll be reversed. Additionally, a real client will never ask you to give them money to start working, cash a check for them, work for free, or provide your personal information. You may open yourself up to scams or fraud, and lose Upwork Payment Protection.

However, I can see that a couple of support tickets have been created for your concern. We highly suggest you coordinate with the team through a single ticket on this page so that they could assist you accordingly and more efficiently.  Meanwhile, you can check out this help article for general information and this thread about staying safe while working online.

[86e35687]

OMG, the exact same thing happened to me yesterday! I received an email from Upwork this morning, so I wasted my money and time on a useless domain. lol

[7334426b]

Hello there..I want to ask about that advanced payments that Upwork project manager wants to take ...I am confused should I pay them or not...? Also one more thing can we make a list of scammers here..every

[59fba77d]

Hi Everyone,

I'm posting on behalf of my friend Pervaiz Ahmed, whose Upwork account has been suspended, preventing him from posting in the community. He's in a tough spot because he completed a job, tracked all his hours using the Upwork tracker, and received client approval. However, his payment for the week of 2024-04-14 was reversed due to a "Terms of Use Violation." His Contract ID is 36952461.

This isn't the first time he's faced issues on Upwork. Previously, his account was suspended due to a misunderstanding, and it was reinstated after Upwork realized the error. Now, his payment has been reversed, and he's not even sure what terms he supposedly violated.

@Upwork Support Team, can you explain what went wrong and why his payment was reversed? He works hard and relies on Upwork to support himself as a university student. If there was a violation, he wants to know what it was to avoid it in the future, but he needs his payment released. He can't continue like this, especially with no clear explanation.

If anyone in the community has experienced something similar or has advice on how to resolve this, we'd really appreciate it.

Thanks....