I'm xxx and I'm a part-time Freelancer, working for private IT services company. To cover expenditures, I work on weekends.
On June 16th, there was project posted by osnie(account has been closed now). The employer was looking for digital content which is not available in her country but the content is accessible in India.
As a regular freelancer who is trying to a find a single project, I was randomly bidding on the project. and I have even bid for this particular project. The employer had a chat with me where he/she was asking me to buy the Anuj Pathak book bundle because the payment gateway is not available in her country. I'm not the person you believe in these things easily, therefore, I asked her to pay the amount first. Then she created a milestone and asked me to accept the offer.
I'm so excited that I got new project worth $150 and with the same excitement I have accepted the offer. Freelancer has charged $15 from my account because of project acceptance. The work was simple, all I need to do was buy a product online from a bookinclark.com worth Rs.7250. Here is the link and transferred money Tez.
Since she has released that amount to the Freelancer account, I bought the product with my own money by trusting Freelancer website.
As soon as I received the e-books, I have forwarded e-book to the employer. I was in a perception that I help an employer who wants to grow.
I was happy because with trust employer has sent her money to my Freelancer account and with the same credibility I have bought the e-book and sent it to her. Later, the employer has sent the amount to my Freelancer account. Amount got deposited into my account. I could see $150 in my Freelancer account.
As soon as I saw $150 in my Freelancer account. I have requested for withdrawal of the whole amount to Paypal account.
The expected date for the amount to be credited is, July 1st. I wasn't sure why it was taking to long for the institutions to clear the transaction.
On Monday, I was continuing to the bid on the projects and a couple of them, have reached out to me via chat to work with me. I couldn't able to respond to them as I was busy during that time. After reaching home, I have opened the freelancer website which blew my mind. There was no balance in my Freelancer account. I checked my Paypal account and I haven't found any transactions related to that. Then I have noticed the below transactions:
After that, I tried to contact live support, I was receiving a busy message and I could able to chat with live support. With lot sorrow and anxiety, I have dropped an email to support team and enquiring about why there was a reversal of amount. They give below response.
They said in no way they will be able to refund the amount because the employer's account was closed. To compensate for the loss, they have refunded fee that was incurred for accepting the project.
When money got deposited to my/your freelancer wallet, it should be in my/your amount and others shouldn't have control over my account. Take an example of bank account, if you have money in your bank account and no one should have control over your account to make the transaction without your knowledge.
Here, in my case, without my knowledge, Freelancer has reverted the transaction from my Freelancer wallet. I had a lot of trust Freelancer website and with the same trust, I have invested my amount and got cheated.
Upon asking them about a refund, they said, they will compensate the loss with 3 months of professional membership. When I don't trust you how could they expect me to continue with upgraded membership. I responded saying I don't need memberships and all I wanted is a money back.
There are a lot of questions that are revolving in my head
Trust me guys, I would have never worked if these features are not reliable. Scammers are taking the advantage and looting the money the people like this.
On June 16th, there was project posted by osnie(account has been closed now). The employer was looking for digital content which is not available in her country but the content is accessible in India.
As a regular freelancer who is trying to a find a single project, I was randomly bidding on the project. and I have even bid for this particular project. The employer had a chat with me where he/she was asking me to buy the Anuj Pathak book bundle because the payment gateway is not available in her country. I'm not the person you believe in these things easily, therefore, I asked her to pay the amount first. Then she created a milestone and asked me to accept the offer.
As soon as I received the e-books, I have forwarded e-book to the employer. I was in a perception that I help an employer who wants to grow.
As soon as I saw $150 in my Freelancer account. I have requested for withdrawal of the whole amount to Paypal account.
The expected date for the amount to be credited is, July 1st. I wasn't sure why it was taking to long for the institutions to clear the transaction.
On Monday, I was continuing to the bid on the projects and a couple of them, have reached out to me via chat to work with me. I couldn't able to respond to them as I was busy during that time. After reaching home, I have opened the freelancer website which blew my mind. There was no balance in my Freelancer account. I checked my Paypal account and I haven't found any transactions related to that. Then I have noticed the below transactions:
After that, I tried to contact live support, I was receiving a busy message and I could able to chat with live support. With lot sorrow and anxiety, I have dropped an email to support team and enquiring about why there was a reversal of amount. They give below response.
They said in no way they will be able to refund the amount because the employer's account was closed. To compensate for the loss, they have refunded fee that was incurred for accepting the project.
When money got deposited to my/your freelancer wallet, it should be in my/your amount and others shouldn't have control over my account. Take an example of bank account, if you have money in your bank account and no one should have control over your account to make the transaction without your knowledge.
Here, in my case, without my knowledge, Freelancer has reverted the transaction from my Freelancer wallet. I had a lot of trust Freelancer website and with the same trust, I have invested my amount and got cheated.
Upon asking them about a refund, they said, they will compensate the loss with 3 months of professional membership. When I don't trust you how could they expect me to continue with upgraded membership. I responded saying I don't need memberships and all I wanted is a money back.
There are a lot of questions that are revolving in my head
- When an employer is closing his account and why Freelancer website couldn't able to stop them from closing the account until the transactions are cleared? This loophole will cause is allowing scammers to make money by looting the innocent people.
- I've decided to file a cybercrime case against the Freelancer website and Anuj Pathak. Will keep you posted on this.
- My order id was #4223 which means till now you can image how many innocent people got into this scam. Out of team, I was able to find a couple of people who fall under this scam
I hoping that we couldn't able to find the Anuj Pathak scammer easily because we have his phone number and bank transaction history. With this proves, we will be able to trace this Anuj Pathak/Osnie easily.
I urge freelancers not use the Freelancer website because they don't control over the transactions, wallets and the way they are running the business allows the scammers to loot the money. I'm not going to trust anymore. They are ready to refund the balance.
