Unban case. Was Gigradar guilty or not? Devices and traveling.
My client Mr. M (I am making sure he will be anonymous) has received an email from the Upwork Trust and Safety team to verify his account.
Mr. M didn't do anything wrong. However, he was using Gigradar so he came to me asking it could be the trigger. And I said no.
However, there is always a chance something could be wrong so we prepared Upwork verification call. What questions to expect?
I need to say Mr. M was one of the most carefully prepared freelancer: call with me, remembering all clients and contracts, remembering how to code, remembering terms and setting up all repos. He said he even went to the church as an additional method.
Everything that was in the article was right except of live coding; however, he was asked to show repos. Also no one asked about Gigradar, bidding or BMs. Instead, he was asked about his locations and devices in a very accurate way: where, when, why.
Mr. M was traveling a lot these days he was asked about and he was logging in to his phone Upwork app. During the call, Mr M asked what the trigger was if he didn't break any rule? And Trust and Safety team member mentioned that maybe an IP was jumping in and out so it triggered the system.
After two weeks of being threatened, Mr M wrote me that we are unbanned! Hurray!
SO let's make some summaries:
- I wouldn't use Upwork mobile apps while traveling
- Take your laptop with you and use in static wifi places if you need to work
- Better not take Upwork somewhere else if possible
- Gigradar can't be set as irregular activity, but if you are going to a verification call, better to delete a BM from the agency to not be scared
- Don't use Upwork in transit (buses, planes, airports etc)
You can buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/levit
I also have a telegram channel in Ukrainian https://t.me/+QV_LDo85tsc3YzEy
Hugs,
Tamara
Big thanks to Mr M for allowing me to post his story!
p.s. regarding last case from A disaster. How I became a Business Plus client and what UMA did to me. + Expert-Vetted change + ghosted clients secret unpacked
If a service account is writing you, then it's not a client's choice so be careful with it, it's not a real invite and the client doesn't know he invited you.
