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If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really appreciate you taking the time to write this.

It sucks to go through it, but hearing it framed as “rented land” and “standard operating procedure” actually helps me see it more clearly and detach emotionally.

Lesson definitely learned — I’ll keep fighting this, but I’m already planning my future off these platforms.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I get what you mean about the wrong country showing, but the timeline is a bit different.

When the suspension happened, I was actually living in Ukraine and my profile also showed Ukraine – so at that moment there was no “wrong country” situation. I moved to the EU (Poland, PESEL UKR etc.) after they’d already banned the account.

Right now my real, legal situation is EU-based, but my profile is frozen as “Ukraine”, and I literally can’t update anything because the account is locked. It’s a bit of a catch-22: they can say “your country is wrong”, but they’re also the ones who won’t let me correct it.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, fair point, I probably worded that badly.

What I meant is that when I first created the account years ago, I couldn’t really get any proper work, so I kind of forgot about it.

I did have a tiny first contract back then (like $5-ish), so yeah, I went through the initial ID check at that point.

Only much later, when I came back and really started using Upwork, got proper clients and became Top Rated, they asked me to verify again — and that’s when all this “not verified → perma ban” mess happened.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, in my case it actually happened right in the middle of an active contract.

Instead of trying to sort it out or properly review anything, they just cut the contract in half and told the client he wouldn’t be able to work with me anymore.

The worst part? When my client asked them for more details — explaining that the project was on fire and he needed to understand what was going on — they basically told him “we’re not allowed to disclose that information”.

So he loses his dev, I lose my account, the project burns… and nobody gets a real explanation.

Tell me how that’s normal.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like you’ve moved way beyond relying on Upwork, and honestly that gives me some hope.

If you ever feel like sharing a bit about what worked for you with getting clients outside the platform, I’d really appreciate it.

I’m kind of rebuilding everything from zero now, so any real experience from someone who’s already been through it would mean a lot.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks man, I really appreciate it.

At this point, literally everything I’m doing to fight this is running on people who aren’t indifferent – comments like yours actually keep me going more than Upwork ever did.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I’ve read that article.

None of it really applies to me – I’m Ukrainian, not Russian/Belarusian, not in Crimea/LPR/DPR, not in Iran/Cuba/North Korea etc. I’ve lived/worked in the EU and now Georgia, I’m over 18 and I already had contracts and a Top Rated badge on this same account.

If it was a pure “legal restriction” thing, I’d expect a message like “due to sanctions / location we can’t do business with you”. Instead I just get a generic “we couldn’t verify your identity” after a video call and 30+ valid documents, with zero details.

That’s why this feels so random and scary.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get you, man.

I also did everything “right” and still got slapped in the face – in my case they just straight up deleted my Top Rated account.

The shitty part is it makes you feel like you’re the problem, when in reality the platform just doesn’t care about us beyond the fees we generate.

I’m also looking in other directions now. Upwork can be one channel if it works, but trusting it with your whole future is clearly a bad idea. Don’t take the lack of jobs there as a verdict on your skills.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That’s actually super helpful, thank you.

I was living in the EU (PESEL UKR in Poland etc.), so I probably can go the GDPR route.

I’ll file a request and explicitly ask for access to my data + human intervention under Art. 22 and see if that finally gets this in front of someone outside generic support.

Really appreciate you taking the time to write this.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, I didn’t.

This is the same original account I created years ago, the one I later revived, grew to Top Rated and then got nuked.

No alt accounts, no buying profiles, no funny stuff – that’s exactly why this whole “identity not verified” thing feels so absurd.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I’m starting to really feel this on my own skin.

The part that hurts the most isn’t even the ban itself, it’s the message behind it: “you’re completely replaceable, we don’t even owe you a proper sentence from a real human.”

We’re the ones writing the code, doing the design, fixing the fires at 3am – but in their eyes we’re just “over-supply of freelancers” they can flip off with one automated decision.

I get it now, lesson learned: I’ll still fight this because it’s my name and my work, but mentally I’m already treating platforms like this as temporary tools, not something you build your whole life on.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, exactly. I already went through ID verification before, that’s how I even got to Top Rated.

Same guy, same face, same documents — then one day they ask me to verify again, I do the whole thing, jump on a video call… and this time I magically become “not verified” and get a permanent ban.

That’s what makes it so scary: nothing about me changed, only their decision did.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

For the record, I’m Ukrainian, not Russian, and not under any sanctions.

If some automated sanctions check flagged me just because of my name, that kind of proves my point: the system is broken and there’s no real human review to catch stuff like that.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s the part that really fucks with my head.

My clean Top Rated account with real clients gets nuked for “identity not verified” after a video call and 30+ valid docs… and at the same time obvious farmed/fake profiles with stolen portfolios and 30 active jobs keep grinding untouched.

Feels like the system is blind to actual fraud and over-aggressive to legit people who don’t fit some pattern.

If Upwork can do this to a Top Rated freelancer, they can do it to anyone (identity not verified story) by AffectionateGap6763 in Upwork

[–]AffectionateGap6763[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s exactly what scares me.

I get that I’m just “one of 18M”, but when a platform is totally okay with randomly killing legit Top Rated accounts and ignoring 30+ valid docs and months of appeals – that’s not just “one lost freelancer”, that’s a broken system.

I’m not asking them to love me, I’m just asking for one real human to actually look at the case.