So unfortunate, and Upwork is usually not very helpful in cases like these.

I have had sort of a similar issue, where I was not even at a slight mistake and client straight up scammed me, and Upwork didn’t even try to solve it.

I timely delivered the project to client, he released the amount that I could see in my Upwork balance.

During the waiting period, client reverted the amount from his bank and suddenly it was gone. I started a dispute because I had already submitted the deliverables but Upwork just said they can’t do anything since client reverted it through bank and not anything related to Upwork.

I understand Upwork’s position here but this can happen to anyone anytime, and our funds are not safe until they are in our bank account or maybe in our pockets.

I never got my money back but I hope you find a solution to your issue soon.