Why reporting matters
You can help keep Upwork secure for you and everyone you work with on the platform. If you see a violation of the Upwork Terms of Service, we urge you to report it.
We take every report of suspicious or inappropriate activity seriously, and every report goes directly to our Trust and Safety team for investigation. We want Upwork to be your home for work, and your security here is our top priority.
PRO TIPS
- Report any suspicious activity anywhere you see it on the platform — in freelance profiles, portfolios, projects, client job postings, or Upwork Messages
- Sharing or requesting contact information before a contract has started is against the Upwork Terms of Service and could be a sign of a scam. This should be reported immediately. If you take communications or other activity off of the platform, Upwork may not be able to help
- Learn more about sharing information on Upwork here
- Learn more about how to detect scams here
It's easy to report
You’ll see links to report suspicious or inappropriate behavior throughout the Upwork platform. These links are often marked by a flag.
Choose the (…) options menu on the freelancer’s profile and select Flag as inappropriate to submit a report.
Choose Report on the portfolio item.
Choose the flag button on the job posting to submit a report.
Choose the flag button on the project to submit a report.
Messages don’t have a flag, but you can find the link to report suspicious or inappropriate inactivity with these steps:
- Hover over the message that you need to report, and an options menu (…) will appear
- Select the (…) options menu and choose Report message
You can also report a Zoom call within Upwork Messages with these same steps, except that in step 2, you will choose Report call from the (...) options menu.
If you are having trouble finding a flag or reporting link, contact Upwork Support with your report.
Reporting is confidential
All reports are confidential. We will not share your identity with the user you flagged. After we receive your report, we may contact you through email for more information.
Please note that because of security and privacy concerns, we may also not be able to share the results or findings of our investigations with you. We take all reports seriously, and please be assured that we will take action as provided for in our Terms of Service.
What to flag or report
We encourage you to flag anything that violates the Upwork Terms of Service or seems suspicious and inappropriate. Watch for these common violations:
- Sharing or requesting external contact information before a contract has started. This could be an email address, phone number, or app ID (WhatsApp/Skype). Learn more about sharing information on Upwork
- Requests or offers to pay outside of Upwork or by a non-cash method (bitcoin, equity, etc)
- Requests or offers to pay for access to your password or account information
- A profile picture or name that seems fake, like the use of a celebrity picture or name
- Content protected by copyright, such as a known logo or phrase
- A project that’s offering services that aren’t allowed on the platform under Upwork’s Terms of Service, including the Terms of Use
- Anything that looks like it could be a scam or fraud
- Anyone threatening or harassing you
- Clients asking for you to pay to submit a proposal
- Freelancers asking for payment upfront before a contract has started
- Demands to receive good feedback
Sending a flag
When you flag something that looks suspicious or inappropriate, you’ll have options to describe the reason you’re flagging. Please flag it for our review and let us know what you saw with these steps:
- Choose the Flag as inappropriate button on the job post that you need to report
- Select a reason why you think the posting is inappropriate
- Client is offering payment outside of Upwork
- Client is asking for free work
- Client is misrepresenting their identity
- Person is attempting to buy or use my Upwork account
- Job post looks like a scam or contains a suspicious link
- Job post contains contact information
- Job post is illegal or unethical
- Job post is unclear or incomplete
- This is a freelancer ad, not a job post
- It's something else
- Choose Submit
Flag any portfolio item you see that contains violations of our policy, including confidential materials or copyright infringements.
- Choose Report on the portfolio item.
- Select a reason you think the profile is suspicious
- This contains contact information
- This contains confidential material
- This contains a copyright violation
- This content is inappropriate for Upwork
- Something else
- Choose Submit
Flag any profile you see that contains violations of our identity policy, including fake names, logos as portraits, and duplicate accounts.
- Choose the (…) options menu on the freelancer's profile
- Choose Flag as inappropriate
- Select a reason you think the profile is suspicious
- Person is requesting payment outside of Upwork
- Person is attempting to buy or use my Upwork account
- Person in the profile is not the person working on Upwork
- Profile looks fake or contains stolen/plagiarized content
- Profile contains contact information
- Something else
- Choose Submit
Flag any project you see that contains violations of our Terms of Service, including our Terms of Use, including confidential materials or copyright infringements, or offering services that aren’t allowed on the platform.
- Choose the flag by Report this project to submit a report
- Select a reason why you think the project is suspicious
- This contains contact information
- This contains confidential material
- This contains a copyright violation
- This content is inappropriate for Upwork
- This project template is plagiarized
- Something else
- Choose Submit
- Select the (...) options menu and choose Flag as inappropriate
- Select a reason why your think the proposal is inappropriate
- Person is requesting payment outside of Upwork
- Person is attempting to buy or use my Upwork account
- Person in the profile is not the person working on Upwork
- Profile looks fake or contains stolen/plagiarized content
- Profile contains contact information
- Something else
- Choose Submit
- Hover over the message that you need to report, and an options menu (…) will appear
- Select the (…) options menu and choose Report message
- Select a reason why you think the message is inappropriate. This person:
- Asked me to spend money to submit a proposal, like purchasing gift cards, background checks, or equipment
- Asked me to share my contact information such as an email address or phone number before starting a contract
- Asked me to accept a payment upfront or outside Upwork
- Wants to purchase my Upwork account
- Is misrepresenting their skills or skill level
- Sent a suspicious link or something that looks like a scam
- Sent threatening or abusive messages
- Something else
- Choose Submit
You can also report a Zoom call or meeting within Upwork messages with these steps:
- Hover over the message that you need to report, and an options menu (…) will appear
- Select the (…) options menu and choose Report call
- Select a reason why you think the call was inappropriate. This person:
- Asked me to spend money to submit a proposal, like purchasing gift cards, background checks, or equipment
- Asked me to share my contact information such as an email address or phone number before starting a contract
- Asked me to accept a payment upfront or outside Upwork
- Wants to purchase my Upwork account
- Is misrepresenting their skills or skill level
- Was threatening or abusive
- Something else
- Choose Submit
Other situations may require you to make a judgment call. If you believe a user has violated Upwork's Terms of Service, please contact Upwork Support to report the behavior.
In general, when you contact Upwork Support, please be prepared to provide a clear account of the situation and any proof you have, such as chat transcripts and email messages.
Frequently Asked Questions
To block someone:
- Go to Messages and find a conversation with the user you’d like to block
- Select their profile icon in the module on the right, then select Block
Important notes about blocking:
- When you block someone, you won't be able to send each other messages in conversations where you are the only participants. However, you will still be able to send each other messages in group conversations
- You can’t block anybody you have an active contract with
- After you block someone, you will still be able to see the conversation, in case you need to report something
- As a freelancer, you can block future invitations from a client while declining an invitation or withdrawing your proposal. Check the box that reads Block future invitations from this client
- As a client, you can block spam proposals
To unblock someone:
- Go to Messages and find a conversation with the user you’d like to block
- Select their profile icon in the module on the right, then select Unblock
As a freelancer, if you blocked future invitations from a client, you can undo this by submitting a proposal to any public job that the client has posted.
