For reports / suspicions of OFAC / Sanctioned accounts: All cases can go to the AML team for review. Cases can be assigned in ZD to AML_Operations_PY430. If an escalated case that needs to be immediately reviewed, please see #ask-aml_ops Slack channel.
For anything related to IDV for OFAC / SDN, see here: **IDV Process for OFAC / SDN
There are countries that are not restricted by US OFAC sanctions, but Upwork does not offer service at this time (e.g. Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan). These countries are not available to freelancers when signing up for an account.
Federal Law restricts Upwork from conducting business with individuals and entities based in certain countries. For the list of OFAC restricted countries and SDN individuals and businesses, see here: Eligibility to Join Upwork.
When a person tries to access Upwork.com we check their location, if they are in a US restricted location, they will see a warning message and won’t be able to continue:
When the account owner attempts to access their account from an unrestricted location they will be asked to undergo a verification review. If a proxy or other IP blocker is detected the account will not be eligible for review.
If a user contacts us about an account suspension related to OFAC Location Restriction, send a ticket to Payment Compliance Team in Zendesk and they’ll work with the user to resume the account.