Community Experts

If you already did the job, and you were using the Milestone Payment System, you could file a dispute.

You should Dispute this project. It will be helpful for you.

Consider the work you've completed for this person that you've actually done: it must have been commissioned for a *reason*, be it copy or artwork, data compiling or code - there would have been a specific commercial destination in mind for the work commissioned.

In short - the work has to turn up somewhere. And where ever it does - you have your forgetful client.

Now do bear in mind - when someone pulls this kind of stunt, it's usually with re-sale in mind. Therefore, whoever's purchased and published the work probably isn't the culprit direct - in all; likelihood they're an individual, not in anyway dissimilar to yourself, who's been no less equally scammed - purchasing in good faith material believed the intellectual property of whoever they bought it from.

But - that being the case - you have the original work: you have a clear paper trail, from you, through Freelancer to your absent "client"....

I'm certain between the pair of both yourself and whoever else's affections your "client" will undoubtedly have played fast and loose with - you can probably come to some sort of mutually beneficial exchange of information.

I mean, it's makes a wonderfully colorful story - doesn't it? I'm sure there are any number of agencies that would be particularly interested in having all the gory details on: a person who pulls this kind of stunt is unlikely to have suddenly woken up whatever morning they did and decide to give criminal fraud and property theft a whizz, just to see what happens.

You're most likely dealing with someone demonstrating a serial pathology of behavior - you're unlikely to have been the only person they've pulled this kind of stunt on: after the first few times it gets to be a bit of a game, so they're undoubtedly not terribly cleaver about going about things and not exactly Bond-villain cleaver to begin with.

So you probably won't have any difficultly finding them.

When you do: down to you what happens.

All the best.

S : )