Does this violate the UpWork policies?

Question

Freelance

I work on UpWork and on one of the other freelance sites, now I have a certain number of free hours. A customer contacted our website - he acts as an intermediary, the project is interesting, true customer from the USA. Agreed on the rate, were going to start. And then I find out that the intermediary and the customer were talking on UpWork. Those. they probably had a contract there before - they are going to work around, which is a violation of the rules. And UpWork is strict with this. Also, the intermediary knows my profile on UpWork - before that, they discussed another project.

I discussed this point with an intermediary - he says that they will work through UpWork and hours will be added manually. But is it?
Then it turns out that he has an agency.

What is your opinion of a colleague, is it worth starting work on this project. Or is it better not to contact because the intermediary and the customer are probably breaking the rules? How legal is this scheme? I have certain doubts.

Answer 1

Thank you all for dropping this project. Asked this question on the UpWork forum - they write:
"If your intermediary was hired through Upwork on an hourly contract, then transferring his work to someone else is a violation of the rules."
those. this is a violation

Answer 2

I don’t quite understand what the violation
is. You work with him through upwork, everything is OK, the rest should not worry you much

Answer 3

For an intermediary (!) POSSIBLY (!) Is illegal. But maybe legal. The question is how long they have known the customer. After 2 years of working on an upwork, you can leave it and work directly and this is not a violation.
Your work is not illegal. You are working with an intermediary, and the fact that you have a profile is not a violation if you did not meet on an upwork.