Suspended upwork account. What to do in this situation?

Question

Freelance

I understand that this is not the first such question, but still. I registered a couple of months ago on the upwork, started looking for the first customers. According to the advice on the forums, he offered a discount on work in coverlettere for a good review. Customers appeared, work began. Suddenly, a couple of weeks ago, an email from Upwork arrives:

Hello #username,
To maintain a safe and trusted marketplace for all, Upwork takes action when we suspect behavior that violates our Terms of Service or otherwise negatively affects users. We recently found such activity in your account, which was linked to the following additional user account(s):
#customername
To protect you and the marketplace, we've restricted your ability to post jobs or submit applications, as well as your ability to make or receive payments.
For Upwork to reinstate full account capabilities, we'll need to review the following information:

• How do you know your client
  
• The nature of the work completed, including examples and screenshots with dates when the work occurred
  
• How are you communicating, with example screenshots of conversations with dates of correspondence. Please include a screenshot discussing the project scope and rate of pay
  

Please respond to this email with the information requested above so we may further assess your account's current hold. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter.

I send all screenshots of correspondence, all working files. I wait a week, zero response. Then I write again, they say, how is the process. The following letter arrives

Hello #username
Thank you for your cooperation.
During the course of our review we note that there have been instances where feedback and job history may have been manipulated which is a serious violation of Upwork Terms of Service.
The feedback system is intended for Clients to be able to provide whatever feedback they wish concerning a project and the deliverables provided and should not be influenced by Freelancers. Once the Client has provided feedback, the Freelancer can respond with additional comments.
Please give us more information why we see that your Job with client #customer_name shows that you did not accept accurate payment and coerced instead for feedback.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation. If you haven't done so, please review Upwork's Policy and Terms of Service below:
https://www.upwork.com/legal/
Regards,
Upwork Risk Management Team

As I understand it, I was banned for giving a discount for a good review??
For all my questions about what kind of additional information you need to provide, the standard answer is

Per our previous email, we have verified that there have been instances where feedback and job history may have been manipulated which is a serious violation of Upwork Terms of Service. Please give us more information why we see that your Job with client #customer_name shows that you did not accept accurate payment and coerced instead for feedback.
Regards,
Joseph
Upwork Risk Management Team

From here two questions
1) What to do in such situation? What information to provide?
2) On the upwork account there are about 500 dollars, as I understand it, can I say goodbye to them?
For clarity. I offered a discount in the coverletter, here is its text

Hi. I'm sure we can make something great together because I successfully completed similar projects before. I am more interesting feedback than money, and I'm ready to do the job for $5.
Sincerely yours, #username.

I took the line about the discount slightly from here):
jff.name/cover-letter-example-2

Answer 1

Write, explain and negotiate.
The same people are there.

Answer 2

It is forbidden to manipulate the rating due to the price.
You broke the rule and the latest practice says that here again it smacks of an eternal ban.
Alas.

Answer 3

Provide all the information they need, if nothing has been violated.
Explain the situation. Judging by the text of the message, you received less funds on your account than indicated in the application, or in milestones. Based on this, apparently, they suspect that you made a discount to the client in exchange for a good review.
I had a similar problem on Elance: Elance blocked the account, how to solve? , however, it was not associated with recalls.
As for the money, most likely they will let you withdraw, but only after they make a final decision on your account whether to block it or not.
Until then, you either provide them with information, or admit that you violated something, so that they block you faster and give you the opportunity to withdraw.
Unfortunately, their Risk Management Team is very good at making a poker face for any reason, so you have to prove that you are not a camel.
And yes, it didn’t seem to you, all these letters are template text, they send it to everyone, and most likely to your client too)

Answer 4

Try to admit that you really broke the rules, but you didn’t know it and you’re sorry, you promise not to do it again, maybe it will work

Answer 5

Find something better than Upwork for you.