Seeking Arrangement site requiring ID verification

[ramblinman69]

I have been on Seeking for quite a while and was notified that my account is disactivated pending verification. They are requesting that I submit a government issued ID to a 3rd party company that supposedly is doing ID verifications for them. They claim it's to ensure better security for their member
Any other users of Seeking run in to this? Are the asking the same for female members?

 

[cpp433]

I wouldnt do it

 

[CLOUD 500]

What I want to know if the girls are also required to provide their government IDs for verification.

 

[Anna Bijou]

Not surprised. All the advertising sites for us require it now. Especially US based sites but now others require it as well. They want to CYA. I don't think there's going to be any way around it for you guys either in the future.

 

[LC18]

I wouldn’t do it, I would be scared it might cause you some issues when travelling.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I have been on Seeking for quite a while and was notified that my account is disactivated pending verification. They are requesting that I submit a government issued ID to a 3rd party company that supposedly is doing ID verifications for them. They claim it's to ensure better security for their member
Any other users of Seeking run in to this? Are the asking the same for female members?

I have an active membership on Seeking Arrangement right now and there is no such requirement of ID verification as a condition of membership. If someone asked you for it you were hacked, dude. There are women on there asking for ID verification, and there is a method of paying for it, but it most certainly is NOT a membership requirement. I renewed my membership in early June. Normal course enrollment, you just have to pay money. Anyone can register who has a valid credit card.

To the rest of the poster-sheep in this thread: the Earth is flat and you should complain to the company that manufactures globes. Do so tomorrow and ask for your money back.

 

[Anna Bijou]

To the rest of the poster-sheep in this thread: the Earth is flat and you should complain to the company that manufactures globes. Do so tomorrow and ask for your money back.

Who are you talking to? Lol There are only 4 posts and only 2 of them are men on seeking. I don't get it. Who's the poster-sheep? Where's the rest? I'm confused :s

Funny thing is that I did get your reference about the globes. It could just be a common thing with globes but this is what came to mind. Is this what you're referring to?

Damn! Those flat earthers... Lol


Anyway, if you say ID verification isn't required, could be phishing. We get tons of scam phishing emails pretending to be tryst. Could be something like that.

@ramblinman69 what does the sender email look like? Is it a seeking email or random Gmail? Gmail is phishing for sure.

Looks like a normal email until you look at the sender:

Random Gmail, NOT Tryst lol

 

[Anna Bijou]

Normal course enrollment, you just have to pay money. Anyone can register who has a valid credit card.

It does really suck that Tryst (and others) require identity verification. Could be related to credit cards payments for US market. Preferred 411 tried to get me to verify my ID all of a sudden after I've had a profile since like 2011 (I declined). Eros also made me verify again even though I did it years ago.

For sure that information gets handed to DHS at the border. I'm not planning on crossing the border anytime soon but it's a pain in the ass for those who do travel to the US.

 

[CLOUD 500]

It does really suck that Tryst (and others) require identity verification. Could be related to credit cards payments for US market. Preferred 411 tried to get me to verify my ID all of a sudden after I've had a profile since like 2011 (I declined). Eros also made me verify again even though I did it years ago.

For sure that information gets handed to DHS at the border. I'm not planning on crossing the border anytime soon but it's a pain in the ass for those who do travel to the US.

This is all because of FOSTA/SESTA. The law uses vague language in enabling or facilitating human trafficking, and made websites liable when third parties use a platform to engage in human trafficking. This law was used to shut down Backpage and Craiglist personals. Websites are wanting government IDs to protect themselves from being shut down by the US government and to discourage human trafficking. In other words CYA.

Eros uses a strict ID verification system in an apparent attempt to avoid adverse legal action, and states plainly that they "assume no responsibility or liability for any content on any of our websites." They say they have a zero-tolerance policy for prostitution or other illegal activities.

 

[Anna Bijou]

Yeah you can't even list your website on Eros anymore. Only social media. And getting the text for the ad approved is quite a process.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I am posting a screenshot that will show everyone what I am talking about since obviously there are not too many actual SA members here, or else they have no fucking clue on how to use the website. See the SA screenshot posted below which I will discuss in the very next post below it.

 

[EagerBeaver]

 

[EagerBeaver]

The post above this one is a screen shot of my own personal SA search function, taken minutes ago. As a SA active member. Look at the Search Options. The top left option is "ID Verified." It's an OPTION for anyone who wants or wishes to pay for it. It is not a membership requirement as implied by the OP. Any SB or SD can use said option and it will then show up in your SA profile as "ID Verified." It's a $5 service I believe. SBs have asked me to verify myself through that option. I declined and offered FT many times, which is usually accepted. This is all discussed in the actual SA thread. I think the service is used by SBs as well to verify that they aren't one of countless fakers/ex BFs posting their ex GFs pics and asking for nude pic arrangements, knowing that their ex-GF's nude pics have value. Those scams have been perpetrated on SA for years, and SA added this feature a few years ago to reduce scams on their site. All of this was also discussed ad nauseam in the SA thread. And it's common sense for anyone who actually thinks about their business model. It wouldn't make any sense for their business model to introduce this feature as a membership requirement.

My conclusion is the OP was either hacked by a scammer or else has no clue on how to use the SA website.

 

[ramblinman69]

The post above this one is a screen shot of my own personal SA search function, taken minutes ago. As a SA active member. Look at the Search Options. The top left option is "ID Verified." It's an OPTION for anyone who wants or wishes to pay for it. It is not a membership requirement as implied by the OP. Any SB or SD can use said option and it will then show up in your SA profile as "ID Verified." It's a $5 service I believe. SBs have asked me to verify myself through that option. I declined and offered FT many times, which is usually accepted. This is all discussed in the actual SA thread. I think the service is used by SBs as well to verify that they aren't one of countless fakers/ex BFs posting their ex GFs pics and asking for nude pic arrangements, knowing that their ex-GF's nude pics have value. Those scams have been perpetrated on SA for years, and SA added this feature a few years ago to reduce scams on their site. All of this was also discussed ad nauseam in the SA thread. And it's common sense for anyone who actually thinks about their business model. It wouldn't make any sense for their business model to introduce this feature as a membership requirement.

My conclusion is the OP was either hacked by a scammer or else has no clue on how to use the SA website.

Thanks Eager Beaver for all the info and feedback. I've been on the site for quite a while and I know how it works. No need to be rude.
Thanks also to Cloud 500 for the insights.

The Email was genuine, that was the 1st thing I validated. Got in contact with customer support and the issue is "a concern my identity is misrepresented" . In plain English, they took exception to the use of my blurred face picture even though I have been using it since I joined several years ago. Perplexing since this is common practice with faces blurred or otherwise concealed in many profiles not to mention profiles that don't have pics. However, the kicker is that now they are requesting that I ID verify with a government issued ID though an obscure 3rd party service provider. Needless to say that's not going to happen, guess they never heard of identity theft LOL.

So the good news is no, there is no ID verification requirements on Seeking. You can pay your $$$$$ and join.
As for me, well let's see if I can get a refund If they are so focused on customer safety maybe they should also take a look at other issues such as the ability to take screenshots and download pictures from the site. From were I sit, that's a much bigger issue that blurred pics.

 

[EagerBeaver]

RamblingMan,

You should know that you can post pics in a private area on SA. I have unblurred facial pics but the public can't see them. Only SBs whom I grant permission can see them. Why don't you just dump your pics in your private area? It's pointless to post any blurred pics. SA is regulating for scammers and you obviously were viewed as suspicious for blurring your pics. Which makes no sense to me, with all due respect, when you can post pics in the private area and only have them viewed by those you grant permission to see them.

I assume you are blurring the public pics. I have no public pics. I think it would be seen as suspicious to post blurred public pics rather than unblurred private pics. So I am curious as to why you did that.

There is a significant number of SBs who say in their profiles: "don't message me if you don't have any unblurred pics." Kind of understandable since some women don't want to date Jabba The Hutt, even for money. So why limit your pool to women who will see those with no clear pics? There are probably not that many in that self-limited pool. The women in that self limited pool are probably not very discerning, which would be a problem for me as I like women who have some standards for men that they see, as opposed to none.

 

[CaptRenault]

Obvious conclusion of this thread: If you are a SD or SB and overly concerned about someone seeing an un-blurred photo of your face at some point, then Seeking is probably not for you.

In my case, I have a blurred photo of myself as my public profile photo and several clear photos of myself in the private, protected area of my profile. I give any woman that I contact access to my private photos but if I don't get a response from a woman after a week or two, then I remove the access.

Since I am not married and not in a regular relationship, I'm not concerned with being "outed" as a member of Seeking. If someone that I know were to see me on Seeking, then that means that person must also be a member, because you can't browse profiles without creating a profile. Also, Seeking is just a dating site, right? What's the big deal?

Once I establish some trust and mutual interest with a potential SB, I am also upfront about my real identity. I don't recite my life story, but I share enough info to give the woman confidence that she will be safe spending time with me. That approach has worked well with me. It still takes time and effort to find the right woman at the right price, but compared to the commercial sex scene where I live, Seeking has worked pretty well for me.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Since I am not married and not in a regular relationship, I'm not concerned with being "outed" as a member of Seeking. If someone that I know were to see me on Seeking, then that means that person must also be a member, because you can't browse profiles without creating a profile. Also, Seeking is just a dating site, right? What's the big deal?

Once I establish some trust and mutual interest with a potential SB, I am also upfront about my real identity. I don't recite my life story, but I share enough info to give the woman confidence that she will be safe spending time with me. That approach has worked well with me. It still takes time and effort to find the right woman at the right price, but compared to the commercial sex scene where I live, Seeking has worked pretty well for me.

I totally agree with Captain Renault on all these points. I fit the same profile as CR as being single/unmarried and don't really give a shit if someone sees my private pics. There are plenty of people on SA who just use it as a dating site. Dating isn't illegal last time I checked nor is giving allowances to people you are dating.