This unfortunately has become more or less standard practice among centralized exchanges. They let you open an account, deposit your bitcoin or altcoins, trade back and forth, make them some profit, pay them some trading fees, all no problem at all. As soon as you want to withdraw your money, they seize your coins, freeze your account, and hit you with the most ridiculously invasive KYC procedures imaginable. Bitfinex are bad for it, but they are by no means the only ones pulling this nonsense.
The KYC is getting worse as time goes on. It used to just be a scan of your ID. Then they wanted a selfie as well. Then a selfie holding your ID. Then details of where all your funds came from and where they are going. Then your employment history. Then scans of your paychecks and bank statements. Now videos of yourself. Next they are going to be asking you for your usernames and passwords for various online accounts. I've taken out mortgages with less information that exchanges are asking of people trying to buy and sell a few hundreds dollars of bitcoin. It's utterly ridiculous.
Once you have your coins out of the exchange, I would suggest you close your account and contact them at [email protected] to request deletion of all your private data.
Topic: Bitfinex KYC SCAM is holding my funds (Read 622 times)
deposited a few BTC to my bitfinex account, made a couple of small trades.
Went to withdraw and guess what - it gets stuck in 'processing' status.
I then get an email for no apparent reason, other than wanting to withdraw my funds:
-----
Dear User,
As it is our mission and commitment to provide better and reliable services for all Bitfinex users, we require our users to update and/or provide Know-Your-Customer information from time to time in order to maintain the level of integrity and compliance required by international anti-money laundering as well as counter terrorist financing policies.
Accordingly, please provide us the following information/documentation:
Reasons for transfers from and to your Bitfinex account;
A clear and detailed explanation of your account activity and objectives;
A detailed explanation of the sources of all funds deposited to Bitfinex; provide details on how and where you acquired the funds that were deposited to your account. Make sure to include TXids and addresses that describe the source of the funds deposited to your Bitfinex account;
Proof of source of funds confirming how the deposited funds were originally acquired;
Detailed descriptions of the destination you have and/or will sent/send your funds to from your Bitfinex account;
Confirmation of whether you have ever opened and used any other account(s) on Bitfinex? If so, please provide the user name(s) and email address(es) of any account ever opened. Please explain why you operated more than one account, if applicable.
In addition to answering these questions, we will need you to provide us with a scan of your current government-issued ID and a photo of you holding your photo ID. Also, please make reference to Bitfinex in a note with the date the photo was taken and your signature displayed in this last picture. Make sure the image uploaded includes your full face and that all ID details are clearly readable in an image that is at least 6 megapixels resolution taken under correct light conditions. The images are required to be in JPG format and must be the original images taken by the camera.
Upload the described file to the "Manage Documents" section available on the Verification page of the account: (https://www.bitfinex.com/verification -> "Manage Documents").
Please send us the said information as soon as possible. We reserve the right to request further particulars and documentation from you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sent them ALL of the KYC BS documents and what do they do. That right, they say my selfie photo isn't quite perfect enough and I should do it again - it was already a high resolution shot with all the many things they require included. But I'm dealing with a robot so I carry on the compliance game.
Well they also don't accept the next photo and decided they want me to take a video (with absolutely no reason given)... where will it end - with me hopping on one leg while rubbing my head like a circus bear?!
So it is a complete scam. Bitfinex BVI is not regulated and my crypto trade does not need any AML checks, so they are just being ultra difficult for no reason - so they can keep my bitcoins.
This is a warning to anyone else considering using Bitfinex - they are in deep trouble with all their many legal battles in the USA, so are using customer money to pay their legal team. I am a victim of this scam and will now join the fight against this Ponzi exchange.
Went to withdraw and guess what - it gets stuck in 'processing' status.
I then get an email for no apparent reason, other than wanting to withdraw my funds:
-----
Dear User,
As it is our mission and commitment to provide better and reliable services for all Bitfinex users, we require our users to update and/or provide Know-Your-Customer information from time to time in order to maintain the level of integrity and compliance required by international anti-money laundering as well as counter terrorist financing policies.
Accordingly, please provide us the following information/documentation:
Reasons for transfers from and to your Bitfinex account;
A clear and detailed explanation of your account activity and objectives;
A detailed explanation of the sources of all funds deposited to Bitfinex; provide details on how and where you acquired the funds that were deposited to your account. Make sure to include TXids and addresses that describe the source of the funds deposited to your Bitfinex account;
Proof of source of funds confirming how the deposited funds were originally acquired;
Detailed descriptions of the destination you have and/or will sent/send your funds to from your Bitfinex account;
Confirmation of whether you have ever opened and used any other account(s) on Bitfinex? If so, please provide the user name(s) and email address(es) of any account ever opened. Please explain why you operated more than one account, if applicable.
In addition to answering these questions, we will need you to provide us with a scan of your current government-issued ID and a photo of you holding your photo ID. Also, please make reference to Bitfinex in a note with the date the photo was taken and your signature displayed in this last picture. Make sure the image uploaded includes your full face and that all ID details are clearly readable in an image that is at least 6 megapixels resolution taken under correct light conditions. The images are required to be in JPG format and must be the original images taken by the camera.
Upload the described file to the "Manage Documents" section available on the Verification page of the account: (https://www.bitfinex.com/verification -> "Manage Documents").
Please send us the said information as soon as possible. We reserve the right to request further particulars and documentation from you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sent them ALL of the KYC BS documents and what do they do. That right, they say my selfie photo isn't quite perfect enough and I should do it again - it was already a high resolution shot with all the many things they require included. But I'm dealing with a robot so I carry on the compliance game.
Well they also don't accept the next photo and decided they want me to take a video (with absolutely no reason given)... where will it end - with me hopping on one leg while rubbing my head like a circus bear?!
So it is a complete scam. Bitfinex BVI is not regulated and my crypto trade does not need any AML checks, so they are just being ultra difficult for no reason - so they can keep my bitcoins.
This is a warning to anyone else considering using Bitfinex - they are in deep trouble with all their many legal battles in the USA, so are using customer money to pay their legal team. I am a victim of this scam and will now join the fight against this Ponzi exchange.
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