3 ms·

Be ready to handover a copy of your national ID/passport

by dakiol 3y ago

alwayslikethis 3y ago
Can you elaborate? I have a VPS and a storage box on Hetzner and I'm so far satisfied with it, minus the sometimes confusing interface between their different products.
- MikusR 3y ago
  Because they are so cheap, they are often used by spammers or other shady entities. So occasionally they may ask for ID. For example, if you connect from one country, use an address from another country and use prepaid card from yet another country.
  - crotchfire 3y ago
    used by spammers Then why don't they just ask for ID if you want port 25 unblocked? Doesn't add up.
    - V__ 3y ago
      The ports are blocked by default for new customers. After a few billing cycles, a request can be made to have it lifted.
- formerly_proven 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - cbg0 3y ago
    Where exactly can someone else buy a car with a copy of your ID?
    - toast0 3y ago
      A car dealership? My credit is great (and currently locked), and is probably enough to get a car with a "$0 down" offer, although those often do require some payments at time of purchase. If you can answer the credit application questions and present ID with my name that looks good, you've created a big mess for me.
  - thijsvandien 3y ago
    I'm impressed other people are actually given options.
  - e145bc455f1 3y ago
    [flagged]
  - hypefi 3y ago
    This is what happened to me basically, I was so happy I found a cheap provider, I got locked out I didn't even know what to do to unban my account. I will keep using my old provider ...
e145bc455f1 3y ago
They didn't even ask me for that, straight up banned my account.
fortunateregard 3y ago
I've had a similar experience where my account was banned despite providing all the info they requested (including my passport). Hetzner was the only provider where I was banned despite providing everything I was asked for. I've deployed services on plenty of providers (AWS, GCP, Digital Ocean, Vultr, etc) without issue. Apparently, this has been an on-going struggle for them. A few weeks ago they were even called out on an episode of the syntaxFM podcast for this behavior after one of the hosts had his account banned [0]. It's still a bit of a mystery to me honestly. Is their fraud detection so poor where they're forced to ban new sign-ups in this manner? How can Hetzner's competition tell that these accounts are legitimate (without ridiculous requirements such as passport) and Hetzner can't (even when provided with full home address, passport, etc)? I'm assuming Hetzner can't because they've seemingly developed a reputation for banning legitimate developers and the only reason I can think of where they'd be fine with that is if they actually have a very difficult time telling whether an account is legitimate or not. [0]: https://twitter.com/stolinski/status/1750226126499139665 https://twitter.com/stolinski/status/1750226126499139665
- jamesblonde 3y ago
  They are like Ryanair and Lidl brands - you get a reasonable product super-cheap. Don't argue about the terms and conditions, just be happy to do business with us. If you don't buy, somebody else after you will. This is not classic VC-funded IT. It's mass-market, low margin, low risk consumer products. It's not Enterprise IT.
  - crotchfire 3y ago
    It's mass-market, low margin, low risk consumer products None of those have anything to do with demanding that customers expose themselves to identity theft risk.
- type0 3y ago
  They banned my prepaid account, I had few bucks on left on it to test and evaluate some selfhosting services. I didn't try to ask for my money back as I saw it like a pointless time waste trying to contact them.
jeltz 3y ago
They have never asked me for any of my three accounts. And one I paid with credit card the two other with bank wire.
costco 3y ago
This will be required in the US for all providers within a year unless a sufficiently large number of people comment on the Commerce Department's proposed rule: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-department-commerce-publishes-proposed-rule-imposing-know-your-customer-and https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-department-commerce-...

Be ready to handover a copy of your national ID/passport

by dakiol 3y ago

Be ready to handover a copy of your national ID/passport

Can you elaborate? I have a VPS and a storage box on Hetzner and I'm so far satisfied with it, minus the sometimes confusing interface between their different products.

MikusR 3y ago
Because they are so cheap, they are often used by spammers or other shady entities. So occasionally they may ask for ID. For example, if you connect from one country, use an address from another country and use prepaid card from yet another country.
- crotchfire 3y ago
  used by spammers Then why don't they just ask for ID if you want port 25 unblocked? Doesn't add up.
  - V__ 3y ago
    The ports are blocked by default for new customers. After a few billing cycles, a request can be made to have it lifted.
formerly_proven 3y ago
[flagged]
- cbg0 3y ago
  Where exactly can someone else buy a car with a copy of your ID?
  - toast0 3y ago
    A car dealership? My credit is great (and currently locked), and is probably enough to get a car with a "$0 down" offer, although those often do require some payments at time of purchase. If you can answer the credit application questions and present ID with my name that looks good, you've created a big mess for me.
- thijsvandien 3y ago
  I'm impressed other people are actually given options.
- e145bc455f1 3y ago
  [flagged]
- hypefi 3y ago
  This is what happened to me basically, I was so happy I found a cheap provider, I got locked out I didn't even know what to do to unban my account. I will keep using my old provider ...

e145bc455f1 3y ago

They didn't even ask me for that, straight up banned my account.

fortunateregard 3y ago

I've had a similar experience where my account was banned despite providing all the info they requested (including my passport). Hetzner was the only provider where I was banned despite providing everything I was asked for. I've deployed services on plenty of providers (AWS, GCP, Digital Ocean, Vultr, etc) without issue. Apparently, this has been an on-going struggle for them. A few weeks ago they were even called out on an episode of the syntaxFM podcast for this behavior after one of the hosts had his account banned [0]. It's still a bit of a mystery to me honestly. Is their fraud detection so poor where they're forced to ban new sign-ups in this manner? How can Hetzner's competition tell that these accounts are legitimate (without ridiculous requirements such as passport) and Hetzner can't (even when provided with full home address, passport, etc)? I'm assuming Hetzner can't because they've seemingly developed a reputation for banning legitimate developers and the only reason I can think of where they'd be fine with that is if they actually have a very difficult time telling whether an account is legitimate or not. [0]: https://twitter.com/stolinski/status/1750226126499139665 https://twitter.com/stolinski/status/1750226126499139665

jamesblonde 3y ago
They are like Ryanair and Lidl brands - you get a reasonable product super-cheap. Don't argue about the terms and conditions, just be happy to do business with us. If you don't buy, somebody else after you will. This is not classic VC-funded IT. It's mass-market, low margin, low risk consumer products. It's not Enterprise IT.
- crotchfire 3y ago
  It's mass-market, low margin, low risk consumer products None of those have anything to do with demanding that customers expose themselves to identity theft risk.
type0 3y ago
They banned my prepaid account, I had few bucks on left on it to test and evaluate some selfhosting services. I didn't try to ask for my money back as I saw it like a pointless time waste trying to contact them.

jeltz 3y ago

They have never asked me for any of my three accounts. And one I paid with credit card the two other with bank wire.

costco 3y ago

This will be required in the US for all providers within a year unless a sufficiently large number of people comment on the Commerce Department's proposed rule: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-department-commerce-publishes-proposed-rule-imposing-know-your-customer-and https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-department-commerce-...