It's not about staying anonymous or about a complicated procedure. But if Bitstamp cannot rely on the verification process announced in the FAQ, they have to change their FAQ! So people can decide before sending them document after document. Note that they first asked for all the other documents which I provided willingly. Only then they requested the mugshot.
This is deceptive, outright insulting and totally unprofessional!

I never had any such trouble with any bank before. But then again, I don't live in the US..

Hi everyone,

I was recently trying to get my ID verified at Bitstamp. During like five iterations I provided them with the following set of documents:

1. 300dpi scanned image of ID
2. 300dpi scanned certificate of residency (unfortunately 1 year old.. My bad)
3. photo picture of latest (church) tax return statement
4. photo picture of yearly tax return statement
5. 300dpi scan of yearly tax return statement
6. photo picture of front and backside of my ID

I then received the fifth “Verification Request Denied” mail and the following statement via support ticket:

[...] We would kindly ask you to submit a high resolution image of yourself holding your ID (the same ID used for your account verification) and "[date of submission] For Bitstamp LIMITED only" written on a piece of paper[…]

I don’t know about you guys but I find this an outrageous request. Especially after trying to follow each of their previous instructions to the letter. I’m actually not sure if bitstamp is messing with me or if they have such little trust in potential customers these days. In case anyone’s interested I can send the whole conversation via PM. I will be looking for another exchanger now and I regret sending them any personal documents in the first place.

Anyways, I just wanted to share the information and I would appreciate you people's opinion on this matter.