KYC and Beard, asking for a friend.

[TheBeardedBaby]

Hey guys, this one is kind of rant thread for KYC Beard discrimination.

One of my friends ran into a problem while doing the KYC with Binance. On the driving license he has a short beard, almost nothing <he's lucky we met years after that photo was taken>, today it's like Dusty Hill.
After many tires, he could not do the KYC and he refuses to shave (nor cut) his beard, I would punch him well in the face if he does it, tho. Better to change the driving license, if you ask me but...

So is there any other brother going trough that Binance discrimination hell ? Peaceful solutions?

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[JeromeTash]

It's probably the software they use to automatically verify KYC that's messed up. Has he tried talking to the support so that they can do manual verification for his case? I, for one, got a number of failed verifications but after a few more tries weeks apart. My KYC got approved. I am not sure what happened.

[Lanatsa]

Hey guys, this one is kind of rant thread for KYC Beard discrimination.

One of my friends ran into a problem while doing the KYC with Binance. On the driving license he has a short beard, almost nothing <he's lucky we met years after that photo was taken>, today it's like Dusty Hill.
After many tires, he could not do the KYC and he refuses to shave (nor cut) his beard, I would punch him well in the face if he does it, tho. Better to change the driving license, if you ask me but...

So is there any other brother going trough that Binance discrimination hell ? Peaceful solutions?

I haven't experience it though but speaking of my driver license picture then im still thin on that time but luckily they've accepted  and approve it without any problems.

As for your friend then its neither he would take the step on having a shave or wont able to make use of the platform.Yes, its simple options to take but wont really be a simple decision
specially if he loves that beard. lol

Its their terms then we don't have any options but to adjust with it.

[Charles-Tim]

So is there any other brother going trough that Binance discrimination hell ? Peaceful solutions?

How about trying other options like National ID, International Passport or Voter's Crad? Very possible others like that can be accepted. Tell him to try these other options first before contacting the customer support.

I knew someone that his Voter's Card was rejected but his National ID was accepted.

[sheenshane]

Based on Binance Know Your Customer (KYC), the valid IDs that were accepted are;

• Driver’s License / Government-issued photo ID

• Passport
• Social security number
• PAN card
• Voter ID Card

I think if your friend has these recent IDs that I mentioned above that don't have beards I think that's the best choice.

There are too many exchanges aside from Binance as an alternative to use but if your friend really wants to use this exchange platform I think the best thing that he can do is to contact the support regarding this matter and prefer other IDs for further identification.  If your friend has money left there and shaving his beards is the only solution, hehe, let him do this for the sake of his money.  

[The Sceptical Chymist]

It's probably the software they use to automatically verify KYC that's messed up.

If that's true, it's nice to know there's a way around that awful facial recognition software--at least the software Binance uses.  That shit scares me.

But as far as your friend goes, OP, it sounds like a ridiculous circumstance he's in if they really can't verify his identity because of some facial hair.  However, I've tried to go through the KYC process on multiple exchanges, and it's never worked.  Not once.  Each time I'd get a message about how my face or some other part of the photo was blurred, and blah blah blah.  I think crypto exchanges are looking for pixel perfect perfection when it comes to those KYC pics. 

Unless your friend absolutely needs to be verified on Binance (or any other exchange), I'd suggest he not do it just for privacy reasons.

[Darker45]

If the beard is almost nothing on your friend's license and like Dusty Hill's today, I guess that might indeed be a problem to the facial recognition software. That's because a beard like that of Dusty Hill is certainly covering some parts of your friend's face. The software might not be able to match certain facial features that are found on the license with the facial features detected in his current photo or video. I'm not speaking based on experience but, for sure, certain mapped features near the mouth, cheeks especially the lower part, jaw, chin, lower part of the nose, and so on could appear differently in the ID and in the photo or video of his present face.

[hugeblack]

So is there any other brother going trough that Binance discrimination hell ? Peaceful solutions?

I do not think that shaving the beard or trying to make it look like a passport photo will be a solution to this problem, but there is an easy solution and a difficult one:

 - Easy solution: contact the support team to do KYC manually and after explaining things, they may be able to bypass the identity verification.
 - Difficult solution: Request to renew the passport photo by requesting a new one, I do not know how the procedures are carried out in your country, but here it is easy and it takes up to 3 days at the most and you will get a new one.

If there is no option, some countries allow this if your passport is lost or a coffee falls on it, and so on.

[NeuroticFish]

Peaceful solutions?

1. A lot of patience and (re)tries until  - with plenty of luck - the 3rd part or whatever company takes care of KYC documents is reached and ask for a human check those documents.
2. Declare some of those documents lost, ask for renewal (for a fee), have a picture with his current look. Do KYC.
3. Switch to a different service until - with plenty of luck - a smart one is found or one that doesn't check both documents and current live image.

[buwaytress]

Saw this. Had to comment. Think they just need to upgrade their software since facial recognition now uses points and inflections on the face, and facial hair shouldn't be a problem (though I guess maybe if the beard or stache covers those points or causes the camera to be unable to read it, then maybe it's false negative? Don't know.

Just thinking now of people with injuries or male pattern baldness. And no, not laughing, still seriously thinking of repercussions.

That said, I've had various degrees of facial hair all over different documents but always made sure to be clean-shaven and short hair for passport. Rarely fail auto KYC checks even when doing it without shaving...

[TheBeardedBaby]

An update, my buddy got finally approved and the beard is save. 
As suggested here, he contacted the Binance support and after back and forth with questions and pictures he finally trough this hell. I don't know how long really took go do all that but I know it saw a lot of back and forth. As I understand they will improve their face recognition software or have an alternative way to do the KYC when the picture in the documents differs with the your current look in terms of facial hair.
I'm glad I didn't need go trough myself, there's facial hair allover my pics, lol.

[noorman0]

An update, my buddy got finally approved and the beard is save. 

Pleased to hear it.
Although I don't care about binance's improvements, I hope the new facial recognition software will be more accurate. Based on your friend's experience, I think their automated KYC is more humane which gives verification results faster than annoying supports that asks long and repeated questions to waste your time and lose market moment of course.

[Beparanf]

Hey guys, this one is kind of rant thread for KYC Beard discrimination.

One of my friends ran into a problem while doing the KYC with Binance. On the driving license he has a short beard, almost nothing <he's lucky we met years after that photo was taken>, today it's like Dusty Hill.
After many tires, he could not do the KYC and he refuses to shave (nor cut) his beard, I would punch him well in the face if he does it, tho. Better to change the driving license, if you ask me but...

So is there any other brother going trough that Binance discrimination hell ? Peaceful solutions?

I have a beard and mustaches when I do KYC on binance during 2017 while my passport ID don't have any hair in my face. Still they process my KYC application that time. I don't how Binance upgrade there KYC process but its a case to case basis in terms on how the beard will gonna affect the overall appearance of the applicants. For me its not a discrimination if the user face with a very grown beard is far different on his ID. Binance is just doing there job properly to comply to AML policy.

Maybe a picture of the beard will gonna help us picture the  your friend situation. 

[hugeblack]

As I understand they will improve their face recognition software or have an alternative way to do the KYC when the picture in the documents differs with the your current look in terms of facial hair.

I don't think "soon" means "soon" because several months ago they enforced ID verification and therefore should have invested in updating their KYC system quickly.
Most likely they rely on third party applications or any tool as I don't think they are serious about identity verification and therefore would not invest in it to be accurate.
Also, I think that your friend should update his ID picture quickly because he may face problems at the airport or points where identity verification is more.

[TheBeardedBaby]

Maybe a picture of the beard will gonna help us picture the  your friend situation. 

I had a just a small Easter egg in OP post but I guess nobody noticed it yet, or at least didn't mentioned anything about it. When you find it you will get the picture of what my friend looks like

Also, I think that your friend should update his ID picture quickly because he may face problems at the airport or points where identity verification is more.

He is not much of a traveler abroad so this won't affect him much, he has his caravan wagon driving around the summer vacations. The weird thing is that your driving license here does not expire and you do not need to renew it, so not much of a pressure to change the documents and update pictures.. It's crazy.