Impossible KYC Requirements - Stake.com - Withholding $6000 USD

[Willowbitcoin]

Hello,

I have been holding off on posting this as it's likely, if there were a chance I would get paid. It's not happening after i go public but after 3+ months of jumping through never-ending KYC hoops its obvious to me that Stake.com have decided not to pay me under the guise of KYC and i want to warn people out there that if you play there, even if you are verfied to keep your balance low. Limit your exposure. Or just play somewhere else.

I am a Thai national currently travelling abroad on a working holiday which i assume is what initially triggered the Level 3 / 4 kyc request.
Thats ok, the account is legit, made in thailand. Thailand is my primary residence and i still reside at the premesis that is on my drivers license. All good right? I will just provide them with the information.

I was already level 1/2 verified but they asked for and i sent them.

Drivers License Back and front
Me holding drivers license
Passport back and front
Me holding passport.

Now the fun begins. Level 3 verification.

I send in
Me - official thai housing document. Stamped by thai government. Showing i live at this address. not approved.
Stake - They ask for a bill.
Me - Send in Gas bill
Stake - ask for a bill and proof of payment
Me - Send in Gas bill and bank statement showing the transfer
Stake - Ask for a bill less than a month old
Me - I wait a month for a new bill to come in and send this along with another bank statement showing payment.
Stake - Not accepted. Ask again for a bill less than a month old
Me - Starting to get worried.... Go back and forth many times with chat. They cant (or wont) tell me whats wrong
Me - Send in a different bill. physical electricity bill and physical proof of payment (this is written in thai)
Stake - Not accepted. They dont tell me why but i assume its because its in thai.
Me - I transfer my electricity account to an online account so i can give them new bills and payments in english
Me - Send in a new digital bill and digital proof of payment in english ( It even has a QR code on it )
Stake -

Now they are asking for THREE months of phsycial bills and physical payment receipts, not digital, Signitures? ( signitures on what and from who??? ) and also stamp Stamp from who ?

My problem is, in 2023 who gets physical proof of payment? But luckily in thailand, i can get phsyical receipts if i change my online account back to physical. I could collate the physical bills and receipts over the next three months however my bills and receipts will be in thai, the electricity company will not give you a phsycial receipt or bill in english and stake wont accept thai. Ive offered to pay for translation. Not accepted. I offered to meet someone in a thailand office and they said this. Which is ironic.



During all this they have also reset my level 2 verification and asked for a photo of my holding papers four seperate times. Which i have also supplied every time and i am now level 2 verified again.

I have never withdrawn from my account, I was not bonus whoring and i was not hitting bad lines.

Am i being unreasonable here? To be clear, they will not let me withdraw my money out. Maybe i deserve to lose 6k USD on a legitimate account because i vpned while working overseas? Can someone with a clearer head here suggest what my next steps should be.

I cant imagine how level 4 proof of payment is going to go when i show them wages from overseas ( which i sent back to thailand every week ) Which i can show proof for as well.

I have pm'd stunna a couple of weeks ago and to be fair, i see he hasnt logged into the board since i pm'd him. Maybe he can help and if he does, I will be equally embarrassed and grateful.

Frat Version :- Stake.com is withholding 6000 USD from me. Hiding behind impossible KYC requirements for internationals.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

The bill thing seems like a bad joke or that they are trying to pull your leg. Why the hell do they need more than one physical bill in 2023 when they already have the other documents? On top of that they want them in English.I don't have physical bills, for example, if I had to provide them I would have to print the fucking pdf, so I'd better send it to them and let them print it.

We'll have to see what they say about this case, but I also think this has set off alarm bells:

I am a Thai national currently travelling abroad on a working holiday which i assume is what initially triggered the Level 3 / 4 kyc request.
Thats ok, the account is legit, made in thailand. Thailand is my primary residence and i still reside at the premesis that is on my drivers license. All good right? I will just provide them with the information.

<...>

Maybe i deserve to lose 6k USD on a legitimate account because i vpned while working overseas?

[avikz]

Doesn't look good, to be honest! The driver's license and passport should be more than enough. In majority of the countries, a passport is considered the highest level of verification because it usually requires police verification before you can become eligible to get a passport. At least that's the case in my country. Also, your background is checked to find out if you ever had any criminal cases against you or not. So Stake should have paid you on that verification. Also it's just 6k, not a million so I really do not get the bill thing they are seeking from you.

If you have all documented proof, open a thread here,

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=83.0

Let someone from Stake admin team reply to you.

[kingvirtus09]

Based on the story in my observation, they are not doing well to accommodate you in passing your kyc to them. The only passport and Driver's license that you have when you sent the photo are very valid compared to the bills that you submitted to them.
That's a bit annoying and worrying if there is a large balance on their casino platform. It seems like they didn't want to allow money to be withdrawn from their platform. But when you make a deposit, it's okay with them. I have a feeling that what I see is not good.

[mindrust]

It is a sad thing to see stake.com joining the KYC-weaponizers’ club. If everything happened just like you described them, then stake.com should back off and pay your money. If they have anything to say against you, they should say it here so we all will know why you ain’t getting paid. Otherwise this is not looking good for stake.com. I recommended this casino to many users in the past and I want to do it again in the future. Fix this stake.com!

[bbc.reporter]

It is a sad thing to see stake.com joining the KYC-weaponizers’ club. If everything happened just like you described them, the stake.com should back off and pay your money. If they have anything to say against you, they should say here so we all will know why you ain’t getting paid. Otherwise this is not looking good for stake.com. I recommended this casino to many users in the past and I want to do it again in the future. Fix this stake.com!

We should also listen to stake.com's side of the accusation. They are one of the largest casinos and sportsbooks in the cryptospace that also sponsors famous MMA fighters. Why would they hurt their own reputation only for $6000?

What is head scratching here is they are asking for physical receipts of bill payments. Similar to
Willowbitcoin's argument, only very few people do this in 2023.

@Willowbitcoin. It might be better to ask someone from Stake's security department to check into your problem. The people you sometimes speak with in live support are agents working for a call center.

[Kakmakr]

I think your VPN usage has triggered their "red flag" matrix and this is complicating the issue with your KYC verification. They will look much deeper now, than with other people doing the same level 3 and 4 verification.

It is strange that a large casino like Stake are so strict on a small withdrawal of $6000 ...but I think the language thing might also delay the process. (They might not have someone that can read Taiwanese or they outsource this to an external business)

[Mr. Magkaisa]

        -  At this point, Stakes can break down and take a lot of damage if they don't pay attention to it. It's like stakes support is making an alibi for not approving the complainant's account. And it's very annoying that you give the necessary requirements and then after giving them something new will be asked of you.

It's good that you try to go to their official thread section, maybe you can be properly taken care of there regarding your concern OP. Then it looks like the balance of your total assets, if I'm not mistaken, is around 6000$, right?

[Gozie51]

I see you have posted in the stake thread here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2072589.0. I think that will be the right place to draw more attention to the challenges that you have narrated here. I checked stunna is not signed in after June 7th, maybe you can drop pm for him and be patient. Someone could take it up for you there .

[davis196]

We all know those horror stories about crypto casinos going back and forth and finding ridiculous excuses to block withdrawals and accounts.
Unfortunately this is the ugly side of the gambling industry and we the players have to find a way around.
Leaving big amounts of crypto in a gambling account is a big mistake, if you ask me.
My question is how the hell did you accumulate 6000 USD in your account? Was it via one big win, or you just kept wining multiple times without withdrawing? I'm pretty sure that Stake wouldn't create any problems with a 60USD withdrawal. Why didn't you withdraw your winnings at smaller amounts instead of accumulating a big amount in your account?

[Wapfika]

The bill thing seems like a bad joke or that they are trying to pull your leg. Why the hell do they need more than one physical bill in 2023 when they already have the other documents? On top of that they want them in English.I don't have physical bills, for example, if I had to provide them I would have to print the fucking pdf, so I'd better send it to them and let them print it.

Well, It’s a standard procedure for bills to be within 3 months for address verification to make sure that OP still lives on that same address. I don’t find anything wrong about this if he really still on that place. I’m not defending Stake but it’s a standard requirements for address verification to make sure that it’s still valid.

There’s other KYC that you the most updated bills just to verify address verification. What I’m intrigued on this case is why OP needs to verify on that level while he only have 6K on his account. That’s not reasonable for that kind of bankroll so I believe he done something fishy that trigger Stake security to be this kind of strict with their requirements.

[piebeyb]

$6k is actually a small value for Stake as they are a big casino it would not be possible to steal it from a user for any reason, I am sure your problem can be resolved in their ANN thread as it looks like you have also PMed Stunna as well made this post in a new thread here's a post on the Stake thread, I hope your problem can be resolved well because the problem of $ 6k is too little to damage the big name Stake on this forum because they are a trusted casino.

I will continue to monitor the progress of this case, my advice is that you need to be a little patient in this matter until the Stake team really provides a solution to your problem without having to ask for KYC which is so complicated as billing in English that you can't do it. I hope Stunna replies to your PM soon and make sure to post as often as possible on the ANN Stake thread. 

[Bitinity]

I'm pretty sure that Stake wouldn't create any problems with a 60USD withdrawal. Why didn't you withdraw your winnings at smaller amounts instead of accumulating a big amount in your account?

I believe it has nothing to do with the amount of his withdrawal. $6000USD is not that big and there are some users in this forum that I know who withdraw bigger amount than him without any issue in Stake. The user I'm referring to is not even a verified user, but he could withdraw thousands of dollar easily. The main question here should be, what is the main reason for Stake to ask him to do level 3/4 verification while he is level 2 verified already. I would prefer to wait for an official answer from Stake, so it can be a lesson to learn for other players.

[Solosanz]

They must pay the accommodation and transportation for you if they demand physical identity.

I just don't understand why they're demand physical identity when their project is serve for online, I would say it's better for them to have a video call with you during your worktime, if they're really don't trust your digital bill proof.

After all you can't beat the casino because they reserve the right to ask any KYC as they want.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

They must pay the accommodation and transportation for you if they demand physical identity.

I just don't understand why they're demand physical identity when their project is serve for online, I would say it's better for them to have a video call with you during your worktime, if they're really don't trust your digital bill proof.

After all you can't beat the casino because they reserve the right to ask any KYC as they want.

You are making a mistake about the physical identity stuff, op said he was asked to send a physical bill instead of a digital version, not actually physical identity verification, if it was about physical identification, op already asked if they have an office in Thailand, which stake customer service said they can't disclose such information to him.
I think the argument is that, op can only access a physical bill in Thai language, but stake is asking him to submit a physical bill that is written in English, signed and stamped.

This issue arose from op using a VPN to access his stake account when he was overseas, if the entire story is as op has narrated it, I will personally implore stake to please temper justice with mercy, $6k is not very much money to warrant putting one under such pressure, they should please consider and accept the document op has provided for this level 3/4 verification and let this issue slide in peace.

[FatFork]

To be honest, this situation doesn't look good. Without diving into the specific case or what they suspect about your account, these KYC requirements seem ridiculous in 2023. I'm worried that if I were in a similar situation, I wouldn't be able to prove my place of residence either. All my utility bills are digital, and I handle all payments online. I don't have any physical copies of the bills (except when I print them myself), no tangible proof of payment, no signatures, or stamps... Basically, I'd be screwed if I had to provide that kind of proof.

I'm eager to see how Stake will respond to this as well.

[mak013]

If i understand right, the problem of 3 months is that the OP waited 3 times for a month each and every time sent a old bill. So they asked KYC from the beginning. I don`t know is it possible to get new bill that is less than 1 month old, but 3 times the OP didn`t do the Stake asked.
PS. I`ve got KYC with video verification several months ago. It was long and had strange questions as for me. And about a year ago i need another KYC and they asked bill, but i don`t remember how old it was. Everything was ok first time.

[klidex]

Actually I didn't think that your problem would be this complicated but are there any triggers that are more pressing to have to send level 3 KYC like you said using a VPN?
And I also want to ask if you are originally from Thailand because looking at your post history, you are not from Thailand.

[xLays]

Actually I didn't think that your problem would be this complicated but are there any triggers that are more pressing to have to send level 3 KYC like you said using a VPN?
And I also want to ask if you are originally from Thailand because looking at your post history, you are not from Thailand.

Probably using VPN. One of my friends has the same problem as you (OP), but with a different gambling site (https://www.pnxbet.io/). He is from the Philippines but is currently traveling abroad, such as Singapore which is not allowed on PNXBet. They asked for the same thing which Stake asked you, which is the KYC requirements in order to be able to withdraw funds from the site. It's difficult, but it is the only way to withdraw the funds. (That might be in TOS of Stake that we didn't read).

And after providing the KYC requirement by my friend, they immediately sent the funds to my friend.

Just give the Stake what they want and Stake give what you want.

[Mahdirakib]

Me - Send in a different bill. physical electricity bill and physical proof of payment (this is written in thai)
Stake - Not accepted. They dont tell me why but i assume its because its in thai.

Stake has worried KYC system. A small number of crypto casinos have such unusual and strict KYC policy. Have you checked the requirements of address verification at Stake?

Your proof of address document must meet the following requirements:

• Please upload an original photo or a PDF file of the documents, screenshots will not be accepted
• All documents must be issued within the last 6 months and need to be in Latin international format
• Shows your full name and address
• Shows the name of issuing entity and date of issue
• The whole sheet of paper is visible in the photo

The documents need to be in 'Latin international format'. Check this article to know about the supported documents: Acceptable documents for proof of address

BTW, you can send a message to 'MICRO'. He is a part of Stake casino team and visited the forum on the 22nd June for the last time.