For some reason a year ago I was really paranoid and decided to make a privacy.com account underneath a fake name and DOB a year ago just to see what it was like (I know it was stupid). I signed back into it this year to actually use it and added my debit card to it. Only after I did that I realized that I was using a fake name and closed the account to make one under my real name. I opened a new one under a simplelogin alias (idk if this, using a VPN, my ssn, or my debit card triggered the further ID verification), and now it is asking for me to confirm my identity through biometrics using onfido. I am fine with privacy.com knowing who I am so I can have privacy from other websites, but I don’t know if I can trust this third party with my biometrics and ID. As far as I can tell the identity verification of SSN and debit card alone should be enough for most people to create a privacy.com account, right? Am I overreacting and should do it since my threat model is just trying to defend myself against the selling of my personal info by companies? Should I try starting over and making a new account with a less suspicious email and without a VPN or would I be digging myself further into a hole and make myself look more suspicious? I would prefer to use privacy.com since I’m a student and really would not like to have to pay for another service, but if cheap enough I could try to use something else if necessary.
Website: Protect yourself and your private data from breaches and fraud.
Also website: Hey give us all your info 
Yeah I thought my whole SSN and debit card info should be enough for them but apparently not 
If you have crypto or the ability to get crypto I recommend getting a virtual visa card from
- CakePay
- Bitrefill
You can’t use VPN/Proxy to register the card but besides that no other info is “verified”.
They require KYC for everyone. I failed their KYC checks so they wanted further proof of life and photo and ID upload. However, when reading through the third party provider terms, I found a clause I could not agree with (at least the first of many). They use a UK company, Onfido, which is an etrust company. Under Section 4 “Data Sharing”, they share your biometrics and ID data (previously defined as personal information, amongst other data), with third parties, etc, etc, but most notably, “Under the instruction of clients and as permitted by applicable
law, Onfido currently shares identity documents with the UK
Metropolitan Police as part of their Amberhill Database for such
purposes;” (emphasis mine) The link is Privacy | Onfido and still valid as of the time of this post.
Further, they (both privacy dot com and onfido) hotlink to a bunch of other policies and terms which are all subject to change without notice. Linked lists all the way down.
Even if I physically appeared in the NY offices of privacy dot com, they would simply take the picture and use Onfido to verify that the person standing in front of them is actually me.
I gave up and used my local state privacy law to have my account and any related/provided data deleted.
Thank you, yeah that sounds very invasive, I don’t want to use a service like that. What did you decide to use instead?
@ihateKYC, thank you for the suggestions, I don’t currently have crypto but I’ll try those out when I get some.
I just keep using prepaid gift cards bought with cash. These don’t work online, obviously. I’ll continue to buy local and keep looking for another solution.
edit: let me clear that up. prepaid cards for amazon, apple, google, etc work on the respective sites, but do not work cross-site or cross-functional. I can’t use an apple prepaid card in place of “apple pay”, for example. And prepaid visa/amex/mc/etc cards require KYC to work for online transactions.
And prepaid visa/amex/mc/etc cards require KYC to work for online transactions.
I have never ran into this issue with virtual visa paid with crypto. Are you referring to 3DS requirements or them actually verifying your info?
I’m referring to the prepaid gift cards and such one can buy at local stores with cash. When trying to use them online, they all fail. When going to the site to check a balance or something, it requires kyc compliance to use the card online.