So years ago I made an account on an online shopping platform. I took pains to do it as privately as I could. Shipping address as PO box. Didn’t use real name to sign up. Masked credit card for payment. Etc.
I had it for IDK like 6 years? 7 years? I didn’t use it a LOT, but let’s say once a month avg. Over those years I had 100% the best feedback rating. I never caused any prob to anyone. I acted in good faith.
Suddenly one day… account canceled. Contacted company. They said send us copy of your gov photo ID. I said how about no?
I know it was b/c my account triggered some predictive anti abuse system. Scammers do a lot of what I did. Diff is, I was not a scammer. I just wanted some privacy. Wasn’t even buying anything embarrasing. Just normal shit.
I thought since I got 6+ yrs of history, spend like mid 4 digits of $$ total, zero probs, perfect feedback for 6 years, I figured hey maybe I wouldn’t be lumped in. But fuck me sideways.
Funny thing is. I had an older acct under my real name. It had LESS total purcahse history. By a lot. I never submitted any ID to create it. It’s still there. It still works. Diff is, it’s tied to my home addy and real name. It didn’t trigger anti-abuse prediction. ANd it is prediction! I never abused anything, and never would.
More and more, I can’t participate in the world, if I try to protect myself from data brokers that collect every fucking thing I do.
I’m sorry. I just had to rant lol. What is your experience with online shopping, if you try to set it up not tied directly to your name, phone, & home addy?
I don’t know what the rules are, but thanks for the tip! I’m not asking for any nefarious reasons, I’m just a normal person who values privacy.
Yup understood, me too.
Hopefully the group is small enough still to not be a big astroturf target, so company mentions are OK. I guess mods can remove if they want. At the mo, it seems like mostly real humans here. Could change eventually I guess.