Phone Verification
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i just had that happen today too! while i was using the app and trying to join a server or chat with friends it suddenly kicked me out of my account and forced me to give over my phone number if i wanted to access the account. i used it for 4 years, why is suddenly now deciding to flag my account for "being suspicous"? plus as many other people have said if you dont have a usable phone that isint landline or voip, your stuck. Update:THEY LITERALLY RESPONDED WITH THE SAME BOT SCRIPT RESPONSE OF "VPN/PROXY". they are literally commiting fraud at this point. this is how they treated me, like shit, as a four year customer who started this account back in 2017. im not ever trusting discord again. They think they can just screw users over and shove their bot responses up my butt. no wonder why people think the moderation is shit when it comes to SUPPORT staff. its because it is. i realize that now. so there goes my main years old account down the drain. i wont be reccomendeding this to anybody else, thats for sure. PSA:THEY WILL FORCE YOU TO HAND OVER PRIVATE INFORMATION SUCH AS YOUR PHONE NUMBER AT ANY POINT. THEY DONT CARE ABOUT THE CUSTOMER. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT MONEY AND THEIR OWN REPUTATION.
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This is, literally, the same response I got (word for word), and I got it from more than one department.
Originally, I filed it as a bug because I know there is nothing "out of the ordinary" going on with my account. At the same time, I also filed a request with customer service. After going back and forth with customer service a few times, it became clear I was dealing with a bot (very generic comments, never really addressing my specific concern, etc.).
I did get a reply that had various links I could use to get "additional help" but those seem to be bots, too. At this point, it seems like they are just giving me the runaround.
I like using Discord to communicate with my online friends, but I worry about giving Discord my phone number. I also worry about how they cling this policy when there are several others ways a user could verify their account. Looking through the forums, this has been an issue for a few years. It seems really shady to me.
The bottom line is that I created the account with my email, I originally verified it with my email, and I should be able to maintain it with my email. They talk about respecting users' privacy, and then they turn around and demand one of the most privacy violating pieces of information from their users. You give your phone number and they can get everything else - who you are, where you live, etc. No thanks.
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Not everyone even has a mobile device. Yesterday (8 April 2021) I hit this same roadblock, unable to access the various Discord servers I've joined. My ISP often switches my "login location" (IP address), at which time Discord would send me a log-in token by email. But as of yesterday, Discord is requiring a phone number to a mobile device. I have never had a mobile device and I have no plans on getting one. Well, chatting on Discord was nice while it lasted.
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If people knew what factors went into discords flagging system for marking users as bots, they could take the steps needed to get unflagged and people wouldint be forced to hand over their private info all the time "to verify your you" in this case their phone number. i know im the account holder, ive been so for 4+ years, they cannot have ANY REASON to flag me as a bot when ive been verified via EMAIL and dont even have any VPNS or PROXYS open or being used.
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Theres this thing called TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. Discord needs to learn how to use it and tell users what goes in their systems thought process and what comes out. it would stop accounts being flagged fraudulently for little to no reason. their reason of "for privacy reasons we cant tell you how our internal systems work" is copy pasted for EVERYTHING. bans, account reports, its like they are hiding their systems on purpose so they cant be blamed for anything and then they just claim user error or just say its our fault over and over and over again.
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At this point, I'm just trying to connect with a human who will listen to my situation and help me solve the problem.
So far, I'm just getting bot replies. I was hopeful that, after the problem was not solved, a human would eventually jump in. Unfortunately, it seems that their next move it to just close the help ticket and call it "solved" - even when it isn't.
I wonder if they have any humans in their "customer service" department. I suppose this is the future, but it is clear that their AI isn't there, yet. They should have a few humans there to keep an eye on things and pick up the slack.
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No luck.
The problem has not been resolved, but they marked it as solved. I tried to submit other requests, and they just automatically mark them as "solved" without even replying - even though it's still an issue. Discord "customer service" is a disgrace.
Good luck to the rest of you. You're going to need it...
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I'm having the same problem. I don't have a phone number to verify my account, and I won't be getting one for a while. Guess this is goodbye to my 4+ year old Discord account which has done ABSOLUTELY nothing shady for as long as it's lasted, it's simply been singled out for some reason after years of time has been put into it. What. The. Hell. Discord.
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i was FORCED to create an alt discord account through making a 2nd gmail account, while my first one is still held hostage because they want me to stupidly instantly give them my phone number despite me not having a cell phone yet and they wont take landlines or voip numbers either. Thats the ONLY OTHER SUGGESTION GIVEN BY THE SUPPOSED "HUMAN" ON SUPPORT, was to ditch make an alt account or give them my phone number. If your forced to leave your phone number in and it gets taken away the second you try to not associate it with your account hackers could blackmail you with it and discord could use it as leverage to force you to always use 2-factor authentication against your will, which is basically what criminals do, and what discord is trying to force you to do as well.
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Im dealing with same issue. Basically Discord flagged my phone and no matter what account i log in on my phone ... its instantly gets flagged with phone verification. I wrote them 2 times.. 2 weeks passed and no response at all. They totally ignoring. I can't use Discord on my phone and they dont even wanna tell me why my phone got flagged.
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same happened to me and they said its because of a vpn or proxy but when i switched to my laptop THEY SAID THE SAME DAMN THING. and i dont even have a phone so i have to rely on fake phone numbers to get my account back. was anyone able to complete this verification without a phone
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At this point Discord has shown how lazy they are when it comes to supporting their own userbase, and would rather just have a botnet sort through everything for them, giving them automated copypaste responses so no human beings ever need to explain themselves. Id just make a new account WHICH THEY SAID I COULD DO OTHERWISE. Its like they have predatory buisness practices and just target users like this in such a malicous way on purpose.
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The same thing happened to me today. I don't even use a VPN or something else like that and I know I won't get a phone anytime soon so this is really annoying I just want to join one of my friends discord.
After sometime my friend was somehow able to get rid of it but I still don't know why I got that thing in the first place.
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I am having the very same issue and even filed a formal complaint. I have so far gotten nowhere.
I have also been in contact with the information commissioners office as I believe forcing people to hand over sensitive personal data with a threat of barrier to access if they do not is illegal.
I have a phone but due to my location it only works when I am not at home, as it stands I am continuing to shield for medical reasons and have no service at home as a result. I even provided a screenshot of my phone clearly showing no service. They keep asking me to provide my number so they can see the ‘error message’ on their system so it’s clear they don’t believe me.
Discord as a platform is fantastic but it is grossly let down by barriers of access.
As a disabled person I find this discriminatory and will be getting advice about the legality of being pressured to hand over sensitive data that won’t make a difference where I have no network service and the barrier of access in my circumstances of needing to stay indoors and not being able to get network coverage unless I venture out into unsafe conditions just to satisfy Discord.
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Thats the same thing as discord server owners forcing people to give them your id in a screenshot just for the date of birth, which you can easily tell them what it is yourself by reading it out from the ID they claim "makes it more legit". if they want to verify my age, i have one answer, im going to Keep It Simple Stupid, meaning only what they NEED to know, which is dob, no Government issued ID or drivers lisence, with ciggarettes and alcohol it makes sense, discord as a whole and server owners doing it does not.
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They will take your Nitro money without phone verification though. Go figure.
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Note, replying from my 2nd account since the first one is disabled on the discord app and i told em flat out to delete the account if they are just going to go around disabling accounts whenever they want to malicously and forcing users to fork over their phone numbers or else never see their accounts again except on the forums.
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Forced 2 factor authentication is NEVER A GOOD IDEA!
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It's been six months for me and I don't think Discord is going to change their game plan. I'd delete my account but despite the fact that I can log in here, in Support, I don't have that option. It looks like I'll have to submit a request to have my account terminated.
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"Just had that happen today too! While i was using the app and trying to join a server or chat with friends it suddenly kicked me out of my account and forced me to give over my phone number if i wanted to access it. I used it for 4 years, why is it suddenly now deciding to flag my account for "being suspicous"? Plus as many other people have said if you dont have a usable phone that isint landline or voip, you're screwed. Update:THEY LITERALLY RESPONDED WITH THE SAME BOT SCRIPT RESPONSE OF "VPN/PROXY". they are literally commiting fraud at this point. this is how they treated me, a loyal customer, like shit, as a four year account holder who started back in 2016-2017. Im not ever trusting discord again. They think they can just screw users over and shove their bot responses down my throat. No wonder why people think the moderation is shit when it comes to SUPPORT staff. its because it is, and i realize that now. So there goes my main 4-5 year old account down the drain. i wont be reccomendeding this to anybody else, thats for sure. PSA:THEY WILL FORCE YOU TO HAND OVER PRIVATE INFORMATION SUCH AS YOUR PHONE NUMBER AT ANY POINT AND IF YOU DON'T THEY WILL DISABLE YOUR ACCOUNT AND DENY ACCESS PERMANENTLY. THEY DONT CARE ABOUT THE CUSTOMER. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT MONEY AND THEIR OWN REPUTATION." Repost from my old soon to be deleted account.
If people knew what factors went into discords flagging system for marking users as bots, they could take the steps needed to get unflagged and people wouldint be forced to hand over their private info all the time "to verify your you" in this case their phone number. i know im the account holder, ive been so for 4+ years, they cannot have ANY REASON to flag me as a bot when ive been verified via EMAIL and dont even have any VPNS or PROXYS open or being used. There's this thing called TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. Discord needs to learn how to use it and tell users what goes in their systems thought process and what comes out. it would stop accounts being flagged fraudulently for little to no reason. their reason of "for privacy reasons we cant tell you how our internal systems work" is copy pasted for EVERYTHING. bans, account reports, its like they are hiding their systems on purpose so they cant be blamed for anything and then they just claim user error or just say its our fault over and over and over again.10 -
2nd repost from months ago on the 2nd account:
Thats the same thing as discord server owners forcing people to give them your id in a screenshot just for the date of birth, which you can easily tell them what it is yourself by reading it out from the ID they claim "makes it more legit". if they want to verify my age, i have one answer, im going to Keep It Simple Stupid, meaning only what they NEED to know, which is dob, no Government issued ID or drivers lisence, with ciggarettes and alcohol it makes sense, discord as a whole and server owners doing it does not. At this point Discord has shown how lazy they are when it comes to supporting their own userbase, and would rather just have a botnet sort through everything for them,giving them automate copypaste responses so no human beings ever need to explain themselves. Id just make a new account WHICH THEY SAID I COULD DO OTHERWISE. Its like they have predatory buisness practices and just target users like this in such a malicous way on purpose.
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"It's been six months for me and I don't think Discord is going to change their game plan. I'd delete my account but despite the fact that I can log in here, in Support, I don't have that option. It looks like I'll have to submit a request to have my account terminated." just delete/terminate your account and when you use the service, apparently privacy is not a concern. I cautious to be extra carefull about what you do on discord, as they can and will flag your new account for seemingly any reason they want at any time.
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Your IP gets flagged along with your account and any subsequent account you make using that IP.. "We cannot reveal the inner workings of our detection system." Yet it's very very simple.
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Discord moderators I dont have a phone or a number, I just wanna hang out on discord and not verify and yes i already verify my email but noone can just verify their phone number please remove this cause im not making every alts as i can.10 -
I am having a similar issue. Someone obviously tried to use my phone number, or entered theirs 1 digit off and entered mine. It is utter insanity to allow someone ELSE to add MY phone number to their account when it is already attached to mine!!!!
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I think you all misunderstand the apathy here. Its not that they cannot fix the problem. They created the problem. They are never going to fix it because the purpose to implement this has NEVER been about "creating safety". It is and has always been about exploiting content creators and server admins into helping them creating a database of cellular tracking data of its users. This does NOTHING to protect anyone.
This is why this has been an issue with discord for at least the 3 years that discord forums have had people making this same complaint. Its not a technical problem they cant code. It is not a policy issue they cant adjust. It is not a security issue that they cannot provide for a logical alternative means of verification. They have known of this issue for years and have made no meaningful steps to correct it and they are not going to.
So if you still have access to discord (I still do but who knows for how long with policy escalation) make sure you dont do logical security things like use a VPN on the same machine as you use discord cause if you get stuck behind this verification, all signs point to there being no method of getting out from behind the wall. As for servers requiring this ridiculous level of security, your only hope is to speak to the respective server admin and get them to understand why this is a problem. If you have any method of even communicating with them at all.
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Thing is, it seems it “selects” you regardless. I don’t use VPNs or proxies and it still chose me. It’s nice to know that even if you are disabled and can’t even speak to use a phone they will still hold that verification over you. I’m out of options and idk what else to do honestly.
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(Canadian Catto?) I do not have a phone. I am not allowed a phone but I am allowed discord. I will submit another comment in a second. I need to gather my thoughts. But I am seriously disappointed with discord right now. (not Audrey she has been just giving me informtion)
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Today, I set up a second Discord account because there are some communities I'd like to participate in that I do not wish to have associated to this, my primary account.
I was also on a VPN at the time, and Discord is requesting phone verification on the second account. This is where I am stuck, because it doesn't just want a phone number for verification - it wants a unique phone number that is not associated with any other account, and I do not understand why this requirement is so restrictive.
While I did not see anything in the terms of service prohibiting a second account, the net effect of this very limiting requirement is that I am prevented from using the second account.
I don't mind giving Discord the same phone number for two accounts if Discord would allow for it. It's totally fair for Discord to know that I am the holder of both accounts. If I were to act poorly on the platform, Discord would be well within their rights to block any and all accounts that I have. But I want to keep separation between the communities in which I might participate, and that's why I want a second account.
I tried using a VoiP number for verification, but that was rejected; that's too bad, because competing platform Telegram allows verification with VoiP numbers. (There was a short time a few years ago where they blocked these, but they reversed that decision.) So in comparison to Telegram, here also, Discord is curiously restrictive.
I hope that this feedback is seen by a product/policy manager who understands how the current policy is a problem for customers who would like to legitimately have multiple accounts for privacy concerns.
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If you use a vpn when making an account it gets auto flagged and suspended until you provide your phone number. no voip numbers, has to be from tmobile, samsung,etc, ie an actual phone carrier, and your phone number has to be kept on there permanently, just request the account gets deleted and when u make one dont have your vpn on until after you login to it, best advice i can give.
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