Briefly describe your issue:
I can’t verify my account with a custodian (Gemini) and I am no longer getting rewards added for BAT. I am not given any reason for this.
What Operating System and Brave version are you using (Menu --> About Brave)?
I’m using Windows 10 and Brave version is Version 1.47.171 Chromium: 109.0.5414.87 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Is your browser wallet currently verified? (yes/no)
No, I can’t verify because I’m flagged
What date did you verify your wallet?
I have not verified because I am unable.
Have you been able to successfully receive payments in the past?
I have not tried.
Are you using a VPN? (yes/no)
I have before but am not currently
Are you eligible for Brave Rewards (see here for list of supported regions)?
Yes
Are you on the list of supported regions when verifying Brave Rewards with a custodial partner (see here for list of supported regions)?
Yes
Does your device pass the SafteyNet check (Android only)?
Yes
Have you manually turned off Auto-contribute on all of your devices linked to a custodial partner?
Very likely this is the reason why you are flagged.
My suggestion: submit an appeal to Brave support using the link below. Maybe you are lucky and they unflag your profile. But be prepared that if they have enough evidences that you have violated the terms and conditions, your request may be refused.
There are some moderators. But, if you want to get personalised support you should contact the support team, not the community.
By opening a support ticket your issue will be in their list and someone will look at it.
It may take some time to get an answer though. Waiting one or two weeks is not unusual.
Yes, but in order to help they need to know things like your Wallet Payment ID and everything. The information they request is usually best not given publicly, just to keep things as secure as possible.
In most cases, Support here just would ask you to submit a ticket. For example:
I understand that VPNs are sometimes used by morons trying to commit fraud but come on… this is, among several other things, a privacy-first browser. VPNs aren’t a privacy tool but they are used by a lot of the audience that would use Brave for its privacy features. I understand doing this with shady, less reputable VPNs but this isn’t cool. I use Proton VPN and thus that’s probably why mine got flagged. Thankfully, Brave support seemed to fix the issue with zero hassle but still, there’s really no reason to auto-flag VPN users in the first place.
Brave does not auto flag for using a VPN. It has been loud and clear by the Rewards product manager and many people within Brave that using a VPN in itself will not get you flagged.
What can and will get you flag is using a VPN to bypass regional restrictions. We are shown ads based on our location. As we change our IP address, it spoofs the location and we are given ads for other regions. This screws over the advertisers if Brave doesn’t catch it. Because advertisers are paying to target people in particular regions, and who are using specific Operating systems
For this purpose, it has always been suggested to anyone that uses a VPN should do so in their own region. So if you are in India, use a VPN for India. If you’re not going to do that, then it would be wise to pause Brave rewards during the time that you were going to be using a VPN to appear as if you are outside of your region.
Even at that, it takes a little bit more than just simply using a VPN to appear outside of your region. The amount of time that you use it, and how much it appears that you’re doing so to defraud Brave plays a part as well. If it appears like you are using the VPN only to watch Netflix, you’ll likely be fine. But if you are using the VPN to appear in a different region that is far from you, and would cause you to have high latency, but yet you never connect to any other areas, it’s going to be assumed that you’re doing that for the wrong reason because it makes no logical sense otherwise
Note
I’m tired and don’t feel like proofreading. I just did everything speech to text. Hopefully it came out accurately. If there’s any typos, or grammatical errors, I might worry about it later. Just wanted to at least say the info above.
You can manually set your location for ad relevance, though. Why would using a VPN flag you for that? I have Proton VPN set to automatically connect to the fastest server and I’ve noticed I often get one in the Netherlands (despite being from the US), which must be why it was flagged.
This is what I’m referring to, doesn’t that affect the way the ads are served? Sorry if that’s a ridiculous question, just not entirely sure how this works.
Not in the way you’re thinking. If you ever click on it, you’ll see that it narrows down areas within your region. For example, I’m in the United States. So what it does it let me pick a state. It would help narrow down a bit. However, that doesn’t really work.
Up until now, Brave has always relied on the device locale and your IP address to serve ads. Even now, with us choosing our own country, it’s still relying on our IP address to serve ads. They are talking about changing how this works but also torn on which way to go about it. For example:
Thought 1 = Ads will be generated based on the country a person is verified. This will continue even if they visit or move to a different country. This also would help for people who consistently use VPN outside of their region, so they wouldn’t be flagged.
Thought 2 = Ads will be served only while IP matches region that the person has verified with. Brave Ads (Rewards) will pause when they use VPN to appear outside of their region, go on vacation, or anything of the sort. This will prevent people from being flagged based on this but obviously may impact earnings.
Thought 3 = A combination of the above or some other alternative.
I know these were shared with me over 6 months ago and is something that Brave is still deciding on and trying to implement. Until then though, it leans heavily on our IP address to determine which ads to show us. So when IP bounces around (especially when it doesn’t match our device [Locale] region settings ), it creates issues and can be seen as fraud.
Okay, I know said this a couple times on other replies, but now I really am going to go to bed lol. Will respond to anything more you mention sometime after I wake up.
I am from the UK but a year ago I moved to Ireland. I live close to the border between Ireland and the UK. I also have a UK address still.
I use a VPN (Nord VPN) at present and when browsing I browse via a UK endpoint. I do this because I want to see UK versions of sites etc. I’m not up to anything shady I just am more interested in the country I am from and which I am still closely connected to.
Is there any point in my trying to get my account “unflagged”?
