PSA: Flagged accounts issue (August 2023 update)

Brave Rewards
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This has been resolved. See PSA: Flagged accounts issue (August 2023 update) - #15 by Saoiray

Original Post:

I’ll give what information I can here but might be vague in some aspects because I’m either missing information or haven’t been told I can share openly. But I do want to give an update, especially as some are still effected.

Last month I created a topic, PSA: Current Rewards Issues (June 2023) *UPDATED*, which explained how antifraud had made changes to the system which ended up “casting the net too wide” as one of the staff mentioned. It resulted in picking up more people and activity than intended and they went back to make modifications.

Support worked with them and responded to all tickets, trying to reinstate everyone they saw may have had a false positive. This is where many of you received replies saying that you should expect your payments here in August.

All of this was true based on what they and antifraud were working on for everyone. Nobody lied. However, a new issue rose its head and one of the plans they had to relieve this issue for everyone had to be put aside.

The result? Some of you either ended up flagged again or never actually had your account reinstated even though they intended to have it reinstated.

All of this is frustrating as heck, not only for you guys but for everyone over at Brave. Trust me when I tell you they don’t have a lot of fun or joy from having to read tickets and help resolve your issues. Ideally they want things to work smoothly as well so they can relax a bit and work on making additions to the browser. And no, there’s no scam. It’s just been a tough year or so as a lot of changes are being made and new systems prepared for the future. We’re just having to get through some of these glitches and all.

I guess what matters here is the following:

  • If you were told your account won’t be reinstated, that’s still true. They haven’t said there was any issue there and they are confident that anyone who they said will remain flagged will remain that way. So if you’re one of those people, no tickets or topics are required.

  • If you were told your account would be reinstated and to expect payment but it hasn’t arrived, then you’re likely one of the people caught up in the issues they had. My suggestion to you is to either reply here with your ticket number that they replied to when they said your account would be reinstated -OR- create your own topic with your ticket number and explaining that you were told to expect payment but it never arrived. Steeven, Evan123, or other staff should be able to look back on that ticket and try to resolve it.

I know this is frustrating. While I don’t work at Brave, I still want to apologize on their behalf for everyone who has been inconvenienced. It’s frustrating and the idea that they don’t often make announcements on issues can raise raise frustrations to new levels as you think you’re being ignored or that it’s them taking advantage of you. That’s not the case.

I have had discussions with Chriscat, Brendan Eich, and Luke Mulks on this and they all are giving this issue their full attention. They can’t promise it will be fixed this month (though they certainly are trying) but they have said it’s a not a cycle they want to see repeat (or rather, they are making sure it’s not going to be a cycle). Currently they are having the teams work very hard to be able to better identify the “bad actors” from the rest and to get final touches on the systems, all while trying to get accounts reinstated. Though keep in mind that antifraud systems will always be a work in progress and won’t ever be perfect.

If you think of it like plants, it’s them trying to find and kill the weeds. Sometimes they (weeds) are not easy to find and if they don’t get to the roots, then the weeds will just keep coming back. And unfortunately sometimes spraying to kill the weeds can kill the surrounding grass and/or flowers. That’s kind of what’s going on now.

So again, I apologize for your inconveniences and just ask once more that those of you having issues try to remain patient a bit longer. Though make sure you do share ticket number or, if you haven’t already done so, make sure you are creating a Rewards Support Ticket at https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360001302431 so they can investigate and try to resolve your issue(s).

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Just because you say no scam doesn’t mean there is no scam , why do we get punished for 4 months of no payments? when its clearly a you issue , so in my mind until you pay what you owe , I’VE BEEN SCAMMED a few $ and it doesn’t matter if it was a few cents i’ve still been scammed and brave have profited of this issue they created . I’m still out after all the people i recommended and now i got a lot of answering to do thanks .

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As I said in the weed analogy, nothing is perfect. Brave is doing its part to prevent fraud and to protect the ecosystem so we can all earn. Unfortunately some people get caught in it. Sometimes the system automatically reconciles and removes the flagged status, but it’s often quicker to create support tickets.

I do know you’ve only been here at Brave Community for just 4 days. I don’t know if you used a different account or you’re new here. But if you haven’t sought support, then it makes it harder for you to be assisted. Have you ever actually created a support ticket? And if so, what did they tell you?

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SO yes I created multiple support tickets but was ignored because it was under the wrong section .Any decent person could’ve sent it to the right department or went above and beyond and dealt with it first hand .
They chose not to ,so I had to come here and fish around to find the answer to a problem I didn’t create and got penalised for .Then the account gets reinstated and am told I forfeit all rewards for being falsely flagged.
I don’t care if you stole only 1 cent you’re never welcome in my house and brave is not on my computers or phones anymore .

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And how did you come to that conclusion? Did you receive a response to something? And how did you do the support ticket?

So big question is, are you here to get help or you just here to troll and complain?

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why do we get punished for 4 months of no payments?

You’ve only been locked out for 4 months?

It’s been like a year for me, at the very least. I lost count, honestly. Just decided to hop on here just now and check and see if there was any resolution or if anybody found a fix yet.

Same boat too. I’ve recommended this browser numerous time to friends, family, colleagues, even customers at work. Think i’m honestly just going to uninstall, tell everyone nevermind and just use Edge.

Guess all good things must come to an end eventually. It was cool while it lasted though.

Edit:

Incase this could help anyone to figure out their issue, this is my interaction with “support”. (May 12, 2023)

"Error: Brave Rewards profile is flagged
Unfortunately, your Brave Rewards profile has been flagged, and you’re not able to verify with a custodian at this time. This flag can sometimes be due to irregular Brave Ads activity, though it can also be a false positive.

Note that while your Brave Rewards profile is flagged, you won’t be able to verify.

No action is required on your part. Your Brave Rewards profile will be automatically reevaluated on a regular basis to determine when (or if) the flag can be removed. Please try again every so often to see if the flag has been removed"

Per the Help Center article, I’ve been very patient and doing exactly as suggested.

“How do I get unflagged?
As we make changes and improve our automated flagging systems, some previously flagged Rewards profiles will be reevaluated to determine whether their flags can be removed. If you’ve been flagged, you can try again from time to time to see if the flag on your profile has been removed.”

It has been several months now, maybe close to a year, I’ve lost track.

Would very much appreciate having this matter promptly resolved and if possible, please provide some insight as to what could have caused this so that I know what to avoid in the future, should the flag be removed.

I would also like to note a few things here;

  1. I did change my Uphold email address some months back, though I am unsure if the flag occurred prior or post the email change.

  2. I see this error also on my mobile device
    Samsung S10 | Android OS v13 | Brave App version: 1.51.110

  3. I am still receiving the occasional BAT deposits from Brave to my Uphold, though not too sure if it’s from my Desktop or Mobile application.

Their response: (May 15, 2023)

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to Brave Support.

This should now be resolved.

You will now be able to earn Rewards for viewing Ads if verified in an eligible region. Please note it may take up to an hour to process.

Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Thank you for your continued support!

Brave Team

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Have you not made another ticket since then or anything? Or Back around May is the last contact you’ve had and made no additional attempts?

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Hey here is my ticket number #204603 @Saoiray

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sigh. I didn’t even know I could put in a ticket. The Flag message doesn’t even suggest it. I don’t know how long I was flagged before I noticed it. #215634

Edit: Looking at the reards internals page, it looks like I was flagged on 7/11.

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I’ve been using brave for years and not a month has gone without reading about payment issues, i even advertised it on my youtube channel and people are taking me responsible for brave’s shitty anti fraud system banning them, on top of that I’ve been flagged as well last month and been told i will remain flagged for doing nothing, whole thing is a joke

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@penguin-6 yes, it’s a big problem recently. We have BAT Ambassadors and all who are flagged as well. It’s definitely gotten on the radar and teams are working on fixing it. Also executives are trying to speak with teams on changing some of the processes, including changing the notice for those who are flagged. I know that I and others have brought issues to them before, but nothing came out of it. This time it’s big enough and has had enough noise that we’re seeing movement. Just is going to take a bit more patience here.

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Hello !
There is my ticket reference : 207487.
I asked about my June earnings, that I finally received (even if it’s far less than expected) but now, I didn’t receive the July earnings.
But if the issues of everybody is planned to be resolved automatically, don’t worry about me !
It’s not as if my incomes depend on it :grin:
I especially wanted to post here to wish to the Brave team good luck ! As a developer myself, I can imagine really well the nightmare they are in…
Good luck to you too @Saoiray, it’s also not easy to face angry (legitimated or not) people…

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Recieved the reply that my acc would be reinstated, but still not able to login and no payment on gemini either since may

ticket no: 205629

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I’ve come to the news, and I can link my Uphold account again (since probably the 15th).
In any case, thank you for solving the problem, in the end it was just a matter of waiting.
Edit : Could it be fate, after sending this, I receive my June winnings XD

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UPDATE: August 18, 2023

Still can’t say too much, but do have some very good news for everyone. Brave has been going through tickets and also analyzing things on the system side. Many of you should notice your accounts have been reinstated and payments pushed through. That said, there are two things to note:

  1. If you are told in a new reply that your account will not be reinstated, this will still be true. These decisions were made after a careful review of your account.

  2. They are still reviewing some accounts. So if you’re still having issues but not received a reply, then know they are still working their way through things and you’ll get answers when they get to you and complete their investigation.

Regardless of which side of things you’re on, I believe they said you should receive an email soon as confirmation. Again, they are continuing to improve on the system and accuracy. There are no promises issues won’t occur again, but they are certainly doing everything they can to prevent it.

Thanks again for your patience and understanding through this frustration.

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See, this is what I said. Your software algorithm for detecting “fraud” is just poorly written. That’s why you’re spending your time triaging dozens of posts a week, and now you’re even admitting that it was overkill. There’s been multiple rounds of “we are reinstating your accounts” suggesting that the original detection were way too strict.

I’m still trying to figure out if my account got re-flagged again, but if it really did, then it really boils down to the two times being flagged are when It traveled abroad–once for vacation, once for business. Yes I do use VPNs because why wouldn’t you on public internet? I even avoided using Brave this more recent trip because I thought that would trigger some Brave fraud detection because I’m “overseas.” I know you keep saying VPN use won’t get you flagged, but potentially a combination of being overseas, using a VPN is enough, which is why I feel your detection is likely overkill.

And of course because you cannot be transparent on why users are getting flagged, many of us innocent users can only complain in frustration. I really think that for the vast majority of Brave Rewards since exchanges could be connected, there’s been nothing but frustration ranging from payouts not showing up, accounts getting banned, not being able to connect with exchanges, etc. I’m not even one of the users of products who generally has a lot of problems, and I’m surprised just how buggy and problematic Brave Rewards has been.

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I’ve had the same missing payouts/flagged account issue. My first ticket (205946) in early July was in regard to missing my May/June/July payments. I received a response saying it would be resolved during the August payout.

A few days after this, my account was flagged and I created another ticket (207842). I received a reply saying my case was reviewed and I would receive my payment/be unflagged by the August payout.

I created another ticket (214416) on August 10th to follow up (I’m still flagged and the last payout I received was for April) but haven’t heard back yet.

I know the team is swamped with this issue and are working like crazy to get it fixed. After lurking for a while and seeing that people have had success posting their ticket numbers, I thought I would try too.

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@Sprockets they just did mass unflagging yesterday. I know they are still combing through a lot of stuff. Hopefully you’ll be seeing yours soon. But if nothing else, at least we have ticket numbers here. I’ll tag in @Evan123 and @steeven on this just so they can look at yours and perhaps also double check on whoever else has commented on this topic with ticket numbers.

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Thanks so much! I really appreciate you doing that and all the support/updates you’ve been providing!

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@Evan123 Hope all is well. No change here so following up on ticket # 214310 please?