Account disabled due to fraud detection -- why?

Hi DH community --

I'm hoping someone here can help, possibly you had a similiar experience in the past. I'm really interested in using DH because I heard good things and it's at a good price. But when I signed up I found that my account was pending approval for too many days. After contacting support, they eventually told me its because of their auto fraud detection. But I have not done anything fradualent, my credit card is mine, my name is mine, my email is mine, everything is legit.

The customer support did not elaborate on details. So I am left with no website and no explanation. What should I do?

Wait for their response. Don't take it personally - this is very common these days and not just at Dreamhost.

Ask 'em what you can do to come clean, like maybe fax the fax form.

http://www.dreamhost.com/fax/

in which country are you from ?

Thanks everyone for the quick responses and support.

I will continue waiting for them to respond to my query for more info.

I am from USA.

I will ask them about faxing (http://www.dreamhost.com/fax/). That's a great idea.

I did ask them what I can do to come clean but have not gotten a response.

when they say that it is because of fraud detection, it does not mean the fraud detection of you. It could be triggered by somebody in your region.

You did pay for the hosting plan right. I think you can attach your receipt and tell DH support that they have already charged and you should have the hosting.

I paid using Google Checkout. It was quite straight forward. Good luck

Hi Patricktan -- they refunded my money through Google Checkout.

It is really strange.

Did anybody else use your card or your google account before?

Can't think of any reason :(

There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to much of the fraud detection system - not that you can see as a customer anyways. You should be able to sign up again, and hopefully things will go through this time... unless support offered specific instructions to sign up?



--Matttail
art.googlies.net - personal website

DH Community, I am pleading for your help.

I took the advice of one of the posters and went through the process again and was successfully able to set up a site. (The first time, it said my account was pending approval for many days).

I was very happy and thought now I can move on. But today I get an email from Brett at DH security saying this:

"I'm afraid our decision is final and we unfortunately cannot provide you
with any more information. We have refunded your most recent Google
Checkout payment, made today. Please let us know if we can assist you
further."

Their decision is final! I have a huge thread with them asking in every possible way how I can prove that I am legit. I only want to set up a dang blog! What is this so hard.

Can someone out there please help me out. I really appreciate the support so far.

In reply to:

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"I'm afraid our decision is final and we unfortunately cannot provide you with any more information. We have refunded your most recent Google Checkout payment, made today. Please let us know if we can assist you further."

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Well, that message is pretty clear to me - it looks like they are not going to give you any additional information.

In reply to:

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Their decision is final! I have a huge thread with them asking in every possible way how I can prove that I am legit. I only want to set up a dang blog! What is this so hard.

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It doesn't appear that they want to host you; that is their prerogative. If you have a "huge thread" of discussion with them, and that has resulted in the opening paragraph of their post, it seems pretty clear to me that there is not much left to "discuss". As for your blog, there are *lots* of hosts other than Dreamhost - my suggestion is to use another hosting company and recognize that further argument with DH about this appears to be about as productive as "feeding a dead horse" at this point.

In reply to:

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Can someone out there please help me out. I really appreciate the support so far.

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Other than commiserating with you, I'm not sure what anyone here can do for you - this is a customer-to-customer forum only rarely visited by DH staffers.

I guess what I don't understand why this is such a big deal for you...just host your blog elsewhere and get on with it.

--rlparker

We feel so sad about it but can't do anything.

Since DH does not give any more information, I think you have to choose another hosting server.

Nobody knows what happend :(

Maybe I am not understanding the situation correctly since I have never had fraud problems with credit cards. However, could this situation be solved by paying for services with a money order? or via check or have a friend purchase a gift certificate for you, etc.

Sure there would be a wait period, but if the only reason why Dream Host denied services is b/c of fraud suspicions/protection issues - why not try another payment method?

The only other downsides I can see would be if a credit card was your only option to make payments with and/or if there were other reasons why Dream Host denied services.

I'm not trying to be rude or condescending, but merely trying to offer a different approach to the situation.

Good Luck,
User24

In reply to:

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if the only reason why Dream Host denied services is b/c of fraud suspicions/protection issues - why not try another payment method?

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I understand your thinking, and your suggestion *might* be a good one, but I think we should all realize that we *don't know* what the actual problem might be,.

"Fraud" might not be involved so much with the payment process as it might be with the identity of the purchaser. DH is concerned with issues such as copyright infringement and spam as well as with the issue of getting paid, and if they feel that one is being less than candid in identifying themselves, they may very well just treat the whole sign-up as being "fraudulent" (you are not who you say you are?) and elect not to do business with you with no further discussion.

Of course, I have no idea if any such concerns apply to the original poster, but I think is is worth noting that this is a possibility.

--rlparker

Hi everyone. I am the original poster. I believe I finally have some closure on this issue as the reason for my account rejection has become apparent.

After going back and forth with the fraud department, they said they cannot "go into detail into all of the criteria we use in our fraud checking tools" but it was revealed that it was indeed my home address that was a primary reason for considering my account as fraudulent.

I admit it, I am to blame, I did in fact put a fake address in my account registration as I tried to be a "savvy web user" and avoid spam / identity theft / various other bad things I don't even know about. I didn't expect someone would actually review this information. So I am to at fault, I accept this, and I will now move on. I am not bitter; in fact, I actually tip my hat to the DH fraud department because I am really impressed that they actually reviewed my home address information.

So, so long DH, I'm in the process of picking up a lunarpages account. Believe me, they will get the right information.

Note to future DH users: USE ACCURATE INFORMATION FOR YOUR ACCOUNT REGISTRATION. Or you may be banned for life, like me.

thanks for the follow up, mattrs.

we are glad you clean up your problems.

> Or you may be banned for life

Thanks for the warning. A permanent do not host list... hopefully they don't share it now, but when DH "owns" the hosting world (with Google), you'll be in sad shape... and you thought "do not fly" was a pain. Seriously though, Sorry it didn't work out for you.

.......

In reply to:

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it was revealed that it was indeed my home address that was a primary reason for considering my account as fraudulent. I admit it, I am to blame, I did in fact put a fake address in my account registration...

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I think you are to be commended for sharing with others what the problem turned out to be, having started the thread.

Doing that takes a certain degree of integrity and I'm impressed with your honesty and candor. A lot of others might have just protested that they were unfairly treated and left it at that.

*You* are professional about the situation and show respect for those who replied to you by posting what you now know to be the source of the problem (and not blaming DH for it). Your doing so will very likely spare others the same frustration and confusion you experienced.

It's unfortunate that it ended the way that it did; I think I understand what you were thinking when you put in the fake address. I suspect that, in the past, many of us have done the same.

Times appear to be changing, and it seems that *many* online service providers are now a lot more careful about being able to place a "real" name/address to those they provide service to, and we are just going to have to live with it *or* get a lot more sophisticated ourselves.

I hope you find a good home at your new host, and wish you the best of luck with your blog!

--rlparker

Yes, thank you for the follow up.
I like it when people follow up here on the Dream Host forum it provides education for folks that like to help others as well as for new people to Dream Host.

I'm also glad that Dream Host provided you with some closure - that info will enable you to know what not to do next time. :) It definitely is hard to stay net-savvy & steps ahead of the "malicious" folks out there trying to harm other internet users. And I too am glad to know that Dream Host is trying to provide as secure of an environment as possible.

Good luck with your hosting at lunarpages.

"I understand your thinking, and your suggestion *might* be a good one, but I think we should all realize that we *don't know* what the actual problem might be"

I don't think any of us were trying to claim that we knew what the problem actually was.

I only suggested the alternative payment methods because I know that sometimes my payments online do not go through and I have to contact my credit card company because to them it might seem as if someone that is not me is involved with the vast purchases online. I buy very - very heavily online. :)

I fully understand why my credit card company would put the brakes on my online purchases and say ...whoa wait a minute we better make sure that this person really is the owner of the card and not someone on a huge internet shopping spree. I didn't know if this happened with Dream Host and perhaps they felt apprehensive about OK'ing the credit card transaction. So that really was the only reason why I suggested alternative payments - another approach to consider.

And I agree with you - I too believe it is worth noting possibilities for an original poster to consider. :)



Edited by User24 on 05/18/07 01:12 AM (server time).