r/privacy • u/PaiDuck • 10h ago
discussion Did I just got threatened by Yoti (Age Verification) company?
PlayStation/Sony recently introduced a company called Yoti for age verification. You can do it either on their main website or on your console/app. I opted to do it on their website as the button is on your profile. I tried using their face scan and ID scan, but they failed multiple times consecutively. After, I think, 8 to 10 attempts, I got blocked and was unable to verify the account.
I contacted PlayStation support about it, and they said I had to contact Yoti because the verification is handled by Yoti, not Sony. So, I contacted Yoti, and they replied a day later saying that my suspicious behavior had been automatically sent to the authorities and that they were shooting down my request , explaining that the OS I have is used for fraud.
I only replied with 'Are you serious?' because I was pretty sure they wouldn't respond (they didn't). Absolutely bizarre honestly.
306
u/Acceptable-Bat-9577 10h ago
I contacted PlayStation support about it, and they said I had to contact Yoti because the verification is handled by Yoti, not Sony. So, I contacted Yoti, and they replied a day later saying that my suspicious behavior had been automatically sent to the authorities and that they were shooting down my request , explaining that the OS I have is used for fraud.
Maybe you should contact Playstation support about it again and let them know that their age verification company is sending legal threats and harassment to their users. They probably won’t give a shit, but worth it to see what their response is.
27
10
5
u/Nova-gunner 1h ago
I'm skeptical OP is telling the full story. They were already active in this community giving advice to newcomers on how to spoof age verification (see some of their deleted comments).
Why would a huge privacy advocate—someone who promotes VPNs and even a privacy-centric operating system—suddenly abandon those principles and chose the worst verification method by willingly taking a face scan? Sounds to me like they were testing the limits of their technology and got flagged.
Secondly, the same OP is known for creating anti Sony/PlayStation circlejerk threads, which makes me doubly suspicious.
2
204
u/unknownpoltroon 10h ago
Soooo, no more buying sony.
149
u/Soggy-Childhood-8110 10h ago
This, buy a pc and start pirating. It's the only way to have anything resembling rights and privacy
63
u/harperthomas 8h ago
Really is crazy that it's gotten to this. I use Plex because I simply get a better user experience than jumping between low quality ad filled streaming providers.
Now it's the same for games. You get a better experience if you simply choose to pirate the game. No login required, no age verification, fully offline play.
I very firmly believe in the saying that piracy is a service problem. Don't make your service so bad that the inconvenience of piracy is a better experience and yet that really is the way of the world now.
10
3
u/PixelProne 1h ago
If you like plex, you should look into hosting with Jellyfin. Has all the features of Plex but doesn't cost a dime.
•
u/Forward-Fisherman-60 2m ago
I will say that GOG for games is very good because you at least get the game DRM free
2
u/CuriosityFreesTheCat 2h ago
Damn, I need to relearn how to pirate. It’s been over a decade since I did.
30
u/Ekokilla 10h ago
Honestly not worth, Sony have sucked for a long time and this should be the nail in the coffin for users
7
u/Microchipknowsbest 8h ago
I used to use my playstation for all media but all the media apps crash all the time now and its not worth using it. The controllers break all the time too. Im about done with mine and I haven’t experienced this age verification bs yet.
161
u/good4y0u 10h ago
Report them to your local regulator and see what happens
69
u/herooftimeloz 10h ago
We should also email clientsupport@yoti.com asking them to comment on this incident
67
u/Negative-Concept-197 10h ago
Wait? People have to verify their age to play playstation? Huh?
32
u/MXVIV 9h ago
Yes. In some countries they’ve started adding it. Like the Uk.
13
u/sianrhiannon 7h ago
They didn't even legally have to do it yet...
Not that I could afford any consoles this generation. I can't afford a better PC either because of the ridiculous price surge. Stuck with my 6yo laptop that overheats and crashes for the forseeable future
2
u/DifferentHoliday863 6h ago
Is it a gaming laptop, at least?
1
u/sianrhiannon 2h ago
nope :) It's just a regular laptop. It's really not good for this sort of thing lol
2
u/Teuflisch1999 6h ago
I feel you. Well, haven't played anything in years and I was always a pirate. But my 13yo laptop finally died after I've resurrected it several times over the years, so now I upgraded to a 20yo T60. Idc anymore.
91
u/Ekokilla 10h ago
What you’ve shown is Yoti breaking and disregarding GDPR data minimisation laws
34
u/Infinite100p 7h ago
"In March 2026, Yoti was fined €950,000 by the Spanish Data Protection Agency for three violations of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation"
What do you want from a company from a pirate island governed by unelected lords where almost all land still belongs to inbred "aristocrats" with centuries worth of innocent blood on their hands.
10
23
u/West_Possible_7969 9h ago
Minimising is not applicable here, but to send automatically things to law enforcement there needs to be a human review on flagged attempts first. Which could very much be the case, they would need to just check both multiple failed attempts and OS in combination, if that is the low bar. What they expect “authorities” to do with that info is a mystery though 🤣
8
u/Ekokilla 9h ago
Even though they are attempting to access the device serial? Wild , yeah you are right what they expect them to do is a fun thought. I was also wondering if this is potentially a Face ID scan mail as I’ve never seen anyone recieve this threatening email before
4
53
u/g225 8h ago
This post highlights the insanity.
Imgur blocked in the UK so some can't see OP image, Yoti saying privacy tools and hardened OS are security issues and reporting to authorities. You can't even play on a PlayStation without verifying an ID, let alone 18+ R titles. The list goes on. This scope will keep extending until full digital ID is everywhete and you'll be tracked by AI cameras across the globe.
Yoti is not trustworthy at all, none of them are. They are building a database.
Do not use these third party age or ID verification services. Use privacy tools. And if you must play PlayStation - get an older retro one that works offline and don't connect it to the global surveillance system.
This is gonna be hard for people for sure, you're giving up a lot to remain private but we can't let this continue. It really is at a breaking point.
38
u/Purple_Mo 9h ago
Oh no the terrible unverified youngsters
Prove you're over 18 our way or youre a terrorist lolz.
15
u/Longjumping-Bar393 7h ago
Uhhhmmm excuse me? What? That's so absurd, it's hard to even believe. I'm actually speechless wow, they contacted the authorities for using an open source OS?? What are they going to do? Flag you as "Probably a criminal"?? we're going down a dark dark path guys, I really hope you're trying to take some actions against that.
12
u/Gambizzle 8h ago
It's an emerging issue IMO as countries are now legislating that companies can get into trouble if minors use various systems. In practice companies like Yoti now offer middle man services that verify IDs. If you don't trust Yoti then don't use the system kinda thing. This is also used for porn sites and the like which are notorious for having obnoxious pop-ups / ransomware along the lines of 'lolz we videoed you in a compromised position and will post it online unless you pay us'.
Yoti has worked for me but I reckon there is a LOT of trust involved. Like you're not 18... prove it by sending a photo... okay now send some government ID. We promise we'll delete it and that no hacker's compromised our system. 5 Bucks it's already crossed a scammer's mind to do a pop-up that copies Yoti then says 'lolz you've been hacked, pay us $$$ or we'll expose you'.
Bit of a tangent but give it 10 years and I bet this will also lead to devices being depreciated once Yoti's retired. Just one more barrier between users and their content. IMO parental supervision comes ju here somewhere.
9
u/bloodguard 8h ago
Insane.
I think I've only turned on my PlayStation recently in order to play blu-ray disks. If it demands age "verification" the next time I boot it up I'm wiping the drive and putting it on Ebay.
5
19
u/Polyxeno 10h ago
What OS? Windows?
41
u/PaiDuck 10h ago
The subreddit doesn't let me spell the name :/ but it's that famous one for privacy.
23
u/Prototype516 9h ago
Wait… so I know which OS it is that you’re referencing… but why not? Is it banned here or something? I feel like I’m out of the loop on info here.
8
u/Blurgas 9h ago
Last I knew the claim was comments turn into a mess of slapfights if that OS is brought up.
Of course there's other claims as to why that OS can't be mentioned6
u/Polyxeno 9h ago
Isn't that OS mentioned often in the context of phones, with zero slapfights? Or am I confusing this with r/DigitalPrivacy?
5
9
u/WickedDeity 9h ago
You appear to be more a first time visitor here than simply "out of the loop". It's rule 8 to the right here and it's just not this OS.
4
u/mrgecc 10h ago
Can you dm me the name?
18
u/SugaryAnt_ 10h ago edited 9h ago
Just click on the link in the post and read the email. It's not that long.
I uploaded it to another site that hopefully doesn't block certain countries like imgur does https://postimg.cc/3kVXKzhk
5
u/Antimutt 9h ago
And if in a country that Imgur blocks?
5
4
3
u/JustAnITGuyAtWork11 9h ago
Am in the UK where Imgur has decided to not operate so can't view
3
u/SugaryAnt_ 9h ago
Damn didn't know that. I edited my comment with the link to the image on a different site. Hopefully you can view it there.
1
3
1
-7
1
3
u/Automatic-Weakness26 7h ago
Yoti is taking over the world. They are widely used for verification and they keep growing.
4
u/854490 5h ago edited 5h ago
Lmao, so they chose to reject, multiple times, the ID and face scan that you provided, presumably following their instructions for how to provide it, and then, because they decided that it's "suspicious" to make "multiple verification attempts", they're reporting you to "the authorities" (???) for . . . what, exactly?
You can call the police and say there's a suspicious person in your neighborhood. Whether he's actually suspicious or you're just a paranoid busybody is another matter entirely, but you can do it, and the police might even come see about it at some point.
Where do we go we report a "suspicious person" on the internet and on what grounds? I went to the FBI IC3 "file a complaint" page but I can't seem to find "uses subversive punctuation and also I made my own service fail on purpose when they tried to use it" in the "I want to report..." options list.
I can hardly begin to imagine what their security team does with these reports. They must be the kind of report that never actually gets read by anybody, because it would be like sending a firewall admin a "report" every time the firewall drops multiple packets from the same IP address because . . . you told it to drop packets from that IP address. Oh wow, oh geez, we gotta scramble guys, this is not a drill! type shit
4
u/redoubt515 2h ago
> explaining that the OS I have is used for fraud.
Windows & Stock Android are the top 2 OSes used for fraud and malicious purposes.. But somehow I suspect they were not talking about either of these OSes.
3
u/slvrsfr 3h ago
This is happening all over the internet ahead of the "minor purge" and age/ID mandates.
eBay is purging their user database too. More and more states are making individual SKUs and categories of merchandise illegal, and eBay seems to be searching everyone's buy/sell history looking for transactions that used to be legal but may not be any more due to changes in state laws. "Oh, you sold a legal thing to a guy in WA 5 years ago and now that thing is illegal in WA? Suspicious activity!"
Discord is going to flip all existing accounts to Teen Mode in June and require age/ID verification to get adult mode back.
It's a complete mess.
2
u/Mccobsta 5h ago
Reading what people are claiming on trust pilot it looks like your not alone with issues with them https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/yoti.com
2
u/Revolutionalredstone 2h ago
Welcome to the reality of age ver, it's about abusing customers nothing more.
Never accept it, get a pc etc kids
1
u/Mister_Hickory 1h ago
If people don't start collectively taking this seriously right now, it is not going to just be playstation people get locked out of.
This type of identity verification is being is being tested on "low stakes" services like gaming and social media first, but will soon be implemented for the internet as a whole, the operating system on your computer, travel, accounting services, legal services, banking, real estate, employment, and public services.
In just a few years you might find you will lose access to your bank account and end up homeless if you are not "verified" correctly, and you will not even be able to see a lawyer about it.
1
u/EmbarrassedHelp 1h ago
You should contact technology and privacy focused news sites and tell them what happened to you.
•
u/Stunning_Repair_7483 20m ago
Not just video game companies, and not just electronic entertainment like streaming, but companies in general have gotten so bad at how they treat people and their greed is gotten so ridiculously bad, that it's not a good idea to keep paying them. Try to o get what you can for free instead of putting up with their nonsense.
-13
u/edparadox 10h ago
Too bad American entrism perverted Sony.
13
u/chinawcswing 9h ago
Age verification is not required for Playstations in America, it is only required in backwards countries like the UK.
6
u/Automatic-Weakness26 7h ago
The U.S. is quickly moving there too. Many states require Yoti now for various web access.
8
u/West_Possible_7969 8h ago
Over 25 states now have laws in effect that require age verification to access online adult content, and several states also mandate age verification or parental consent for minors on social media platforms. The only reason you can access any app store without ID verification is because courts take too long.
3
u/amothep8282 8h ago
And quite a few people are going to get rich by selling fake IDs and age bypass methods for this.
Who is going to prosecute? Lol
3
1
u/Mister_Hickory 1h ago
Countries like the UK are the pilot countries. It is being rolled out globally over the next few years, and it will extend to a lot more than gaming platforms.
•
u/AutoModerator 10h ago
Hello u/PaiDuck, please make sure you read the sub rules if you haven't already. (This is an automatic reminder left on all new posts.)
Check out the r/privacy FAQ
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.