This post is created as a warning. A warning to those less adventurous souls than myself.
Before I get into my story, I want to post this disclaimer:
Anything I write is a combination of my own imagination and my own experiences. Where possible, I have tried to be as factual as I can be. Any deviation from actual events is a result of my own imagination. It is not my intention to malign anyone or any organization that has the possibility of lawyers who will sue me. In fact, now that this “adventure” is over, I will say that I am relieved that Robinhood.com had the foresight to question my identity the very day after I had provided them with proof of my identity, and restrict my access to my money for the better part of two months. I would highly recommend that everyone deposit large sums of money into Robinhood.com so that they can then question your identity as they play hide and seek with the email game, restricting your access to your funding indefinitely. They will protect you against all manner of fraud – even if they think you are the one committing the fraud against yourself. It is so comforting to know that they are all about protecting me and my interests.
OK! Now that the possibility of being sued has been diminished, let me tell you my story.
I do not remember how it came about, nor exactly when, but sometime in 2018 I was introduced to the stock market and investing through an online company called Loyal3.com . I think I was given a stock on their website because of something else I belonged to or something like that. I had always thought that I should learn more about stocks and investing, but I always thought that if I did, I would just lose all my money, because the stock market and all the stuff that goes with it was so confusing to me. But, here I was, with a stock on this website, so I had to do something. I learned a little bit about investing. I started to deposit a few dollars – $10.00 or $5.00 at a time until after about six months, my “portfolio” had grown to about $300.00. 99% of which was money I had put in. I don’t think I had earned anything . . . but more importantly, after 6 months, I had not lost anything either. Up to this point, there was no cost to use the website. They decided to start charging a fee of $5.00 per month. I’m cheap! So I started looking around at other programs. In December of 2018, I started investing with robinhood.com. They had no fees and no commissions, and I figured that I would not invest anything that I was not willing to lose. So, I moved my $315.84 I had in Loyal3.com to robinhood.com and I continued to invest small amounts. $20.00 here, $40.00 there, until I had deposited a total of $555.75 up until January of 2021. At this point, the account balance was about $750.00 – The stocks that I had picked had increased in value so that my portfolio was worth $250.00 more than I had invested. Over the course of the last two years, I had bought and sold small amounts of stock in a variety of companies. Another advantage to robinhood was that they would allow you to invest in “fractional shares” – meaning, you did not have to buy a complete share. If XYZ Corporation stock was selling for $50.00 per share and I wanted to invest $5.00, I could buy 0.1 shares.
In January of 2021, as I was trying to sign on to the website, I was prompted with a new security feature. It was not optional. They needed to send me a “secret code” that I would enter along with my password and user id to “”verify my identity”. The notice gave me the choice of either email, or text (SMS). When I signed up with robinhood, I did not list a phone number. It was not required. I did not want them to be sending me text messages to intice me to invest more than I was willing to invest. So, when I was given the choice of either email or text message, I chose the only method available, as they did not have my phone number . . I chose to receive this “secret code” via email. I was immediately informed that email was not “secure” and it was “not supported” by the robinhood platform. HMMMM! Email is not secure, but they are communicating with me via . . . drumroll, please . . .via email! So, they send the “secret code” via SMS – text message to my phone. I did not receive it! What phone number did they send that to? They do not have my phone number. There is no way to contact them except through their “Help Center” section AFTER you have signed in. And I cannot sign in, because I am not receiving this “secret code” via text message because they do not have my phone number! They DO NOT HAVE a customer service phone number! After much searching, I stumbled on a way to send them a message without logging in. I received an email from a customer service agent who identified themself as “Jazsymin” (no last name) with an email address of: help@robinhood.com, No address, no phone number, no way for me to “verify their identity”.
This is the email I received:
January 19, 2021
Good afternoon David,
Thank you for reaching out to us here at Robinhood Support. My name is Jazsymin and I’m happy to help you get back in your account.
Since you are unable to receive the verification codes to your phone, we may need to update your account details.
Before we begin, for the security of your account please upload photos of the front and back of your ID or a photo of the picture page in your passport through our online secure file submission portal. If you choose to submit an ID card or driver’s license, please make sure that all four corners of the card are visible in both of the photos you’ve submitted. For your security, please do not send photos via email attachments.
Can you please confirm the phone number you’d like to use for your account?
Once we’ve confirmed your identity, we’ll update the information on your account and let you know the next steps. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I am here to help.
Sincerely,
Jazsymin
Case ID: 11149763
So, I followed the instructions and uploaded photos of my driver’s license. Through a series of emails with Jazsymin over the next week or so, I was able to update my phone number and then receive this one time text secret code and log in to the website. This was February 10, 2021.
Then on Feb 11, 2021 I received this email:
| Robinhood Account Information Updated |
| Hi David, We recently updated the personal information for your Robinhood account (dba313@gmail.com). If you did not make or request this change, please contact us immediately at https://robinhood.com/contact. If you’d like to designate a Trusted Contact Person to serve as a resource for administering your account, we’ll need to collect their name and contact information. You can set your Trusted Contact Person in the app by following the directions in our Help Center.– The Robinhood Team |
I thought I was good to go. And that only took the better part of January to accomplish, during which I was unable to access anything.
Then, when I did sign on after this was cleared up, I found that I could not purchase new stocks. My account was restricted from purchasing. My account was also restricted from withdrawing funds. I went to their “Help Center” daily and sent them messages and would receive an acknowledgement that they had received my request for help and would get back to me in 1-3 days after they have been able to gather the needed information. Each day I would send in a new request through their “Help Center”, and I would receive an automated acknowledgement – assigned a new case number.
Here is one example:
Hello,
Thanks for contacting our support team—we’ve received your message.
You can expect to hear back from us within 3 days. In the meantime, here are a few articles from our Help Center that you might find useful:
- How to deposit money into your Robinhood account
- How to link your bank account
- Referrals Program FAQs—Answered
Depending on your issue, you may find your answer in another article within our Help Center. If you’ve already looked through these support articles and didn’t find the answer to your question, please look out for a response from us via email.
There are also two additional things you can do from here at any point:
- To add more details to your case, please reply to this email.
- If you no longer need a response from us, go ahead and click here to close your case.
Sincerely,
The Robinhood Team
Case Number: 15789008
There are two noteworthy items in this email message. First, they are encouraging me to deposit more funds into their program. They do not need to verify my identity for that. Second, they are very interested in closing the case.
The 1-3 days would pass with no response.
Eventually, I received this:
February 15, 2021
Hi ,
We wanted to reach out to touch base with you and acknowledge that this is a delayed response–we are very sorry for the wait and are sincerely grateful for your patience.
If you still have a question and need an answer from us, please reply to this email to stay in line.
In case you choose to stay in line and wait for a response, we wanted to share with you some resources that may be helpful to you—and even answer your question—so you can get an answer sooner, as wait times are unusually long.
What is an account restriction?
There are a few different types of account restrictions that may limit your ability to take action within your account, such as opening positions, day trading, or withdrawing funds. This Help Center article details specifics about each type of restriction, what causes them, and how to resolve them.
Here are some possible restrictions, and why you may encounter them:
- If you’re unable to trade specific securities: With the extraordinary market activity last week, we put in place temporary buying limits for certain securities. You can find detailed, up to date information about them here.
- If you’re unable to day trade:
- Pattern Day Trading: If you’ve previously been flagged as a pattern day trader, and your account equity (stocks, options, and cash) is less than $25,000, you won’t be able to day trade until your account equity closes normal market hours above $25,000, or until the 90-day period passes.
- Day Trade Call: If you’re in a Day Trade Call, you will be unable to day trade until the call is met. You can resolve your day trade call by depositing funds, and these funds must remain in your Robinhood account for 2 trading days. Once the call is met, the day trade restriction will be lifted starting the following trading day.
- If you’re only able to sell positions:
- You may be in a margin call: If you are in a margin call, you won’t be able to buy stocks, options, or cryptocurrencies. To cover a margin call, you’ll need to deposit funds or close positions. Once your call is resolved, you’ll be able to buy stocks and open new positions again on the next trading day. If you don’t cover your margin call, Robinhood may sell a portion of your portfolio to cover your call.
- You day traded while your day trades were restricted: If you execute a day trade while your day trading is restricted, you won’t be able to open any positions for 90 days.
Please remember, if you have a restriction placed on your Robinhood brokerage account that prevents you from opening positions, you’ll also be prevented from buying cryptocurrencies with your Robinhood Crypto account until the restriction is lifted.
If you have any additional questions please check out our Help Center or feel free to respond to this automated email—we’re here to help.
Sincerely,
The Robinhood Team
Case ID: 15827739
NOTHING HERE APPLIED TO ME! Other than this: ” If you still have a question and need an answer from us, please reply to this email to stay in line. “
Yet another attempt to close the case.
I responded to their email: Do not close this case! And what about all the other cases?
11149763 – February 11, 2021
15764800 – February 12, 2021
15789008 – February 13, 2021
16047598 – February 19, 2021
16088254 – February 21, 2021
16114395 – February 22, 2021
16124914 – February 23, 2021
On February 22, 2021 I received this:
Hello,
Thanks for reaching out to us about your account.
We recently restricted your ability to withdraw funds from your account or open any new positions until we are able to confirm your identity.
To remove this restriction, you’ll need to do two things:
- Tap the “Action required” prompt on the home screen of the app so you can upload images of the front and back of your government-issued ID.
- Verify your phone number so you‘re able to log in from your device in the future by going (Settings ? Account information ? Contact).
For more in-depth instructions on how to submit a document, visit our Help Center.
Once we’re finished verifying your identity, we’ll lift any restrictions that were placed on your account and you’ll be able to use it as you normally would.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to keep your account secure. If you have any more questions, you can just reply to this email— we’re here to help.
Sincerely,
The Robinhood Team
Case ID: 15827739
WHEW!!! I am soooo relieved! This is all to . . .what did that email say?, oh, yeah, to “keep your account secure” and “we’re here to help.”
So, let’s recap. They added a security feature to the sign on screen. In order to fulfill this new requirement, I had to “verify my identity” by providing them a copy of my drivers license – front and back – which I did. After they verified my identity so that I could update my phone number on my account, they immediately needed to “verify my identity” . . . AGAIN!
This has been going on since early January. It is now almost the end of February. I have been restricted from my account for the better part of two months. But it is all in the effort to “keep your account secure”. After all, it is so much better that someone more responsible than I has control of my finances. Someone like Jazsymin, who, for all I knew was a twelve year old in Pakistan, or Indonesia. At least, that is what my mind is telling me.
But I felt that I had no other choice.
So, in accordance with the instructions, I once again upload photos of the front and the back of my drivers license. Then, I get the following email message:
 |
| Further Identification Required for Account Approval – Unsupported ID Type |
| Hi David,Unfortunately, we cannot accept the type of identification you’ve uploaded. Please provide us with an image of either your current ID or Passport by following these steps:Sign in to RobinhoodPress “TAKE PHOTO NOW” on the home screenIf prompted, allow Robinhood to access your cameraCapture an image of your Driver License or PassportMake sure that the image is clear and that all text is legiblePress the Submit buttonWe cannot approve your account until you have completed the steps above. We will review your account once we receive a valid form of identification. If you have any questions, please contact us at support@robinhood.com.Sincerely, The Robinhood Team |
Unsupported ID type? What does that mean? Apparently, a drivers license is not good enough! It worked to update my phone number, so why does it not work now?What if I do not have a passport? Then what?
During all this, I get an email with my 1099. Even though they cannot verify my identity for withdrawals, they can verify my identity for sending out confidential tax information.
My overactive immagination has someone in a foreign country holding my finances from me, for what reason, I cannot answer, but all I know is that I cannot access them. I have sent them the requested information, and now they are telling me that the information I have sent, (even though it is exactly what they requested) is not good enough for them.
So, I go to the Securities and Excange Commission website and file a complaint.
After filing my complaint with the SEC, I get a message from them that thanks me for contacting them, but unfortunately they cannot act on individual investor situations, but they will share my report with law enforcement agencies and if any prosecution should ever happen, they might find my information useful.
So, I go to the Federal Trade Commission website and file a complaint.
I get a message from them that thanks me for contacting them, but unfortunately they cannot act on individual investor situations, but they will share my report with law enforcement agencies and if any prosecution should ever happen, they might find my information useful.
I am truly on my own. No help from anyone anywhere. Of course, I could hire a lawyer and spend ten times the value of my portfolio – for what?
The only thing I can do is to try the ID thing again. This time I photo my passport. Then I go back to the automatic emails and respond to each of these with the information that I have uploaded my ID AGAIN, and I have filed complaints with the SEC and the FTC. I do not tell the people at robinhood that neither of these complaints will do any good, but hopefully, they don’t know this.
Then, I get this:
|
| Account restriction removed |
| Hi David,Your Robinhood account is no longer restricted for position closing only. You may now buy stocks and open options positions as usual.If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. We’re happy to help.Sincerely, The Robinhood Team |
Followed immediately by this:
|
| Withdrawal Restriction Removed |
| Hi David,Your brokerage account is no longer restricted from withdrawals. You may now transfer funds from Robinhood to your bank account and go back to using your debit card and ACH account and routing number for any transactions.If you have any questions, please visit our Help Center or contact support.Sincerely, The Robinhood Team |
I waste no time at all. I immediately sign on to the website and initiate a transfer to withdraw all my funds. The form says that it can take up to four trading days for the transfer to take place. It took two. It is now almost March. I have withdrawn all but $1.74 from robinhood.com.
I want to thank the people at Robinhood for keeping my account “secure” for the past two months, I also want to recommend that if you want to relinquish all control over your finances and allow some vague entity on the internet who refuses to list any phone number, and will only respond to your inquiries “within 1-3 days” (that I found stretched to seven or eight days just to get a response), then by all means, Robinhood.com is your kind of brokerage.
Now, all I have to worry about is identity theft because, for all I know, my drivers license and m,y passport have just been blasted all over the internet in every foreign country of the world. But, hey, that is the price we pay for having a reliable brokerage firm dedicated “to keeping my account secure”.
TTFN
TropicalCastaway 