MEDIUM | STRIPE
Stripe Account Remains Closed After Exploit of Medium’s Tipping Feature
And How To Avoid It.
For those who missed it, here’s the background on the whole story:
Update 08/10/22
Medium has removed the user by now. And although they aren’t able to do anything about Stripe, they have been very understanding of this situation and assured me my earnings will accrue until the Stripe issue can be resolved.
Update 10/19/22
Latest Follow-Up:
In the meantime, I can assume the following:
- The guy most likely used the new tipping feature to transfer the funds from an unfunded source.
🚫 I have now disabled the tipping feature and reported the member. However, I couldn’t add the reason why I report him, so I don’t know if Medium will do anything about it.
Earlier Today I Finally Received a Response From Stripe Support.
Good day,
Thank you for your detailed explanation and patience while our team looked into your case.
Unfortunately, it is now the case that the additional verification we asked for is to re-open your account.
If you are unable to complete this (for example, due to not having a debit or credit card), we will not be able to re-verify your account and therefore it will, unfortunately, have to remain closed.I understand that this is probably a frustrating situation and I would love to help you out here, however, we are unable to reopen without verification.
Please let me know should you have any further questions. I am happy to assist where I can.
However, this is after I had already sent my scanned passport + a photo of myself for verification.
Next Steps
Apparently, nothing works without a credit card. And I know that most people in the US have one.
But that’s not the case in Germany — here, a credit card is by no means a matter of course.
But what else can I do?
I already know where I can get a free one. However, I still need the VR-Netkey of my bank to be able to request the credit card at all.
Since this can only be sent to me by regular mail, it will take a few more days.
But it’s almost funny (if it wasn’t so frustrating) how a credit card that you can easily request online is apparently worth more than a passport.
And then the question remains whether everything will work properly afterward. ❔
Other than that, I dislike the idea of using yet another means of payment. Ultimately, that just means another possible risk.
How To Avoid These Problems in Future
Most importantly:
Never use the same Stripe account again for the tipping feature as for the Medium payouts!
However, I’ll leave the feature disabled for now.
But I can only suggest learning from my “mistakes” (but who would have expected this to be a mistake anyway?) and to separate the two processes.
This way, at least the Medium payments remain secure.
Overwhelming Support
I definitely need to get that off my chest!
When I published the first article on this matter, I never expected to receive so much support and motivating encouragement.
Sometimes I was in tears while reading the comments because your words just moved me so much emotionally.
Normally I am a very optimistic person — this is also reflected in most of my articles.
But like everyone else, I sometimes find myself in a dark place.
A place where everything frustrates me and I lose hope and faith.
You have been my light in the darkness for the past few days and have made sure that I don’t give up.
I want to thank you for that.
You are amazing.
Despite all the difficulties, I am very happy to have met such a supportive and loving community!
