Why Can’t My Identity Be Verified? 

We know how frustrating it can be to get a message saying, “we can’t verify your identity”  especially when you feel like you’ve entered everything correctly. 

There are several potential reasons why your Cloaked Pay Identity Verification checks might fail or remain pending. Due to the nature of regulatory standards, Cloaked Pay has partnered with a trusted third-party service to perform Identity Verification checks. Information such as your full name, date of birth, and current address is matched with official government records to confirm your identity.  

If the system can’t find a match or something doesn’t line up, it may block the verification to protect your identity and disallow your use of Cloaked Pay, on our platform. 

Here are some of the most common reasons why Identity Verification checks might fail:

1. Address Issues (the most frequent one!) 

• Did you recently move? If your new address hasn’t been updated yet with authenticated or official records, the system may not be able to confirm your authenticated address.  . Even if your mail is coming to the right place, there is a possibility that the database used for verification might not be updated. 
• Did you have a P.O. Box or business address? Identity Verification requires a residential address. If you submitted an address that can’t be matched to a home address, the system might reject it.
• Did you format your address differently? Let’s say your official records say “123 Yellow Brick Rd.” but you typed “123 Yellow Brick Road”, the system might not recognize it as the same address. It’s always best to enter your address exactly as it appears on recent bank statements, utility bills, or government mail. 

2. Full Legal Name or Date of Birth Mismatches (name & birthday must exactly match official records!)

• Make sure you are double-checking for any typing errors before submitting. An incorrect number in your birth year or a misspelled name (e.g., “Lizzy” instead of “Lizzie”) can prevent a match. 
• If your legal name has changed recently due to marriage, divorce, or a court order, but you haven’t updated the information with databases like credit bureaus, try using the name most commonly associated with your credit or government records. 

3. Using a VPN or Masking Tools

• If you’re using a VPN, privacy browser, or any anonymizing tools, that can make it look like you’re trying to obscure your location or identity to the automated system. Even if you’re not doing anything wrong, Cloaked Pay’s identity verification is powered by a third-party provider that confirms location and ability to access Cloaked Pay, which is limited to US jurisdiction.  
• To navigate this, temporarily turn off your VPN and try the verification again, disable services such as Apple’s Private Relay or Tor if you’re using them, and avoid masked phone numbers or emails for the Identity Verification flow. Once verified, you can re-enable your privacy tools.

5. Multiple Failed Attempts 

• Verifying your identity multiple times and having the information not match can trigger the system to lock you out automatically. Although this is a security feature designed to protect our users from fraud or identity theft, it can also accidentally affect legitimate users. 
• If you do find yourself getting locked out of doing another Identity Verification check, here are some causes of why: 

1. Trying different variations of your name or address (e.g. adding/removing a middle name or unit number) 
2. Switching devices or networks during the Identity Verification process 

• If you’ve had 3 or more failed attempts, do not proceed with retrying and contact Cloaked Support. We can help reset your verification session. 

6. Unsupported Territories or Documentation 

• Currently, Cloaked Pay is limited to U.S. residents with valid, state-issued identification. This means if you’re located outside of the a U.S. territory or are a non-citizens, the system will not be able to verify you at this time. 
• If you’re a U.S. citizen living abroad or in a U.S. territory, you won’t be able to use Cloaked Pay yet (but we’re working on expanding support!) 
• If you have any questions or are unsure whether your documentation qualifies, reach out to Cloaked Support and we’ll help review your case.