What Is Going on with Telnyx?
Recently, Telnyx has locked up my account, demanding a biometric KYC procedure, outsourced to a company called Onfido.
I contacted their customer service. They explained that they require to re-KYC every account that has been inactive for 60 days. It is a rather short period, but more or less understandable for an enterprise-oriented provider. However, they declined to answer why they have choosen such an invasive KYC method, citing unspecified "security reasons".
Following my own research, I suppose it might be due to a certain FCC case[1], in which a scam caller used Telnyx services. It would explain why the KYC procedure is required in order to place calls, but does not explain it as a condition of logging in to the service.
I'd rather not upload my biometric data to who-knows-where, both because I find the whole recent AI-powered surveillance boom distasteful, and also because that specific company has suffered a major data breach[2].
1. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/robocallers-posing-as-fcc-fraud-prevention-team-call-fcc-staff/
2. https://cybernews.com/security/popular-apps-left-biometric-data-ids-of-millions-of-users-in-danger/ We’re constantly fighting fraud and scam operations, many of which attempt to exploit dormant or low-activity accounts that haven’t inherited our latest KYC safeguards. Some of these requirements were actually in place well before the FCC issued its recent notice of liability (which, for the record, we’ve since resolved). That said, you should be able to log into your account without completing the new KYC flow — that behavior doesn’t sound right, and I’ll flag it with our team to review. In the meantime, feel free to email me (david AT you know where) directly, and I can help verify your account manually without using Onfido.