KYC (know your customer)

Identity verification that regulated services must perform before serving a customer, typically a government ID document plus a live selfie.

KYC obligations come from anti-money-laundering rules and telecom regulation. Certain services must establish who their customers are before serving them, and the check normally means a government document and a live photo.

In the numbers business this surfaces as a one-time identity check for specific service and country combinations rather than for every purchase.

Why only some combinations ask for it

The requirement follows the rules of the destination country and the category of service being verified. Financial services and regulated markets carry the obligation, while a game or a marketplace in the same country usually does not.

Combinations that require it say so before you spend, so the check never arrives as a surprise after payment.

What happens to the documents

The check runs once through an identity partner that specialises in it. That partner holds the documents, and the platform stores the result of the check rather than the images.

Separating the two is the point. It keeps identity documents with a company built to protect them, and leaves the service holding only the answer it needs. More about the company behind the service is on the about page.

When the check happens

It runs once, before the first purchase of a combination that requires it, rather than on every activation. After that the result is reused, so the same check does not repeat for later purchases.

Combinations that need it are marked before payment, which matters because the check takes a few minutes and needs a document to hand. Anything that does not carry the requirement completes without it.