Fiverr disables Ukrainian accounts

[maksodium]

I'm a Ukrainian citizen living in Ukraine (Donetsk region, not DPR) but 2 days ago I received an email from Fiverr titled "Important information regarding our services in your region". They said: "We are writing to inform you that due to the ongoing war with Ukraine, global sanctions, and restrictions on Russia’s financial system, Fiverr will be suspending services across Russia on Monday, March 14, 2022."

For some weird reason they associate my account with Russia and want to ban me.

I haven't been to Russia for over 15 years.

Registered and used Fiverr in Ukraine only.

Double checked my profile settings, everything shows Ukraine.

Contacted the support but they just told me the same thing that's in the email:

Any fellow Ukrainians here experiencing the same issue?

No idea what's going on with Fiverr.

Is it hacked?

[alphagev]

Just guessing...

According to news and Wikipedia "On 21 February 2022, Russia officially recognised The Donetsk People's Republic and the LPR as independent states".

Maybe that is why Fiverr is trying to stay away from Donetsk too as it recognise this self proclaimed Republic as too close to Russia itself.

I could be completely wrong but it's my guess

 

 

[maksodium]

58 minutes ago, alphagev said:

Just guessing...

According to news and Wikipedia "On 21 February 2022, Russia officially recognised The Donetsk People's Republic and the LPR as independent states".

Maybe that is why Fiverr is trying to stay away from Donetsk too as it recognise this self proclaimed Republic as too close to Russia itself.

I could be completely wrong but it's my guess

 

 

The small town I live in is fully controlled by Ukrainian government, it's not under the Donetsk People's Republic.

In the security section of my profile I see the right location of my connected devices but Fiverr has thrown me into Russia for no reason.

They seem to be either hacked or pro-Russian.

[mikavirtanen]

LOL they're failing to define user location correctly. This is the reason why Fiverr should not ban innocent citizens just like that.

[mariashtelle1]

That seems to be another copy paste message from fiverr support.
Ask them to escalate your issue as per fiverr communications Ukraine is not the region that they are banning. 
 

@mjensen415 again something to bring to attention as Ukrainians also being antagonised now with this ban and support seems to be sending just copy paste replies.  

 

[vickiespencer]

If you are a member of Seller Plus your manager may be able to help you clarify things to customer service.

 

[maksodium]

17 hours ago, mariashtelle1 said:

That seems to be another copy paste message from fiverr support.
Ask them to escalate your issue as per fiverr communications Ukraine is not the region that they are banning. 
 

@mjensen415 again something to bring to attention as Ukrainians also being antagonised now with this ban and support seems to be sending just copy paste replies.  

 

Yeah, I told them they are supposed to ban Russia, not Ukraine.

I sent them a bank statement to prove my location but they're not responding.

They said my account will be disabled on March 14, so they're just silently waiting for it to happen.

[psykkopatte]

Waw, this is very bad, I hope fiverr is gonna release your account, so, wait, it means that Russians fiverr accounts have also been restricted due to economical penalties against Poutine ?

[donnovan86]

On 3/13/2022 at 3:18 AM, mariashtelle1 said:

again something to bring to attention as Ukrainians also being antagonised now with this ban and support seems to be sending just copy paste replies.  

True, but I can see why support is not taking a different stance. It's easy to change the region with VPN, and some Russian users might try to circumvent that just to keep their account. Clearly that's not the case with OP here, but there are people always trying to break the rules.. 

[catwriter]

1 hour ago, psykkopatte said:

it means that Russians fiverr accounts have also been restricted due to economical penalties against Poutine ?

Yes, there's an official blog post about it, an announcement on the forum, a bunch of topics about it...

4 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

It's easy to change the region with VPN

It would be even easier to temporarily ban both Russia and Ukraine, then, and wait for them to sort the things out between themselves.

Fiverr said they'd help Ukrainian sellers, not make their lives even more difficult. CS should have been informed about it and instructed to act accordingly (priority support, maybe, and actually checking the issue instead of giving a template response).

[mariashtelle1]

52 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

It's easy to change the region with VPN, and some Russian users might try to circumvent that just to keep their account.

Because what is a couple more Ukrainian “casualties” when you are pursuing  a bigger purpose of blocking all Russians, right? 
why do we even call it Russian invasion if a couple of casualties are ok for a bigger purpose? 😉

Just in case: I’m not being passive aggressive 🙈 I’m just bringing a perspective, I totally get your comment and why that could’ve happened. I just disagree with how Fiverr managed the situation. 

[psykkopatte]

56 minutes ago, catwriter said:

Yes, there's an official blog post about it, an announcement on the forum, a bunch of topics about it...

Wtf, it doesn't make sense at all to block Russians citizen, I mean, they have nothing to do with the madness of one man, I could understand that enterprises like MCdonald, apple etc, Russians bank account in switzerland blocked etc, but even freelancers who just want to work, it's an aberration 

[maksodium]

3 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

True, but I can see why support is not taking a different stance. It's easy to change the region with VPN, and some Russian users might try to circumvent that just to keep their account. Clearly that's not the case with OP here, but there are people always trying to break the rules.. 

Keeping Fiverr accounts makes no sense for Russian sellers as they still won't be able to withdraw their earnings because their Payoneer and Paypal accounts are gonna be blocked soon if not already.

[donnovan86]

37 minutes ago, maksodium said:

Keeping Fiverr accounts makes no sense for Russian sellers as they still won't be able to withdraw their earnings because their Payoneer and Paypal accounts are gonna be blocked soon if not already.

What my comment was meant to do was to say people will always find a way to breach the system. 

2 hours ago, mariashtelle1 said:

Just in case: I’m not being passive aggressive 🙈 I’m just bringing a perspective, I totally get your comment and why that could’ve happened. I just disagree with how Fiverr managed the situation. 

I totally understand Maria. The thing is, Upwork did the same thing before Fiverr, so when I saw that, I was expecting Fiverr to do the same. And exactly as I expected, they sent that message they are shutting down Russian accounts. I do think it's temporary and once the war is over, they will bring those accounts back. That being said, they might not, and by that time Russian users will find other methods to make a living anyways, so who knows if they will come back. Honestly, I hope this war is over, my country is neighboring Ukraine, and we have thousands of Ukrainian poeple in my city as well, and we try to help them as much as we can.

3 hours ago, catwriter said:

Fiverr said they'd help Ukrainian sellers, not make their lives even more difficult. CS should have been informed about it and instructed to act accordingly (priority support, maybe, and actually checking the issue instead of giving a template response).

I think the problem for this user is that his region is very close to the newly appointed independent republics, which is seen as a Russian territory. That's why I think Fiverr's CS team is just sending template replies. Hopefully it escalates and people with this issue get it fixed... 

[anniejenkinson]

On 3/12/2022 at 8:15 PM, maksodium said:

I'm a Ukrainian citizen living in Ukraine (Donetsk region, not DPR) but 2 days ago I received an email from Fiverr titled "Important information regarding our services in your region". They said: "We are writing to inform you that due to the ongoing war with Ukraine, global sanctions, and restrictions on Russia’s financial system, Fiverr will be suspending services across Russia on Monday, March 14, 2022."

For some weird reason they associate my account with Russia and want to ban me.

I haven't been to Russia for over 15 years.

Registered and used Fiverr in Ukraine only.

Double checked my profile settings, everything shows Ukraine.

Contacted the support but they just told me the same thing that's in the email:

Any fellow Ukrainians here experiencing the same issue?

No idea what's going on with Fiverr.

Is it hacked?

Hi Maksym,

Do you have a dual Ukrainian/DPR passport and citizenship or what does your passport actually show?

If your passport identifies you as Ukrainian and you do not have dual citizenship, that disturbs me deeply. But if this is an isolated case (not saying that it is), perhaps there is some ID that in the past identified you as Russian or dual DPR/Ukrainian? It's easy to forget what we uploaded as proof of ID when we first began trading on here... but of course, you know better than anyone else what your passport says! 🙂

I do wonder why you sent a bank statement copy and not a passport copy (or other officlal ID) when you contacted customer support... It may be that this just was not persuasive enough since where we reside now isn't always connected to our citizenship. 'Russia is not my region' is a world apart from saying 'I have no connections with Russia'. 

Best,

Annie

[maksodium]

34 minutes ago, anniejenkinson said:

Hi Maksym,

Do you have a dual Ukrainian/DPR passport and citizenship or what does your passport actually show?

If your passport identifies you as Ukrainian and you do not have dual citizenship, that disturbs me deeply. But if this is an isolated case (not saying that it is), perhaps there is some ID that in the past identified you as Russian or dual DPR/Ukrainian? It's easy to forget what we uploaded as proof of ID when we first began trading on here... but of course, you know better than anyone else what your passport says! 🙂

I do wonder why you sent a bank statement copy and not a passport copy (or other officlal ID) when you contacted customer support... It may be that this just was not persuasive enough since where we reside now isn't always connected to our citizenship. 'Russia is not my region' is a world apart from saying 'I have no connections with Russia'. 

Best,

Annie

No, I don't have any dual citizenship. I'm a citizen of Ukraine only. I've never even visited this so-called Donetsk People Republic. I don't have any physical or virtual businesses in Russia or DPR either. The reason why I didn't send them my passport is because there was a warning that says not to send this type of documents to the support team. I don't mind showing them my passport but they don't respond to my support ticket messages at all. The only response I got from them is shown in the screenshot included in my original post. I've never heard from them since then.

[mjensen415]

Hi @maksodium,

We know that this is an incredibly tense situation, driving lots of emotions for many of our community members.

Please wait on support to reply. They can verify your location and ID in order to make sure that your account remains active.

[adsensewizard]

That's so sad! Citizens having to suffer even more for their leader's actions. And in this case, citizens of the wrong country.

[anastasiaanim]

Fiverr also want to block my account. Although I am from Ukraine, I am its citizen and I live in it, support brazenly ignores direct questions.

[speed_riri]

😭Have the same issue. Support doesnt listen me and just copy paste their text. Reading these messages from the basement is tantamount to feeling betrayed by the messages of support for Ukrainians on the platform. As an influencer, I'm going to go public with this case.

[anastasiaanim]

This is how support helped me. Although I am ready to provide documents confirming that I am a citizen of Ukraine or other evidence. Even the fiverr itself placed a flag of Ukraine next to my name before, but wants to block me

[maksodium]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:29 PM, anastasiaanim said:

This is how support helped me. Although I am ready to provide documents confirming that I am a citizen of Ukraine or other evidence. Even the fiverr itself placed a flag of Ukraine next to my name before, but wants to block me

OMG, this is so ridiculous of them!

A normal company would simply ask to prove your location by uploading a scanned bank statement or utility bill with your name and address.

But Fiverr just insists we're from Russia.

They are from Russia themselves or should definitely move there because they love it so much.

That's extremely disappointing and upsetting.

As to my situation, they just don't talk to me, haven't heard from them for almost 2 weeks.

I hope you will find better alternatives for business as soon as possible.

[shahadatsajib]

Leaders fight and ordinary people suffer. We want peace 😭

[maksodium]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:22 PM, speed_riri said:

😭Have the same issue. Support doesnt listen me and just copy paste their text. Reading these messages from the basement is tantamount to feeling betrayed by the messages of support for Ukrainians on the platform. As an influencer, I'm going to go public with this case.

I'm praying and hoping you'll stay safe.

Shame on Fiverr for adding more troubles to Ukrainian people's war suffering by removing our income streams for no reason.

If it's not to be resolved soon we should definitely unite efforts to spread the word about this situation across all news outlets we can reach.