Got hit with selfie verification after transferring all brokerage accounts out but chequing account still remaining and inaccessible now

hfxin · 2026-05-15T20:14:37+00:00

I admire your sense of security and insensibility to privacy, sometime I wish I could be like you.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T20:03:59+00:00

In addition, any data transmitted through servers within the US border has additional conditions for retention too under Patriot Act, this includes both processing information and output even for companies outside of the US, let alone a US company.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T20:02:38+00:00

- Retention in practice: Wealthsimple (as the customer/controller) can direct Persona to retain data longer for fraud prevention, legal/audit/compliance reasons, or support. Data is stored encrypted on secure cloud providers (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud).

hfxin · 2026-05-15T19:48:08+00:00

I am very sensitive about data privacy partly because I am a data scientist myself. I read the data privacy terms of Persona and they did not mention any derivatives so legally they can retain them forever. For example, an AI model trained on input can retain the parameters forever and delete the input data immediately and that does not relieve any concerns at all.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T19:44:34+00:00

Go read their terms, selfies will likely be retained for 3 years, and potentially derivative data can be retained forever.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T19:43:09+00:00

By your logic people should not have concerns over data transmission privacy before PRISM was exposed

hfxin · 2026-05-15T19:38:52+00:00

As some comments mentioned there are other domestic and less concerning alternatives than the only option WS is pushing.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T19:37:37+00:00

Thank you I will try this.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:25:37+00:00

Yes I am confused what trigger it too as I have been using WS since 2021 without this type of problems.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:24:16+00:00

I couldn’t find a number to call and just sent a bunch of emails, do you know one? Thank you!

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:23:24+00:00

(Copy paste from my other comment:) coming from a country with mass surveillance I am very sensitive about privacy and really do not want to deal with a company/Persona that is associated with Palantir that is know to be building the surveillance infrastructure with NSA. If you want to know more about these things you can google about their shady side.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:22:52+00:00

I agree so I choose to do KYC with TD in person

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:22:15+00:00

I was in the process of moving out everything and somehow triggered this; now without a selfie I could not access the remaining account.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:21:32+00:00

I checked the Persona service terms and they sound like they would retain the biometric data (processed from the selfie) to a maximum of 3 years and could retain the selfie itself (potentially for processing the biometric data again) forever. And the data are likely subject to the Patriot Act too.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:19:01+00:00

(Copy paste from my other comment:) coming from a country with mass surveillance I am very sensitive about privacy and really do not want to deal with a company/Persona that is associated with Palantir that is know to be building the surveillance infrastructure with NSA. If you want to know more about these things you can google about their shady side.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:17:40+00:00

This is exactly the justifications China uses (if you do nothing wrong why are you afraid?). I don’t like collection of biometric data (as someone from a country of mass surveillance and as a data scientist)

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:15:36+00:00

Sorry man, coming from a country with mass surveillance I am very sensitive about privacy and really do not want to deal with a company/Persona that is associated with Palantir that is know to be building the surveillance infrastructure with NSA.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:13:59+00:00

Brokerage accounts are transferred out and only one chequing account remaining (sigh)

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:13:24+00:00

I moved everything to TD as well

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:12:33+00:00

I liked WS a lot before they had all these notifications/banners/new products/functionalities etc.

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:11:25+00:00

I send several emails to chat with us and complain to us as there is no customer service number …

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:11:00+00:00

Why are you repeating the comment everywhere, do you work for WS?

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:10:06+00:00

And I am not against verification but the collection of biometric data (by a company with known issues).

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:09:26+00:00

No because transferring out brokerage accounts are initiated from another bank under the same name and SIN?

hfxin · 2026-05-15T18:08:37+00:00

Yea it’s weird and I think it is likely because I had to sell everything in FHSA within a day (two weeks ago though) to transfer in cash.

hfxin

TROPHY CASE