Document and data requirements: what is needed for successful KYC on Pin Up in West Africa?

Customer Due Diligence (CDD) is a basic level of identity verification enshrined in the FATF Recommendations (2012 revision; annual updates until 2023), which requires valid identification, proof of address, and matching of payment data with the customer profile (FATF, 2012/2023). In the context of ECOWAS/UEMOA, regulators, including GIABA (2019/2022 regional reviews) and BCEAO (2015–2022 compliance updates), emphasize the need for a current PoA and clear matching of personal data to mitigate the risks of identity fraud. Case study: An Accra resident submits a Ghana Card and an MTN e-statement for the current month, which indicate his name and address; This combination passes the initial automated check faster than a lease without documents in the client’s name, which is in line with the AML/CFT Guidelines of the Bank of Ghana (2018/2021) and the principles of combating fraud (BoG, 2018/2021).

Proof of Address (PoA) is a key factor in raising limits and moving from CDD to EDD (Enhanced Due Diligence), as it confirms residency and reduces the risk of using shell accounts (FATF Recommendations, 2012/2023). In UEMOA countries, the BCEAO requires financial providers to accept documents containing the client’s name, full address, and a current date, and recognizes electronic sources for remote identification (BCEAO, 2015–2022). Acceptable PoA include utility bills, e-statements/bank statements, telecom bills, and signed rental agreements; for example, an Abidjan resident uploads an Orange CI online invoice with an address and date, which OCR perceives more reliably than a photograph of an informal agreement (FATF Guidance on Digital ID, 2020; BCEAO, 2015–2022).

Matching the payment name and date of birth with the Pin Up pinup-ng.casino ID is a mandatory control arising from the client and beneficial owner identification principle in the FATF Recommendations (2012/2023). Mobile Money operators (MTN, Airtel, Orange) use KYC tiering, whereby increased limits are available only with a complete data match, minimizing the risk of transferring funds to someone else’s identity (operator KYC policies, 2019–2024). Case: a user from Lagos indicates “Oluwaseun A.” in his account and “Oluwaseun Adeyemi” in BVN; According to the CBN AML/CFT Regulations (2018/2022), such a desynchronization causes a hold until the record is unified in all registries, thereby reducing the likelihood of fraudulent transactions (CBN, 2018/2022; FATF, 2012/2023).

What documents will be accepted: passport, national ID or driver’s license?

Pin Up prioritizes passports and national ID cards in most KYC processes, as they comply with the ICAO Doc 9303 standard and contain machine-readable zones (MRZs), which improve OCR accuracy and reduce manual verification (ICAO Doc 9303, 2015/2021). The Ghana Card has been implemented by the National Identification Agency since 2017, with a large-scale rollout occurring between 2019 and 2023. The NIN card in Nigeria was widely registered by the NIMC between 2019 and 2022, stabilizing the name and date of birth fields (NIA Ghana, 2017/2019–2023; NIMC Nigeria, 2019–2022). A practical example: a Senegalese CNI photo without glare and with the number visible is processed faster than a driver’s license taken at an angle, as the MRZ simplifies automatic data extraction and reduces manual verification (ICAO Doc 9303, 2015/2021).

Validity and visual integrity are critical ID quality parameters, directly impacting automatic anti-tamper scores and verification results (FATF Recommendations, 2012/2023). Expired documents, severe abrasions, sealed areas, or glare on serial fields lead to immediate rejection or transfer to manual review, which increases the time to complete KYC (Bank of Ghana AML/CFT Guidelines, 2018/2021). Case: an Accra resident’s passport, valid for another month, is accepted under CDD, but a document expired a year ago is rejected during the initial screening; this practice is consistent with bank onboarding, where invalid IDs are prohibited for client identification (BoG, 2018/2021; FATF, 2012/2023).

How do I confirm my address if the accounts are not in my name?

A bank statement (e-statement) is a universal alternative to a utility bill in the absence of a contract in the client’s name, provided it contains the name, address, and current date. In digital onboarding, such documents are recognized as valid PoA sources (FATF Guidance on Digital ID, 2020). In the UEMOA, the BCEAO regulator allows e-statements for remote identification if the document is legible and contains the required details, which improves OCR quality and reduces the rate of false refusals (BCEAO, 2015–2022). Case study: A resident of Abidjan attached a PDF statement from Société Générale Côte d’Ivoire for the current month with the address and full name, and it was processed faster than a scanned informal rental agreement without a stamp and supporting details (FATF, 2020; BCEAO, 2015–2022).

Telecom and internet bills also function as PoA if they clearly state the customer’s name, full address, and download date, and the file is an official document and not an SMS notification without an address (Bank of Ghana, 2021). In UEMOA countries, Orange CI and Sonatel bills are acceptable, while in Ghana, MTN and Vodafone bills are acceptable; industry practice requires a freshness window of 1–3 months, which is consistent with ongoing due diligence under FATF (2012/2023). Case study: A user in Kumasi submits an MTN Fibre bill from the last month with the address “East Legon, Accra,” and the document is automatically validated; a screenshot from a mobile app without an address is rejected due to missing identification fields (BoG, 2021; FATF, 2012/2023).

Do the name and date of birth have to match those of Mobile Money/bank?

Matching full names and dates of birth between ID, Mobile Money, and bank registries is a central check in AML/CFT, aimed at preventing the use of “mules” and false identities (FATF Recommendations, 2012/2023). In Nigeria, the NIN-SIM integration, introduced by the communications regulator NCC jointly with NIMC in 2020–2022, requires users to harmonize records across all systems; otherwise, transactions and KYC are blocked until discrepancies are resolved (NCC/NIMC, 2020–2022). Case study: if MoMo indicates “Adewale O.” and a passport indicates “Oluwadewale Adewale,” the platform requires unification, which reduces the risk of fraud and complies with the principles of beneficial owner identification (FATF, 2012/2023; NCC/NIMC, 2020–2022).

A practical approach is to pre-check the spelling of full names and dates of birth in your Pin Up profile, ID document, mobile wallet, and banking information, and establish a unified transliteration format for English and French (FATF Guidance on Digital ID, 2020). This unification reduces manual verification time and the rate of automated rejections, as updated registries confirm compliance more quickly (FATF, 2020; CBN AML/CFT Regulations, 2018/2022). Case study: A user from Tamale converts his Ghana Card, MoMo, and banking profile to the “Surname Firstname Middlename” scheme and receives KYC approval without an additional request for the source of funds, which is in line with CDD practices and regulators’ requirements for the currency of client data (CBN, 2018/2022; FATF, 2012/2023).

Biometrics and Image Quality: How to Get a Selfie and Photo ID Without Rejection

Pin Up’s KYC biometrics include liveness detection—confirming the “liveness” of a face in the frame—and face match—comparing the user’s face with the photo in the document, which reduces the risk of ID substitution and reuse (FATF Guidance on Digital ID, 2020). From 2018 to 2024, the industry implemented anti-spoofing mechanisms to combat photographs, masks, and video replays, which require a neutral background, uniform lighting, and the absence of accessories that obscure key elements (industry anti-spoofing reviews, 2019–2024). Case study: a selfie in daylight, diffused light, against a plain background without glasses, is automatically accepted, while a photo taken under a lamp with a shadow on the face is rejected; this quality improves the accuracy of models and reduces the burden on manual review (FATF, 2020; Industry reports, 2019–2024).

The quality of a document’s photograph directly impacts OCR (text recognition) and the accuracy of extracting key fields, including name, number, date of birth, and MRZ (ICAO Doc 9303, 2015/2021). From 2020 to 2023, many verification engines raised readability thresholds: perpendicular shooting, absence of glare, visibility of the entire MRZ, and absence of cropped card edges significantly increase the chances of auto-approval (Industry OCR benchmarks, 2020–2023). Case study: a passport with a glare on the serial field is rejected even with a high-quality selfie, whereas a repeat color photograph without overexposure and with a full frame improves the score and eliminates the crop/glare error; this is consistent with digital KYC practices (ICAO, 2015/2021; FATF Digital ID, 2020).

Why isn’t my selfie working and what can I do to fix it?

The main reasons for rejecting Pin Up selfies are shadows on the face, overexposure, a mottled or dark background, obscured elements (masks, wide glasses), and an angle significantly different from the ID photo, which prevents the face match from reaching the threshold (FATF Guidance on Digital ID, 2020). Anti-spoofing engines, which were actively updated between 2019 and 2024, require a minimum level of illumination, clear contours, and sometimes micro-movements (blinking, head turning) to eliminate static images (Industry reports, 2021–2024). Case study: an Accra resident takes a selfie by the window during the day, holding the camera at eye level and looking into the lens—the shower is confirmed; a night shot under a spotlight creates shadows and reduces recognition quality to failure (FATF, 2020; Industry, 2021–2024).

A practical remediation plan includes re-shooting in diffused daylight, removing accessories, holding the phone at eye level, and following all on-screen instructions, especially during video capture, which has become standard on many platforms since 2021 (Industry Adoption, 2021–2024). Historically, the industry has shifted from static selfies to short video scripts, which has improved the accuracy of liveness verification and reduced the rate of spoofing incidents (FATF Digital ID, 2020). Case study: A user from Lomé successfully completes a video capture with a 30° head turn, without glasses, and against a neutral background; this sequence increases the likelihood of automatic approval within minutes (Industry, 2021–2024; FATF, 2020).

How to properly photograph a document for OCR/MRZ?

The goal of shooting is to ensure full legibility of identification fields without geometric distortions and lighting artifacts, which break OCR and reduce the score (ICAO Doc 9303, 2015/2021). Photograph the document perpendicularly on a flat surface with uniform, soft lighting, excluding flash; keep the entire card/page in the frame, including the MRZ and serial number, so that the algorithm extracts all required fields (ICAO, 2015/2021). Case: A Ghana Card photographed from above on a light, shadow-free surface yields a full field collection; the same card photographed at an angle on the lap loses edges and causes a “crop” error, increasing the likelihood of rejection (Industry OCR practices, 2020–2023; ICAO, 2015/2021).

Consider resolution and compression requirements: high-definition color JPEG/PNG without filters is preferred, and for PoA, use original PDF e-statements instead of screenshots, as text recognition is more reliable (FATF Guidance on Digital ID, 2020). From 2020 to 2024, platforms have strengthened their “quality score” thresholds, and weak images are more often rejected at the automatic stage, which saves time on manual review and increases the success rate of first attempts (Industry OCR benchmarks, 2020–2024). Case: A user from Abuja reuploads a bank statement as an original PDF with the address and date, and the document is automatically processed, whereas the previous screenshot was rejected due to missing details and poor legibility (FATF, 2020; BoG, 2018/2021).

Is a selfie with a document necessary and how is it different from a regular selfie?

A selfie with a document confirms ID ownership: the user’s face and the document are in the same frame, reducing the risk of using someone else’s card and increasing trust in the match (FATF Guidance on Digital ID, 2020). From 2021 to 2024, many providers implemented combined scenarios—first liveness, then a selfie with a document—to improve face match accuracy and eliminate “borrowed” IDs (Industry adoption, 2021–2024). Case study: a user from Dakar undergoes a standard liveness check, then takes a photo with a CNI next to his face, where his name and number are visible; the combination of frames confirms ownership and speeds up verification (FATF, 2020; Industry, 2021–2024).

The difference from a standard selfie lies in the composition and focus requirements: the face and document must be sharp at the same time, against a neutral background, without overlapping the eyes or key fields, so that OCR correctly extracts the text and the face match obtains sufficient detail (ICAO Doc 9303, 2015/2021). The document should be held close to the face, without tilting it, to avoid perspective distortion and glare on the number/date areas, which disrupt recognition (ICAO, 2015/2021). Case: a client from Abuja holds a NIN card to his cheek in daylight, the front-facing camera visible, the name and number; this shot is processed faster than a photo taken with an outstretched arm, where the text is blurred and the platform rejects it due to a low OCR score (Industry OCR practices, 2020–2023; ICAO, 2015/2021).

Methodology and sources (E-E-A-T)

The analysis is based on international standards and regional regulatory documents, ensuring the reliability and relevance of the findings. The FATF AML/CFT Recommendations (2012, updated 2023) and Guidance on Digital ID (2020) were used as a basic framework, as well as the GIABA regional reviews (2019, 2022), reflecting the specifics of West Africa. For local practices, the BCEAO directives (2015–2022), the AML/CFT Guidelines of the Bank of Ghana (2018, 2021), and the regulations of the CBN of Nigeria (2018, 2022) were applied. Additionally, NIMC/NCC data on the implementation of NIN-SIM linkage (2020–2022) and the operational KYC policies of MTN, Airtel, and Orange (2019–2024) were taken into account. Verification aspects are supported by ICAO Doc 9303 (2015/2021), ensuring the technical accuracy of the analysis.