⚠️ If you see a post or DM saying "your account is currently suspended for verification purposes", do NOT click on the link. It is a scam.
Fediverse servers do not ask people to verify their identity. There is an optional self-verification system, but that's just for those who want to use it. No one is ever asked to do it.
If you are in ANY doubt about ANY official-looking message, contact your own server's admin directly using their public email address on your server's website's "About" page.
p.s. The scammers seem to be asking for people's credit/debit card details. Fediverse admins will never ask for anything like that.
(Admins might call for donations with links to Ko-Fi etc, but it's not connected to verification and they would never ask for anyone's card themselves.)
Mastodon's actual self-verification system doesn't involve any payment cards or personal identity. It's also totally optional and mainly just for people who own a website: https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-verify-my-account
p.p.s. If you see any kind of scam on here, click ⋯ below the scam post and then "Report".
When you report a scam, make sure you select the option to anonymously forward the report to the origin server so that they can suspend the account itself. Suspending an original account is the fastest way of stopping scammers.
Fedi.Tips
Dec.tar.gz