KYC & Verification Policy

1. At a glance

• Every account must verify its email address at signup, and we collect a Bangladesh mobile number (+880).
• Identity verification (KYC) is required before you can send masking SMS with a branded Sender ID.
• KYC needs a profile photo and both sides of your National ID (NID) card. Masking also needs business documents, such as a trade licence, and proof that you may use the sender name.
• Our staff review documents manually. This is not government or Election Commission verification.
• Documents are stored privately, viewed only by authorised staff, and every staff view is logged. Rejected or replaced documents are deleted automatically after 90 days by default.

2. Why we verify identity

SMS can be misused for fraud, phishing and impersonation. Verification helps us:

• confirm that a real, accountable person or business is behind each account that sends branded messages;
• check that you have the right to use the sender name you request;
• protect message recipients, banks, mobile financial services and other brands from impersonation;
• meet telecom-provider requirements and applicable law; and
• investigate abuse and respond to lawful requests.

3. When verification is required

• At signup: you must verify your email address with a one-time code (OTP), and provide a Bangladesh mobile number in +880 format.
• Before masking: KYC must be verified before you can use a masking (branded) Sender ID.
• For Sender ID requests: business documents and proof of authorization are needed, as described in section 6.
• At other times: we may ask you to verify, or verify again, as described in section 10.

4. Documents we ask for

Identity (KYC)

• Profile photo: a clear, recent photo of your face.
• NID front: the front of your National ID card, with all corners visible.
• NID back: the back of your National ID card.

Business and authorization documents

• Trade licence: for masking Sender IDs. A trade licence must be current; in Bangladesh it is normally renewed every fiscal year.
• Authorization letters or other proof: when the sender name is a brand, organisation or person other than the licence holder, for example a trademark certificate, company registration certificate or a signed authorization letter from the brand owner.

File requirements

• Accepted formats: JPG, PNG or WebP. A trade licence may also be a PDF.
• Maximum size: 3.5 MB per file.
• We check the real file type from the file contents, not just the file name.
• Upload clear, complete and unedited images. Blurred, cropped or altered documents will be returned.

Photos can contain hidden metadata, such as the date, device or location. When you upload a JPG or PNG image, we automatically remove this metadata before storing it, and we never rely on it to verify documents.

5. Review process and statuses

Our staff review your documents manually. They check that the documents are clear, complete and consistent with your account details. This is a manual document review. It is not verification by the government, the Election Commission or any other authority, and it does not confirm that a document is genuine.

Your KYC can have one of these statuses:

We aim to review submissions promptly, but we do not guarantee a review time or a particular outcome.

6. Masking, trade licences and authorization letters

A masking Sender ID shows a name (such as your brand) instead of a number. To use one you need:

• a verified KYC;
• a Sender ID request with your trade licence; and
• proof that you may use the name, if it differs from the name on your trade licence.

A trade licence is a local-government permit to trade at an address. It does not by itself prove that you own a brand or trademark, so we may ask for more evidence.

Approval is not guaranteed or instant. SMS providers and mobile operators may also need to approve a Sender ID, and they may refuse or withdraw it. Our Sender ID Policy has the full rules.

7. Protected brands

Some names are commonly used in fraud. Sender ID requests that use or resemble these names are held for review and need proof of authorization from the brand owner. Examples include:

• mobile financial services, such as bKash, Nagad, Rocket and Upay;
• banks and financial institutions;
• mobile operators and the telecom regulator;
• government bodies, police and the Election Commission.

We may refuse a request that uses or imitates a protected name without clear authorization, even if your other documents are in order.

8. Privacy and security of your documents

We treat identity documents as highly sensitive:

• They are stored privately in our database. There is no public link to any document, and documents are never cached or indexed by search engines.
• Only authorised staff with a separate document-access permission can view them.
• Staff open documents through short-lived signed links that expire after 5 minutes.
• Every staff view or download is recorded in our audit log.
• Documents and NID details are not available through the SMS API.

We do not publish or sell your documents. We disclose them only as described in our Privacy Policy, for example when we are legally required to.

Our systems are hosted outside Bangladesh, including in Singapore. See the Privacy Policy for details on international transfers.

9. How long we keep documents

• Rejected or replaced documents are deleted automatically 90 days after they are rejected or replaced. Our staff may change this period.
• Documents of verified accounts are kept while your account is active, because we may need them to handle abuse reports, disputes or lawful requests. After your account closes, they are handled under our retention rules and your deletion request.
• Legal hold: if we must preserve information, for example for an investigation, deletion is paused until the hold ends.

You can request deletion of your account and identity documents in Dashboard → Account & data. See section 13 of our Privacy Policy.

10. Re-verification

We may ask you to verify again, or to provide more documents, for example when:

• your trade licence or authorization has expired;
• your name, business or ownership details change;
• you request a new Sender ID, especially a protected brand;
• we see unusual activity, risk signals or abuse reports on your account; or
• a telecom provider, the law or a lawful request requires it.

Until you complete re-verification, we may limit features such as masking.

11. Refusal, suspension and false documents

We may refuse, suspend or withdraw verification if:

• documents are unclear, incomplete, expired or inconsistent with your account;
• you cannot show that you may use a sender name;
• we have reason to believe a document is false, altered or belongs to someone else; or
• your account is involved in fraud, spam or other misuse.

Submitting false or altered documents, or documents of another person without their authority, will lead to rejection and may lead to suspension or termination of your account. Where we are legally required to, we may report it to the relevant authorities. See our Account Suspension Policy.

12. Your responsibilities

• Submit only true, current documents that belong to you or that you are authorised to submit.
• Keep your details and documents up to date.
• Use a Sender ID only for the business or brand it was approved for.
• Do not share your account with anyone who has not been verified.

13. Changes to this policy

Each version of this policy has a version number and an effective date, shown on this page. We will tell account holders about material changes by email or in the dashboard.

This policy is published in English and Bangla. If the two versions conflict, the version designated by SMSGELY after legal review applies.

14. Important notice

SMSGELY provides messaging infrastructure and related technology services. Customers remain responsible for message content, recipient lists, recipient consent, sender identity and authorization, campaign legality, applicable marketing, telecom and data-protection obligations, and all applicable laws.

SMSGELY does not authorize unlawful use of its service. SMSGELY operates subject to applicable laws, regulations, telecom-provider requirements and contractual restrictions.

15. Contact us

For questions about verification, contact Support from your dashboard, or use the support contact shown on this page or on our Contact page.