A couple of weeks ago, there was a discussion here about using VPNs and I mentioned that I use Surfshark. I had checked it out and it got good reviews as a safe and reliable VPN.
I'm rescinding my recommendation of their product because of a problem I ran into today.
I connect to the VPN through a server in Dallas, which is the one closest to my home. This morning, I found that my account at a financial institution was frozen because of "suspicious activity".
Long story short, when I called the bank's customer service, the first thing they asked after verifying my identity was "Where are you now?", which I thought was an odd question. I explained that I was home but connecting through a VPN server in Dallas. Turns out the server in Dallas had routed my attempt to log in to my account through, of all places, a server in Iran. Needless to say, you cannot do business with US financial institutions if you're in Iran.
It took about 45 minutes on the phone to get it all sorted out and my account unfrozen. I've disabled the VPN pending an explanation from Surfshark of how something like that could happen, but I'll be canceling my account, getting a refund, and using another VPN. The guy from the bank knew about Surfshark, said they've been having problems lately with customers who use it, and suggested that I try another one. Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice...
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