Will a VPN help me, for access to US accounts

[EVENKEEL]

So, I'm having problems logging on to my investment co. in the US.

"The Amazon CloudFront distribution is configured to block access from your country." is part of warning. It worked before but not now for awhile.

 

I'm a dullard with regard to this but I think maybe a VPN is needed, How do I do this???

[Woof999]

Depends on each site. While a VPN can technically make your Internet traffic appear to originate in the US (or pretty much anywhere else), many companies will know you are using a VPN and block you anyway. Some new VPN servers will temporarily work until the master list of "IP addresses that are from VPNs" gets updated. That's a pretty simplistic view as there are other ways of detecting VPN use other than just your IP address.

 

In other words, the answer I'm afraid is, it might or it might not. Worth a try though. There are always large discounts for many VPN providers available on many popular YouTube channels.

[Heng]

Some just want to have you 'explain' / give a reason you're using a VPN as well, such as eTrade (at least when I first tried logging in through a VPN a couple of years ago).   Immediate account lock with one of those 'please call customer service' messages.   Once explained though they said it was okay to continue to use VPN to log in.  One common/reasonable reason is that you need to log into your account via public wifi often while travelling and use VPN for security.

 

IME banks are less touchy about customers using their mobile apps (as opposed to PC browser log ins) around the world. 

[RedBackman]

Yeah you're being georestricted by Amazon which means you would need a VPN/Proxy to get around it. Depending on how the site settings they might also try to block VPNs which is like a game of whack-a-mole.

 

There are some limited free VPNs that might suit your needs if you're just doing some normal banking/investment stuff infrequently. Opera (the web browser) offers a free one that's pretty trusted. Microsoft Edge announced that it will have a free one for up to 1GB of data a month soon too. If that doesn't work I would go with free trials and find a VPN that works with your site.

 

If it's really important that you always have access to this site for work or something you might want to set up your own personal VPN linked to a low-profile ip instead of one connected to big VPN companies.

[Jingthing]

46 minutes ago, RedBackman said:

...

 

If it's really important that you always have access to this site for work or something you might want to set up your own personal VPN linked to a low-profile ip instead of one connected to big VPN companies.

How do you do that?

 

BTW, talk about private solutions, what I've been doing (which works of course) is difficult and extreme.

 

There is a mini computer box without screen in a friends house in my U.S. address zip code. I logon to his network to turn on the machine. I then use TEAMVIEWER to logon the machine, then do my bidness, then logoff.

 

Not saying it's something many will do ... it's rather high maintenance and things occasionally go wrong (having a tech savvy host person really helps) ... but there it is.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Jingthing

[RedBackman]

58 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

There is a mini computer box without screen in a friends house in my U.S. address zip code. I logon to his network to turn on the machine. I then use TEAMVIEWER to logon the machine, then do my bidness, then logoff.

Pretty much the same concept as that except you just set up a VPN instead of using teamviewer. If your work goes through an employer with a local IP you might be able to have them set up a VPN for you or if you have friends and family in the location you want your IP you stand up a vpn server on their network. Those sorts of low-profile/residential IPs won't get banned by georestriction services.

 

Bigger VPN companies will likely have shorter rollings outages, smaller VPN companies might work for longer but also have longer outages. Renting a VPS to use as a VPN is hit and miss with a datacenter ip address. TOR has more endpoint security issues and a ton of sites try to block it as well. So there really isn't a much better solution if you depend on reliability.

[Captain Monday]

Before the pandemic (actually the governments response to) forced me to get a US residence I had a "tomato" router with a built VPN  (subscription service). It was not easy but once set up any device with the routers WiFi password would appear to be on the destination country IP of choice. No problem with any financial/ commerce sites.  Can't remember if I had Netflix or Apple TV problems. +Disney was always aware I was overseas somehow could not use. 

[EVENKEEL]

5 hours ago, RedBackman said:

Yeah you're being georestricted by Amazon which means you would need a VPN/Proxy to get around it. Depending on how the site settings they might also try to block VPNs which is like a game of whack-a-mole.

 

There are some limited free VPNs that might suit your needs if you're just doing some normal banking/investment stuff infrequently. Opera (the web browser) offers a free one that's pretty trusted. Microsoft Edge announced that it will have a free one for up to 1GB of data a month soon too. If that doesn't work I would go with free trials and find a VPN that works with your site.

 

If it's really important that you always have access to this site for work or something you might want to set up your own personal VPN linked to a low-profile ip instead of one connected to big VPN companies.

It's just occasional like once a month to check my personal investment fund. First I'll contact my advisor. 

[EVENKEEL]

Thanks for all the responses and advice. I'm sure there's others in the same boat.

[mtls2005]

Is this one single financial services provider?

 

Do they offer a mobile app? Maybe try this, and a free Android VPN to trial a  potential solution. If a VPN resolves your issue, and it should, then consider subscribing to a VPN service.

 

Are you able to Google this provider's name and foreign access or VPN, just to see what others are doing?

 

The provider uses AWS, and has added a 'blocking' rule, perhaps as a result of perceived intrusions rather than excluding foreign use. I mean they have customers who travel internationally, and want/need to access their accounts/portfolios.

 

I might even contact them, if a Google search didn't reveal any issues, and ask how you can access your accounts during your extended upcoming international trip.

 

 

I use Nord, when I need a VPN, which is pretty rarely. Maybe with some government services? And Experian.

 

My other finserv/credit card don't require a VPN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by mtls2005

[bendejo]

On 5/12/2022 at 3:52 AM, Heng said:

Some just want to have you 'explain' / give a reason you're using a VPN as well, such as eTrade (at least when I first tried logging in through a VPN a couple of years ago).   Immediate account lock with one of those 'please call customer service' messages.   Once explained though they said it was okay to continue to use VPN to log in.  One common/reasonable reason is that you need to log into your account via public wifi often while travelling and use VPN for security.

ET was recently acquired by another investment bank, so things may have changed.

I have an IRA with them, and I think their account support is truly terrible: those 'please call customer service' messages can take upwards of an hour before connecting to a human, but maybe it is now run by grown-ups.

 

One of the problems with a commercial VPN is that it is very likely someone used their connection for some monkey business, and now their IP addresses are shirtlisted.  But sometimes that just means you have to go through the "I am human" thing.