| Service | Category | During the test | What happened | Use instead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sms-man.com | SMS numbers | 85.3% of codes received, 25 s median | Demanded an ID past about $100 of top-ups, froze $64.00 | VirtualSMSNumbers, ReadyOTP |
| onlinesim.io | SMS numbers | 58.7% of codes received, 150 s median | Reset every balance; $38.00 vanished | VirtualSMSNumbers, ReadyOTP |
| coinsbee.com | Gift cards | 87.5% of codes valid, 20 s median | Phone number required at sign-up, then froze €71 past about €400 | Giftoshi, Giftlano |
| storedvalue.com | Gift cards | Cards at -25%, delivered in about 5 s | €108 of cards cancelled at 30 days | Giftoshi, USDTVouchers |
| Modal | GPU rental | 15 jobs at 99% of reference performance | Suspended for "suspected mining", demanded an ID, held $85.00 | GPURentHub, GPURento |
Three froze the balance behind an ID request
sms-man.com worked without a problem for five months (85.3% of codes received over the whole test) until our fourth top-up, in August: past about $100 of cumulative deposits, the account went "under verification" pending an ID document and a selfie. Its homepage says "NO KYC"; its terms reserve verification in article 14.3. coinsbee.com, whose homepage says "WITHOUT KYC", required a phone number verified by SMS to open an account, then an ID and a selfie past about €400; the last four orders were never placed.
Modal completed 15 jobs at 99% of reference performance, then suspended the account for "suspected mining" three hours into our first twelve-hour H100 run and asked for an ID, a selfie and a project description to reactivate it. Its terms reserve identity verification at any time (article 9.2). None of the three has released the money: $64.00, €71 and $85.00 are still held, and we sent no documents to sms-man.com or Modal.
Two never asked for ID, and the money went anyway
onlinesim.io never asked for anything, not even before wiping the balance. It received only 58.7% of codes and changed domain three times in six months. In July it went offline for eleven days, then announced a "technical migration": every balance had been reset to zero, our $38.00 included. Its "forgot password" email also sent our own password back in clear text, and there is no 2FA.
storedvalue.com sold every card at -25% and delivered in about 5 seconds. At the 30-day check, 12 of the 40 cards had been cancelled by the retailer, their balances removed and one gaming account suspended: €108 gone, and only 70% of orders met our validity rule, which includes still working 30 days later. After-sales answered that the card had been delivered valid and that it was not responsible.
Good results before the failure did not predict it
Service quality gave no warning: sms-man.com’s 85.3% reception beat three scored SMS sites, SMSario (80%), SMSPVA (34%) and 5sim (31.3%), and Modal’s 99% of reference performance matched GPURento’s 99%. Each money problem came after earlier top-ups, orders or jobs had gone through: sms-man.com’s fourth top-up, onlinesim.io’s eleven-day outage in July, about €400 at coinsbee.com, the 30-day card check at storedvalue.com and Modal’s 16th job.
The protocols make these failures eliminatory whatever the average: in all three tests, breaking the no-KYC promise or blocking or losing funds keeps a service out of the scored ranking, and the GPU test adds leaving one client’s data within reach of another. That is why none of the five has a score, even where codes arrived or jobs ran well.
The lesson
The no-KYC promise is proven when you try to leave, not when you arrive. Keep no larger balance than you need, top up as you go, and never send an ID to a service whose no-KYC promise has just failed in front of you: that is exactly the kind of database that ends up leaking. For gift cards, prefer a site that states its ceiling before you pay, such as Giftoshi at €1,000 a month, check each balance as soon as the code arrives and keep proof of purchase for at least a month.
Other names from our tests
The lower-ranked services of each test did not fail on identity or funds and stay in the scored rankings: SMSario, SMSPVA and 5sim (SMS), Bitrefill, eGifter and GiftCardGranny (gift cards), RunPod, Vast.ai and Supabase (GPU). At 5sim a number was unavailable 92 times out of 150; Bitrefill’s "0% fees" hid a +7.8% gap against the market rate; RunPod’s preemptible instances finished none of our twelve-hour jobs; Supabase ran at 55% of reference performance. Their weakness is reliability or cost, not privacy.
The report on our earlier 1-month SMS test, published on September 8, 2026, adds sms-activate.fr: payment was sent, nothing followed and support did not respond, so we do not recommend it. That attempt stopped at payment, outside the reception protocol, so its reception and KYC behaviour were not observed; the finding concerns that exact domain only.
Frequently asked questions
Is sms-man.com a scam?
We do not use that word, but in our 6-month test sms-man.com advertised "NO KYC", then demanded an ID and a selfie past about $100 in top-ups and froze $64.00. We do not recommend it; use VirtualSMSNumbers or ReadyOTP.
Does coinsbee.com require KYC?
In our 5-month test, yes: it required a phone number verified by SMS to open an account and, past about €400 of cumulative purchases, an ID document and a selfie; €71 is still frozen. Giftoshi (9.1/10) states a €1,000 monthly ceiling up front, and Giftlano needs no account at all.
Does Modal ask for ID verification?
It did in our 4-month GPU test, after 15 completed jobs: it suspended the account for "suspected mining" during our first twelve-hour H100 run and asked for an ID document, a selfie and a project description. $85.00 is still held. GPURentHub completed 20/20 jobs with no identity request.
Is onlinesim.io safe to use?
We do not recommend it after our 6-month test. It never asked for ID, but after an eleven-day outage in July it reset every balance to zero, and our $38.00 was lost. It also received only 58.7% of codes and emailed our own password back in clear text. Use VirtualSMSNumbers (96.7% of codes received) or ReadyOTP.
Is storedvalue.com legit?
It delivered fast and never asked for ID, but by the 30-day check the retailer had cancelled 12 of the 40 cards we bought at -25%, costing €108, and after-sales declined responsibility. We do not recommend it. In our 5-month test, USDTVouchers was the only site whose real cost came out below face value, at -1.5%.