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Participant
Aug 23, 2026 2:32 AM UTC
Question

Adobe Flawed Anti-Fraud System Blocked My Account

My Contributor account was recently blocked by Adobe for a "second confirmed instance of irregular sales activity." I discovered a shocking flaw in Adobe's automated system: they are flags my legitimate Payout/Withdrawal requests as "violations."

Here is what actually happened:

  • 1st Payout Request: Adobe suddenly claimed "irregular sales activity" and forcefully deducted $2,200+ from my earnings, flatly refusing to provide any itemized statement or Asset IDs.
  • 2nd Payout Request: Exactly when my second $600+ payment was due to arrive, Adobe completely suspended my account.

I am strictly an independent contributor. I have never registered an Adobe buyer account, nor have I ever bought anything on this platform. I am the innocent victim of buyer-side fraud, yet Adobe chose to punish me and lock my cash assets instead of investigating the malicious buyers.

On top of that, Adobe's support is a complete disaster. They completely ignored all my direct emails. They only issued this lazy, copy-pasted "repeat violation" response on the very last day of the deadline after I filed a formal case with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). And Adobe also flatly refuse to provide any itemized statement or Asset IDs relevant to irregular sales activity to me

Has anyone else experienced their account being destroyed right after requesting a payout? Any advice on how to force their executive team to actually audit the account instead of sending boilerplate text?

14 replies

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 23, 2026 10:13 PM UTC

I filed a formal case with the Better Business Bureau

========

A waste of time. The Better Business Bureau is a toothless paper tiger with no jurisdiction anywhere. They are a non-profit group that mediates consumer complaints. You said yourself, you’re not a consumer. You’re an independent supplier. So the BBB can’t help you. 

 

As a Stock Contributor, you agreed to the contract terms below.

https://www.adobe.com/go/contributor-agreement

 

Just like all other platforms (TikTok, YouTube, Facebook...), when terms are violated they have the right to suspend or terminate an account. 

 

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Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 23, 2026 9:13 PM UTC

​@zzz99284828,

I think there’s more here that you’re not telling us. 

 

$2,200+ in U.S. dollars is a sizable sum if money. 

  • If that was your first payout request, why was it so high?

 

Adobe has to comply with all regional laws & restrictions. 

  • Many regions have strict regulations about bank transactions over a certain dollar value. Such transactions are automatically flagged & referred for further investigation into potential fraud, theft or money laundering activity. 

 

If you were the victim of a false-flag, a full incident investigation should produce a favorable outcome for you. Getting mad doesn’t solve anything. See related topic below.

 

Good luck.

 

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Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
Participant
Aug 25, 2026 12:26 PM UTC

I understand your suspicion, but there is nothing to hide. Here are the answers to your points:

  1. Why the payout was so high: As an international contributor, I use Payoneer as my payment gateway. Payoneer charges a steep $3.00 USD flat fee for EVERY single withdrawal. That is the only reason I choose to accumulate over $1,000 before requesting a payout. 
  2. The unfairness of the freeze: If there was indeed any fraudulent activity, it was 100% on the buyer's side. I strictly uploaded compliant assets in good faith. However, instead of stopping the fraudulent buyers, Adobe punished me by freezing my entire account. More importantly, when I raised a reasonable dispute challenging their deduction, they flatly refused to provide an itemized, de-identified statement to justify the deduction. That lack of transparency is why I am frustrated.
  3. Question for you: Based on your knowledge of these compliance investigations, do you have any idea how long such an incident investigation usually takes? Does a "suspension" at this stage mean the account is permanently banned, or is there still hope? I have already submitted a formal ticket through the official Adobe portal and received a Case Number, but Adobe has completely ignored it.

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Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 25, 2026 6:55 PM UTC

A decision on an appeal request can take several weeks or months for the investigation to complete. It all depends on their case load. When Stock is ready to invite you back, you’ll be notified. Probably not until then.

Be patient & work on other projects.

 

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Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
Jill_C
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 23, 2026 4:26 PM UTC

There is no “victim-blaming” stated nor implied in my statement. Finding fraudulent sales is not “accounting errors”, though I do believe  that Adobe owes the Contributor a more detailed explanation when such deductions are taken,

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Jill C., Forum Volunteer
Participant
Aug 23, 2026 5:37 AM UTC

My Contributor account was recently blocked by Adobe for a "second confirmed instance of irregular sales activity." I discovered a shocking flaw in Adobe's automated system: they are flags my legitimate Payout/Withdrawal requests as "violations." any one help me plz.

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daniellei4510
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 23, 2026 3:11 AM UTC

My experience is only to the extent of what I read on these forums, and I’m not aware of any accounts that have in fact been permanently banned ever getting their accounts back, nor have I heard of any contributors starting over with new accounts after a previous one has received a permanent ban. Perhaps some who has been active here longer than I have can better respond to that particular issue. While we have had numerous posts from contributors having their accounts banned, only a handful have ever reported back if their accounts have been reestablished.

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Adobe Community Expert | I have miles to go before I sleep, but I'm all done on this end.
Jill_C
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 23, 2026 3:09 AM UTC

It is common procedure for Adobe Stock to check account status when a payout request is made. If they deducted $2,200 from sales they definitely found illegal sales activity. You can see for yourself the pattern of suspicious sales - a large number of back to back sales, the same asset being licensed multiple times, in a short time span, etc. Many contributors report such patterns to Adobe for investigation before they request a payout. Having had that experience, why did you let $600 of sales accumulate before making another payout request?

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Jill C., Forum Volunteer
Participant
Aug 23, 2026 4:33 AM UTC

After my first payout was forcefully deducted, my account was frozen for withdrawals for a period, and by the time it resumed, $600 had already accumulated naturally. This amount is only slightly higher than my usual regular sales volume. How on earth am I supposed to assume or judge that this contained "illegal transactions" and report it to Adobe?

Furthermore, with Adobe's absolute dead support system that never replies to single emails, do you honestly believe they would ever process or look at a user's report?

It sounds like you are blaming me for the simple act of trying to withdraw my money, and implying that Adobe's predatory account freeze is justified. Victim-blaming does not fix Adobe's systemic accounting flaws or their total lack of transparency.

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Jill_C
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 23, 2026 4:32 PM UTC

Your account would have been off-line for the period when it was suspended and Adobe’s internal investigation was underway, during which time your assets are not searchable or licensable by Buyers. I have frequently read reports here and in the Discord server from Contributors who reported to Adobe when they detected a suspicious pattern of sales, and Adobe took action and responded to them. 

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Jill C., Forum Volunteer
daniellei4510
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 23, 2026 2:47 AM UTC

Most payout requests are often, if not regularly, followed by an audit. So yes, accounts are often disabled after a payout request. I’m assuming you are aware that as contributors like yourself, we cannot be of assistance. As for Adobe withholding your earnings, if your assets were purchased with a fraudulent credit card, then it would be reasonable for Adobe to do so.though I do understand your frustration over not receiving more information as to which, if not all, purchases were fraudulent. This is why I withdraw payment when I’ve made anywhere from $35 to $50, rather than letting it grow to such massive sums.

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Adobe Community Expert | I have miles to go before I sleep, but I'm all done on this end.
Participant
Aug 23, 2026 3:03 AM UTC

Thanks for your insights. Your explanation about payout audits makes perfect sense.

To answer your point, the most frustrating part is Adobe's attitude. In their reply to my BBB complaint, Adobe didn't say they would investigate the fraud and give me a fair solution. Instead, they just used a lazy boilerplate phrase to finalize my suspension as a "repeat violation." It seems like a permanent ban, which is completely insane and unacceptable. I strongly believe that even if Adobe refuses to provide me with the itemized fraud statement, they still have absolutely no right to ban my account. I did nothing wrong.

 

As for why I accumulated such a massive sum: since I am an international vendor, my payout gateway (Payoneer) charges a steep $3.00 USD flat fee for EVERY single withdrawal. If I withdraw $35 to $50 each time like you suggested, the fees would eat up too much of my hard-earned money. That’s the only reason I was forced to wait and make larger payouts.

It's just deeply disappointing that Adobe uses buyer-side credit card fraud as an excuse to lock honest contributors' accounts and forcefully pocket our legitimate earnings

Based on your experience, do you think there is still any chance to get the account reactivated or unlocked after this stage? Or does Adobe usually stick to their "final decision" permanently?

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Jill_C
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 23, 2026 3:16 AM UTC

When there is “buyer side credit card fraud”, Adobe earns nothing, so why should they pay you anyway? They didn’t record a valid sale, therefore you didn’t earn a royalty. You said “they still have absolutely no right to ban my account”. This is incorrect. Reread your Adobe Stock Contributor Agreement. Adobe can terminate any Contributor account at their discretion at any time. Whether or not you were personally responsible for the fraud is irrelevant. If your account is somehow attracting this type of fraud, it is a liability for them.

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Jill C., Forum Volunteer