WeChat wants a friend to verify my new account. What if I don't know anyone?

WeChat's Help Center describes assistance registration as a check that can appear after you sign up with your phone number, or later when you use certain features. WeChat says it exists to stop people signing up with bots. You only go through it if WeChat prompts you, and WeChat says the conditions differ by country or region, so follow the prompt on your screen.

With a friend: the prompt shows a QR code, and another WeChat user scans it with their own WeChat. WeChat's sign-up help page says you can invite "a nearby friend or another WeChat user".

Without a friend, WeChat gives two other routes on the same screen. "Verify via Payment Card": enter your bank card details and complete any authentication your bank asks for. "Verify and Activate WeChat Pay": enter the required details, complete authentication and set a payment password. Which cards work is covered in binding a foreign card to Alipay and WeChat.

If it keeps failing, WeChat says to try again, use only the official app, check that your device and network are not compromised, and disconnect any VPN while you register. If it still asks for a security check, the help page has a link where you submit the phone number you are signing up with and screenshots of the failure; WeChat says it will follow up within three working days. Each mobile number can only create one WeChat account. Sign up with a real mobile number: WeChat lists registering with a virtual number such as Google Voice, Skype In or Nexmo as a reason accounts get blocked.

A different screen appears when an existing account is restricted and you are asked to have someone confirm your identity. WeChat's English help pages on unblocking set the helper rules by where your account was registered. If you registered outside mainland China, a helper outside the mainland can be any user, but a helper in mainland China must already be your WeChat friend. (For accounts registered in mainland China, only mainland users can help, and a helper from another province must be a friend.) The helper must have used WeChat for more than six months and have an active account. If your own account is 14 days old or less, only its linked phone number can unblock it, so use that number or wait until 14 days have passed. Virtual numbers such as Google Voice or Skype Out are not accepted for unblocking.

WeChat's Chinese security-centre page gives the helper conditions for mainland China users differently: their account has been registered for more than six months and is in normal use, it is linked to a bank card, they are within the limit of one assist a month, two in six months and three a year, and they have no violations or security risks. That page says the helper does not need to be your WeChat friend. The two official pages do not agree, so go by what your screen says when you ask for help.

WeChat Pay requires real-name authentication and prompts you for it when you first try to pay. For users without a mainland ID card, WeChat lists: passport (or a Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan travel permit), full name exactly as on the document, mobile number, address, occupation, a photo of the ID and a clear photo of your face.

Do not scan for strangers or pay someone to scan for you. In 2019 a Changsha newspaper documented people on shopping streets asking passers-by to scan codes, which turned out to be assisted registrations and account unblocks for accounts sold on to scam and gambling operations. WeChat's security centre, quoted in the same report, warned users not to buy bulk-registered accounts.