diff --git a/src/SpecialRequestAccount.php b/src/SpecialRequestAccount.php
index 4ec4aa7..1144eac 100755
--- a/src/SpecialRequestAccount.php
+++ b/src/SpecialRequestAccount.php
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ function accountRequestFormData(&$out_error, IDatabase $dbr) {
 		}
 
 		//make sure the user actually commented the verification code
-		if (ScratchVerification::topVerifCommenter(ScratchVerification::sessionVerificationCode($session)) !== $username) {
+		if (strtolower(ScratchVerification::topVerifCommenter(ScratchVerification::sessionVerificationCode($session))) !== strtolower($username)) {
 			$out_error = wfMessage('scratch-confirmaccount-verif-missing', $username)->parse();
 			return;
 		}
diff --git a/src/verification/ScratchUserCheck.php b/src/verification/ScratchUserCheck.php
index d6bda3d..a6a8e6a 100644
--- a/src/verification/ScratchUserCheck.php
+++ b/src/verification/ScratchUserCheck.php
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ class ScratchUserCheck {
 
 	private static function fetchProfile($username, &$isScratcher, &$joinedAt, &$error) {
 		$url = sprintf(self::PROFILE_URL, $username);
-		$html = @file_get_contents($url);
+		$html = @file_get_contents($url, false, stream_context_create([
+			'http' => ['header' => "Accept-Language: en\r\nCookie: scratchlanguage=en"]
+		]));
 		if ($html === false) {
 			$isScratcher = null; // can't tell Scratcher status
 			$error = 'scratch-confirmaccount-profile-error';