sending scan of photo ID - plse help!

floandboo

Hello,
newbie on this forum so apologies if I do anything wrong. I have just seen a job for working at home for what appears to be an American corporation but the work is for the UK. The salary is highish but not ridiculous but they are asking for you to send a scanned copy of passport or other photo id with application - is this normal? Would you do this? I have googled the company and not found anything bad about them but equally nothing good. Job seems genuine but I am just suspicious about sending ID. Can anyone help?

Jarndyce

floandboo wrote: »

Hello,
newbie on this forum so apologies if I do anything wrong. I have just seen a job for working at home for what appears to be an American corporation but the work is for the UK. The salary is highish but not ridiculous but they are asking for you to send a scanned copy of passport or other photo id with application - is this normal? Would you do this? I have googled the company and not found anything bad about them but equally nothing good. Job seems genuine but I am just suspicious about sending ID. Can anyone help?

Not sure about the niceties of asking you to name the company on this forum, so I won't. Do they have a UK landline telephone number and/or postal address?

floandboo

no all american details - seems to be done by email. The website looks genuine enough - but you can never tell these days can you - have thought I might try calling the american number to check up!

*Chattie*

Personally I wouldn't send any ID.

scheming_gypsy

Most places do want a copy of photo ID, usually when you start. with them being American based you can't really pop in with it

Cheeky_Monkey

To me that screams potential identity theft so I wouldn't do it.

floandboo

It's identity theft that worries me - think I may apply without the id details (can use excuse of no scanner) and see what happens. I appreciate they will probably need to see them if they employed me but on application seems a bit odd.

Thanks for all your input.:)

InsideInsurance

Have seen it before requested and it was legitimate, or at least 10 years later I've still not been a victim and they did give me the job and pay me on time etc (before they went bust).

If you are initiating contact and its not responding to spam etc then you should be ok, obviously do research on the company before hand, as much to ensure you'll be paid as anything else.

WPN

Always follow your gut instinct... if it says its dodgy... dont go through with it at any cost.

Its EASY to get a UK telephone number of any STD area code including London - and you can get it routed to anywhere in the world.

Also, you can get a virtual office anywhere in the world... basically an mailing address (to be forwarded on) and telephone service (they will answer phone in your name). Why they wouldn't do this? Probably to avoid a paper trail.

Any serious business would get a local presence if they are serious about making money in legit ways.

I have just seen a job for working at home for what appears to be an American corporation but the work is for the UK. Most homeworking and "be your own boss" jobs are scams. Also, when the Government catches up with you, you will have to pay Business Rates on part of your home, and a slightly reduced Council Tax. Your consumer broadband and phone line can also be terminated by your provider.

The salary is highish but not ridiculous How high? They need to tempt you to disclose your information.

but they are asking for you to send a scanned copy of passport or other photo id with application - is this normal? No - they shouldnt be asking for that at all. I assume this is self-employed vacancy so even under UK law they do not need to verify your identity as having the right to work in the UK (even then evidence should be after you got job offer OR at interview stage at least).

Would you do this? No.

I have googled the company and not found anything bad about them but equally nothing good. Means its likely to be a scam thats rather new (?) - Do a whois on the domain name... if its a private registration or not registered to the business... its 99% likely to be a scam. Check registration date against copyright notices and claims on the website. If you have a physical location check its a commercial property (not someones house in the middle of nowhere) and not a business mailing address used by thousands of businesses. Is it a public company? Does the website mention details of the Board (Board of Directors)? Does it trade with any other major businesses?

Job seems genuine but I am just suspicious about sending ID. Can anyone help? I beg to differ. These days people only really need your Name, Address, NI number and DOB... something likely to be sent with an application to abuse your ID. Can you provide more information on what the job is supposed to be about? Also, was it on a reputable job search website?

bevanuk

Every single job requires ID, how else would they know who you were?
Scan it at a low resolution. The only information they can have from your passport is your name and where you were born?
It's standard practice anywhere!

InsideInsurance

WPN wrote: »

Always follow your gut instinct... if it says its dodgy... dont go through with it at any cost.

Its EASY to get a UK telephone number of any STD area code including London - and you can get it routed to anywhere in the world.

Also, you can get a virtual office anywhere in the world... basically an mailing address (to be forwarded on) and telephone service (they will answer phone in your name). Why they wouldn't do this? Probably to avoid a paper trail.

Any serious business would get a local presence if they are serious about making money in legit ways.

<snip>

but they are asking for you to send a scanned copy of passport or other photo id with application - is this normal? No - they shouldnt be asking for that at all. I assume this is self-employed vacancy so even under UK law they do not need to verify your identity as having the right to work in the UK (even then evidence should be after you got job offer OR at interview stage at least).

Some of the points were valid but others are potentially way off the mark.

The OP has given very little detail about what the company is or what the role is going. The USA company I worked for over 10 years ago was an internet chat room. It only had USA based addresses etc but had employees world wide as it had customers world wide and wanted to be able to cover 24/7 with staff and deal with multiple languages.

Just because a company has involvement with a country does not mean they want to have a local presence no matter how cheap or easy it may be to do so.

I also don't get why you believe that either they will want you to be self employed or that they cannot legitimately want ID. Nor particularly the comment "even under UK law". It is an american company, the UK law doesn't come into play.

The company I worked for I was an employee of it but as an overseas employee I had to sort out my own taxation.

I was required to provide ID, I have no idea what they did with it but I never was a victim of identity fraud from it and they went bust and the assets sold to a large corporation a few years after I stopped working for them.