Fidor Passport Email

GingerBob_3

grumbler wrote: »

To make sure that it's you who applied for the account, not somebody else living at this address or having access to the arriving post?

The "sophisticated methods" appear to be not that sophisticated and reliable at a closer look. That's why ID fraud is not uncommon in UK and why in some other countries the only way to get a bank card is to visit a branch with proofs of ID. ID fraud is next to impossible there, but so are online banks like FD, Smile and Fidor.

The point of a passport is that it is compared with you physically. There is no point whatsoever sending a passport to some organisation who can't see you. And passports don't have an address on them.

masonic

GingerBob wrote: »

The point of a passport is that it is compared with you physically. There is no point whatsoever sending a passport to some organisation who can't see you. And passports don't have an address on them.

No point whatsoever? So obtaining a copy of a valid passport belonging to someone else is so trivial anyone could do it? I think you exaggerate. Sending a passport to some organisation who can't see you is somewhat flawed at worst.

It's actually been a while since an actual human being has compared my physical face to the photograph on my passport, despite travelling abroad several times a year. Similarly, information gleaned from a copy of the passport uploaded over the internet could be used as a proxy for "physical verification", such as checking that the individual actually exists and is a citizen of the country in question, and that the passport has not been reported lost or stolen. It could be a requirement to be able to provide this information to law enforcement under certain circumstances. There isn't really much point in speculating on the reason behind the request, but clearly there may be a valid reason behind it.

Last time I needed to prove my identity over the internet using my passport, I also had to snap a selfie using my webcam. The banks are never ahead of the curve when it comes to security, but the existence of First Direct's "video link" verification option suggests they are slowly catching up.

grumbler

GingerBob wrote: »

The point of a passport is that it is compared with you physically. There is no point whatsoever sending a passport to some organisation who can't see you.

You are right, but it's still better than nothing as a stranger doesn't have your passport or a copy to sent. That's why it's in a branch only in some countries. Ideally, in UK it has to be a copy certified by some authorised person/company in your presence.

And passports don't have an address on them.

Passports prove ID only. For the address banks require some other proofs.

GingerBob_3

grumbler wrote: »

You are right, but it's still better than nothing as a stranger doesn't have your passport or a copy to sent. That's why it's in a branch only in some countries. Ideally, in UK it has to be a copy certified by some authorised person/company in your presence.
Passports prove ID only. For the address banks require some other proofs.

True. However, what bothers me is that these days we don't have control of our own identity documents. How many organisations now demand to take a copy of your passport? Once that's been done, you've lost it. Who knows what will become of the copy, and the data on it. As a result, it would be quite feasible for someone with access to a copy of your passport to open an account with this German outfit.

grumbler

masonic wrote: »

...It's actually been a while since an actual human being has compared my physical face to the photograph on my passport, despite travelling abroad several times a year.

Really? Even if it's a biometric passport and and an automated counter on the border control, it's the computer that does the comparison.

Similarly, information gleaned from a copy of the passport uploaded over the internet could be used as a proxy for "physical verification", such as checking that the individual actually exists and is a citizen of the country in question,

I don't see why a copy is needed to check the existence.

grumbler

GingerBob wrote: »

True. However, what bothers me is that these days we don't have control of our own identity documents.

We have some actually.

How many organisations now demand to take a copy of your passport? Once that's been done, you've lost it.

All copies I ever send are watermarked, e.d. "FOR FIDOR ONLY".

masonic

grumbler wrote: »

Really? Even if it's a biometric passport and and an automated counter on the border control, it's the computer that does the comparison.

Firstly, I wouldn't regard the computer as a human being, would you? And secondly, the computer is not comparing my physical face to the photograph, it is comparing my face to some details stored on the biometric chip. I was careful to specify "human being" and "photograph" in my comment.

I don't see why a copy is needed to check the existence.

It isn't. They could have the user type the details in. I had to do that a long time ago with another account. But that brings me back to... "There isn't really much point in speculating on the reason behind the request"

Anthorn

Over the past year alone I personally have produced my passport, P60, letters from HMRC to two banks, the Local Authority and a Credit Union all of which were photcopied by them and placed "on file". Insecurity of our identity documents is a way of life and we just trust that they will be held securely.

The difference between securely providing documentation personally and sending them by email is that we know who is getting them but in the case of email we don't know who is anonymously intercepting them