I've provided it to hotel staff, Airbnb hosts, condo security, car rental places, airline staff, and more over the years. They all make copies of it digitally and physically so it's floating around out there in lots of places.
Next time I get a passport it will change anyways so I'm not sure I see the big deal even if it was a unique, never changing number.
15 years ago a foreigner couldn't even get a hotel room in Thailand without handing over passport information for each guest. I can't imagine it's changed much since then. If the Thai police want to track you down it wouldn't be very hard.
I can't think of a single country (other than my own, and maybe in the rest of the EU) where I've gone to a hotel and not had to give my passport and credit card. Passport is photocopied, credit card is checked. Passport number is like a US social security number, it's public information.
I don't think I've ever not been asked for my passport (or some other form of government ID) when staying in hotels in the EU. Two weeks ago I stayed at a large chain and I was asked for passports of my whole family.
Been a while since I stayed in the EU, but I was in Brussels in October 2019 and stayed at an Aloft at the time of an EU summit. I distinctly remember remonstrating with the clerk about the embarrassment of my British passport when I handed it over.
I checked into two hotels this past week while getting out of the city without giving any info. My Thai gf booked and paid for them so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. A couple years ago I had to give my passport to all hotels that I can remember
By law the hotel has to register your arrival online, as a foreigner.
Obviously this is easily skirted by having another person do the check in and you arriving later. I've also stayed in some guest houses in Thailand last month and they did not register me, but that doesn't mean they should have done so.
If they don't, technically you're on the hook for not registering.
A new passport number comes with each replacement/renewal so I would suspect this is just security theater and you can upload any sample passport with the text changed. If they are insisting on the same exact passport again they could accept a fax of a random artwork and it would be more secure and just as permanent.
Which ones? The ones I've used use passport (and often photo holding passport) to enable certain features or raise limits, but they're not used for withdrawl. 2FA and email verification is.
Are you sure you just need the number for that and not a copy of the actual document?
Like gp says, I've handed my actual passport to every hotel I've stayed at, and they usually make a photocopy. If anyone is assuming that a photocopy of a passport is good evidence that someone is who they say they are, they're wrong. If someone is assuming that just the number proves anything, then they're more wrong.
The times I've needed my passport online to prove my identity, it was usually one of those ID processes where I need to be in front of a camera holding my actual passport.
What you are explaining to me is why you feel comfortable being able to prove your innocence if necessary. To that, good luck and it’s a pleasant way to view the world.
That has nothing to do with someone else leveraging gaps in the financial system and acknowledging those gaps exist. To that i would say AML/KYC/OFAC is the joke and should just be dropped since anyone can transfer any amount of value under someone else’s ID on a computer near where the compromised ID owner is expected to live.
There are open source tools to wear someone else’s face over webcam while holding up a doctored passport at 240p resolution. Even easier with a still image. And many places do not ask for more than just the ID itself.
I don’t really understand who the denial here is helping.
If I say my passport number is 134563543, how does anyone check that? Is there a database of passport numbers and identities that can be checked?
I get that the ID process of camera-and-passport can be spoofed, but in the context of this particular data breach, that's irrelevant. If I can dummy up a passport that looks good enough over 240p resolution then it doesn't matter if it's my actual number or whatever. The process I've been through checks for the watermark/sheen on the passport, but if you can dummy a face then you can dummy some glittery lights fine.
My original question stands: do you just need the passport number to prove identity? Because I've never had to provide just that as proof of identity.
Forge the document with the correct number. Click upload.
You have way too much respect for the security and redundancies of the system.
Only need one account anywhere to be approved. Then you can just do a completely clearnet illicit source transfer to a crypto exchange and disappear the money into tornado.cash or Monero or whatever. The problem stays with the person whose name is on the account.
Alternatively, on Dread, people brag about maintaining funded brokerage accounts opened under other people’s names and accessed over compromised windows machines near where the physical person lives. They trading stocks and options with dollars, with the intent to deal with actual laundering later with a larger amount. There are market places for compromised windows machines by postal code and bandwidth.
If you travel much, or nowadays if you register on just about any legitimate cryptocurrency exchange, you've already shared this information - and usually with a photo.
And with the new COVID stuff/vaccinations, it's being shared more often even if you don't travel.