{"id":52479,"date":"2024-10-23T09:15:22","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T13:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?p=52479"},"modified":"2024-10-23T09:15:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T13:15:22","slug":"is-it-safe-to-take-selfie-with-passport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/is-it-safe-to-take-selfie-with-passport\/52479\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking a selfie with your ID card \u2014 is it safe?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPlease upload a selfie with your ID to verify your identity\u201d \u2014 such requests are becoming increasingly common for various online services. Banks, car rental services, even potential employers or landlords may ask for such photos.<\/p>\n

Whether you should share your confidential data in this way or not is a personal decision. We\u2019ve laid out all the pros and cons, and prepared tips on how to protect yourself if you do need to take such a selfie.<\/p>\n

Should you take a selfie with your documents?<\/h2>\n

Without an \u201cID selfie\u201d, you may not be able to install certain banking apps, register for services like car sharing, or quickly apply for a loan. The choice here is very straightforward.<\/p>\n

Want to use these services? Take a photo. Worried about the security of your data? Don\u2019t take a photo. But then, for example, you won\u2019t be able to make a bank transfer, rent a car quickly, or solve your financial issues with an instant loan. The stakes are obvious: either you gain access to these services, or your prioritize your own safety.<\/p>\n

A common argument from those who choose to take ID selfies is that their data has already been leaked multiple times, so they\u2019re not afraid of potential security risks. Well, if you\u2019re dishing out the ID card selfies left and right, using the same password like \u201c12345\u201d across all accounts for years, it\u2019s likely that your data has already been compromised<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To know for certain whether your data has been leaked or not, use our protection<\/a>, and in the Data Leak Checker<\/em> section, provide all the email addresses that you (or your loved ones) may have used to register for online services. Users of Kaspersky Premium<\/a>\u00a0can also check their phone numbers in the Identity Theft Check<\/em> section. Then, our app will automatically search for data leaks in the background, notify you if any are found, and advise what needs to be done in each case.<\/p>\n

What could go wrong?<\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, with rare exceptions<\/a>, we can almost never know how companies actually store and process our data. Normally, all that users get to hear about their personal data is that its security is taken very seriously and therefore it\u2019s stored very carefully. You\u2019ll agree that this kind of messaging doesn\u2019t inspire much confidence \u2014 especially when it\u2019s not backed up by anything except a privacy policy page on the website.<\/p>\n

Often, services store your data for too long. For example, one popular European car-sharing company stores user data for as long as 10 years. In that time, you might change residence several times, quit driving, or simply forget about the car-sharing service \u2014 but your personal information will still be stored on the company\u2019s servers. And since, according to the agreement, the company can transfer client data to third parties, then theoretically your ID-card selfie could end up in someone else\u2019s hands without your knowledge. And this is not an example of a \u201cbad\u201d company, but a harsh reality: almost all organizations that request IDs during registration process your data under similar conditions. And that\u2019s just the official side \u2014 we haven\u2019t mentioned leaks\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Data<\/a>

Data transmission will be carried out according to the European security regulations, but this is not guaranteed<\/p><\/div>\n

Data leaks from car-sharing companies are a classic issue: such companies have been subject to hacker attacks since their inception. Sometimes these leaks lead to absurd situations. In Russia, criminals registered fake accounts in car-sharing services using stolen passport photos, then booked expensive cars, violated traffic laws, and caused accidents. Where did they get the data? From leaks of customer data from other car-sharing companies!<\/p>\n

And we shouldn\u2019t forget the more obvious threat \u2014 unexpected loans. Of course, large banks are unlikely to issue a loan based solely on an ID selfie, but less accountable organizations that hand out microloans to practically anyone \u2014 sure thing. And if you suddenly find a dozen such loans in your name, it\u2019s bad news. Not to mention the fact that another unreliable company now has your ID selfie.<\/p>\n

These ID card selfies are a universal tool in the hands of criminals<\/a>. In addition to the above scenarios, fraudsters can open a shell company in your name or register a SIM card using your identity to break the law in various ways. And the more services support remote online registration \u2014 the greater the risks of taking selfies with ID cards.<\/p>\n

Criminals have long been selling sets of photos and videos<\/a> of people holding white sheets of paper the size of standard documents on underground websites to forge photos and bypass standard KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures. And if they get hold of a real selfie with a passport \u2014 it\u2019s a goldmine\u2026<\/p>\n

How to reduce the risks<\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, despite the significant risks, sometimes we may still have to take these photos. So the best we can do is approach the process with maximum care. How to protect yourself?<\/p>\n