What I'd like to know is, what can anyone do with someone else's passport? Why would anyone want to steal one? Is there money in it for them or what? If so, how much do they get?
2007-01-10 23:44:22 · 9 answers · asked by Say It Like You Mean It 4 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
I did report it and do you know, the Passport Office couldn't care less.
2007-01-10 23:56:48 · update #1
'LIve' passports are gold dust, dealers buy them for about £500 and sell them for anywhere between £5,000 and £10,000.
The picture of you can easily be swapped for someone else and bang goes your identity. The passport is a key document to get any form of service in the UK, whoever holds yours can launder money in your name, work in your name, access welfare state benefits in your name, run up bills in your name, travel in your name. Pretty much anything. Especially as they know your home address...
If you don't report that passport as stolen it's highly likely that at some point in your life someone will bang on your door to arrest you or seize every asset you have. You'll have to spend the next 2 years trying to prove mistaken identity.
If you have a brain cell in your head you'll report it stolen immediately.
2007-01-11 00:00:00 · answer #1 · answered by salvationcity 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you report it to the police and the number is noted on the crime report, then next time a criminal is trying to open a bank account in your name using a "version" of your passport as I.D. they will see that you have reported it stolen and you won't have a whole heap of explaining to do when they knock on your door. The passport office aren't too interested in your loss, but if you report it to the police, make sure you know the month and year it was issued, when it's due to expire and also the place where it was issued. They will need that as a minimum for the report.
2007-01-11 10:19:55 · answer #2 · answered by THE BULB 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First you must report it.
Second passports vary in price in every country in the world.
Some years ago I heard 500 pounds was being paid for UK passports but now.....
Documents can be made but the real thing just has to be altered slightly not a major challenge to any serious criminal network anywhere in the world....
2007-01-10 23:51:03 · answer #3 · answered by farshadowman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yep there is money in stolen passports. They basically change the picture. They would take out your picture and put their own one in. They could take over your whole idenity, with a passport in your name, they could take out loans etc.
Get it reported and cancelled before you have some major trouble on your hands
2007-01-10 23:48:12 · answer #4 · answered by OriginalBubble 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A passport has your whole I.D. in it - name, Date Of Birth, nationality - & it can be changed for another person's use or against you for I.D. fraud. Cancel it, change it. Do it immediately.
2007-01-10 23:55:46 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it feel into the wrong hands they could assume your identity and run up huge debts in your name.
So your friend is right. Report it ASAP.
2007-01-10 23:49:13 · answer #6 · answered by Ritch 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
passports are very valuable to black markets and illegal immigrants. report it asap.
2007-01-10 23:48:55 · answer #7 · answered by drlplate 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you dont need a police report to get a new one. you just pay, give them a foto and they give it to you
2007-01-10 23:48:45 · answer #8 · answered by tobabill 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋