--- title: "Is it safe to send a picture of your ID, passport or driver's license?" description: "What someone can do with a picture of your ID, when sending one is normal and when it is a scam, how to send a copy safely, and what to do if you already sent it." canonical: "https://dokus.app/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" lang: "en" reviewed: "2026-10-02" app_store: "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dokus-private-id-wallet/id6781915709" translations: en: "https://dokus.app/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" en-GB: "https://dokus.app/en-gb/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" en-CA: "https://dokus.app/en-ca/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" en-AU: "https://dokus.app/en-au/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" pt-BR: "https://dokus.app/pt/e-seguro-mandar-foto-do-rg/" pt-PT: "https://dokus.app/pt-pt/enviar-copia-cartao-cidadao-seguranca/" es: "https://dokus.app/es/es-seguro-enviar-foto-del-dni/" es-MX: "https://dokus.app/es-mx/enviar-foto-ine-seguridad/" fr: "https://dokus.app/fr/envoyer-photo-carte-identite/" de: "https://dokus.app/de/personalausweis-foto-sicher-versenden/" he: "https://dokus.app/he/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" ar: "https://dokus.app/ar/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" hi: "https://dokus.app/hi/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" ja: "https://dokus.app/ja/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" zh-Hans: "https://dokus.app/zh/is-it-safe-to-send-a-picture-of-your-id/" --- # Is it safe to send a picture of your ID, passport or driver's license? It is safe only when you know who is asking and send it through their own official app or website, never to a stranger in a chat or an email. A picture of an ID is enough to open accounts or pass a weak identity check in your name, so send it rarely, and mark every copy with who it is for and the date. Dokus keeps your passport and license encrypted on your iPhone, and the copy you share can carry a watermark naming who it is for and the date. [Free on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dokus-private-id-wallet/id6781915709) ![US passport specimen with fictional details, illustrating a document copy.](https://dokus.app/assets/specimens/en/hero/passport.cfbc4b02.webp) US passport specimen with fictional details, illustrating a document copy. People get asked for a picture of their ID all the time: by a landlord, a new employer, a bank app, a hotel, an Airbnb host. Most of those requests are routine. Some are how identity theft starts. The picture itself is the same in both cases, so the question is never really whether the image is dangerous, but who ends up holding it. ## What someone can do with a picture of your ID A clear photo of a passport or driver's license carries your full name, date of birth, document number, signature and face. With that, a thief can: - **Open accounts in your name.** The FTC lists bank and credit accounts, phone and utility contracts, and even jobs and medical care obtained with someone else's details. - **Pass weak identity checks.** Plenty of services still accept a photo of a document as proof. The stronger ones add a live selfie, but not all of them do. - **Run the next scam with your face.** Fake rental listings and fake recruiters collect ID pictures as "paperwork", then reuse them to look legitimate to their next victim. - **Build a fuller profile.** Your license gives away your address, your passport its number. Combined with a leaked password or a phone number, it makes account takeovers easier. None of this means one picture will ruin your life. It means a copy of your ID is worth protecting the way you protect a card number: give it to those who need it, and only them. ## When sending a picture of your ID is normal Some requests are legitimate, and they share a pattern: they happen inside the company's own process. - A bank, a brokerage, a car rental or a marketplace asks you to scan your document **inside its own app or website**, often followed by a selfie. - An employer in the United States checks your documents for the I-9 as part of onboarding, through its HR process. In the UK, a manual right to work check needs the original document with you present: an employer may not rely on a scan you email. - A hotel or travel agency asks through its official booking channel, for a reason it can state. ## When it is a red flag - **The request arrives in a chat or an email** you did not expect, especially with urgency ("send it now or lose the booking"). - **A rental host or landlord wants it before you have seen the place** or signed anything. Fake listings work exactly this way. - **A recruiter wants it before any interview**, often for a job that sounds too easy. - **An Airbnb host asks you to send it outside the app.** Airbnb's own policy forbids hosts from asking guests for photos of their government ID before arrival, unless the listing explains a legal requirement. - **A buyer on a marketplace wants it "to confirm you are real".** You are the one selling; they have no reason to need it. ## How to send a picture of your ID safely When you do have to send one, a few habits cut most of the risk: - **Verify who is asking** through a phone number or website you found yourself, not one given in the message. - **Use the official upload** in the company's app or website instead of email, text or WhatsApp. Uploads go to one system; messages get copied to phones, backups and inboxes. - **Mark the copy.** A watermark across the image saying who it is for and the date makes a stolen copy hard to reuse for anything else. - **Send only what they need.** If they ask for the front, do not send the back. If they need your name and photo, a passport photo page beats a full set of documents. - **Never send a selfie holding your ID** unless it is the company's own verification step. That pair of images is exactly what fraudsters need to beat a selfie check. - **Ask what happens to it.** A business should be able to tell you how long it keeps the copy. Ask for it to be deleted once the check is done. ## Email, text, WhatsApp: does the channel matter? Less than people think. WhatsApp and iMessage are encrypted in transit, email often is too. The problem is what happens after delivery: the picture sits in a chat history, in the other person's photo library, in cloud backups and mail servers, for years. You cannot recall any of those copies. That is why the person on the other end matters more than the app, and why a watermarked copy is the safer thing to send by any route. ## If you already sent a picture of your ID to a scammer Act quickly, but do not panic: a picture is not the document itself. - **In the United States**, report it at IdentityTheft.gov, which builds a recovery plan for you. Place a credit freeze at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion: it is free, it does not affect your score, and it stops new credit being opened in your name. A fraud alert is free too. - **In the UK**, report it to Report Fraud, which replaced Action Fraud in December 2025 (Police Scotland handles reports on 101). Cifas Protective Registration, a paid service, flags your name so lenders run extra checks. - **Everywhere**, watch your bank and credit reports for accounts you do not recognize, warn your bank, and be wary of anyone who contacts you claiming to "fix" the problem. A photo of your passport does not mean you need a new passport. Report a passport as lost or stolen only if the physical book is gone. ## Where Dokus fits Dokus is a document wallet for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It keeps your passport, ID card and driver's license encrypted on your device, behind Face ID, with no account and no server: we never see your documents. When someone legitimately needs a copy, you share it from the original in two taps, and that copy can carry a watermark stamped across it: "Exclusive use of" the recipient, and the date. The original never changes, and a copy made for your landlord cannot quietly become a copy for someone else. ## Common questions ### Is it safe to send a picture of my ID through email? Email is a poor place for an ID, because the picture stays in two inboxes and their backups indefinitely, and mail accounts are a favorite target. If a business insists on email, verify the address independently, send a watermarked copy that names the business and the date, and ask them to delete it after the check. ### Is it safe to send a picture of my passport on WhatsApp? WhatsApp encrypts the message in transit, but the picture then lives in the other person's chat and photo library, beyond your control. Send it on WhatsApp only to someone you have verified, and prefer a watermarked copy. A request from a stranger on WhatsApp is a red flag in itself. ### Should I send a picture of my ID to an Airbnb host? Usually not. Airbnb's policy forbids hosts from asking guests to send photos of their government ID before arrival, except for a legal requirement explained in the listing. Airbnb runs its own identity verification, so keep everything inside the app and report a host who insists on a picture by message. ### What can someone do with a picture of my driver's license? They can try to open bank, credit, phone or utility accounts in your name, pass identity checks that accept a document photo, or reuse your picture to make their next scam look legitimate. Your license also reveals your address and date of birth, which makes other attacks easier. ### I sent a picture of my ID to a scammer. What do I do? In the United States, report it at IdentityTheft.gov and place a free credit freeze at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. In the UK, report it to Report Fraud and consider Cifas Protective Registration. Then watch your accounts and credit reports for anything you do not recognize, and do not send the scammer anything else. ## Sources Reviewed on October 2, 2026 - [What To Know About Identity Theft (U.S. Federal Trade Commission)](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-identity-theft) - [Rental Listing Scams (U.S. Federal Trade Commission)](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/rental-listing-scams) - [Scammers impersonate well-known companies, recruit for fake jobs on LinkedIn and other job platforms (U.S. Federal Trade Commission, August 2023)](https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2023/08/scammers-impersonate-well-known-companies-recruit-fake-jobs-linkedin-other-job-platforms) - [Get a credit freeze to stop identity thieves (U.S. Federal Trade Commission, September 2025)](https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2025/09/get-credit-freeze-stop-identity-thieves) - [IdentityTheft.gov (U.S. Federal Trade Commission)](https://www.identitytheft.gov/) - [Report Fraud: new service from City of London Police (GOV.UK, December 2025)](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/report-fraud-new-service-from-city-of-london-police) - [Checking a job applicant's right to work (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work) - [Protective Registration, Identity Protection Service (Cifas)](https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr) - [Off-Platform and Fee Transparency Policy (Airbnb Help Center)](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2799)