Most recruiting agencies and some direct hire jobs ask for a photocopy of one’s passport photo page to be sent electronically. What’s the safest way to do this to avoid the risk of it being reproduced for illegal/forgery purposes?
Slightly OT, but good luck trying to counterfeit a US passport. I just got my replacement for my 10 year-old one and WOW! It’s really fancy – like a dollar bill – with all kinds of special inks, textures, watermarks and other doodads to make it near impossible to fake. Much, much more sophisticated than the prior version.
Thats because they are made in a Chinese factory in Thailand 
drudge.com/archive/105906/us … d-thailand
So don’t worry about the illegal copies – one was made together with the original just in case…
The fact that the USA Dollar is perhaps the easiest to counterfeit currency in the world puts above statement in relation.
Thankfully, I have a German passport - damn expensive, but best in class in every respect …
OK, since there are no serious answers yet, would you be comfortable photocopying your passport and emailing it across the globe?
Yes / No – not much of an answer …
NO, because I don’t feel too happy sending this much personal ID information on an unsecured channel.
YES, because I have done it dozens of times. So far so good ; I haven’t been picked up by (name a three letter agency) yet. Mostly because I needed shell access to remote computers and the hosting provider asked for photo id.
But you mention sending it half across the world ; what do you know about the companies involved? Are these the kind of businesses you would trust with this kind of information?
Its nice and peachy that they want your information , but what do you know about them?
I get the same feeling as the OP EVERY YEAR when American Express and Chinatrust ask for copies of my current ARC. Writting a big “FOR BANKING PURPOSES ONLY” does not make me feel any safer. Fax it? No way, I send it by certified mail.
I would send a very light copy with “FOR WORK PURPOSES ONLY” written in big, bold letters. Still, too much personal data there… Quite a predicament if you are really interested in this job.
On a funny note, I bet my passport was stolen because it was the same blue shade as the US ones. When I got the replacement here in Taiwan, it was an ugly brown, tattered, handwritten copy… And I got scolded for my “carelessness”. Sigh
Haha. If someone forged my passport they’d also find themselves on the run from INTERPOL.