Possible indentity theft at Chon Buri Immigration

[jimn]

I was at Chon Buri (Pattaya) immigration yesterday to obtain a re entry visa. On the way out I picked up some extra immigration forms TM 7, 8 and 30. On the back of the TM30 form there was a clear photocopy of a Russian citizens passport. The photocopy was not signed. This is a clear breach of a persons personal information and could lead to identity theft if it gets into the wrong hands. 

Obviously they are reusing the paper that people submit with their visa applications and photocopying the forms on the other side. This is an aweful security breach by them and needs to be highlighted.

 

Unbeleivable!!!

[ThaidDown]

Old news, its been going on for years at many Immigration Offices.

 

Agree with your point about possibly aiding identity theft but will it change, probably not.

 

 

[jackdd]

I have seen this at banks too, they don't care about things like this in Thailand

[johng]

Yes been going on for years.
[emoji45]

[300sd]

That simple attitude is everywhere: "we just don't care."

 

No pride in anything they do.

[Proboscis]

It would be yours or some other foreigner's identity that would be stolen, not theirs. Not their problem

[HooHaa]

i use them to open bitcoin accounts.

[grumbleweed]

and considering that 123456 is their password of choice, it's easy to see why the CIA and MI5 are envious of the level of security in this place 

[Suradit69]

1 hour ago, 300sd said:

That simple attitude is everywhere: "we just don't care."

 

No pride in anything they do.

And another excuse for those who think they're holier than thou to spout off. I wonder how many people have had their identity stolen via Jomtien Immigrations forms compared to the slipshod care for identity in the west. Farang just seem to not take pride in anything they do.

 

Maybe immigrations should just charge Baht 50 for every pristine form you want or tell you to print your own off the Internet.

 

Quote

About 1 in every 16 U.S. adults were victims of ID theft last year (6.15%) — and the incidence rate jumped some 16% year over year. This despite 2016 being the first full year that brick-and-mortar retailers were forced to accept more secure EMV chip cards or face liability consequences.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/02/06/identity-theft-hit-all-time-high-2016/97398548/

Quote

 

Identity theft has reached epidemic levels in the UK, with incidents of this type of fraud running at almost 500 a day, according to the latest figures.

During the first six months of this year there were a record 89,000 cases of identity fraud, which typically involves criminals pretending to be an individual in order to steal their money, buy items or take out a loan or car insurance in their name.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/aug/23/identity-fraud-figures-cifas-theft

 

 

 

[HLover]

You should have drawn a big phallic symbol on the face portion.

[Cloggie]

Must be your first time at Immigration :-) Anyway, if you give Immigration a copy of your passport, draw 2 Parallel lines diagonally across the document copy and write something like "Only for purposes of Thai Immigration" & date (or whatever is appropriate) in between the lines. That is quite standard in Thailand when you need to give copies of important documents to all and sundry.

 

Edited March 14, 2018 by Cloggie

[Benmart]

8 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

And another excuse for those who think they're holier than thou to spout off. I wonder how many people have had their identity stolen via Jomtien Immigrations forms compared to the slipshod care for identity in the west. Farang just seem to not take pride in anything they do.

 

Maybe immigrations should just charge Baht 50 for every pristine form you want or tell you to print your own off the Internet.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/02/06/identity-theft-hit-all-time-high-2016/97398548/

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/aug/23/identity-fraud-figures-cifas-theft

 

 

 

The holier than thou are found in many forms; some in uniforms, some in plain clothes, some in religious garb and  some at the keyboard.

[jackdd]

5 minutes ago, Cloggie said:

Must be your first time at Immigration :-) Anyway, if you give Immigration a copy of your passport, draw 2 Parallel lines diagonally across the document copy and write something like "Only for purposes of Thai Immigration" & date (or whatever is appropriate) in between the lines. That is quite standard in Thailand when you need to give copies of important documents to all and sundry.

 

I can't talk about the specific case at Chonburi immigration, but from what i got in other offices i assume that the copies that you get this way were never in the hand of the owner. Probably these copies were produced when they copied the wrong document, made too many copies of a document, or what ever. So no chance to sign it

If you want to protect yourself from this you have to make copies by yourself, sign them, write the purpose and date on it as you suggested, and make sure your passport never leaves your sight when you show it to anybody.

[zaZa9]

Of course , if they are recycling our photocopies and not storing them , the question has to be asked as to why they need our copies in the first place.

[jak2002003]

2 minutes ago, zaZa9 said:

Of course , if they are recycling our photocopies and not storing them , the question has to be asked as to why they need our copies in the first place.

Either.

 

Stupidity and laziness to simply change the process

 

OR

 

To make are lives awkward and make us feel inferior and not welcome.  

[Sumarianson]

They ask for copies of the same things each year and so every few years they get recycled.

Thailand is a major contributor to global warming and deforestation as a result of their antiquated paper system in this world of paperless technology. They have all the modern gadgets at their disposal but the mindset is still in the 1940s. 

They can't even get the online 90 day reporting system working.

Instead of ques for 90 day report numbers, why not a machine on the entrance to the section and take one of the police off the que line and put them doing 90 day reports. Also have a seperate section and que for the people with 20 passports to process at one time.

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a 12 monthly report of your address ( at the time of extension renewal) if you have bought a condo or house and permenently resident there. A letter from the juristic or copies of a few bills in your name would do the trick, That would certainly do wonders for the property market. People really dont like the trek to Changwattana from 45 or 50Km away and it may persuade those with the funds available to purchase rather than rent. The money and day wasted would also incentavise.

That would be too much trouble though eh?

Edited March 14, 2018 by Sumarianson
Change

[ubonjoe]

36 minutes ago, zaZa9 said:

Of course , if they are recycling our photocopies and not storing them , the question has to be asked as to why they need our copies in the first place.

They keep the copies required for what ever you are doing in a file.

Any that are not needed are the ones that are reused in some cases.

Every new application or report requires new  copies.

[Surasak]

2 hours ago, jackdd said:

I can't talk about the specific case at Chonburi immigration, but from what i got in other offices i assume that the copies that you get this way were never in the hand of the owner. Probably these copies were produced when they copied the wrong document, made too many copies of a document, or what ever. So no chance to sign it

If you want to protect yourself from this you have to make copies by yourself, sign them, write the purpose and date on it as you suggested, and make sure your passport never leaves your sight when you show it to anybody.

Not so easy to ensure your passport never leaves your sight when renewing the extension. It is usually taken to the Captain for verification of being correctly completed, who sits behind a closed screen, at the I.O I go to.

[tryasimight]

What has the OP done to highlight this 'clear breach of a person's personal information '?

 

Bring it to the immediate attention of the most senior officer on duty?  Report it to the Russian Embassy? 

 

I thought so...... Nothing!!! 

 

By the way I would have done nothing either.... And certainly not shred my nightie in public on this forum. 

[Crossy]

If you are using the second side then you are in no danger.

 

Our office did some of my copies on "recycled" paper (technical papers), CW immigration rejected them because of "irrelevant" information on the reverse.

 

Yea cannae win

[blackcab]

2 hours ago, zaZa9 said:

Of course , if they are recycling our photocopies and not storing them , the question has to be asked as to why they need our copies in the first place.

 

Answer 1: The (quite enormous) annual budget for paper is always mysteriously empty by the middle of January.

 

Answer 2: The document storage company which has contracts with multiple government departments is owned by a certain persons cousin.

 

By reusing the paper in the manner you describe it means that there is 1. no need to worry about the paper budget and 2. the storage company does not need to take too much away to store.

 

Perfect.

[chrisinth]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

If you are using the second side then you are in no danger.

 

Our office did some of my copies on "recycled" paper (technical papers), CW immigration rejected them because of "irrelevant" information on the reverse.

 

Yea cannae win

Not really much to stop you copying the page again (relevant side only) or even scanning it into a computer.

 

Still a breach of personal information whichever way you look at it.

 

And again, not just immigration. A few years ago I was doing my annual medical at a very well known hospital and at the end, during my talk and final inspection by the GM doctor, he started talking about treatment for an abdominal infection which hadn't shown up in any of the tests during the medical. It turned out that the medical records that he was referencing weren't mine at all but another expat's (who I know well) who happened to have the same first christian name (not even surname) hence leading to the mistake!

 

I understand that mistakes happen, but when I left the doctor's office, the nurses at the reception were having a full on debate using the other Chris's full name repeatedly going through his list of ailments in front of a full waiting room. For some reason that really p1ssed me off that medical confidential information like that was so openly transmitted in such an unprofessional way.

[gk10002000]

Same as most of the paperwork everywhere, hotels photocopying passports, buying phone SIM places photocopying passport information.  Of course some of those pass on that information to people and places it should not go.  No policies exist, no penalties exist for not safeguarding or disposing of properly.  Just imagine how much paper and copies immigration produces every week or month or year.  How much is archived and when and where or trashed?  Burned? Landfilled?

[Rhys]

...each station office plays by their own rules... not a surprize..

[gamesgplayemail]

ID cards and passports from all around the world are indexed in Google image... no need to go to immigration..

 

 

 

[jacko45k]

19 hours ago, ThaidDown said:

Old news, its been going on for years at many Immigration Offices.

 

Agree with your point about possibly aiding identity theft but will it change, probably not.

 

 

I await that amazing coincidence day when I turn over the form and it is my passport copy on the reverse side, and I will buy lottery tickets.

[Damrongsak]

Do they still sell food in paper bags made out of old newsprint or whatever second-hand paper that is pasted together by kids and old folks?  I'm not talking about "recycled", but directly reused.

Edited March 14, 2018 by Damrongsak

[Sealbash]

Old news, its been going on for years at many Immigration Offices.
 
Agree with your point about possibly aiding identity theft but will it change, probably not.
 
 

Not sure what information is on a passport page that can lead to identity theft. Name, date of birth. This information is readily available on the internet. Secure encrypted passwords offer the best protection.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[R123]

Its' also an invasion of privacy- in effect -giving information about a persons private detail to all and sundry.

Totally thoughtless and probably done to save on paper without regard to anyone's rights.

 

There is a long stay establishment/hotel in Pattaya that does the same using records of other guests' stay on one side of the paper which is then used to print out invoice to guest when paying bills.

The guest stay records reveal the full name and other info about the guest, how many persons stay in the room plus extra charge for over night visitors etc...

TiT. 

[gk10002000]

I would add that here in the USA, Florida, when I recently got my "gold star" license that the TSA forced down people's throats, I had to bring my passport, two recent bills, etc. to the DMV.  They copied them and then did..? Who knows?  I said to the lady there is a lot of personal information there.  What are you doing with it?  Are storing it, throwing it away, scanning it in, then burning the documents?  She had no answer.