Why does Superrich need copy of your passport ?

[thairookie]

Do you give copies of your passport freely to money changers like Superrich ?

Recently i rented out my condo to a nurse. I retained a copy of her ID, and to my surprise, she crossed the face of the copy of the ID with the words "for rental of xxx unit at xxx condo".

I thought it was quite a prudent thing to do because I never thought of crossing copy of my passport when I gave them to Superrich.

But if you're selling USD to Superrich, is it necessary for them to retain copy of your passport ?

What is your experience with other money changers ?

[David48]

Yep, all the Major Banks, the Chinese Money Exchanger on Sukhumvit under NANA BTS.

I presume, just in case the notes presented are fake.

I simply cross mine with a line.

[Nana Cowboy]

I tell them I dont have no passport with me and I aint never lying. they always change my money anyway. If you have a prob that they wont change with no passport and you dont want to show yours then just change at a street cchasnger. they never ask. you might have to forfeit 16.22 baht however on a 2000 dollar change

[anto]

Its part of living in Thailand .Rent a hotel room and they take a copy of your passport also .

[breadbin]

Never been asked for anything.

Change and go

[MegaRanter]

The only time I had to give my passport was when I had to change 200 $100 virgin notes in 2005. in Thailand you always have to indicate on the passport copy, what's intended for.

Plain copies could be used for anything without your consent. Like selling your car, getting you divorced from the mrs, opening a bank account, acquiring fixed phone line, applying for a CC

[Forethat]

A preventive action in case there are suspicions of money laundering activities.

[Maestro]

Anti-money-laundering precautions.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[wooloomooloo]

Every bank and every hotel that I've ever patronised. Never been a problem.

[johnlandy]

Its part of living in Thailand .Rent a hotel room and they take a copy of your passport also .

The law requires that so that they can register you as a guest.

You gotta remember that Thailand is a 'police state'

[scorecard]

I always do the same, 4 lines across the passport copy and lines vertical and write some like the example given.

All my adult Thai family do exactly the same.

In fact recently my adult son and his wife opened a new bank account. The bank officer copied the front and back

of their Thai ID cards. Officer did the copying where she could be see, brought the copies back to her desk and she

automatically crossed the copies as mentioned and she wrote in Thai: New bank account XXX bank 123

(123 meaning the branch number).

Then she asked my son and DIL to sign the copies.

[ABCer]

Yes, this is a customary thing here.

I always say that I do not carry my passport. Which is true.

I offer my Thai Driver's Licence with a photo.

Never had any problem with this.

[Steiner]

I have a stamp; 'for the sole purpose of..................................' and fill it in.

Standard practice here, I take a lot of Thai ID copies in work every day and 99% of them come crossed and annotated for that transaction only.

When in Rome...

[beechguy]

Its part of living in Thailand .Rent a hotel room and they take a copy of your passport also .

The law requires that so that they can register you as a guest.

You gotta remember that Thailand is a 'police state'

And you never had to show a passport in any other foriegn country? As usual on TV, never pass up a chance to make a stupid remark.

Edited September 21, 2013 by beechguy

[sultan2011]

I think the nurse has got the right idea. A while ago a friend of mine had a lot of problems with police/customs as someone had been using copies of his passport to post illegal goods....and the only place he could think that anyone could of taken a copy was the money exchanges.

[chrisinth]

When I think of the number of copies of my passport that are floating around, it is quite scary. I have never crossed through any of them, and as pointed out by one poster, if in the wrong hands they could be used for numerous purposes.

[Rinrada]

Super-R also shows EXchange rates for Scottish currency which although slightly less than the "other ones" still worthwhile

I have oftem been tempted to cash in my 100 Pound notes which should be good for around BT.5K each but will hang on to them until after next years YES vote......might get a higher rate even....que sera sera.

Agree with Thai-DL ID .....Opened another Bank A/c recently and said DL happily accepted.

Also great for hotels,domestic airlines ....in fact better than passport...no messing around filling in etc...

[bkk_mike]

Its part of living in Thailand .Rent a hotel room and they take a copy of your passport also .

It's the mentality here...

Was trying to get some required documents for shipping some stuff and they said they needed a copy of my UK ID card.

It was fun explaining that the only people in the UK that are made to carry ID cards are foreigners.

[lineofentry]

They all spy for governments.

[A1Str8]

In God they trust, everyone else they check their IDs.

Sent from one of my devices using the internet

[andyh]

I always give them just my (thai) mobile number.

[David48]

I always give them just my (thai) mobile number.

I only give that if the Girl is a Pretty ...

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed.

[Benmart]

Its part of living in Thailand .Rent a hotel room and they take a copy of your passport also .

The law requires that so that they can register you as a guest.

You gotta remember that Thailand is a 'police state'

Please explain why you stated that Thailand is a "Police State". Thanks, I was just wondering if you recently had someone kick your door in at night, drag you off to jail and try you in court incognito?

[bangon04]

So environmentally friendly.... you have to wonder where is the warehouse containing all the billions of pieces of photocopied documents from all the government departments, banks, hotels, immigration are located. And what happens if there is a flood - hope they are well protected. And I hope there are thousands of admin staff employed to check through all the photocopies to make sure they are filed in the correct order with the correct number of paperclips or staples as appropriate.

[David48]

Interesting that you mentioned Immigration.

One poster recently recanted the story where he had his receipt printed on recycled paper ... another person's Visa application with DOB, name and signature ...

.

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

why recant if telling the truth?

[stoli]

So environmentally friendly.... you have to wonder where is the warehouse containing all the billions of pieces of photocopied documents from all the government departments, banks, hotels, immigration are located. And what happens if there is a flood - hope they are well protected. And I hope there are thousands of admin staff employed to check through all the photocopies to make sure they are filed in the correct order with the correct number of paperclips or staples as appropriate.

And I hope they all burn up. I have never broken any law here, but have submitted many pieces of paper with my info. It does not need to hang around. Certainly not as bad as the NSA in the states, but unneeded in any case. I am not looking to cause trouble, or to find it.

[CanInBKK]

If I'm not mistaken Thailand was on the anti-money laundering watch list a while back (but expunged now). I think the standards here are intentionally to prevent a backslide back onto the list. Albeit the information is probably not kept in a central database (unless the transaction is at a bank, in which case yes, there is a centralizef database) and so data kept by the money exchangers is more for show than anything else.

[GreenSnapper]

Interesting that you mentioned Immigration.

One poster recently recanted the story where he had his receipt printed on recycled paper ... another person's Visa application with DOB, name and signature ...

.

A while ago at a Thai Bank, they gave me a photo copy of some statement.

It was recycled paper and the back had a Thai ID card as i found later.

Now you know where all your passport copies finally end.

Edited September 25, 2013 by GreenSnapper