How dangerous is it for your passport to be stolen and not reported?
Jul 17, 2017, 3:06 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 15
How dangerous is it for your passport to be stolen and not reported?
Specifically if you're from a developed nation?
One of my former secondary school friend is a triple citizen (UK, Irish and US) and recently discovered that a passport of hers is lost. Not to be rude but she's not exactly the brightest bulb in regards to common sense. She held a party this May and invited a lot of her friends some of whom are young and constant drug users. Although are pretty nice and polite college students who aren't the 'junky' type, a large number of them are in the drug business and definitely engaged in other sketchy activities from the little they tell us. I assume one of these is stealing. Since there were 40 people, someone took the opportunity to steal her UK passport which was issued in 2016 when she travelled to the States.
She was only extremely concerned about some other pieces of jewellery stolen a few weeks later which she was reimbursed by some friends. Don't know how but even after travelling abroad last month, she believed that her UK passport was just misplaced. It's not until going through her entire house three times, she now realizes it's not there anymore and she definitely didn't throw it away.
So going back to the question, how serious is this for her? Her attitude is that I have two other passports which are valid so what's the bother in going to the police. Also she's strained on cash and claims not to have enough money to apply.
It's her life and she's definitely old enough to resolve this issue, however it does seem like she's not taking it quite seriously. I know that identity theft is profitable for criminals and can be very damaging for individuals especially when they hold documents from countries like the UK and US along with a clean record. Might be a matter of time before she's travelling to visit her cousin in the US and finds that she's barred for 'committing' a crime with her UK passport that she never bothered to report stolen.
One of my former secondary school friend is a triple citizen (UK, Irish and US) and recently discovered that a passport of hers is lost. Not to be rude but she's not exactly the brightest bulb in regards to common sense. She held a party this May and invited a lot of her friends some of whom are young and constant drug users. Although are pretty nice and polite college students who aren't the 'junky' type, a large number of them are in the drug business and definitely engaged in other sketchy activities from the little they tell us. I assume one of these is stealing. Since there were 40 people, someone took the opportunity to steal her UK passport which was issued in 2016 when she travelled to the States.
She was only extremely concerned about some other pieces of jewellery stolen a few weeks later which she was reimbursed by some friends. Don't know how but even after travelling abroad last month, she believed that her UK passport was just misplaced. It's not until going through her entire house three times, she now realizes it's not there anymore and she definitely didn't throw it away.
So going back to the question, how serious is this for her? Her attitude is that I have two other passports which are valid so what's the bother in going to the police. Also she's strained on cash and claims not to have enough money to apply.
It's her life and she's definitely old enough to resolve this issue, however it does seem like she's not taking it quite seriously. I know that identity theft is profitable for criminals and can be very damaging for individuals especially when they hold documents from countries like the UK and US along with a clean record. Might be a matter of time before she's travelling to visit her cousin in the US and finds that she's barred for 'committing' a crime with her UK passport that she never bothered to report stolen.
Jul 18, 2017, 7:45 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 15
I heard that people can apply for health insurance, drivers licences, working permits, pensions etc. only using a valid stolen passport. That seems quite dangerous.
Is there a chance she could be arrested by police after arriving into a country (e.g Hong Kong) which the individual in possession of the stolen passport committed a crime in?
Jul 18, 2017, 11:53 am
#4
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
If the passport is lost and not reported, it is less likely to lead to trouble for the person/passport applicant/holder at foreign ports than if it is reported. Not that the government wants lost passports unreported.