Facebook Group want my ID

[LondonStar]

Bit of a weird one.

I joined - tried to join - a Facebook group for locals as I am fairly new to my city.

The group admin has replied to me saying he will need to see my ID, such as a copy of my passport, to verify my identity.

Surely this is not allowed?

The group does seems legit, it has quite a few members.

AIBU to find this really creepy?

It is way too heavy handed. I would find another group.

No way I would send copies of my id online for just a Facebook group. I would question this with them!

That’s weird and no way would I do it.

Yeah, it's not like just showing your ID in a shop. He'll have a digital copy of it.
I wasn't sure if this was the norm now. I haven't joined any groups for a while!

No that’s definitely not the norm.

Please don't send a copy of your passport. Definitely not normal!

Not heard of that before. They will get all sorts of info off that, passport number, or if it's driving licence they will have your address, date of birth etc.
Not a chance.

Absolutely not, I’d report it to FB aswell.

No way- I would block him and report this to FB.

Verify your identity? There’s literally no need for them to do that.

I could kind of understand if they were asking for proof of address (although that’s still far too much) if it’s a locals-only group.

Copies of passports though? I think they’re well-dodgy.

Way too heavy handed and absolutely inappropriate.

There’s reasonable questions to ask upon entering a group and non-reasonable ones. This is the latter.

I would find a more appropriate group!

screw that, no way would i do that

Ask them how they ensure they comply with GDPR. That'll get them back tracking.

Ask to see his data protection policy and how he will store your information and the purposes it will be used for.
I'm not sure but don't you have to be registered or something to hold personal data? Happy to be corrected on that, like I say, not sure.

But I'd be asking the questions and raising concerns.

Absolutely no way. I am on a lot of Facebook groups, including a dozen of local ones, and no one has ever asked a copy of my passport! It is very odd.

Good point Vet.

You need to report him to Facebook.

Say I'll show you mine if you show me yours first!!

I definitely wouldn’t sent over my passport or driving license but this is also not the first time I’ve heard of a group needing proof... although when it happened to me it was in a pregnancy group and had to show a scan picture/some form of document that proved you were a real person who was infact pregnant. I got it then but it seems awfully heavy handed to need proof in this case??

Definitely not right. I wouldn't show a person on the street my passport let alone give them a copy of it.

Ok, thanks everyone. I'm not going to send him anything.
I have asked him how he stores the info though,
so we'll see what he says!

I'd be asking him for his data protection policy, etc as @VettiyaIruken posted. And yes, he/the group have to be registered, and have a named data controller.

And on receiving this passport data, how is he going to actually verify it? Who with? Etc, etc.

He'll either backtrack or block you at this point.

Forget it! It's going to be a group with heavy handed admins by the sound of it.
Our local group is a shit show, but althea asked was a street name to join (I didn't use my own, I went three streets over). Useless, because anybody can google maps our town and pick a street at random anyway!

Nope. The only time I have been asked for proof of identity was to join a group of an organisation I volunteer with. they wanted proof we were actually members of the organisation and were duly provided with our membership cards, number blanked out but showing same name as profile and current membership year. No way would I provide anything which would give that much information.

No way! Tell them to get lost and find another group.