To be reluctant to provide fingerprints for this reason?

[averystrangeletter]

A bit puzzled and confused about this.

I subscribe to the update service for the DBS. Received this letter.

As part of your subscription we continually check the police national computer (PNC) and have found the record of a person with similar identify details to your own. This does not mean that this PNC record belongs to you, however, we need to confirm that this is not the case. To do this, we need to compare your fingerprints with those held on the PNC record.

There is more, but that’s the important part.

I know everyone will say scam but I’m as sure as I can be that it isn’t. Completely baffled and not entirely comfortable with it.

You are pretty much being asked to prove your innocence here, and that’s not how it should work!

FFS. That is literally what a DBS check is! Proof that you don't have a criminal conviction!

That is a very good point.

I doubt it is someone passing themselves off as you, it will just be someone with similar details and they need to check. It is not unusual for a criminal to give a slightly different name or date of birth. So you could be a
Jane Marie Bloggs b 12/03/64 and there could be a Jane Mary Bloggs b 12/03/65. They just need to check you aren’t Jane Mary Bloggs.

I take those fingerprints (at a police station) and it's more ink than digital believe it or not. It's usually foreign nationals with job offers here and vice versa and the embassies always want ink prints. Very annoying! 😂.

Here you go.

email [email protected] or phone 03000 200 190 for DBS check and barring enquiries.

You have to go to the police station and prove your identity with a passport/driving licence and THEY take your prints. They don't just ask you to send in a sheet of A4 with some grubby marks on it.

That isn’t what the letter says.

Edit on closer reading it does; my apologies.

If you don't like it get another job. I really don't see your issue with doing this.

I had a feeling you had misread the letter. It really is a normal thing to have to do.

Sorry what?! Taking ink prints and the mess that comes with it is more annoying than taking digital prints. For me and the person needing prints. This takes up a fraction of my job, the rest of my job is just fine thanks. (Are you ok? What a bizarre response).

Ah just go and do it so they can rule you out of whatever crime it is

They’ve put ‘identify’, when it should be ‘identity’. Looks dodgy to me. Have you hovered over the email address where this came from to check it’s legit? I’d call them first to be honest.

You could always refuse and not get your clearance, then find an occupation where you don't need a dbs

In well over forty years I’ve never had to do it so I’m afraid going to my local police station and handing over highly personal info isn’t akin to nipping into Tesco after work. That snark isn’t aimed at you by the way, it’s the ‘well if you don’t like it get another job’ posters.

It isn’t every day you come home to a letter like that.

Yeah. You might be totally comfortable with whatever personal information you have being handed over just so you can continue working. I’m not totally comfortable with it. That doesn’t mean I’m going to refuse to do it. It does mean I’m a bit unnerved by it. I reserve that right.

I have a zero footprint on social media but regulalry google my name to see what comes up.

I did it a couple of years ago and was horrified to say that somebody with my name (and it's quite an unusual name) had been convicted of sex offences in another part of the country.

It must happen quite often with DBS that they can't categorically distinguish between different people without comparing identifying features like fingerprints.

It might just be that until recently there wasn’t someone known to the police for criminal matters with similar details.

The fingerprints will be destroyed once it is sorted.

@AccidentallyWesAnderson No change in 50 years! The odds are good that my baby/toddler prints have been eaten by time and nature :)

I worked with someone who had to do this. We looked his name up and it came up with someone who had been convicted of murder (might have been manslaughter.)

I wouldn't worry but I know we are all different but I'd look at it as I leave my finger prints all over the place, if the police desperately wanted them they could follow me into a cafe and take the glass when I leave or follow me into a shop and if I've picked something up and put it back they could just take it. Not hard to get some fingerprints.

They already have access to all your information though

Except they apparently can’t distinguish between me and AN Other despite different addresses!

I was fingerprinted when I went to the USA this year. Didn't bother me. What on earth do you think they're going to do with it?

Don’t ring … a scammer will answer. Visit your local police station and just ask if it’s a scam. You don’t have to give them info or prints. You are just checking it’s real.

I dont understand what the big deal is. I'm in America and work in a school. You have to provide your fingerprints to pass a background check to work there. If you have not done anything bad (and dont plan to) why does it matter if they have your fingerprints?

Id just wait for any appointment to have your biometrics done at a police station. Realistically this is the only place youd give them…
I’ve had a Google and can find guidance regarding it -and that states wait for an invite to your local police station.

It does make sense though as there might be someone with a similar if not the same name and DOB… that person might have precons etc