How to send a copy of your ID securely: check, mark, then send

A leasing office wants "a quick photo of your license." A new employer asks you to email your passport before your first day. A marketplace buyer wants to "verify you are real." Each request sounds routine, and each one asks for the single document that unlocks most of your identity.

How to send a copy of your ID securely

Confirm the request on a phone number you found yourself, then send only what the person needs. Cover the parts they don't need, add a watermark that names the recipient, the purpose and the date, and send the copy through the organization's own portal or by end-to-end encrypted email. Never send a clean, unmarked photo of your ID as a plain email attachment.

That is the short version. The rest of this guide walks through each step, in the order you should do them.

Is it safe to email a copy of your ID?

Not as a plain attachment. An ordinary email is usually encrypted only while it moves between mail servers. Once delivered, a readable copy of your license or passport sits in your Sent folder, in the recipient's inbox and on both providers' servers, often for years. Anyone who later gets into either account can find it by searching "license" or "passport."

A photo of your ID is also worse than a typed number. It puts your full name, birth date, address, signature, document number and face in one file, which is the set a fraudster needs. The FTC lists what identity thieves do with personal information: they "get new credit cards in your name, open a phone, electricity, or gas account in your name, steal your tax refund, get a job, get medical care" (FTC).

So the goal is not only a safer route. It is a copy that is less useful to anyone who isn't the intended recipient.

Step 1: check who is asking

Many ID requests are fake. A rental listing can be copied from a real one, and a "recruiter" can be anyone with an email address. Before you send anything:

1. Do not reply to the message, and do not use any phone number or link inside it.
2. Find the organization's number yourself, from its website, a lease, an offer letter or a business card.
3. Call and ask whether the request is theirs and how they want the document delivered.

For rentals, the FTC is specific. "Until you've agreed to rent a place, a landlord doesn't need your Social Security number, credit score, or other sensitive information." It also suggests you "search city or county tax assessment websites to learn who owns a property, then check the landlord's ID to be sure it matches the records" (FTC). In other words, early in a rental, you should be the one checking IDs.

If the request came by email from an address you recognize, check the sender anyway. Our guide on how to tell if an email is spoofed shows how, and how to spot a phishing email lists the usual tells.

Step 2: ask what they actually need

"A copy of your ID" often means less than it sounds. Ask:

• Do you need a copy, or do you need to see it? Showing your license at a viewing or on a video call leaves no file behind.
• Which document? A driver's license usually does. There is rarely a reason to send both a license and a passport.
• Front only, or front and back?
• Which details do you need to read? Often it is just your name, photo and date of birth.
• How long will you keep it, and where?

New jobs are a special case. In the US, employers check identity and work authorization for Form I-9. USCIS lets employers who use E-Verify examine documents remotely, and that process has two parts: the employee sends a copy, then must "present the same document(s) during the live video interaction" (USCIS). If someone presenting as a new employer wants a scan of your passport and never mentions a video call or an in-person check, call HR on a number you found yourself before you send it.

Step 3: cover what they don't need

Before you share anything, edit a copy of the image, not the original.

• Cover any number the recipient does not need. If they only need to confirm your name and age, the document number does not have to be visible.
• Leave the photo visible only if they need to match your face.
• Cover each part with a solid, fully opaque shape, not a blur or a see-through highlighter.
• Send a fresh screenshot or export of the edited image, not the editable file.

The Dutch government recommends exactly this approach. Its KopieID app lets you strike out details such as the citizen service number or the passport photo, and it notes that "which details you strike out depends on the purpose of the copy and the organization you send it to" (Rijksoverheid, our translation).

One caution: some official processes need a complete, unaltered copy. If an employer or a bank says so, ask whether you can deliver it through their portal instead of editing it.

Step 4: watermark the copy

A watermark is the cheapest fraud protection there is. Write across the image, over the document itself:

For [recipient name], [purpose], [date]. Not valid for any other use.

For example: "For Oak Street Properties, rental application, 24 Oct 2026."

The Dutch government's guidance for a safe copy works the same way. You enter who the copy is for and what it is for, and that text appears with the date as a watermark. Its reasoning: if the copy ever lands with a scammer, the watermark makes it harder to commit fraud with it (Rijksoverheid).

You don't need a special app. The markup or edit tool in your phone's Photos app can add text. Place the text across the photo and the main details so it can't be cropped out, and keep it light enough that the document stays legible.

Step 5: remove the location tag

A photo can carry more than the picture. Apple notes that if Location Services is on, "photos and videos are tagged with location data that can be used by apps and photo-sharing websites" (Apple). A photo of your license taken at your kitchen table can carry your home's location as well as your address.

On iPhone you can stop the Camera from tagging new photos in Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, then tap Camera (Apple). Taking a screenshot of the edited image, as in step 3, is another way to send a fresh file rather than the original.

Step 6: send it the safer way

Ranked from best to acceptable:

A plain email attachment is not on the list. Neither is a standard text message, which stays readable in both phones' message history and backups.

For method 3, our guide on how to send an encrypted email covers Outlook, Gmail and Apple Mail and who can still read the message under each option. For method 4, the exact steps to lock a PDF on a Mac or PC, and the rule that the password never travels by email, are in how to send tax documents securely.

Whatever you choose, keep the subject line and file name bland. "Application documents" is fine. "Passport scan, John Smith, DOB 1990" is not.

Step 7: clean up the copies you made

Each step above leaves files behind. Once the recipient confirms they have what they need:

• Delete the original photo and the edited copy from your camera roll, then from the "recently deleted" album.
• Delete the sent email and empty the trash.
• Ask the recipient, by phone, to delete the email once they have stored the document where it belongs.

Then search your mailbox for old ones. Type "passport," "license," "ID" and "has:attachment" into your email search, and look at what you sent years ago for apartment applications and job starts. Each result is a copy of your ID sitting in an open inbox.

What to do if your ID copy reached the wrong person

If you sent your ID to someone who turned out to be a scammer, act today:

1. Freeze your credit at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The FTC lists a credit freeze among its steps to protect yourself from identity theft (FTC).
2. Report it at IdentityTheft.gov, the FTC's site for reporting identity theft.
3. Contact the issuer. Ask your state's DMV, or the passport authority, what it offers when a copy of a document is in a criminal's hands.
4. Secure the email account the copy was sent from with a new password and two-step verification.

If you also sent your Social Security number, the extra steps for that are in is it safe to email your Social Security number?

Where Secria fits

If you send documents like this more than once in a while, the mailbox you send from matters. In Secria Mail, every message is stored with zero-access encryption: your keys are made on your device and only reach our servers encrypted. Each message gets its own AES-256-GCM key, and keys are exchanged with ML-KEM-1024 and X25519 together, so the protection is post-quantum on every plan, free included. The apartment application you sent two years ago is then a sealed message, not a search result.

The free plan gives you 1 GB, 2 aliases and 3 folders, with no ads, no card and no phone number to sign up.

FAQ

Is it safe to email a copy of your passport? Not as a clean, plain attachment. Confirm the request by phone first, cover the details the recipient doesn't need, watermark the copy with the recipient, purpose and date, and send it through a portal or by end-to-end encrypted email.

Is it safe to email a copy of your driver's license? The same rules apply. A license also shows your home address, so it is worth covering the document number and anything else the recipient doesn't need, and showing it in person or on a video call when that is enough.

Should I send a copy of my ID to a landlord? Only after you have confirmed the landlord is real. The FTC says a landlord doesn't need sensitive information until you have agreed to rent, and suggests checking the landlord's ID against city or county property records.

Can someone steal your identity with a photo of your ID? A photo of your ID gives a fraudster your name, birth date, address and face in one file, which helps them pass identity checks. A watermark naming the recipient and the purpose makes a copy harder to reuse, and a credit freeze makes new accounts in your name much harder to open.

Is it safe to text a picture of my ID? A standard text message is no better than email. It is not end-to-end encrypted, and the photo stays in both phones' history and backups. An end-to-end encrypted messaging app is better, and showing the ID on a video call is better still.

Your ID will be asked for again, by landlords, employers and banks. It never has to sit unmarked in an open inbox. If you want a mailbox where what you send is stored sealed by default, you can get Secria for free.