A real question
What should I never send by email?
In short
Never email a passport scan, a prescription or a medical document to anyone whose identity you have not confirmed, and never to an address you found in a search result rather than on the authority's own site. Health information is sensitive data, and ordinary email is stored, forwarded and searchable indefinitely.
Why this deserves care
A prescription and a doctor's letter reveal a diagnosis. That is among the most sensitive categories of personal data there is, and it is the kind that cannot be reissued once it is out. A passport scan is worse still, because it is the raw material for impersonation.
Ordinary email offers no meaningful protection. It is retained on servers you do not control, forwarded easily, and searchable years later by anyone who gains access to any mailbox in the chain.
What not to send, and to whom
- A full passport scan or photo page, to anyone who has not demonstrated a
legitimate need for it.
- Medical records beyond the specific document required.
- Anything at all to an address you found on an aggregator, a forum or an
advertisement, rather than on the authority's own domain.
- Anything to an "agent" who contacted you first offering to obtain a permit.
- Payment card details, ever, by email.
Warning signs of a bad recipient
An address on a free mail provider claiming to be an official body. Pressure to send everything immediately. A promise that approval is guaranteed. A refusal to say what a document will be used for — the most useful test of the four, as a legitimate recipient can always explain why they need something.
Safer practice
Send the minimum. One document for one purpose, not your whole file.
Verify the address at the source. Type the authority's domain yourself and find the contact details there.
Redact what is not needed. Identity numbers not required by the route can be masked.
Prefer official portals where a route provides one.
Keep a record of what you sent, to whom and when.
How we handle your documents
We ask for what the route needs and nothing beyond it. If we do not need a document, we say so. Your information is used only to perform the work you engaged us for, and it is not sold, shared for advertising or passed to anyone outside that work — see the terms and privacy summary.
If someone has asked you for documents and you are not sure whether they should have them, ask us in the free consult before you send anything. That question costs nothing and it is one of the easier ones to answer.
Other questions that come up here
What if an official route requires me to email documents?
Last updated: