Suppose you lived overseas for a while and came back to Australia with nothing but a passport. How do you provide enough evidence of who you are so you can rent an apartment, open an electricity account, or apply for a drivers license? It’s too hard for a genuine backpacker to prove their identity, yet it’s too for an identity theif already inside to steal someone’s ID.
To apply for a NSW photo ID card, you need a primary source of evidence like a passport, a secondary ID such as an elecricity bill or medicare card, and a proof of address. If you don’t have a proof of address, then you need to find someone who has a drivers license and have known you for at least 12 month as a reference. If you don’t have just one of these things, then you’re out of luck. At least one of your IDs requires a signature, if you don’t have a signature on another form of ID, then you better hope the person processing your application is nice enough to let that go.
For someone who have only been in the country for a few weeks, getting all of this together is not easy. Any traveller should have a passport, so that takes care of the primary source of ID. Getting a secondary source of ID can take a few weeks. You might have to sign a lease on an apartment if you’re renting. You might have to open an electricity account first and wait for a letter to come to your address. If you’re living with a friend who haven’t kown you for very long or isn’t ‘qualified’ to be a reference, then you’d have to find someone who is willing to pretend they’ve known you for over 12 month. Getting a lease for an apartment or openning a electricity or telephone is easy if you have a drivers licence or photo ID, but it’s not so easy if you don’t have those things first. Real estate agents aren’t trained to read foreign passports, and if you don’t have the sharpest english skills, you have to either find an agent who speaks your language so you can explain your situation convincingly. This is easy if you’re in Sydney and you’re Chinese, but hard if you’re Russian.
Now suppose you lost your passport. You have to go to the police station or better yet, an embassy of your country to try and get another form of ID.
This process is far too inconvenient for an immigrant who have already gone to enough trouble to prove their identity to their own government and the Australian government to be allowed to stay in Australia. An immigrant arriving in the country have gone through background checks and very strict protocols to be allowed in, their visa is proof of that. This is far more rigorous an identity check than most other identity checks inside Australia. If an identity theif who have lived in australia wanted to apply for an ID as somone else, then it’s very easy. All they need to steal is a primary source of ID. Most people have their drivers license in their wallet, so simply mug someone who looks similar to you. Then it’s a matter of stealing mail from your victim until you know enough about them. The address of the victim is conveniently printed on every drivers license, and there is no security around mail boxes! This is a little too convenient for an identity theif.
For more about security and identity theft, the notorious ‘hacker’ Kevin Mitnick have written many books like the Art of Deception about compromizing security and stealing others identity. My favourite security expert, Bruce Schneier blogs about the security industry.
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