Just wondering what everyone thinks of this one.
My agency is asking for me to supply them with ID (they want my passport,drivers licence etc) so that they can photocopy it and keep it for their 'records'. Apparently an underage girl supplied them with fake ID recently (or so they are claiming) and they are saying they want ID that they can verify from all the ladies.

Now my agency are not the most above board people in the world and quite frankly the fewer of my personal details they have the better. I have worked for agencies in past who have asked you to bring ID along to your interview but they have just glanced at it to check your DOB. I'm really not happy at all at the idea of them photocopying my ID  and thus having access to my personal details which they can then use for whatever purpose they want. Also i would question if it puts me on dodgy ground if they are ever investigated by the police. After all if i am self-employed and not an 'employee' of the agency then why would they have a photocopy of my ID? Thus far all they know about me is my name and DOB,Ive given them a fake address and everything and that's the way i want to keep it.

So what do you think? am i being paranoid or do you think the alarm bells i can hear ringing are justified?

Strip clubs take copies of ID and they work on the same self-employed basis. Plus there was that story last year of an underage girl who'd been working for an agency and I expect that worked out quite badly for them. I do think their concern (if not their story) is plausible since facilitating underage prostitution is a really big deal.

I don't blame you for being uneasy about it though. Is this the same agency that got bitchy when you reported a strange man taking pictures outside the flat?

Yep Anika its the very same agency. Its really difficult to know what to do,as you say strip clubs take id photocopies so its not that unusual a request. I just feel very uneasy about the whole idea though,so far ive made up excuses about forgetting to bring my ID with me but i think its wearing a bit thin now.

And yes you would think having underage girls working for you would earn you a hefty stretch in chokey. Not up here though apparantly,an agency last year had a 16 year old girl working for them,got found out,investigated and are still happily up running and coining in a fortune

Oh, I think that was the one I was thinking of. I wonder if the police ever gave back that girl's money :-/.

Probably not although i have heard that their police HQ has some lovely new carpets and canteen facilities these days