Law in Europe "Know your customer/vendor"

[a09eae43]

Hello,

A potential client contacted me but asked me for a proof of my identity 

(quote slightly modified for confidentiality)

"We are a [european company] have been doing business for a while in UpWork and there are LOTS of fraudsters here. Basically Chinese, Russians, and North Koreans saying that they are in EU but they are not. If we provide NDA would you be open to sharing passport and address proof of [myself] living in France ?"

I was surprised because it if the first time a client asked me such requirement. After I refuse to send ID document (such documents can be used in France for opening bank accounts and getting loans), he told me:

"OK. That does not work for us. There is a law in Europe "Know your customer/vendor"

Would be illegal to do business without knowing you by identity."

My questions are:

1> Is that mandatory now in Europe from EU client to EU client ?

2> If mandatory, do the UpWork verified identity is enough ?
3> If mandatory, what are the alternatives solutions to prove my ID ?

Thanks for your help

Regards

Julien

[192218fd · Accepted solution]

Hi Julien,

As I understand it, this law is for the finance industry and not a pan-EU law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer

To sum it up, banks and professionals providing financial services are required to check their customer’s identity. If you are in this industry, it should be you checking their identity 🙂

Good luck!

[6bfcdaf8]

I'd say its most probably a scam. If this client has lots of prior spending here, they are willing to share their identities with you (who is this company and person?) and these are all happening "after" they hire you, that might be ok. In the end you are supposed to create invoices for the client and invoice includes your name and work address. But you don't send them the images of your id or passport.

Do not share any information before they hire you.

[spectralua]

Upwork have all required data, you verified, it is enough.

You can provide ID but not must. Be careful, you can share any private info only after contract started. But not before, it is ToS violation.