If, for example, a well-meaning person finds an identity document lying on the street – for example, a passport, ID card, or driver's license – and takes it to the police, the document becomes invalid.

Police Lieutenant Marit Abram of the Police Identity and Statuses Bureau said the document should be handed over to the police, rather than shared on social media to find the owner.

"When a document has been lost, it is impossible to know whose hands it has been in or where it has been, which means it is no longer safe to continue using it," she explained.

The risk of identity theft becomes particularly significant if, for example, a wallet is lost and the document is accompanied by its PIN codes.

"Even if the PIN codes were not lost together with the document, you still need to be careful. Someone could photograph the document and use it, for example, for services where a photo of the document is sufficient," Abram said, adding that nowadays such an image can also be misused with the help of artificial intelligence.

Digital identification has also been available through the Eesti app since last year.

The Information System Authority (RIA), which manages the app, said the Eesti app does not display a document or create a new type of document.

The document displayed there is equivalent to a physical document without its PIN codes.

However, the PPA is not yet certain whether losing a phone should be treated in the same way. The agency said the issue has not been discussed.

Last year, the PPA recorded 186 cases of the unlawful use of another person's identity, or identity theft. Since 2022, the annual number of cases has remained between 137 and 214.

At the same time, the police did not have precise statistics on how many of those cases were connected to the loss of an identity document.

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