Ist das nicht illegal?

Very illegal.

Edit: So, as there were a few conflicting comments on here, I thought I’d look into this a bit. It does vary by country but in most countries it seems that passports remain Property of the Government, rather than the passport holder for at least the period where the passport is valid.

Then, once again in most countries, the passport remains property of the Government for a certain period of time after it expires (most likely until the passport design is no longer in use). Most countries allow you keep the passport as long as you either damage it yourself in a way that is obvious (in the UK they cut off a large piece from the corner) or have the passport stamped as cancelled or expired.

Looking on ebay, as someone suggested, I found a few. The most recent were from 2005/6 and were both from Bangladesh. Aside from those I found nothing more recent than the early 90’s.

So I would guess that it’s ok to sell „Vintage“ passports, but not more recent ones.

I don’t think this is illegal per se. But there are so many ways things could go badly wrong.

I think it depends per country if it’s illegal, but indeed seems to be quite some risk. In the netherlands, you have to hand in passports and/or identity cards at the city council when collecting a new one. So you can’t even keep them for yourself anymore, they are being destroyed. I asked them 6 years ago why that is… ofcourse security reasons. This can be used to examine passports on how to copy them AND it contains a lot of personal info about yourself which can be misused. So it’s definatively not a smart idea to give them away, especially not to someone you don’t know.

Indeed it’s illegal

Anyone who gives away their old passports to anyone is an idiot. And this should be illegal if it’s not. People are nuts. Why on earth would anyone give away such a personal document! It just screams fraud! And this person asking for it should be arrested.

Illegal as it can lead to identity theft. Highly suspicious behaviour!