You do not have to hand passport over for viewing/scanning in order to purchase at Heinemann Duty Free Sydney, despite what the employee says. You only need to give ID number and Flight number for purchase. There is a document, far, far away from registers that explains this. The staff do not make this information available to customers.
The 'requirement' for the passport is only due to a mutually negotiated deal between Heinemann and Sydney Airport Corp. Data collected from your passport goes to owners in Germany and affiliates in Singapore amongst others. It is simply Heinemann making money from data mining your personal information.
Last edited by Bleve; 7th Jun 2018 at 05:30.