Ask HN: A friend has a plan to get a job in UK, worried about legal implications

She sounds a bit paranoid to me: checking passports is in theory part of a UK employment agency's legal obligations. If that's the sort of thing she's inclined to make a fuss about, it's not surprising if they were less than polite and helpful afterwards. Sure, recruiters also exaggerate how good some positions are, claim advertised jobs are filled and offer alternatives you're not interested in or suitable for, but employers do that too. Recruiters don't have a great reputation, but that's more down to them being expensive for employers and annoyingly persistent than dangerously immoral.

There probably aren't any legal issues with sticking up a fake CV if you get hired on the basis of a real one, but rest assured it's not going to look good with employers if she applies for positions they haven't got round to advertising yet or if they end up with a copy of two suspiciously similar CVs with similar names, or if it turns out the third party recruiter is actually being retained to do the initial screening interview (it happens!)

If she's worried about having her passport photocopied she doesn't sound savvy enough to be doing what the recruiter will consider to be cheating them out of commission, and even an employer that's quietly pleased not to be paying commissions will worry about dishonesty if she gets found out.