How to Vanish and Get Caught

How to Get Caught

So you want to vanish? You want to disappear? Maybe you have some schemes and grand designs about smuggling your money overseas. You’re going to fake your own death and escape the country flying first class on a fake ID. You’ll live in the islands, go to casinos, and live like James Bond. Wrong!

All of those things sound cool. They read well in a book and look great in a movie. They’re fiction. Get in touch with reality and understand that you’re probably not that smart. Understand that the police are not that stupid. You will get caught, and you could end up in some crazy South American jail. Do you think the have cable TV in a South American jail? Probably not.

Faking your own death is a crime. You read about people who get caught trying it every year.  Fake ID? Also a crime. False documents carry a much stiffer penalty since September 11, 2001.

You don’t have to be a super spy to get off the grid. It’s not about a fake identity. It’s really about concealing your identity. It’s about minimizing your ability to be traced, and minimizing your ability to be taxed.

It’s not about smuggling your money. It’s about tax havens and offshore accounts. It’s about saving some of your money in silver and gold as opposed to savings accounts.  It’s about prepaid credit cards as opposed to briefcases full of cash. You will be better off if you drop the romantisism and except the fact that this takes cool careful planning.

It’s not about James Bond watches with radios in them. It’s really about pay as you go cellular. Cheap phones that you can dispose of from time to time. It’s about minimizing your profile online so you are harder to keep track of.

Just to make sure you get the point, I’m going to follow this article with several articles about people who got caught. People who thought they had a great plan and didn’t. After reading these, you will want to continue reading my posts to give you real ideas, and an honest plan to help you disappear legally.