How to Completely Disappear

How to completely disappear

------------------------------------------------- Revised 02/12/2021
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Above, Michael discusses how people disappear.

Think about your digital footprint. Recognize that every
text and e-mail you send can be captured and read by
someone else. Neither Lisa Page nor Peter St z rok imagined
that the FBI would ever read their texts. These were two
rogue FBI officials. They not only violated the Hatch Act that
prohibits employees from conducting political activities in
their official roles, but they exposed their affair. Be smarter
than them!

Be aware that your shopping habits are easily monitored.
Your purchases leave a digital footprint to companies trying
to win future sales from you. Some examples of the digital
footprint you leave:

NetFlix knows if you have kids by the kinds of movies
you watch.
Target may find you're a parent by the prenatal vitamins
or diapers you buy.

Buy books online with an Amazon gift card. One way to
buy on Amazon without a trace is to set up a mailbox at a
store which has a physical address. You can't do this with
the Post Office because they won't accept UPS or Federal
Express, for example. Next, get an Amazon gift card. You can
go to a Coinstar machine for an Amazon Gift card without
any fee or you can use cash. With Coinstar, you put money
(coins or dollars) into the machine and can get a receipt with
a code to purchase on Amazon. Finally, find a community
computer that does not require your identity to use.
Remember that a library may require a library card to use
their computers. Now you can set up a Amazon account and
shop privately with gift certificates.

#3: Learn how to live on a cash-only basis.
If you want to disappear and be invisible, then you must
understand how to live a cash only life. If you can't live this way,
then maybe disappearing isn't for you. The only way to remove
yourself from the traces of the financial world is to live on a cash
only basis, but his presents a number of problems.

Here are some considerations for how to live on cash-only:

Ditch your credit cards. Pay them off and consider freezing
them or closing them. Did you know that the credit cards
which come with a microchip are capable of tracing your
path? If someone wants to trace your steps, that little
microchip can reveal much about your habits ~ including
where you've been based on your purchase. Whenever you
use your credit card, even without the chip, the bank knows
your location.

Opt out of Visa's app. A Visa app emerged around 2015 and
it will track your location to prevent credit card fr aud. The
app works with your smartphone to help ensure a legitimate
transaction.

Don't disappear to avoid paying debts. If you owe money
on your car or plan to disappear to create an insurance claim
for loved ones, you're placing yourself in legal jeopardy with
possible jail time.

Know that cash is disappearing. Someday the government
may decide to live entirely on a credit and debit system.
They may stop printing cash entirely! If you're over fifty,
likely you have nothing to worry about, but if you're younger
and ever decide to return to society, then you'll have lost
your digital foothold. You've disappeared without a trace and
without a means to get back.

Realize you can't barter your way out of cash
dependence. Even the Amish use cash and checks, and
some use credit cards In reality, you won't be able to
completely wipe away your digital footprint. Learn to
minimize it instead. Most people will need to be plugged into
the economy.

Be aware of identity theft. Your driver's license and social
security number are vulnerable to identity theft even if
you've abandoned them. While you're off disappearing
someone could be gallivanting off with money in your name
making you liable. Call the three major credit reporting
agencies to freeze you r credit, so you can prevent this from
happening.

#4: Purge your other worldly possessions.
If you want to disappear, you'll need to have fewer things.

Ditch your cell phone. Disappearing without a trace is not
easy. One of the most difficult things you'll face is getting
rid of your cell phone. Your mobile phone shows your
location. Since the phone has a digital financial footprint, it's
got to go if you want to disappear from society.

Here's how to ditch your cell phone.
Ditch your home and car...

#5: Ditch your home, live from your car.
Now that you've mastered a cash-only lifestyle, you can take the
next step and live in your car. Living from a car is one way to
disappear from society, but living in a car requires insurance and
registration. Both of those are tied to a physical location. It's all
about baby steps.

Go car camping. Learn how to live from your car. It's all
about baby steps. If you want to disappear, the first thing is
to know how it feels to live in your car. Give it a go for three
weeks to see what you learn. See if you "graduate" from this
physical test.

Check with local laws on your Driver's License. Florida
requires that you update your address information on your
drivers license within 30 days of moving. Can you use a Post
Office Box as the address on your driver's license? This also
depends on your state.

Ditch your home. Once you're comfortable with living in your
car you can ditch your home. Sell it or inform the landlord
and move out. Eventually you can create a ghost address to
solve problems.

Get a ghost address. A ghost address is in part a place to
get mail. In a ghost address, you don't have a mortgage,
you'll pay all cash for a house, which is possible if you live in
your car or off-grid, pay cash to live in someone else's home,
and have sufficient income. There are sacrifices in hiding
your home address, and it's more difficult if you have kids.
Boldanddetermined.com shows you how to keep private in a
nonprivate world.

Get a Post Office Box or Rent a Mailbox. A P.O.Box or
mailbox provides a measure of security that might help you
with identity theft. A P.O. Box is much less expensive and
you can pay with cash, but to get a PO Box number and pick
up your keys, you’ll need to show two valid IDs: one photo
ID and non-photo ID. Your ID must be current, contain
sufficient information to confirm that you are who you claim
to be, and be traceable to you. This means, if you want to
disappear without a trace you'll eventually need to give it up.

#6: Inform friends and family.
You have the right to go missing from a legal standpoint, but you
are still obligated to pay your debts and there are some caveats.
Before you do anything more, be sure to tell your friends and
family of your plans to disappear. It could otherwise cause you
legal troubles! If the people who love you notify authorities
because of your disappearance, you could be held liable for legal
costs incurred in a search for you.

Notify authorities. If you're escaping a gang, stalker or
someone who's abusing you or blackmailing you, then you
should seek help from law enforcement. They can help
provide legal ways for you to stay safe.

Immigration concerns.
Undocumented immigrants should make a contingency plan,
like a will, to prepare for what may happen under DACA.
Here's how to prepare if you're living under DACA.

Ensure the safety of your child. Victims of abuse can call
the National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org) and
help you if you're fleeing safety with your child.

Safety Alert from the National Domestic Violence
Hotline: "Computer use can be monitored and is
impossible to completely clear. If you are afraid your
Internet usage might be monitored, call the National
Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-
800-787-3224."

Pay your taxes. You need to be a law-abiding citizen, but in
so doing you will be making yourself visible to the
government. You can make a minimal impact on this
requirement if you have a business and get a mailing
address in Nevada because Nevada has no income tax. Talk
with a lawyer about this ahead of making plans. While
Nevada doesn't have a corporate income tax, corporations in
Nevada must pay federal corporate income tax. The federal
income tax is a pay-as-you-go tax. Federal tax rates on such
corporate taxable income varies from 15% to 35%.

Unless you are a loner with no family and limited friends, this
should be one of the most difficult things about disappearing.

#7: Quit your job.
Having a job is both an alibi and an ankle chain ~ it's a physical
trail. Eventually you'll need to quit your job if you want to truly
disappear from the grid of society. Your job anchors you to a
specific time and place, even if you tele-commute from your car or
live on a boat. Working a cash-only job is presumed you're
evading taxes.

If you ask for cash-only payment, keep in mind:
While it's not illegal to pay employees or contractors in cash, as a
business practice that very few businesses will actually follow
through on such a request.

Cash requires a trip to the bank. It's impractical for the
employer to get cash physically for you as it's an extra step
for them. You may not be worth the trouble and they'll
probably worry about your mental capacity or about your
legitimacy or legal standing.
Employers want to avoid audits. A large cash outlay is
trouble for the books. Businesses must file IRS Form 8300
and Reporting Cash Payments of more than $10,000.
Paying you in cash impacts workers' compensation and
unemployment. Your employer may worry what might
happen if you file a worker's compensation claim. To avoid
any problems, your employer must keep accurate records of
the cash given to you.
Paying you in cash doesn't release you from tax liability.
The employer is also still required to pay payroll taxes and
you're required to pay taxes on them. In short, a business
employer will likely say no. You'll have more luck with lower
paying domestic jobs or manual labor in agriculture.

#8: Give up your right to vote.
It is a privilege and responsibility to vote, but if you vote then it
will place you at a specific time and location. Voting is probably
the least of your concerns about disappearing in the United
States. If you're concerned for your life, don't bother voting.

Do you really want to Disappear?
One of the most effective ways to disappear without a trace is to
disappear into the wilderness.

If you're the Dick Proenneke type and want to disappear into the
wilderness without a trace, then think again. Watch the
documentary Alone in the Wilderness ~ a moving true tale of Dick
Proenneke, a self-sufficient craftsman, who left civilization to
forge a solitary life deep in the wilds of Alaska in the 1950s. He
had pre-arranged a constant stream of supplies delivered to him
by airplane drops.

Another good movie is Into the Wild, pictured right. This is the
true story of Christopher McCandless who changed his name to
Alexander Supertramp as he walked into the wild in search of
adventure, leaving behind a privileged life. What happened to him
on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring
symbol for countless people~ a fearless risk-taker who wrestled
with the precarious balance between man and nature.

How to be invisible, but still be part of society.
To disappear without a trace isn't necessarily your goal. Self-
sufficiency is the goal. We hope you've discovered that it really is
so much more than ditching your identification. Your birth
certificate, school identification, driver's license social security
card, and bank statements are out there now unless you're an
undocumented immigrant. They're not going to disappear, but you
can minimize the footprint.

Be aware of your privacy rights. Learn how to protect your home
address by creating a ghost address. The insightful guide also
discloses how to hide ownership of vehicles and real estate,
switch to low-profile banking and invisible money transfers, use
alternate signatures, and more. You can secretly run a home-
based business with techniques found in the book.

How to be Invisible, the essential guide to preserving your
personal security by J.J. Luna, pictured right will give you the
skills to protect your home, your children, your assets and your
life as you stay connected to the grid, but invisible to
exploitation. If you have good reason to hide your address or the
ownership of some or all of your property assets, then this book
is for you.

Do you really want to disappear?
Every kid at one time or another has wanted to completely
disappear. Adults for nefarious purpose have also attempted to
disappear to evade the law. Victims of domestic abuse or of gang
members want to disappear without a trace for their personal
safety or to avoid being stalked or blackmailed. Whatever your
reason for wanting to disappear, be sure to check local laws and
stay ethical!

For preppers it means not looking like a prepper! (Wearing
tactical clothing will make you look like someone who has
valuables in an SHTF situation.) Obviously a ghillie suit will help
you disappear into nature, but make you stand out in an urban
environment.

Enjoy the Self-Sufficient Lifestyle
In learning how to disappear in the United States, you probably
have come to the realization that it's possible but not a
comfortable life ~ and it's a lonely one. It's good to have a basic
understanding about your digital footprint and how it affects you
in society.

Certainly you can minimize your digital dependency as you enjoy
a self-sufficient lifestyle, but realistically you need to have a
digital and financial footprint.

Get more ideas on how to disappear!
There are lots of books on how to disappear. Read them:

How to Disappear and Never Be Found: The Ultimate Guide
to Privacy, Security, and Freedom by Barry Davies

How to D isappear by Sharon Huss Roat.

How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False
Trails, And Vanish Without A Trace, pictured right, by Frank
Ahearn and Eileen Horan.

Happy endings...
There's a level of fantasy on disappearing. Preppers in particular
have sometimes unrealistic dreams of disappearing into the
wilderness to survive off the land. The reality is that it's a tough
life, and a lonely one to disappear. A ghillie suit will only take
you so far...

Maybe you don't want to disappear afterall, but it's fun to think
about it in case you ever need to do it. Before you disappear, see
if you can resolve your problems, like resolving your debt, moving,
or getting into a witness protection program.

Related articles...

Prepare to live happily ever after with us at happypreppers.com - the emergency
preparedness Web site of prepping, survival, homesteading, and self-reliance.

Your Google searches are like bread crumbs for investigators to find you.

Learn how to send out misinformation. Start by destroying
the data out there about you. SkilledSurvival.com suggests
leaving digital clues that leave others to search for you in
the wrong direction. Do extensive Internet research, for
example, that leads investigators to Los Buzos, Panama,
instead of where you're really headed.

Realize that all American's are spy victims! Google
satellites track your home and the super secret National
Security Agency by default tracks every single American. It
collects communications data on Americans and stores the
data in the interest of national security intelligence ~ it
filters and measures the data and it stores them. This
includes phone records,

Recognize the RFID. Every credit card in your wallet is a
tracking device. You can get a wallet with RFID blocking
protection. With a unique metal composite, these wallets
are engineered to block 13.56 MHz or higher RFID signals
and protect the valuable information stored on RFID chips
from unauthorized scans. Unfortunately, the minute you
use your credit card you leave a digital footprint about
where you've been. Even without spending money,
someone can know where you are. That's why it's
important for every prepper, even those who don't really
want to disappear, to have one.

Minimize your digital footprint! Use pay-as-you-go mobile
phones, debit cards, untraceable computers, and
connections. You can also use alternate names for all your
electronic devices. In this way you are creating
disinformation. Create fake digital trails using real "fake"
credit card numbers. These cards aren't for real purchases.
The concept is to get things for free. They're seeds for such
things as free trials. You can sign up for NetFlix free trial
using real fake credit cards.

Your spending habits speak volumes about you.

Credit card

companies, and chain stores who offer credit, use algorithms

to track you.

Listen below about how Target

used

algorithms

to discover a family secret

and you'll realize how important it

is to

minimize your digital footprint to help disappear.

How to Disappear
Practical guide for becoming a gray man and vanishing

Learn how to completely disappear for survival!
Want to vanish from society to start a new life? Do you have a
plan in case a gang member, abusive lover or stalker is on your
tail? Maybe you've come into some money and want to disappear
from family and friends? Just want to plug some loopholes in your
personal security plan? Learn how to completely disappear
without a trace to save your life or make you feel more secure.

Below is how to make it costly and time consuming for anyone to
find you. It's not going to be easy, but there are steps you can
take to erase your digital footprint and make it harder for the bad
guys to get your information and to find you. The knowledge
below will help you disappear for survival...

How to Disappear Legally!
Pull of a vanishing act. This is a starters guide on how to vanish.
It's not for nefarious purpose! We're not going to suggest you
fake your own death or buy, steal or create a new identity either.
Instead it's a list of thought provoking and radical considerations
about disappearing for your survival.

Want to disappear? You can live off the grid and go under the
radar with these techniques. Get started now!

Here's how to disappear for survival:

#1: Study the gray man concept.
At the heart of your disappearing act is the "gray man concept."
It's reducing awareness of your presence so that others may
dismiss you ~ it's a way to camouflage yourself in an urban
setting. In a way, it's survival by psychology.

Grayman is blending in with your surroundings. Every
prepper understands the value of urban concealment in
terms of possessions, but this concept also applies to the
person. The gray man is not just invisible, but also an expert
at looking less tactical or threatening. Blending in and
assimilating is about being forgettable. Matthew Dermody's
Grayman: Camouflage for crowds, cities and civil crisis, is a
book to help you accomplish assimilation and give you a
good foundation for vanishing in any urban environment in
part by avoiding individual expression.

Grayman goes beyond clothing. Certainly someone wearing
a gray sweatshirt is less noticeable than someone wearing
neon orange, but the concept goes beyond just wearing
muted colors and it's not just about dressing like the others
either. It's about integrating and looking like you belong and
that you're not out of place. This means knowing the social
norms and following them, and using intuition.

It's about going undetected. The Grayman theory is about
being boring and never making a first impression. This is an
advantage to a homeless person who wants to undetected
to get some free heat or use the bathroom. It's also about
how you move and about avoiding conflict. Everything you
want to know about gray man tactics - how to blend in,
disappear, avoid harm, detect lies and much more is
available in a new book called Gray Man Tactics, right. It's a
highly detailed book on how to be use the gray man theory.

It's about maintaining a situational awareness. In tandem
with the gray man concept is situational awareness. This is
a proactive awareness of the world around you ~ an
avoidance of threats. The Situational Survival Guide, right
helps you know your threats and develop your personal
action plan. The mindset is about managing our exposure to
threats to help you avoid catastrophe, such as having a
situational awareness on crime. For the military it's
"Standard Operating Procedure" to control the outflow of
sensitive information. In part it's done by a flow of
information and body language. A civilian can use situational
awareness to not be a victim.

It's a show of hands. Your hands provide visual clues about
who you are. When you're not concealing your hands you're
also not holding a weapon. When your hands are relaxed
they're not it a position to strike at someone and from this
others can have a level of trust in you, which is important in
the gray man concept. Your goal is to look less threatening
and tactical.

Anyone can be a gray man for a day and this is a good survival
skill to practice. In the book, Anti-tracki ng, pictured right, the
goal is in maintaining a low profile and evading capture. It's an
intuitive and revealing resource that demystifies the art of
creating the illusion of invisibility.

#2: Recognize that you have a digital footprint.
The first step in disappearing is erasing the digital breadcrumbs.
In the book, How to Disappear: author Frank M. Ahearn discusses
how to erase your digital footprint, leave false trails, and vanish
without a trace. Pictured right, this leaves you wondering whether
Frank M. Ahearn is his real name, but also is highly entertaining
of the fantasy of staging a disappearance.

Make your digital footprint disappear and here's how...

Gather your digital footprint. Think about where you've
used your credit card online, gather up your identification
(school ID, passport, driver's license, Costco ID everything).

Make it time consuming and costly for someone to find
you. The digital breadcrumbs are your footprints and trail
you leave behind whenever you're online, on the phone,
using your credit card, drivers' license, passport, address or
any personal information. Your goal is to disappear so that
it's very costly for someone to find you.

Know your Google Searches are tracking tools. Websites
store cookies on your computer. Web site owners collect this
information about how you interact with their website in part
to help them remember you, but also it helps them spy on
you. These cookies, whether or not you delete them, are
traceable and provide clues. Here's how to find someone
online using private investigator's techniques.

For Coronavirus information, please see the Centers For Disease Control Website

How to Disappear by Frank M.
Ahearn

How to Disappear and Never
Be Found by Barry Davies