Learning how to disappear in the modern age is surprisingly easy. Hundreds of people do it every day.
An estimated 700,000 people go missing each year, both voluntarily and involuntarily.
The highest volume of adult cases ranges in age from 50 to 59 years old.
And an impressive 89 to 92 percent of all missing cases are found (alive or dead) each year.
So how do you disappear, stay gone, and live?
That, in fact, is not easy… but it is possible.
D.B. Cooper did it in 1971. But times are a little different now with the long trail of digital footprints we leave behind.
Bill Carter, a spokesman for the FBI, says, “In the United States, you have the right to go missing if you want to. Individuals have the right to privacy.”
But Snowden showed us the NSA thinks otherwise.
In this article, we’re going to address the myths and bust some of the outdated information out there that could get you found and possibly hurt.
We will show you how to determine where is the best place to disappear for you.
We have our list of the best places to disappear and start over, but maybe you don’t want to spend your days toasting away under the Caribbean sun with a margarita in your hand.
This will work if you want to know how to disappear in America or how to disappear to another country.
This will work if you to know how to disappear for a while or forever.
This won’t involve having five or six cosmetic surgeries.
You won’t have to steal some dead baby’s birth certificate.
And you won’t have to submit yourself into witness protection.
Or fake your death.
Or jump out of a plane mid-flight.
If you’re already on the run, you can use this information to give yourself a fighting chance.
There are many pieces to put in place for a successful disappearing act, and having the time to plan ahead is essential.
This preparation will not only make sure you stay hidden but that you can transition into a new life free from your past.
What’s the point of disappearing if the new life you go to is just as bad or worse than the old one?
We’re going to introduce you to a way to leave your old world behind and the tactics you need to create a new life better than the last.
We must note here that this information is not meant for minors or those with mental health issues.
We understand your desire to escape your situation, but we’re about surviving here.
Unfortunately, learning how to disappear as a teenager and going out on your own is more dangerous than the safety of your home.
Running away without the proper planning or resources will not work. You will be found eventually, and the situation could be worse when you’re sent back.
There are hotlines with the training and the resources to help you. You should google for local services to help you find a solution.
If you’re being stalked or in danger of physical harm, your best bet is to call your local police department. Only they will have the power to stop the person following you.
But we also know there is only so much the police or a restraining order can do. And sometimes, getting away is your only option.
This will not work if you’re dodging the law for illegal activity, fraud, or avoiding past debt or taxes…
However, it will work to help you avoid future taxes.
Professionals have more resources and more training.
When it comes to people’s money and the law, they will find you.
The benefit of dropping out, as we propose, will involve tying up all loose ends and making it clear that you chose to leave voluntarily.
There should be no reason for anyone to worry about you or try to find you.
In this way only will you have the chance to leave your old life behind.
You will reduce the suffering of those who love or care for you, if any, and give them a sense of closure.
The beautifully sad thing is that most people won’t care if you’re gone.
They’re so absorbed in their own lives that if you let them know you’re skipping town, then you won’t have to worry about them coming to look for you.
The key is not giving anyone a reason to find you.
The second most important thing to know is what you’re going to do when you arrive at your new destination.
It’s one thing to leave. It’s another thing to stay gone and live a life worth living.
Otherwise, you’ll make the first mistake everyone makes who’s eventually found–reconnecting with someone or something from your past that will give you away.
Why Disappearing May Be Right For You
Why you’re leaving is an important question to answer before you set off.
Disappearing takes planning and is not easy to execute.
You will need to stay motivated to push on when things get tough.
A part of maintaining that motivation is understanding your “why.”
Why are you leaving?
There isn’t one reason why people choose to disappear.
There’s no right answer.
It just has to be right for you to understand if disappearing is really the right choice.
Are you looking to get away from your old friends or family that don’t support you?
If so, maybe disappearing off the face of the Earth isn’t necessary.
If you ignore people long enough, they will eventually go away.
If you’re planning to fake your death for sympathy or attention, then you may get it until you’re found. Then everyone you know who did care about you will probably dislike you.
But if you’re looking to run from intolerable conditions, where the police can’t help, then you have every right to get up and go.
Or maybe you just want to be left alone, where there are no prying eyes, and live a life that’s not under constant surveillance.
If you’re afraid if after you leave, you will be found by those you were trying to escape, then you will need to take essential steps to make sure they can’t find you.
Most people leave without a plan, and they end up someplace familiar to them. The problem is it’s also familiar to their pursuers.
We have no privacy.
Everything you do leaves a digital footprint.
There are 30 million surveillance cameras in the US alone.
Your cell phone monitors your every movement using data gathering and triangulation with cell phone towers.
Your credit cards track both your location and your spending habits.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips track both your belongings and and your movements.
So how in the hell are you supposed to just get up and walk away without a plan?
The good news is the statistics show that if you take the right steps and stay unfound for up to 48 hours, you have a higher than 90% chance of staying that way.
What You Should Consider Before You Disappear
Disappearing will take time and money.
So it’s essential to determine how far you really want to go.
Is it really worth it?
Can you solve the problems you’re trying to escape with help from the police, friends, or family?
Do you really need to completely disappear?
Can you just disappear from social media? Or perhaps from your city?
Or must you unplug and get out of Big Brother’s web?
Do you have to leave with your children? If so, you will have to take extra steps to protect not only your own life but theirs.
An important note here is if you plan on taking your child to hide from a deranged spouse, you better go to the police. Do all the legal things necessary first so you can’t be charged with kidnapping.
If your spouse is a cop, then go to another precinct where he/she is not known.
If disappearing involves abandoning your children. Don’t do that.
Disappearing and staying unfound will take constant vigilance and setting up tedious systems to remain anonymous.
If you’re not willing to do the work, then you will be found.
This is going to take a complete lifestyle change.
Once you get to your new destination, you will have to abandon your old way of life and even your habits.
You can no longer do anything that could give your followers a chance to find you.
You will no longer benefit from the convenience that electronic devices and the Internet provide.
You will use them as tools to scramble your whereabouts. But you will more or less have to become analog.
If all of this still sounds worth doing, then let’s begin.
How To Disappear
There are three stages to your disappearance:
- Cover/Erase/Manipulate Your Tracks
- Create New Tracks That Lead To Nowhere
- Create A New Life That Has No Connection To Your Old One
I know it’s obvious, but we have to say it, don’t tell anyone about your plans to disappear.
Before implementing anything we are about to say, even if we forget to say it, one thing to keep in mind is never to move in a straight line.
For example, if you have to go somewhere, be sure to get there in the most roundabout way possible. Eliminate any routines you have.
If you have to go to a store, don’t go to the one in your neighborhood. And first, go to another area before you get to the store you want to go to.
Now that we got that out of the way, you need to start gathering your assets.
Primarily, cash. Slowly begin to withdraw your money from all of your bank accounts.
Don’t do it all at once, or it may seem suspicious.
Meanwhile, start putting your cash into prepaid credit cards so that you’re not walking around like you just robbed a bank.
You will then want to invest in prepaid telephones. Get a few topped up with a few hundred minutes each. Make sure that the phones are purchased from different vendors and from various providers.
You can get a prepaid smartphone to use some of the apps we will suggest later. But you have to be careful not to use any other apps that track your data. And, of course, never use your real information or log into past accounts from your phone.
If any of the phone sellers require you to register the phones, then use false information.
We usually wouldn’t condone lying, but extreme times call for drastic measures.
If any of you out there are incapable of lying, then just think that the person you’re lying to knows the truth. They would understand and probably want to help anyway.
If you can afford it, we would suggest now would also be an excellent time to buy a new computer. Again, using your prepaid credit cards.
It is vital to remember to never use this computer on your home or work internet connections.
This should only be used on public wifi in conjunction with a virtual private network (VPN). If you don’t know what a VPN is, we’ll get into that later.
You should also consider using a virtual phone number. You can get one online and use it to forward calls to your prepaid phones.
This way, you can preserve your prepaid phones longer instead of having to ditch them after every use.
And remember, don’t register anything with any of your personal information.
Now that you’re all cashed up, have your prepaid phones/virtual phone number and a new computer, we need to begin to erase or adjust the details of your past.
Cover/Erase/Manipulate Your Tracks
There are two scenarios. Either someone is trying to find you, or you want to prevent people from finding you in the future.
Either way, unless you started from the day you were born, you’re going to have a long trail of data, records, and habits that a professional can use to find you.
Erasing or changing it all can take some time. Plan to spend at least a month to six months preparing.
It depends on how much money and assets you have and how much you legally want to take with you.
You may think that all of this is overkill. You may believe you don’t have a professional on your tail.
But if the person on your tail has money and they’re desperate, they could hire a professional. In which case, you should take the steps necessary to fool one.
Most professionals are going to start with the low hanging fruit.
This includes utility services, cable subscriptions, and bank accounts.
Yes, it is illegal for them to pose as you, call these companies, and extract your information.
But they do it anyway, and they’re very good at it.
So what we recommend is to compile ALL of your bills.
And we mean everything.
You most likely use credit cards to maintain subscriptions and pay your bills.
So, you can use your credit card and bank statements to understand where every payment goes.
Use at least three months of statements to verify there aren’t any rogue payments that you missed.
You must do your due diligence to ensure you find every source that is connected to you.
Then get to a public library or a cafe a reasonable distance away from your current residence with your new computer and prepaid phone.
Subscribe using your prepaid credit card to a good VPN provider.
We use Proton VPN. It’s straightforward to use and install. They have a free version if you’re on a budget. But it is less secure.
A VPN will redirect the IP address you use to access your accounts to random places in the world.
If anyone can hack your account, they will see that the last point of access was from someplace you are not.
You’ve most likely already created a robust online presence that will now be near impossible to erase.
But instead of worrying about hiding or erasing every detail, it makes more sense to use this mass of information to your advantage.
Go to each account you have and sign in online.
Update your account information at every business you have a bill for so that the mailing address is slightly different than your current address.
Change the spelling of your name to a variation so that it won’t be found in a database search.
Change your password and usernames to something completely new.
Then cancel the account and never return to it.
If anyone can dig up the account, all of the information would be changed, and they would have no way to recover it.
You’re also sending a message that you don’t want to be found.
Suppose you’re a woman with a stalker and change your phone number to a women’s shelter.
In that case, this will be a clear message to any professional that they may be helping the wrong client and may abandon the search.
If you come across any account you have that does not have an online access portal, you will have to call and do the work over the phone.
Use your prepaid phone to call the companies.
One important thing before you use your prepaid phone is to set up a call forwarding system.
Sign up online with a virtual phone service with an area code for anywhere in the world of your choosing. Don’t use one where you will actually be found. Remember, you want to lead people away from you.
Then forward all calls to your prepaid phone. Only give out the virtual number to those who need to reach you.
If you have to make a call from your prepaid phone, you can use a spoofing service like www.spoofcard.com.
This will protect caller IDs from picking up your phone number.
You will need to replace the prepaid phone every once in a while to prevent it from being found.
More advanced offices like banks and doctors’ offices may have your social security number on file.
Here you will have to do some fibbing to get them to change it in addition to your name and address.
When you change your name, don’t try to give them some random phony names. Just show them a spelling error or a variation of your name that you don’t use.
For example, if your name is “Ron,” you can change the record to “Don.” Some doctors’ offices have your photo ID on file. If that’s the case, then hopefully the clerk is lazy and doesn’t check and just updates the system.
Don’t make all these changes at once. It will obviously be suspicious if, all of a sudden, you realize your name, addresses, and social security number on file are all wrong.
Now we are not recommending you to commit fraud by providing false information.
We are just covering our tracks. Update the records with the phony info and close the accounts a few weeks or months later to avoid any suspicious activity.
Again, you are not applying for anything using fake information. Just scrubbing the records to keep anyone digging through old accounts to find your info.
Once you have scrubbed every account, and we mean EVERY account, from club cards to library subscriptions, Amazon to Zillow, then destroy all of the physical belongings that could lead back to you.
Suppose you have anything with a warranty, i.e., a leaf blower, car, DVD player, etc. In that case, you will need to call these companies in the same way and alter your account info.
Then sell it or dump it far away from your current residence. If you’re dumping, be sure to scratch out the serial numbers first. Hell, do it if you sell it too.
You need to shred and burn all of your documents like bills, statements, insurance policies after you’ve closed the accounts.
Toss in any photos of you that you no longer want into the fire as well.
If you have any prescription bottles with your name on it, they should also be destroyed.
I think you’re beginning to get the picture. It’s all gotta go.
Suppose some things are just not worth living without, but you can’t take them with you.
In that case, you can find a private vault where you can anonymously store all of your personal valuables. This way, you can retrieve it later if you decide you don’t want to disappear anymore.
You don’t want to leave anything in a safe deposit box at a bank. First, you have to have a social security number attached to the box if you’re going to open one. This means the Feds can easily track where you’re hiding assets and where you’ve been.
Second, whatever’s in the box technically belongs to the bank. If the bank goes under, they can auction whatever is in the box to the highest bidder. Not likely going to happen, but why worry about it?
There are private vaults where you can safely store anything that you don’t want to be found.
Pay a year in advance, and then if you’re going to keep up your payments, do so by paying with your prepaid cards over your prepaid phones.
And that’s it… You’re now ready to move on to the next stage, which is to mislead your pursuers into following a fake trail.
We recommend NOT destroying your old computer and your old cell phones.
Contrary to the popular recommendation, you also don’t want to delete your social media accounts.
You will want to wipe them of any sensitive and personal information that could lead to you as we did with the other accounts.
But you will also want to use them in our next step, which is to deceive your followers into thinking you are going to do something you really are not.
Create New Tracks That Lead To Nowhere
Now for the fun part.
Instead of erasing or hiding your old tracks, it’s time to create new ones that will lead your follower away from you as you disappear.
Do not skip this step. Your successful disappearance depends on giving yourself time to escape by sending anyone who’s looking for you as far away from your actual trail as possible.
Using your old computer and phone, erase all of your past data, account info, and any other sensitive documents that you don’t want someone to find.
Now, the only time you will use this equipment is to plant false information that will lead them on a path away from your real location if someone looking for you finds it.
Make the rookie mistakes they’re expecting you to make.
Search for things like how to change your name and identity.
We don’t recommend creating a fake identity. It’s not worth the trouble or danger of being caught in fraudulent activity.
Make some notes of possible names you would choose to confuse your followers.
If you really want to add some more diversion layers, you can get your name legally changed and announced in the public record.
But never actually update any of your identification documents.
This is technically illegal and only recommended if you never plan on returning to your country of origin. It’s definitely not necessary, and we wouldn’t do it unless it was dire circumstances.
You can also legally change your name and not announce it publicly. Still, you will need to submit paperwork stating why you cannot release the information publicly, i.e., you’re at risk of being harmed.
Buy books online about living in Panama. But only if you don’t actually intend on going to Panama.
Search for rental properties in new cities.
Look for flights to those cities.
Book plane tickets to these places using your old credit cards.
Call the listing agents and ask them to run credit checks to see if you qualify to rent these places.
Call the local utility companies and ask to set up the utilities for the same apartments you looked to rent, even though you won’t be there to finalize the installation.
Call the local cable companies to get service connected to the apartment.
A professional will find all of these records, and they will lead them on a chase to nowhere.
You can do this in multiple locations, including foreign countries.
Open a checking account at a bank in one of these locations and put some money into the account.
Get a debit card and start making purchases as you travel around to these places you never intend on staying.
Now we’ll circle back to your old computer, phone, and social media accounts you didn’t delete.
Remember when we said to not tell anyone about your plan to disappear?
Well, now you’re going to want to tell your close friends and family that you are going to disappear.
If you’re in danger of physical harm, then you should tell them. Let them know that if anyone comes asking about you that they should notify the police.
You should also ask them to remove any photos of you or tags of your name.
You should then tell them you’re going to those places you, in fact, aren’t really going. Keeping your true destination to yourself.
This way, if anyone does come asking about you, their loose lips will corroborate the fake story you planted.
If it’s your friends and family you’re trying to avoid, you can obviously skip this step, or don’t. Do whatever you feel will help throw them off your trail.
But make it clear to those who care about you that you are choosing to leave. It’s the best way to make sure they don’t come looking for you.
Be creative and use the tactics we’ve outlined here to create false trails that will work best for your situation.
Disappearing without a trace is suspicious and will likely cause people to worry. If you fake your death, not only have you committed a crime but now you are forcing the police to investigate.
You don’t want to get too gung ho about it. Otherwise, a professional will realize he/she is being duped.
You want to be clever, not obvious–like this guy who successfully faked his death. He went overboard by also leaving his Blackberry at a gas station for someone to pick up and start using to throw any followers off his trail.
But it just made everyone suspicious that he wasn’t actually dead. He went from closed case to manhunt with just one ill-placed detail.
Professional will eventually find that these are fake trails. The objective is to buy yourself some time so that your real trail will go cold.
So let’s recap real quick before we go on to the next step, which is the one where you actually disappear and stay gone for good.
- Slowly empty your bank accounts and move to cash.
- Use the cash to buy prepaid credit cards and telephones.
- Buy yourself a new computer (if you can afford it). Otherwise, restore your old one to factory settings, and erase your hard drive.
- Do not use it on personal or work networks.
- Use only public networks with a VPN.
- Gather all documents, accounts, bills, warranties, and anything else where you have an account, including utilities, club cards, and bank accounts.
- Alter your personal account information so it won’t be found under your real name.
- Make slight alterations to avoid suspicion, but obscure enough to not be found by someone looking for your real identity.
- Close the accounts at a later date to avoid suspicious
- Clear your home of anything that can be used to identify you.
- Destroy by burning.
- Store anything you want to keep in a private vault far away from your current residence.
- Do not use a safety deposit box.
- Start building fake trails by making official inquiries in towns and countries in which you never plan on living.
- Use your old credit cards to build a spending trail that a professional will find and believe to be true in these places.
- Get credit checks done for properties you “want to rent.”
- Open a bank account in a town far from where you will actually be.
- Make some expenditures using the debit card from this account to show activity.
- You can shut the account down later.
- Use your social media accounts to create a fake trail of where you could possibly be going, posting comments and photos of false destinations.
- Notify your close friends and family that you are in danger and that you will be leaving.
- Tell them if anyone tries to get information about your whereabouts, they should notify the police.
- Only give them fake information in case they blab.
Create A New Life That Has No Connection To Your Old One
Okay, so now the real fun begins–actually disappearing.
You’ve wiped your past and closed all open connections.
You’ve created fake trails that will lead any pursuer away from your actual destination.
Now it’s time for you to get to your real destination without being discovered.
To do this, we’re going to need to create some more layers of security.
The first step is to decide where you actually want to go.
Do you want to disappear into Europe? South America?
This may take some time to research, but ideally, you will want to go somewhere that suits you best, fits your budget, and ideally taxes little to nothing of your income.
Do your research using your new computer and only on public wifi networks using your VPN.
You can destroy your old phone and computer now, although I think wiping it and selling it to help fund your escape.
If any followers find the devices, you’ve already littered them with your fake trail. You did not use them in any way that would give away your true location or intentions.
If you’re on a budget, the best thing you could do is sublet an apartment in a mid-sized town that’s not too small but not too big.
Everyone knows everyone in small towns and will notice any strangers that move in.
Get a job that will pay you under the table, or flip trash on eBay and Craigslist to pay your bills.
If you’re willing, learn how to dropship using tools like Shopify. Or you can learn to become an affiliate marketer to sell products or services and earn commissions.
If any of what I just said “sounds Greek” to you, then Google is your friend.
There are too many ways to make money online today without anyone knowing your identity for us to list here.
Just don’t get scammed by fake gurus trying to sell you bullshit courses.
There are legitimate ways to make money online. All of the information is out there and its free.
But just like starting any business, they involve risk. They will take time and hard work to grow.
Yet, if you learn how to do it, it will set you free.
Suppose you have money and are looking to escape with a higher standard of living. In that case, you will want to look into setting up an anonymous corporation, either onshore or offshore.
You should do this if you plan on starting any new ventures as well.
We won’t get into all the details on how to do that here, but it can easily be found with a Google search.
You can talk to CPAs and attorneys on how to do this all legally and not endanger yourself of being found or accused of illegal activities.
You will also need them to transfer your assets to the new corporation and set up an international bank account. This way, you can do all of your business anonymously through the corporation.
Now that you have your assets out of the country, you need to secure them to not be seized if you’re found.
Do not keep a lot of cash in your bank. Use the money to purchase international property that cannot be forfeited.
Then you can use an Equity Line Of Credit (ELOC) against those assets to pay for your living expenses. Again, this should all be done in your corporation’s name.
You can also look into moving your residency offshore to a tax-free home.
Getting a second citizenship in one of these countries will also ensure you never end up like Snowden and trapped with a frozen passport.
That’s it, really.
Once you’ve thrown anyone who’s looking for you off your trail, then you can create a new life in a new place using an anonymous corporation.
If you don’t have a budget for that, then just live on cash if you’re going to bootstrap your future.
Do not set up any new accounts using your real name. It should all be done through the corporation or using an alias when not fraudulent, i.e., your Netflix account.
Change your habits and live under an assumed alias. If you continue to use the same habits like going to the race track if you have a gambling problem, then this is a behavior that could lead to you being found.
Find new interests that no one would assume about you.
The most important thing is to keep your head down and DO NOT connect with anyone from your past.
This is where everyone makes the same mistake. People actually pull off their disappearance, but then they get lonely and call home to see how things are going.
If staying in touch with a loved one like your mother or other family is important to you, there are ways to do so that will protect your location.
You can use your prepaid phones to connect with them, but they need to call you.
To do this, you will need to use a virtual phone number using any call forwarding service we talked about before.
You can get a number in the same area code as them, so they don’t have to pay long-distance.
Then set up that number to forward to your prepaid phone. Do not call anyone that could be under surveillance directly from your prepaid phone. You can still be traced.
You will need to set up an encoded system where only your loved ones will know how to find the number to call as you change them.
For example, you can post an encrypted message on a message board anonymously.
You will tell them where to find the message and the key to decode it before you leave.
You will want to change these virtual numbers often to not establish a pattern.
Just remember that this should only be done occasionally. The more you reconnect with your past, the more likely it is someone will find you.
More Questions About Disappearing
How To Disappear Legally? Is It Illegal To Disappear?
No! As long as your not a criminal, on probation, or expected to appear in court, etc. Otherwise, it’s completely legal to disappear.
Thus, it’s best to make it clear that you’re choosing to leave so that it’s clear you are a voluntary disappearance case.
Professionals will not waste time or resources trying to find someone if they see that person chose to leave.
How To Disappear Off The Grid?
If you’re final destination is some where off grid, then you can take all of the same steps as we mentioned above to make sure you’re not found.
However, you will need to do some extra planning and investing to setup your destination off grid in a way that’s self-sustainable and secure. You can read more about how to live off grid in this in-depth article here.
How Do I Disappear If I Have No Money?
If you have to move now and don’t have time to save up for an escape fund, then cover your tracks as we outlined in step one.
Do some quick work to create a fake trail by making fake inquiries in towns far away from your real destination to throw off any pursuer.
Burn everything you leave behind.
Use a public wifi network and a free VPN to research where you can go.
Use websites like www.couchsurfing.com to get away until you can find a way to make money and plan a way to disappear correctly.
Get on a bus to get to your destination in the most roundabout way you can afford. Again, don’t move in straight lines. Leave fake trails everywhere you go to divert a would-be follower.
If you can’t afford a bus ticket, find a couch locally that you can walk or ride a bike to. Then find a way to make money until you can afford to get further away.
Let those you know who care about you know that you’re in danger, that you’re leaving, and they shouldn’t come looking for you.
Tell them to call the police if anyone tries to contact them about your whereabouts.
Tell them you plan to move to a city where you made your fake inquiries to corroborate your story if a professional can get them to talk.
Should I Fake My Own Death?
No! Faking your death is a crime and will launch an investigation. It will also cause you to commit future crimes when trying to start a new life.
Don’t put professional investigators on your tail when you’re trying to get away. They will be better at finding you than you are at escaping.
If you’re in trouble with the law or owe money that you can’t pay, it’s easier to fess up and do your time. File bankruptcy to clear your debts. Faking death is not going to save you.
Should I Get A Fake ID?
No! Using a fake ID is fraud, and again will get you arrested and found by anyone you’re trying to hide from. You can legally use an alias in unofficial dealings. No one needs to know your identity.
But using fake documents to travel or apply for insurance, credit, or other official applications is a felony, and you will be caught.
The old cemetery hunt for dead children to get their birth certificate no longer works in the computer age. You will be caught.
Should I Legally Change My Name?
You can, but you will need to do so in a way that it’s kept from the public record.
To do so, you will need to file a form with your state that describes why this information cannot be public, i.e., you’re in danger of physical harm.
It does take time and money to process, but it will be a nice additional layer that will make it harder to find you.
You will also need to update your records at the DMV and the social security administration to be official.
As well as update your passport if you have one. Again, all of this will take time and money, so plan ahead.
You can also legally use a different name without officially changing it through usage.
However, this will not work to get new official documents like a passport or social security number.
How Do I Make Money If I Can’t Get A Job?
You can make money online as a freelancer or by starting your own business. Again, you can learn how to sell things on eBay, Shopify, or become an affiliate marketer.
All of the information on how to do this can be found online for free. You don’t need to spend money on fake guru courses.
Either way, you should set up an anonymous corporation to hide your tax information from the public.
You will still need to pay taxes if you’re an American citizen, no matter where in the world you work.
However, there are ways to legally reduce or avoid taxes by using offshore shell corporations and international banks.
The best thing to do would be to speak with a CPA and a tax attorney to get these set up before making your move.
Again, do all of your research using your new computer, using a VPN from a public wifi network to hide your digital tracks, and using prepaid/virtual phones.
How Do I Disappear With A Child?
This becomes a little bit more complicated. You should speak to a lawyer so that you’re not in danger of being charged with kidnapping.
The most important thing to do once you work out the details is to NOT put your child in school. You will need to homeschool them.
If that’s not an option, then you will need to talk with someone at the school or a social worker in your new home and explain the situation.
This is dangerous as you’re letting people into your world.
But they should be able to help you enroll your child into school without having to transfer school records.
Aside from that, you will need to teach your child all the ways to stay anonymous, as you’ve learned here.
Using an alias at school. Getting new electronics, not using old accounts or social media, not reconnecting with anyone from their past, etc.
It’s going to be difficult, but possible if they understand the danger. Be open with your kids and show them they can trust that you have their best interests in mind.
Working as a team will be critical to your success.
How Do I Open A Bank Account Or Corporation If I Don’t Have An Address?
Everything should be bought or leased through a corporation using a private mailbox as the corporation’s address. Your name should not appear on any documents.
Again, consult your attorney on setting up the paperwork so that your name does not appear on any public documents.
If you’re on a budget, then everything should be done in cash and bought second-hand.
If you have to register a mailing address or receive official documents, you can use the corporation’s private mailbox. Not a PO Box.
Using a series of private mailboxes and forwarding systems as you would with your prepaid phones will allow you to have an added security level. This will prevent anyone from finding you if they find a connection between you and the corporation.
Again, don’t give out any of your real information to anyone that doesn’t require it.
You can find cheap rentals on Airbnb that you can pay using an alias and a prepaid credit card.
In this way, all of your utilities will already be setup. You don’t have to register your name anywhere that a professional would be able to find it.
How Do I Keep Track Of All The New Details I Create?
Keep an old fashion notebook with all of the information you use to create your new life/alias to keep your story straight.
Write it in a way that only you would understand.
You don’t have to encrypt it, but it should only be understood by you.
Don’t lose it.
Other Considerations
Change your habits. A professional will find people you know and learn details about your behaviors.
They will then use your interests to find where you could possibly be. For example, say you love fishing.
You may want to start a new life where fishing is the best. Well, guess what? A pro will find that detail about you, and you have just helped him narrow his search.
So what do you do? Stop fishing. Find a new sport.
Suppose you successfully disappear without tying up your loose ends to the point where you’re thought to be dead. In that case, you will be legally pronounced dead after seven years.
Now, this may serve your intentions of disappearing off the face of the Earth. But if you ever want to come back to your old life one day, well, you’re going to be screwed.
So just be sure you get all of your ducks in a row before you go off into the wild blue yonder.
Debrief
Disappearing is a big deal. If you’re going to do it, be sure to tie up any loose ends.
Again, running from the law or debt collectors is not going to end well.
Making it clear that you don’t want to be found and have no reason to be followed is the best way to survive.
If you’re not in immediate danger, give yourself as much time as possible.
You will need it to alter or delete your past, plan and build your fake trail, and choose your ideal destination for escape.
Get your assets together and set up your new life to give yourself the best chance at living once you get to your new destination.
Again, what’s the point of disappearing if your new life will be worse than your last?
Disappearing without a plan and without a way to make money can lead to homelessness.
Not telling those who care about you that you’re leaving and that you will be okay will lead them to look for you and perhaps get professionals involved.
You want to do everything you can to avoid both scenarios.
But if professionals do get involved, you want to make sure they’re following the trail you left them and not an actual path that will lead them to you.
Once you disappear to your actual location, stay anonymous, and don’t ever reconnect with your past.
Good luck.
–Team AppliedSurvial
