How To Disappear
by Frank M. Ahearn
Most Saturday afternoon's I head to the local bookstore. I love
to watch people reading books about offshore banking, hiding assets and
how to disappear. It's usually your typical middle aged guy
dreaming about a new life. I watch as they get caught up in their
imaginary world. Their eyes light up at the thought of leaving all
their troubles behind. Reading all those great stories about
beachfront living, escaping into oblivion hiding your assets, not paying
taxes. However, not one of those books shares the flip side. They
don't tell you about the skip tracer who sits in his office and is
paid to find people who did what you are dreaming of.
A little tidbit on skip-tracers, we do it because there is an adrenaline rush in what we do. What's even better is I get to bill my client and make some money. As we say in my office, 'its all about the Benjamin's'. If your name comes across my desk and the money is right you are in the hunt. I will spend my day finding your mistakes, be it through the utility company, the cable TV Company, or that collect call from Cabo San Lucas to your sister Edith. I have found many a person's from Boston to Bali. Usually I find them because of the littlest mistake they made before they departed or while basking in the sun. Let me share a few, some thoughts for you to think. The woman from Beverly Hills who called her doctor asking for her medical records to be shipped to Anquilla. A gentleman from New Jersey who stole money from his company and hid in the Dominican Republic and had Barnes & Noble change his shipping address to his beach front condo. The list goes on and on. When you pick up and leave if from creditors or other reasons. There are companies out there like Ahearn Group (www.ahearn.info) and many other excellent ones that love the challenge. To skip-tracers it's a game we get paid to play. We can make as many mistakes as we want the one you make is the one that most likely lead us to you. Sit back, take some notes and understand the game from my point of view.
Most people read a book then pick up and go. They simply
disconnect their services with no forwarding and leave. Big
mistake take your time and allow the coming months to assist you in your
venture. Okay first step, do not use your home, work or cell
phone, and do not use your calling card. Do not use any of your credit
cards to purchase anything in the area you are going to escape to.
Your plan should take place at least six months before you hit the road.
In the mean time have all of your services, cable, electric, phone bills
be forwarded to any GPO in the country. Call those companies every
month and find your balances and pay them. Make sure all the bills
go to different states. Have a little fun one month have them send
it to Oshkosh the next to Bogota, New Jersey. Let them know they
have the wrong Social Security number on file and have them change it.
Next month give them your cousin Henry's phone number in Toronto in
case they need to reach you. The key here is to load your account
with so much information you are creating misinformation.
Go online and get yourself a Jfax (www.jfax.com)
account. For $9.99 per month you can get a phone number in any state or
almost any country from Jfax. When some one calls your Jfax number which
will have your personalized recording on it. The message will be
forwarded to your email address and you will be able to retrieve that
message from anywhere in the world. Make sure the email address
you give is a Yahoo or Hotmail address Pay for your Jfax account for at
least one year. This way there will be no transactions on your credit
card in the coming months. Some skip-tracer trying to identify
your number will only be able to get an email address from Jfax.
What's also great about Jfax is you can fax directly from the Internet
if need to. Do not do any of your searching from your home or work
computer. Go to an Internet cafe' and do all of your research.
Go by yourself a prepaid cell phone and never give anybody the number.
Make sure you can dial international with the cell phone. If not
buy a prepay calling card and throw them away when done, do not reload
them with time. With the prepaid cell phone get a phone number
that has an area code in another state. When you order your prepay cell
phone pay cash and give a different name. Never call anybody with
that phone, the number might show up on his or her caller ID. Start
calling where you're looking to escape to from your prepay cell number
or calling card. Dump that phone every month, yes the actual phone
and get yourself a new one. A different number with a different area
code from the original. By doing this no one will be able to track where
you called. Remember you make one call from your home, work or
cousins house that is all I need to locate you. Get yourself a
locker and leave all your tools in the locker, never bring them home or
to work. If you accidentally toss in trash and some one is
searching your trash they will find it. When you are ready to
leave you can empty your locker and destroy all information that can
lead to a trail.
Go online and get a mailbox from Mailbox Etc. (www.mbe.com).
Open up a corporation online in that state. Have all mail go to the
above address. Make that address your service of process and your
registered agent.
When you have all your corporate information. Take a trip to
that state. When you go to the bank, you will sit down and open
the account. The person opening the account will call Telecheck
which is a service banks use to search if you have any overdrafts left
over from other banks. They will run your name and there will be a
record of you in that state opening an account. So any skip-tracer
with half a brain will find that account and locate your mailbox at
Mailbox Etc. give the person you open the account with your Mailbox Etc.
address Do not give them a valid phone number or one of your prepaid
numbers. Like the song say 867-5309 its one number you can't
forget and it's a great conversation piece with the banker. Tell
them the number won't be in service till next week.
Then contact Idealogic (www.idealogic.com)
in Canada and have them open a Canadian corporation for you. Give
Idealogic all your information from the above chosen state. Once
you receive all your Canadian information open an account with BMO (www.bmo.com)
which they should do via mail or possibly online if not Montreal is
always great during the music festival. Once you have all of the
necessary papers have Idealogic; BMO and your bank in the chosen state
forward everything to your Mailbox Etc. address. When all is said
and done have all of your mail from the Mailbox Etc. shipped to you, and
when all papers are in hand. From the Mailbox Etc. address do a
mail forward. To New York, then from New York, to Chicago, to Atlanta,
create a big loop. Do all your banking online, the bank will be happy
not to mail you your statements. Remember always access your
accounts from an Internet cafe',
You can then transfer money from the US to Canada, then to your
chosen offshore haven. Belize is a good place they do not adhere
to MLAT (mutual legal assistance treaty). Never use your ATM from your
US account; never use your ATM from your Canadian account. Use
those accounts as buffers for your chosen offshore haven.
One time I was searching for an individual who for the life of me
I could not find. Neither forwarding, nor any credit trace update.
No transfer of motor vehicle, then it dawned on me that this person must
have flown to his destination. So I checked the airlines and bingo,
there it was his frequent flyer account. His last trip he got
miles added to his account and I knew exactly where he went. Pay
for your ticket in cash at the airport.
Don't use your frequent flier account. Cancel your
blockbuster membership. Do not transfer any of your magazine
subscriptions. If you are receiving any type of direct deposit
from the government or retirement, do it through the above account you
opened. Don't get a library card in your new location, do not
get cable service under your name. Do everything through the name
of your foreign corporation. Make sure your foreign corporation
has no name similarities to your name or anything from your past.
Calling family and friends is a touchy issue, depending on your
personal situation. With technology today you just don't know if
you call some one from Costa Rica if your number shows up on their
caller ID. If it does and they happen to call you back. Some
one will be able to track you. All your effort and hard work is
thrown out the window. So if you need to be in touch, get yourself
another prepay cell phone from a different area and call those you need
to speak to with that. Dump the phone every so often.
So the above are the basic of how to disappear. Take your
time, do your research and enjoy the beach.
Frank M. Ahearn frankmahearn@aol.com
www.FrankAhearn.com
