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Let's Say You Wanted to DISAPPEAR...

Hawkeye10 said:
Seems like there are three problems with that...buying the boat undetected (because once the authorities figure out that you(F) are on the water I think they find you eventually), we only have $50,000 and boats tend to cost, and somebody eventually is going to demand to see a Passport.
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If you didn't kill anyone or commit other major crimes, nobody would come after you. You can get a 30-40 foot sailboat for pocket change these days, as almost every marina has abandoned boats.
 
RetiredUSN said:
If you didn't kill anyone or commit other major crimes, nobody would come after you. You can get a 30-40 foot sailboat for pocket change these days, as almost every marina has abandoned boats.
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Good to know.
 
With $50,000? All I'd need is a fake SS# and either a fake birth certificate or driver's license and no one would ever hear of me or find me again.
 
Walking away is the easy part. Its staying away thats hard. You can easily start a new life in another country provided your name isnt on a watchlist- but even that can be circumvented. The problem is most people tend to want to stay in touch with friends and family and that's how they're usually found.
 
The new show 'Hunted' shows how hard it can be to live totally of the grid. Pretty crazy stuff.

Me...Id go into the woods.
 
RetiredUSN said:
If you didn't kill anyone or commit other major crimes, nobody would come after you. You can get a 30-40 foot sailboat for pocket change these days, as almost every marina has abandoned boats.
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Or owe anyone enough money that it is worth it to have fraud investigators find you
 
Hawkeye10 said:
This has been running through my brain for years but I can never arrive at an answer that I am confident in. It is here again because I was just reading about a 50 YO teacher and a 15 YO student who have managed to be gone for 2 weeks. Let's say we can assume that there are a lot of people looking for us and that our photos have been published far and wide, where do we have the best chance of avoiding detection? Why? Since we need to assume resources lets also say we have a month to plan and can lay our hands on $50,000 cash to finance the venture.

My current best idea is that you change your name and looks, getting forged documents, then go to Detroit and rent a dump on a month to month cash basis. Bonus points if you can pull off looking and sounding like a new to America immigrant. Lay low for about 5 years living as cheaply as possible, then relocate to somewhere with more income opportunities after folks have mostly given up trying to find you. I want to be somewhere where the society has broken down and most people dont give a damn about others, with lots of new people running around, and where they are desperate enough for money that they will take mine with few questions. Plus a place that is very cheap because I assume that I cant have a non black market job or use banks.

Ideas?
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I don't think it'd be hard at all. I'd go with your idea of a city. Just change your look completely, get some papers to get a job, and lay low. Look like the person next door and that's all you will be. Of course if you're an older man with a young girl it'd be a lot harder but if it's not such a unique situation I think it would be pretty easy.
 
Invisibility Potion +2
 
Hawkeye10 said:
This has been running through my brain for years but I can never arrive at an answer that I am confident in. It is here again because I was just reading about a 50 YO teacher and a 15 YO student who have managed to be gone for 2 weeks. Let's say we can assume that there are a lot of people looking for us and that our photos have been published far and wide, where do we have the best chance of avoiding detection? Why? Since we need to assume resources lets also say we have a month to plan and can lay our hands on $50,000 cash to finance the venture.

My current best idea is that you change your name and looks, getting forged documents, then go to Detroit and rent a dump on a month to month cash basis. Bonus points if you can pull off looking and sounding like a new to America immigrant. Lay low for about 5 years living as cheaply as possible, then relocate to somewhere with more income opportunities after folks have mostly given up trying to find you. I want to be somewhere where the society has broken down and most people dont give a damn about others, with lots of new people running around, and where they are desperate enough for money that they will take mine with few questions. Plus a place that is very cheap because I assume that I cant have a non black market job or use banks.

Ideas?
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A fascinating idea actually, to just vanish. I wonder and even have reflected upon what would press a person enough to just pack a few essentials and vanish. Do you plan it in detail over years or months or do you just one day say to yourself "I'm done", and then pack and go?

Apparently, people do it daily by the hundreds. Most are never found. Are they dead or just dedicated?

I am too much a creature of comfort to just pack and go. Unless of course I am moving to a jungle local with a pool and wait staff. Maybe that is a good thing, but perhaps it is just a trap. :shrug:

No one here seems to know how it is done but yet daily it happens. I think it is just done in various ways by various people who are highly motivated to change their lives radically. I believe the key word there is "radically". It certainly does not mean living in poverty OR off of the grid...it just means changing one's world and accepting the daily adventure of whatever one must do to "stay away".
 
_Sal said:
A fascinating idea actually, to just vanish. I wonder and even have reflected upon what would press a person enough to just pack a few essentials and vanish. Do you plan it in detail over years or months or do you just one day say to yourself "I'm done", and then pack and go?

Apparently, people do it daily by the hundreds. Most are never found. Are they dead or just dedicated?

I am too much a creature of comfort to just pack and go. Unless of course I am moving to a jungle local with a pool and wait staff. Maybe that is a good thing, but perhaps it is just a trap. :shrug:

No one here seems to know how it is done but yet daily it happens. I think it is just done in various ways by various people who are highly motivated to change their lives radically. I believe the key word there is "radically". It certainly does not mean living in poverty OR off of the grid...it just means changing one's world and accepting the daily adventure of whatever one must do to "stay away".
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Which has my radar up that there is at least one systemic problem with law enforcement that needs to be fixed. With as much spying on the American people as this government does, and in the digital age, how can this happen I wonder.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Which has my radar up that there is at least one systemic problem with law enforcement that needs to be fixed. With as much spying on the American people as this government does, and in the digital age, how can this happen I wonder.
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hm perhaps fair enough BUT, maybe it is not a systemic problem with law enforcement that needs to be fixed

what if: I am a law abiding citizen, I have no debt, have no known enemies and everything appears fine in what I have left behind

WHY would law enforcement persue me?
 
_Sal said:
hm perhaps fair enough BUT, maybe it is not a systemic problem with law enforcement that needs to be fixed

what if: I am a law abiding citizen, I have no debt, have no known enemies and everything appears fine in what I have left behind

WHY would law enforcement persue me?
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To find out if you are dead, because if you are there are legal things that need to happen. However, I am not so much concerned with that as I am people who we believe have comitted crimes that we are not able to bring to justice because they vanish, and our government cant or wont find them.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
To find out if you are dead, because if you are there are legal things that need to happen. However, I am not so much concerned with that as I am people who we believe have comitted crimes that we are not able to bring to justice because they vanish, and our government cant or wont find them.
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the ONLY reason to care if I am dead would be foul play/murder...if I vanish (personally) there is no reason to persue me...I have no debt, and no known enemies...some of my close friends would freak but really....who cares from a legalistic perspective....no one, that's who...unless there is blood or a smoking gun... :shrug: I am free

as for crimes... I don't know how that works or what the resources are for that type of investigation. IF it is murder...sure...otherwise who cares....
 
_Sal said:
the ONLY reason to care if I am dead would be foul play/murder...if I vanish (personally) there is no reason to persue me...I have no debt, and no known enemies...some of my close friends would freak but really....who cares from a legalistic perspective....no one, that's who...unless there is blood or a smoking gun... :shrug: I am free

as for crimes... I don't know how that works or what the resources are for that type of investigation. IF it is murder...sure...otherwise who cares....
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There are lots of reasons to care if you are dead and if so how did you died...almost everyone gets benefits that need to be stopped, insurance that needs to be paid, bank accounts to close and so on and so fort. If you decide to set yourself off on a ice flow please make sure that someone knows so that they can tell the appropriate agencies.
 
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Hawkeye10 said:
This has been running through my brain for years but I can never arrive at an answer that I am confident in. It is here again because I was just reading about a 50 YO teacher and a 15 YO student who have managed to be gone for 2 weeks. Let's say we can assume that there are a lot of people looking for us and that our photos have been published far and wide, where do we have the best chance of avoiding detection? Why? Since we need to assume resources lets also say we have a month to plan and can lay our hands on $50,000 cash to finance the venture.

My current best idea is that you change your name and looks, getting forged documents, then go to Detroit and rent a dump on a month to month cash basis. Bonus points if you can pull off looking and sounding like a new to America immigrant. Lay low for about 5 years living as cheaply as possible, then relocate to somewhere with more income opportunities after folks have mostly given up trying to find you. I want to be somewhere where the society has broken down and most people dont give a damn about others, with lots of new people running around, and where they are desperate enough for money that they will take mine with few questions. Plus a place that is very cheap because I assume that I cant have a non black market job or use banks.

Ideas?
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It depends on how long you want to stay disappeared.

I know an Aussie who managed it for about nine years then his country's tax department decided they wanted to hear from him, just for old time's sake.

You can be gone a long, long time on a boat, especially along the Canadian and US west coasts. 90% of the land falls have no customs or Homeland security, it's on the 'honor system'. So technically you could stay sailing for a year or three without anyone knowing. You would have to carry a lot of cash of have something that can be converted to cash easily; diamonds, gold, etc.

Anyone can change the name of their boat any time, so the records can be made to have a dead end.

However, sooner or later someone in authority is going to want to see some ID, and unless its the most expensive fraud you're busted. There was a day a man could disappear for ever. Then they invented ID cards and then came the internet.

If you're any kind of somebody a video camera is going to pick you up in no time.
 
Fearandloathing said:
It depends on how long you want to stay disappeared.

I know an Aussie who managed it for about nine years then his country's tax department decided they wanted to hear from him, just for old time's sake.

You can be gone a long, long time on a boat, especially along the Canadian and US west coasts. 90% of the land falls have no customs or Homeland security, it's on the 'honor system'. So technically you could stay sailing for a year or three without anyone knowing. You would have to carry a lot of cash of have something that can be converted to cash easily; diamonds, gold, etc.

Anyone can change the name of their boat any time, so the records can be made to have a dead end.

However, sooner or later someone in authority is going to want to see some ID, and unless its the most expensive fraud you're busted. There was a day a man could disappear for ever. Then they invented ID cards and then came the internet.

If you're any kind of somebody a video camera is going to pick you up in no time.
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Lets talk about the boat idea some more....what do you do with the money? If you keep it on the boat it is just a matter of time before someone steals it right? Piracy is a pretty big thing. We cant use any of the normal banking tools because those are easy to trace/track and the US government is looking for us and surely they will do that much to find us. We cant trust the Swiss anymore. I dont see the solution.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
There are lots of reasons to care if you are dead and if so how did you died...almost everyone gets benefits that need to be stopped, insurance that needs to be paid, bank accounts to close and so on and so fort. If you decide to set yourself off on a ice flow please make sure that someone knows so that they can tell the appropriate agencies.
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should I decide to disappear, I would most certainly take care of those "issues" first ... they are not big issues, no one gets benefits from me so no worries there, nothing to be stopped... legally I took care of things financially and from an inheritance perspective years ago when I bought realestate just like one is supposed to...

keeping things simple allows many freedoms

people who take care of their affairs can easily disappear...just don't leave loose ends and if I set myself off on an ice flow...anyone who needs to know would be with me...everyone else should mind their own affairs ;)
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Lets talk about the boat idea some more....what do you do with the money? If you keep it on the boat it is just a matter of time before someone steals it right? Piracy is a pretty big thing. We cant use any of the normal banking tools because those are easy to trace/track and the US government is looking for us and surely they will do that much to find us. We cant trust the Swiss anymore. I dont see the solution.
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As I said it would have to be in something easily convertible OR in a secret stash somehwere
 
I personally think most of the people who just disappear have been murdered and the killer got away with it. Unless the body is found it is hard to investigate. Some one goes out to buy some drugs for personal use and doesn't tell anyone flashes too much money and gets killed for it. If the body is disposed of properly the authorities may never solve the case. Only 2 people know what happened. The person killed and the person who did that is now in the morgue due to an overdose. Case closed.
 
Fearandloathing said:
As I said it would have to be in something easily convertible OR in a secret stash somehwere
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I dont know that works, as when the pirates find little they assume there is a bunch hidden somewhere, sounds like a good way to end up dead.
 
This thread has "asking for a friend" written all over it.
 
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