Invisible Privacy | Online Privacy

I mention a number ways to do this, in How to be Invisible, but today, a reader from Dallas, Texas came up with a brilliant new idea. It was just a post to my Q&C page but I decided you readers would also appreciate this brilliant ploy. Here's the post, word for word:

"I like to order catalogs, product information, brochures, etc. online and have them sent to my CMRA address. I don't want my real name on any mailing lists, but I don't want to use several different alternate names, which might make the CMRA agent wonder what's going on (since I am only supposed to have mail in my real name delivered there). My solution for this is that when I am filling out an online form for these items, in place of my first name and last name, I use a generic 'junk mail' name with two words that will replace my first and last name.

"Examples: Current Resident, Valued Customer, Box Holder. The CMRA agent has no problem with this and I get all of the mail. If I move and decide to forward the mail that is only in my real name, the 'junk' mail won't follow me, but will be returned to the sender. Also, if I want to toss the information in the trash, I don't have to worry about my name being on it and have it being picked up by a passerby."

For a limited period of time, you may have a letter sent to you in Alaska or to Spain’s Canary Islands. It will be forwarded on to you for a modest fee. This will allow you to “test the waters” without having to pay the normal set-up fee and the first year’s annual payment. This may also be useful for those of you who have no need for a continuing mail-forwarding service.

For example, you send an inquiry to some supplier about a product or service and you do not wish to reveal your phone number, your e-mail address, or your true home address. You give only an address in Alaska. When the letter arrives, the agent will quickly insert this letter in a plain brown envelope, add postage, and mail it to whatever address you supply on the order form. (Option—this may also be used to send a package to the Alaska address, if arranged for, beforehand.)

If you prefer to receive a letter first sent to the Canary Islands, you may have the letter placed in a plain brown envelope and mailed on to you. Or, as an option, you can have my friend Manuel open the letter, scan it, and e-mail it to you. (In this case, no one need know your true address—it could be anywhere on the globe.)

The one-time price for this service, for either address, is just $39. If, within 90 days, you decide to upgrade to the normal service (up to a dozen letters per year), you will receive a credit of $50 against the normal setup fee, so your test will have cost you less than nothing. If this is of interest, e-mail me at JJLuna {at} canaryislandspress.com. and ask to see an order form. Look it over and then decide. If enough interest is shown, I may decide to extend this offer indefinitely.

FUTURE SERVICES FOR PERSONAL PRIVACY

Tell me what you’d like to see offered, and perhaps we can add some new service. (And yes, I know that hundreds of you want a nominee! I do have some available, with bank accounts, but as I’ve said before, I need to verify that the arrangement is 100 percent legit. This means I must personally meet with you, see your identification, and check your references.)

Feel free to send me your comments and suggestions!

Before you pay $5.00 to order the 2nd Amendment Support Decal, you should know that there is a confidential memo to police departments to be on the watch for this decal. It says, in part::

"All officers should be familiar with this symbol especially when dealing with the public or conducting traffic stops. While the individual may not be armed, the presence of the symbol provides an early warning indicator that you MAY be about to encounter an armed individual."

The first requirement is easy, as many of you know. Just order a New Mexico LLC and use that to title your vehicle. The second requirement is NOT so easy, if you are looking for a specific make and model, because:

You cannot buy a car anonymously from a new-car dealer

Why not? Because the dealer will demand your ID and copy your driver’s license. (No ID, no car, no matter how much he wants to sell it to you.) Further, if you pay $10,000 or more in cash, he will make you file the dreaded IRS Form 8300.

Buy anonymously from a private party

All the private party wants is to sell his car, He’ll take cash in any amount and does not care if you give the name of the buyer as Mickey Mouse LLC. Where the difficulty arises is in finding the specific make and model you wish to buy. The place to go is Craigslist, but what if the model you are looking for is scarce? Here’s the answer:

Free Craigslist Reader from CraigsPal.com

Unlike the normal city-by-city search, with the Craigslist Reader you can search state by state, or even the entire country, with a single click. For example, I am currently searching for a Toyota Sienna with leather seats and less than 30,000 miles. My search is in five states, and I check several times a day. If I cannot find what I am looking for within six weeks, I’ll add additional states. When I find it I'll pay cash and title it anonymously with a New Mexico LLC.






rosie@senoritarosie.com

Labels: advantages of buying a car from a private party, anonymous ownership, Free Craigslist Reader, secret ownership, using a New Mexico LLC

Below is post #8886 by Stan, in Atlanta, sent today to my Questions and Comments page. He is answering Russell, #8861, who was “boiling mad” as to whoever had leaked his home address to the public:

====================
Its most likely the mortgage company, They sell your info to anyone and everyone.

This recently happened to a friend of mine when they did a refi on their home..  If the mortgage company has your phone # you will be getting hundreds of sales calls.

Also I know a friend that had some tools stolen from his back porch, chainsaw, blower etc. He had seen some neighborhood kids behind his house a few days before, so having suspects and the serial #s of the stolen items, he thought the cops might easily close the case. The cops didn’t lift a finger to do anything, other than take a report. My friend then started getting hundreds of calls from burglar alarm companies.

He was not aware that police reports are very public, in fact I recently met a guy that makes a good living by going to local police departments every morning to copy down the name, address and phone # of every burglary victim and every person arrested for DUI in the last 24 hours. He then sells the info to alarm companies or DUI lawyers
=====================

For more tips on personal privacy, check out my Questions and Comments page.

As shown in the picture, a hole can be drilled in the tip of a stout cane, and up to several $100 bills or 500-euro bills can be inserted (depending on the size of the hole). A black rubber tip then covers the hole.

Even if you never use a cane, it's a great place to hide money. And if you do happen to travel with the cane, and some passenger or crew member gets violent, you've got the tool right there to hook him around the neck and kindly ask him to cool down.

Labels: hide cash, hide money when you travel, how to hide 500 euros, secret hole hides cash, secret money cache

An overweight middle-aged man who called himself Bernard recently walked into a tax office in Great Falls, Montana and asked the receptionist a question she couldn't answer. She directed him to another room and introduced him to Bob, one of the tax preparers. Bob took the man to his cubicle and listened to Bernard’s sad story about not having filed a tax return for years.

Bob then filed five years of back taxes (both state and federal) in the name Bernard gave him, based solely on the story he was told. At no time did Bob think to ask Bernard for ID.

Although true except for names, do not copy Bernard’s example by filing someone else’s taxes for them. This account is for entertainment purposes only. :-)

Labels: false account for back taxes, false tax return, tax return trick

I seldom recommend a video but if you want to know how dangerous social engineering can be, you gotta see this one. You will learn why so many companies, no matter how big, will sooner or later be hacked.

The website is http://www.social-engineer.com/in-the-news/

Scroll down to the video “Human Hacking Exposed: 6 Preventative Tips That Can Save Your Company.”

Leave me a comment if you think you learned something from this.

Jack

++++++++++++++

Labels: Chris Hadnagy, rsa video, social engineering

An article in the Seattle Times (March 25, 2012) is headlined MAKE THINGS RIGHT WHEN YOUR JOURNEY GOES WRONG. It's by Carol Pucci, one of the newspaper's travel writers. She tells the story about how she was in Havana, Cuba last November, preparing to fly to Mexico, when Cubana Airlines canceled her flight.

"How would we pay for another night in Havana?" she says. "We were almost out of cash, and American credit and ATM cards are useless in Cuba." Her problem was solved in part by Cubana Airlines, and in part by an agent for Delta who--after her heartfelt entreaty, stretched some rules. But Pucci still doesn't get it.

For "Lessons learned," she writes: "Don't assume the worst when it comes to travel, and never be afraid to ask." Here's the lesson Puicci should have learned:

"When you travel--especially when to a foreign land--carry at least an extra thousand dollars for unforeseen emergencies."

Labels: Carry extra cash, emergency cash, pay cash when you travel

True, the IRS says “If you have a financial interest in or signature authority over a foreign financial account, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund, trust, or other type of foreign financial account, the Bank Secrecy Act may require you to report the account yearly to the Internal Revenue Service by filing Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).” However, why use a foreign account at all (assuming you are not trying to dodge income taxes, which I would never recommend)?

One reason may be that you are losing confidence in the U.S. dollar. Despite the euro’s current problems, now may be a good time to buy euros. Or, you may decide that in the long run, the Canadian dollar is a better bet.

Another reason is that you may want to keep some money out of the hands of creditors, criminals, hackers and ex mates. In my e-book Invisible Money, I discuss various solutions (plus how to open a Canadian bank account, should you decide to go that route.)

So then—the answer to “Can I legally hold more than $10,000 in euros without telling the IRS?” is simple. Just buy the euros or loonies from the AAA, your bank, or from sellers on Craigslist, and keep the cash in the USA. The results are the same as if they were in a foreign account, are they not?

As to where to keep the cash, I recommend you check out Invisible Money.

Labels: buying euros, Canadian bank accounts, foreign bank accounts, Form TD F 90-22.1, hiding cash, hiding money, holding foreign currency

If you already have my book How to be Invisible, then you already have this information. However, what about your friends? Are any of them still receiving mail at home? If so, why not alert them to the dangers by forwarding this message on to them?

Click here for your free e-book.

Labels: free e-book, free ebook about privacy, Privacy 101, protect your mail

For the answer to that question, check out “Top cell threats to your phone.” Here’s an excerpt:

“Some hackers set up free Wi-Fi access in public places such as libraries, cafes and airports. Unsuspecting users who log onto the hot spot are then monitored for passwords, credit card numbers and account information. Those apps you download can be harmful too …”

And while we’re on the subject …

TOP 10 RISKIEST CITIES FOR CYBERCRIME

“The person sitting next to you at a café could be a hacker, and you could be his next victim. But that may depend on where you live. A recent study has ranked cities nationwide with the highest risk to cybercrime. Washington, D.C tops the list of riskiest online cities in the U.S, followed by Seattle and San Francisco."

Here is the complete list.

Labels: 10 threats to your cell phone, cybercrime in San Francisco, cybercrime in Seattle, Worst cities for cybercrome

Businesses having to do with aerial photography—not to mention law enforcement agencies!—are extremely happy with the latest news— the skies are being opened up to private unmanned aerial vehicles, i.e., drones. How much detail will these drones capture about your life down below? And what will be done with that information? Might two drones collide and crash in your back yard?

Time will tell. Here are two links to additional information:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/technology/drones-with-an-eye-on-the-public-cleared-to-fly.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46499162/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T0Z2MfFKRLc

If you’ve been listening to the news lately, you’ve probably heard about the dangers of jammers used by criminals and terrorists. Trucks can be highjacked, ships can be veered off course, and the stock market can be manipulated. And since they are both cheap and easy to use, you may be tempted to buy one. My advice: Don’t do it.

True, they are advertised in the UK for as low as £40, and in America for as low as $50, but you’ll not find them on Amazon.com or on any of the major electronic sites. Why not? Because it is illegal to sell them, illegal to buy them, and illegal to use them.

Further, when you go to an unfamiliar site, how do you know you will actually receive what you ordered? It may actually be a new website set up for just one purpose: to steal your credit card number.

Labels: Cell phone jammers for sale.jammer dangers, GPS Jammers for sale

That is the heading on a recent article from wired.com. It goes on to say:

A Colorado woman ordered to decrypt her laptop so prosecutors may use the files against her in a criminal case might have forgotten the password, the defendant’s attorney said Monday. The authorities seized the Toshiba laptop from defendant Ramona Fricosu in 2010 with a court warrant while investigating alleged mortgage fraud. Ruling that the woman’s Fifth Amendment rights against compelled self-incrimination would not be breached, U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ordered the woman in January to decrypt the laptop.

“It’s very possible to forget passwords,” the woman’s attorney, Philip Dubois, said in a telephone interview. “It’s not clear to me she was the one who set up the encryption on this drive. I don’t know if she will be able to decrypt it.” The decryption case is a complicated one, even if solely analyzed on the underlying Fifth Amendment issue. Such decryption orders are rare, and they have never squarely been addressed by the Supreme Court.

Labels: encrypted computer, encrypted laptop, must you reveal the password, password to computer