BY MICHAEL BAZZELL
INTRODUCTION
EXTREME PRIVACY
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs prioritizes our most fundamental requirements as basic physiological demands, physical safety, and then social belonging. Many have simplified this as food, shelter, and love. Most of my clients adapt this to anonymous purchasing options, a ghost address, and a clean alias.
I should probably back up a bit here and explain some things about my career, I spent over twenty years in government service. After eighteen years in law enforcement as an investigator for various agencies, I spent four years focused on extreme privacy strategies as a major part of my privately-held company and as a contractor in the intelligence community. During the majority of my career, I was a sworn task force officer with the FBI, where I focused on cybercrime cases and creating a software application for automated Open Source Intelligence (OSIN’I) gathering. My time with the FBI made me realize how exposed we all were, and that privacy was dying.
In 2002, I developed a strong interest in privacy and eventually wrote a book titled Hiding from the Internet which helped people clean up their on-line lives and become more difficult to find. After working covertly with criminal hackers, I was concerned about a growing phenomenon called “doxing” which happened to many of my coworkers. Doxing is the act of publishing complete personal details about a person online. This usually includes full name, home address, telephone numbers, family members, date of birth, social security number, and employment details. Others can then use this information to wreak havoc on the person with prank calls, delivered packages, and occasionally personal visits. I did not want to ever be on the receiving end of this, so I took action to remove all publicly available details about me from the internet. I never expected it to become my occupation.
I began teaching large crowds about these techniques which went as far as completely disappearing from any public records and becoming “invisible”. I was determined to perfect the art of personal privacy. My focus changed from removal of public information to intentional disinformation which caused confusion to anyone trying to stalk someone whom I was protecting. Eventually, I developed complete solutions to starting over with a new life that could not be connected to the previous. Often intense and extreme, my ideas were not always accepted by every potential client.
I eventually left government work as I wanted to commit to a completely private life and continue to help others disappear. I was extremely fortunate to be asked to help write the first season of a new television drama called Mr. Robot. The idea was to make all of the hacking and technology realistic, which I believe we accomplished. The show received high accolades, including a Golden Globe award for best drama, which introduced many new opportunities for me with the press and online media. This led to additional conversations with A-List celebrities, producers, and other Hollywood moguls. When combined with my ten years of public speaking side-gigs to financial companies and other large corporations, I immediately had access to a huge audience of wealthy people with problems. Once my services were known within this circle, word-of-mouth kept me busier than I could have ever imagined. From nude photos being released on the internet to attempted abductions, I became known as the guy who “fixed” things.
Today, my primary focus is on extreme privacy and completely disappearing from public records. Every week, someone contacts me with an urgent need to fall off radar. Something bad has usually happened, and there is a concern of physical safety. This is where my extreme antics are welcomed, and I execute a plan to make my client invisible to anyone searching for him or her.
I will never share the exact details applied to my own privacy strategy, but I have executed numerous examples throughout this book toward my own life before attempting on others. I always try to fail at a new technique while practicing against my own personal information before attempting with any client. Sometimes, there is not time for this luxury, and I must pull the trigger on the fly and hope for the best. I have definitely made my share of mistakes and I have numerous regrets when it comes to the techniques used to achieve this lifestyle. You will read about many of them here. There was no textbook for this and I had no one to consult with before trying to officially disappear on my own.
Many clients do not need to erase their entire lives. Some just need help with a specific situation. Lately, the majority of people who contact me have had something negative posted about them to the internet and they want it removed. This can be very difficult as most search engines ignore these types of removal requests. Some people I cannot help. A recent client was arrested and his mugshot was plastered across numerous websites. I cannot always erase those, but I disclose my methods later in this book. A surprisingly high number of women contact me after a former lover posts pornographic videos to adult websites in attempt to shame them for leaving. These are fairly easy to remove when enough time exists to score every source. Some clients present tricky situations such as defamatory comments on blogs and personal websites. These require a delicate touch, and most can be removed.
My most difficult clients are those whom I never meet. Occasionally, a very wealthy or extremely famous person will need my services. Most of these individuals meet directly with me and we start their privacy journey. However, some are too big to meet with me face-to-face. Instead, I meet with teams of lawyers which are skeptical of my methods. They then communicate with an assistant to the actual client who then later speaks directly to the client. Much is lost in translation, and I am asked to clarify my strategy. This generates a lot of confusion and misunderstandings. Worse, the execution of my plan is done incorrectly and therefore is not successful. After a few meetings, I am dismissed and I never hear anything from them again.
On one occasion, a famous movie actor reached out about the purchase of a new home and did not want to have his name associated with the paperwork. He wanted it to be a retreat off the radar of the tabloids. I was only allowed to meet with his personal assistant. She seemed very competent at orchestrating his life, but knew nothing about privacy. She unintentionally misspoke to the real estate attorney, which I was not allowed to meet, and the closing paperwork included a single mention of the celebrity’s name. Within weeks, an aerial photo of the estate was in a tabloid identifying the new owner.
There are many clients with which I decline my services. After a few years of providing privacy consultation as a “hidden” service, news spread of the successes achieved with a handful of well-known clients. This resulted in a huge increase of strangers contacting me through my website about their own situations. Many were ve1y honest about their true identities and even more candid about the scenarios with which they were seeking help. Others were very vague about everything and became concerned about me knowing too much about their situations. One of these was an individual that went by the name “Nobody” through a throwaway email address. He asked if I could help him disappear to the point that no one in the United States could find him. He had a large amount of cash that he wanted to use to buy a house anonymously. He refused to provide his real name which is an absolute deal breaker. If I can’t vet a potential client through various verification procedures, I am not interested in helping. I had considered immediately declining his request, but I was too curious about him. Was he Tom Hanks? Does he operate a hedge fund? How did he get all the cash and what was he running from? I played along for a while and convinced him that he should install a secure communications application called Signal on his mobile device. Signal allows users to communicate securely with other Signal users by providing full end-to-end encryption for all voice, video, and text communications. This prevents anyone from intercepting the connection and even Signal employees cannot identify the content of the communication. I was not interested in talking to him through Signal, but I was counting on him making a common mistake when he installed the application. Signal uses your cellular telephone number by default when you install the service. You then give the number to other Signal contacts and begin talking securely. I did not ask him for his Signal number, because he would likely feel exposed by disclosing his actual cellular number, even if only used through Signal. Instead, I gave him my Signal number and told him to send me a verification text within the Signal application. My Signal number was a Google Voice number that I dedicated solely for use on Signal. This way, no one could connect my Signal account with my real cellular account. The potential client sent the text, which arrived in my Signal application. It immediately revealed his true cellular number.
I provided this number to various telephone search services to which I subscribe and collected the results. Within less than a minute, I possessed a true name, home address, email address, and Facebook page associated with his cellular number. It belonged to the girlfriend of a fugitive wanted by the U.S. Marshals for many serious crimes including molestation of children. This is the reason I vet everyone. If I were to assist a federal fugitive, I could be prosecuted myself.
My gut said to simply stop communicating and walk away. I couldn’t. I knew from the beginning that this was suspicious. The need to pay in cash and the desire to only disappear from anyone looking for him in the U.S. were red flags. After some brief conversation, I was positive he was the wanted pedophile fugitive. I told him that I could meet him in Los Angeles in a week. He should bring $5,000 cash for my retainer and have it in a Taco Bell paper sack. His girlfriend’s previous home address was only an hour outside the city, so this seemed plausible for him to agree to the meeting. I picked a quiet location that would not have too many people around early in the morning on a Sunday. I told him I would be wearing a blue shirt and black jeans. I would have glasses and a trimmed beard. He volunteered that he would be in a rented BMW and wearing a red collared shirt with tan shorts. I then did something that may offend some readers. I immediately called a U.S. Marshal contact that I had made during a recent internet intelligence training that I had conducted in the Los Angeles area and let him take over.
To this day, I have no idea what happened on that Sunday morning. My guess is that an arrest was made, as that subject is no longer on the public fugitive list. Why the Taco Bell paper sack? It is a great way to identify the suspect in the case that multiple people fit the general description. Please know it is rare that I need to utilize this type of ruse in response to a solicitation by a potential client, but I refuse to have my services exploited by child predators. If it were a misdemeanor warrant for shoplifting food, I would have taken no action and you would not be reading this. However, with certain serious crimes there is a clear moral obligation to intercede. Also, it should be noted that when someone hires me to make them disappear, I need to learn most of their private details if I am going to effectively obfuscate them.
Other declined clients include those that I simply cannot help. Some have mental issues that have created unnecessary paranoia and a constant concern that they are being monitored. They often send me twenty-page emails that contain random thoughts that seem incoherent. I try to convince those people that they are likely not in any danger and should seek counseling to eliminate some of these stresses. Occasionally I follow-up, but rarely receive a response. Others are simply not ready to go the distance. They want to continue to use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram while having an expectation of privacy during their new life. I do not believe that any of my clients can truly become invisible and still use social networks. Some of
those who stay off the main social networks are still not ready to eliminate their online lives. On one occasion, I helped a young woman remove revenge pornography from the internet. She had sent very intimate videos taken of herself with her telephone camera to a current lover with whom she would later end the relationship. He posted them online and I used various tactics to force removal. A month later, she sent similar videos to a new lover that posted them online during their relationship, and attempted to extort her after she left him. I removed everything, including cached copies on search engines. I encouraged her to stop trusting others with this sensitive content. Three months later, she asked how she could remove new photos
of herself engaged in a recent sexual act from an adult website, posted by her latest ex-boyfriend. I wished her the best, but advised that I had exhausted my ability to keep her private. I encourage those who value their privacy to trust no one with nude photos. The internet will ensure they are conveniently published and stay online forever.
My favorite clients are the people who are ready to start over. Relocation is mandatory and alias names will be used daily throughout the rest of their lives. They will never associate their true name with any purchase or location ever again. They are prepared to embrace the additional effort it will take to properly respond to daily requests for their personal details. A trip to a dentist, chiropractor, barber, hotel, restaurant, or Starbucks will never be the same. They will immediately realize the number of personal details which are collected about them every day, and the impact of divulging accurate information on their personal privacy. This requires a strong desire to disappear and the discipline to maintain the lifestyle. They will be impossible to find if done right. This book is written for that type of person.
My previous books about privacy were mostly REACTIVE. I focused on ways to hide information, clean up an online presence, and sanitize public records to avoid unwanted exposure. This book is PROACTIVE. It is about starting over. It is the guide that I would give to any new client in an extreme situation. It leaves nothing out, and provides explicit details of every step I take to make someone completely disappear. Many readers are likely questioning the reasons someone would need to execute the exhaustive plans that I have created. Almost all of my clients fall into one of four categories.
The Wealthy Executive: This represents the majority of my work. After living a traditional life with their family’s name attached to everything they do, something bad happens. Layoffs at the company launch death threats to the CEO or a scandal breaks out indicating that corruption rises all the way to the top. Whatever the situation, my client wants to disappear.
They want a safe place for their family to stay while things get sorted. This is surprisingly difficult. Hotels want valid ID, and social engineering attempts by journalists and enemies quickly identify the location of the client. I will explain many ways that I secretly hide people temporarily and permanently.
The Celebrity: My famous clients usually have one of two problems. They either made a mistake and now need something cleaned up (such as nude photos, inappropriate tweets, or inaccurate articles), or they want to buy a new home that will not surface on tourist maps. I will present many pages within multiple chapters discussing the options for completely anonymous home purchases. It will not be easy, but it is possible. The Government Employee: At least once a week, I am contacted by a police officer or other government employee that is in immediate danger. He or she is involved in a high-profile shooting, court case, or cartel investigation, and the spotlight is on. People are looking to cause problems and the client finds their home address on hundreds of public websites. It is too late to clean-up. It is time to move, and it is very important to be strategic about the names associated with any lodging.
The Victim: This is usually my most cooperative and eager client, It is also usually a woman. She finds the courage to leave a physically abusive relationship and she knows that her safety depends on her disappearing. I have had clients who were victims of attempted murder who know they must now live an anonymous life. This requires a long-term game plan, and each step of the execution must be perfect. Their life is relying on anonymity.
I am fortunate that I can now pick and choose the clients that truly need the help and will successfully execute the plans that I create. While I rarely meet new clients due to a series of fortunate events, and most come to me to “fix” something, the final result after I finish my work is usually positive. Some of my clients have had devastating events impact their lives, but they have moved on and are now happily invisible. It has not been all roses. I have made many mistakes and learned expensive lessons about my privacy strategies. Some of my less than optimal ideas have landed me in hot water, and even in physical police custody during one unfortunate event (which is not discussed here). I hope these lessons assist others with properly executing their own strategies and not replicating my mistakes.
Some will think that this book will hide them from the U.S. Marshals or prevent them from serving a pending prison sentence. It won’t. I know the groups that will be in charge of hunting you. They are good. They will find you. Even fugitives who escape to the woods without any possessions get caught. This is not that type of book. This is for the increasing number of individuals that no longer want their home address on Google; data mining companies to build detailed profiles of them; or health insurance companies to snoop on their private purchases. They are tired of companies “listening” to their devices through metadata and questionable permissions. They simply want out of the system which allows data within their digital lives to determine how they are treated by large corporations and governments.
When I was a child, there was a single choice you could make which either made you private or public. You could specify that your telephone number be unlisted. This action removed you from the telephone book, for a small fee, and made you practically invisible. This is laughable today. The moment you deed your home in your name, it is public information on the internet. Did you start electricity services at your new rental home in your real name? Within days, data mining companies replicate these details; append your social networks and family members; neatly package your profile into a sellable product; and offer it to any new startup looking to target you with advertisements. It is a mess, and I believe we should take steps to stop this behavior.
The advice within this book is NOT to move to the woods and cease contact with everyone. It is quite the opposite. I believe that you can lead a normal life, including healthy relationships, without making personal details public. There will be a balance of enjoyable living and refusal to submit to the standard abuses of data collection. As I navigate through the book, there will be many times which you can choose the level of adoption. While I will always present the suggested extreme methods, there will be opportunities to slowly slide into privacy. Please read the entire book before executing any strategies of your own.
It is highly unlikely that you will need to completely disappear. Hopefully, you get through life without the requirement to hide. However, I ask you to consider all of the strategies presented here. While they may not all apply to you, there are many steps you can take to better protect your personal privacy and security. The book is written in chronological order of every step that I take with a new client requiring the full treatment. It is presented as if you are in immediate danger of losing your life, and people are trying to find you. It attempts to put you back into a normal life without the need to constantly look over your shoulder. Many of these tactics are extreme. You may laugh out loud a few times. Your family and friends may think you are crazy. However, if you ever need to disappear, you will be prepared.
The information shared in this book is based on real experiences with my actual clients. The following stories are all true, with the exception of changed names, locations, and minor details in order to protect the privacy of those described. Every subject referenced in this book has given both verbal and written consent to appear in the content, and possesses an interest in helping others in similar situations. I have refused to share their true identities with anyone, including my publisher, legal advisors, and other clients. I take my clients’ privacy very seriously.
Finally, you will see the following statement a few times throughout this book. It was required by my legal team, but I agree with every word.
I am not an attorney. I am not YOUR attorney. You should not replicate anything I
discuss in this book without first consulting an attorney. The following is not legal
advice. It is not any type of advice. It is merely explicit examples of the actions I have
taken to make myself and my clients more private. Your scenarios will be unique from
mine and your privacy plan will require modification from mine. Seek professional
legal advice.
CHAPTER ONE
GHOST ADDRESSES
Most privacy enthusiasts already have a United States Postal Service (USPS) Post Office (PO) box. This is a great layer of privacy for mailings in a real name that you do not want associated with your home. I have possessed many PO Boxes over the past two decades, but I will never use one again. The requirements for obtaining a PO Box have not changed much, but the residential enforcement has increased substantially.
Postal Service form 1093 is required in order to obtain a PO Box. This form explains that valid government identification must be provided, which seems acceptable in my view. Section four of this form is where I begin to get frustrated. This section requires your current home address, and this information must be verified by a postal worker. The verification is usually made via a delivery person who can confirm the applicant receives mail in that name at the residence. In other words, you must receive mail in your real name at your real address in order to obtain a PO Box to receive mail. If you cannot obtain verification of this, you will not receive your box. This means that a homeless person cannot obtain a PO Box~ which seems to be an ideal need for the service.
Over the past year, I have seen enforcement of a confirmed home address at an all-time high. In 2018, I was assisting a client with the purchase of a new home in a city with which she was unfamiliar. She needed a PO Box in order to receive important documents and payments, and had not yet found a home she liked. The hotel where she was staying did not allow daily mail to guests. I entered the local post office and asked for an application to rent a PO Box. The employee immediately asked if I had a local address. I advised I did not and that I was house shopping and will be here a few months while I decide. I was shot down right away and told I could not have a PO Box unless I had a local address. I caved a bit and said that my local address is currently a hotel. No dice. This seems ridiculous, and is becoming a common result when I enter a post office. I have quit trying. Instead, I rely heavily on Commercial Mail Receiving Agencies (CMRA).
A CMRA may be better known as a UPS store or a mom and pop style shipping store that provides mail boxes. These services will usually charge a higher fee than the post office, but the verification requirements are almost always less demanding. Additionally, the service is usually superior and there are less restrictions on deliveries from UPS, FedEx, and other services. You will still need to complete a USPS form within the UPS system, but the address verification is usually waived. You must provide the names of all people who might receive…. TO CONTINUE READING DOWNLOAD PDF HERE…
