If you had to disappear completely without a trace how would you do it?

Question

Soteris · Accepted Answer

Fairly easy. First the easiest way to disappear without a trace is to defy expectations. If no one thinks you are willing to go to extreme lengths to disappear then they are not going to expect and search for them either. Plenty of people disappear on a regular basis so as long as you dont give them reason to expect that you did it deliberately then your disappearance will be assumed to be from other causes than self inflicted thus making it less likely that they will find actual evidence of you.

The less obvious planning you do the better. If it looks like you just magically disappeared one day while for example preparing a meal or something where it does not look like you had planned it for months and where it looks like running away at that moment would be "inconvenient" or somehow unplanned then it is going to send anyone trying to track you down the wrong trail.

The earlier to actually start to plan, the better and more "natural" you can make it appear. For example, stop using your card and start paying in cash a few years ahead means you have an excuse to carry around a large amount of cash in your pockets the day you disappear without it looking strange.

I live within the EU so I do not have to travel particularly far or cross any difficult borders to make it very unlikely for them to find me or any traces of me. My preferable end goal to creating a new identity would be to travel to Turkey and buy a whole new identity over there using cash. Yes you can. Problem is that you need a bit of paperwork for that. Things like a birth certificate.

One way to do this right now would be to spend a few months on a crash course in Ukrainian, travel there illegally to try bribe someone to make you a fake birth certificate, "flee the country" as a refugee and use that along with your fake birth certificate to get new "official" documents and then use those along with buying a 400 000 dollar property in Turkey for a citizenship.

Of course there are plenty of steps in between but these are the general steps I would take right now to go from completely disappearing to completely having reintegrated into society again with a different identity.

Moose304 · Accepted Answer

The only real way in my opinion is to 100% get off the grid. Go build a cabin near a food source and water. You're going to have to learn how to make deadly weapons to kill prey as well as learn how to start fires. Changing identity is difficult these days with biometrics and DNA. I have been fingerprinted several times now. I had to get printed back in the late 1980s just to do my job. I get a dental exam once a year. My dentist has X-rays of my teeth. I have had my retina's checked for bleeding and I think there are photos of them in the doctor's records. I have sent in my DNA to get a DNA background on myself. There is no way I could change my identity now.

purplepoppy · Accepted Answer

Last year I met an old seaman from Sweden who had a girlfriend here that he'd visit when his ship was in town. One day he didn't bother going home and has lived here ever since. Apparently it isn't that unusual and you have to assume immigration doesn't know.

Once you've got a few household bills in your name (they won't check id) you can use them as proof of identity for other things like a bank account and then a job. Obviously as a woman I could easily just find a husband and not have to worry about working 😉

Agape93 · Accepted Answer

Wouldn't be hard. Leave my keys, phones, laptops, etc at home. Go to my BOS deep in the woods, or if I really needed to disappear, leave everything except cash, a gun and a n95 mask. Hitchhike and hike into Canada, over to Nova Scotia, then get a ride aboard a cargo ship to Iceland, then another to the UK. Then ride with a cargo truck to mainland Europe. Hike out to family for financial help, then make my way to my final destination.

Already thought of this.

Anonymous · Answer

The first thing is that you cannot truly disappear all by yourself. You need at least one person who can look out for you. That’s where Brian Laundrie went wrong. He did disappear temporarily but he had nobody helping aid his necessities like food and shelter.

I would hire someone to get a new identity - you can’t just be a John Doe and not raise red flags when you try to do even the simplest tasks like getting electricity. The problem is to do this properly would cost a lot of money since fake papers require people working inside the government agencies.

Once you’ve obtained this new identity, you haven’t completely disappeared but you have successfully hidden yourself in plain sight. Even going with your new identity and living in the middle of nowhere can be suspicious because you will need to travel to the nearest town and it will probably be a small town so you won’t be able to avoid seeing the same people. The last place you’ll look for a missing person is a busy city. They always go to the woods or the middle of nowhere.

PainusNdeeAnus · Answer

Oh how I’ve thought about doing this for years i know exactly how I’d do it first I’d save up about 5 to 10k and lose about 80lbs and then I’d go to a random town with median population numbers probably on a Greyhound bus then I’d head to the local library of that town and look up obituaries and pick one to make my new identity for when I go to the DMV but first I’d need to do some aesthetic alterations I’d bleach my skin shave my head or perm my hair so it looks different maybe grow a mustache then off to the DMV to take my pics for my identification documents BOOM! in the clear.

Sour-rose · Answer

If i were to disappear that would mean I have enough cash to do it. And with that being done, i take all my belongings and just... ride. Anytime I need something, I pay with cash only. No fancy restaurants, no places where there is a lot of folks. Phone is off and unpaid for. Only thing I use it for is- nope can't even use directions.

This is kinda tough. I already have my new identity and people don't see me as this new identity. Only the old one. So that's one important thing done but i believe that's all that comes to mind. Phone is off and contact from family members is off. The only one I have contact with is my friends on my ps4. They don't know the favorite color of my underwear, so they don't know me much. And like that, i feel as if there might be some flaws but I'm truly a ghost now.

lightbulb27 · Answer

That's easy, I'd paddleboard out the coast of Massachussets, with some raw dead fish attached, and wait for the invitbable Great White to strike.

A story like that, but in California.

https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1989/jun/15/cover-taken-by-a-shark/

And if you track the big sharks, right off cape cod bay, there's one waiting there... big enough.

https://www.ocearch.org/tracker/detail/flower

electromagnetic · Answer

Ouu. I’ve thought about this for soo long.

so basically, I have dual citizen between two countries. However, the other country doesn’t actually have any documents about me other than my birth certificate and those of my parents which automatically guarantees my acceptance. As far as they’re concerned, I was born then disappeared since it was a home birth.

if I really want out, all I gotta do is fly in and ask for my documents. Since it’s such a small village style community, they won’t even questions my where abouts the last 30+ years as long as I have supporting documents of where I was born and blood work to confirm who I actually am.

Telekinetic-Potato · Answer

There's always going to be a trace. But the best way imp is to get a social, use that to get an ID, start taking out a bunch of loans, maybe even get a job with it and even use it to travel depending on how little of a trace you need.

But once you get your hands on cash that can't be linked to your true identity, it's as easy as leaving your electronics behind, getting a burner phone and looking up routes around the country with no traffic cameras. Which there's websites for.

Trappers and scammers do it all the time. It doesn't cost much to have someone basically give you a dead person's full identity.

Anpu23 · Answer

1- withdraw as much cash as I can

2- new G-mail email, new phone

3- convert as much into crypto under a new MetaMask account as possible

4- One way trip to Alaska

5- passage across the Bering Straight

6- trans Siberian rail into Europe

7- Buy a new identity in Russia

8 - switch phones again

9- never talk to anyone who knew you before including family and friends

10- every year move and switch identities stick to the East, and former Soviet block countries. Turkistan, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Taiwan, Philippines, Malesia, etc

Fuentes · Answer

Well delete all social media, literally everything.

Take down all emails and deactivate them.

Open a po box you can use a street address and forward everything to that event ur ID as ur LKA.

Remove all personal information from the net. So when it dies update thr only thing is s old po box you set up as an address n that's it.

And then I would take off to the Mexican border (since its open ) get a new name and then go to Cuba & get another name and then to where else im trying to go next.

Red-Blaze · Answer

Drop my identity as a prosona of my twin sister (in her permmsion)
Then turn to my friend to help me

Clear the money from a 3rd source so the money will not be trackable
Closed all social networks that are connected to offline me
Get rid of the phone payed by someone else, so no track on that

I am honestly living to vanish in a drop of a hat

OfMiceandMen · Answer

That's tough bc you would have to make a new identity and start a new job somewhere to pay for food and rent.

Obviously, you would have to drain your accounts and take it all in cash, but who knows there could be away of tracing the bills?

StormChaser838 · Answer

I would just ripp my clothes off and jump in the bush, I am a very outdoor kind of person. I grew up camping, mountain climbing, swimming in rivers, I am really talking extreme stuff etc. etc. And whenever I'm driving in woody areas I get that feeling, I would just stop the car to the side of the road, leave my clothes, shoes, wallet, phone,,,,, all I would need is a knife and probably 2 months till winter really sets in. I am already thinking of how many raccoons I'd have to trap to make a coat before the real cold sets in. I'd be gone, with a big G

Guardian45 · Answer

Very first thing I would do is close all my social media accounts, including G@G, get a new phone, phone# and email. I'd advise each of my important contacts (family & friends) of my new confidential contact info. If I was really determined I'd drop off the Grid, but that's MUCH MORE complicated, but possible!

betoxic4me · Answer

I would for sure at first choose a location where I know for a fact I can't be found in. A location that I've never mentioned or 'unlike me' to be in. Next would be a full look change. This consisting of hair, style and name. Once that's done, there's an option of letting someone in on the act or you don't have to. If someone does know, let them tag along and help with the necessary needs. Get fake papers or a permeant name change. Get rid of the devices and get new ones, selling the old. Um I am not a professional but just a thought

melanieeeB · Answer

I don't think that's even possible in that time and age, with cameras and data everywhere... but then well some people who experience awful stuff from bad people will disappear without any trace... so yeah I don't know

BigWhiteWolf87 · Answer

Obvious. You stage your death.

You go for a holiday in some country or region that's potentially dangerous & "die".

I could go into far more detail about the how, etc. but at the same time my knowledge is coming from someone my grandfather knew who was a former war-time spy in another country and who later faked his death in the US. He had a very elaborate plan and well let's just say not only did he "die" but he ended up "dying" rather rich.

Lionman95 · Answer

I would switch off my phone and clear my bank account. That would probably be enough since the police would only persecute me if they had clear signs that I´m involved in a criminal act. So that would give me time ahead.

RavVid · Answer

Going to a remote place with few people won't work as the locals all know there is someone new.

Better to go to a large city. Or to another quarter of your current city.

Who are we running from? The gov't or the mob? I think you might need to do it differently depending

SaoirseS · Answer

If you want to disappear COMPLETELY without a trace, then you need to have a friend like me. But you're not going to like how I make you disappear.

SnowedIn · Answer

Coach, is this thought exercise to vanish vanish like completely? Government, etc? Or just no one else knows where you've gone.

Miristheiss · Answer

Sandpaper my fingerprints off. Empry my bank accounts, sell my property, move to another state, take on a new identity, work for cash only.

bolverk · Answer

Here's a how to;

Chazmatazz269 · Answer

Explaining on the internet how you would disappear would leave a trace, G-man. Nice try though.

AviatorTom · Answer

I'm not going to tell you... because I may need to do that someday. 😎

FunkyMonkee · Answer

If I told you, you'd know how to find me and I'd have to come up with a new plan!

ShadezMcgee · Answer

Delete all social media after leaving a cryptic and ambiguous message about some crazy conspiracy and then get a new phone and number and make my way to Japan

D_Bone_Steak · Answer

I've actually thought about this. I would fake my death.  It would be so tempting to come back just to troll people though. 😂

Wish4UrB00ty · Answer

I wouldn't be able to but if I could I would go to a different country buy land in cash and homestead.

KostasKouvalis · Answer

I would sneak into Algeria. There's a town there where women wear full veil, so I would just go there and just don full veil, and not speak. No one would know I'm actually a dude and not from Algeria. Why Algeria? Because I can wear veil there, but at the same time the country is diverse enough that I wouldn't be bored there.

NostalgiaSenpi · Answer

Delete all social media besides Facebook (as that would probably make people suspicious), leave job, throw away cell phone, take all money out of bank accounts, and try to sneak down to Belize or some other country that speaks English.

exitseven · Answer

I would get a fake social security card and move to Florida and find work and blend in wiht all the other transplants that are moving there.

Fromdusktilldawn · Answer

Not without a reason. Right now I dont even have enough peers to even notice if I would disappear. If I would have done something very seriously bad, I'd consider the option

lottiebannotie · Answer

I don't think I have the resources to do it successfully I guess I could go to a city where nobody knows me and live as a homeless person but that doesn't sound very appealing 🤣

Jltakk · Answer

I've already disappeared from most of my acquaintances and friends radar. I tend to disappear from my family as well from time to time. I would do it the way I always have. Drive till I get tired of it which with my hyperfocus could be 7 or 8 hours away from home

douride2 · Answer

I would sell my house collect my cash climb on my motorcycle & drive away.

Leopard23 · Answer

If you had a lot of cash yiu maybe could live off the grid. Yiu could basically become homeless moving town to town, city to city. Yiu could just disappear in indochina or south America

Dargil · Answer

I would research someone by the same name and who previously died. I would attempt to become them, resume their social security number and relocate to their general area at the time of death. I would later relocate off-shore.

IAmPessoa · Answer

Be a youtuber. I'd have zero viewer and subscribers and have be pretty of the grid Normal sussess rate of a regular youtuber

Jaximus-Lion · Answer

If i tell you! I have to take you with me. Let's say it can be done but there will be consequences.

msc545 · Answer

I would go on a very long trip on a well-equipped sailboat and not come back.

Anemone978 · Answer

I wouldn't I'd just kill myself at that point lol

NathanDavis · Answer

the same way I did it a few years ago... for some months, anyway...

bean2k21 · Answer

Find out who's looking for me and make them disappear.

KrakenAttackin · Answer

There are books written about this but it is increasingly tough in this ultra -big brother/Google era.

HighValue · Answer

I'd start by not posting my method online for many people to see.

JosyJosy · Answer

Some shady friends can help with that but I quite like being alive.

LiamJHayden · Answer

Join a commune.

Heolurt · Answer

I'd sneak into a facility where they make acids like hydrochloric acid and jump into a cat of it

chronic22 · Answer

I would go to the ocean and hangout there until a shark eats me

boobliker · Answer

go camping to get away to look for a place to hideout or find a new ID

legalboxers · Answer

delete facebook, delete GAG, delete instagram, change my cell #

JesseJayNeak · Answer

Like this

JamesRandiDebates · Answer

The first rule of disappearing is "never talk about disappearing."

Anonymous · Answer

Pull the plug on the tub drain and go down the drain like a cartoon.

Anonymous · Answer

Good question but I don't know I’d just want to get away from the world for a few days- weeks and be alone. I hate being around others, I hate being a mom. I love solitude and peace and quiet.

Anonymous · Answer

i could but i'm not going to teach anyone the technique to doing that

TrillXHippy · Answer

Here’s what I do. I won’t tell anybody

alice55 · Answer

I would go to siberia XD

Tigerbait6 · Answer

The Nevada Desert. And a gun.

es20490446e · Answer

I just need to stop replying.

Anonymous · Answer

Lay on the train tracks

If you had to disappear completely without a trace how would you do it?

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