Fake ID
For those disappearees attempting to create a new identity totally from scratch, fake ID will provide an important part of their documentation needs. There are many companies that will sell you an official looking birth certificate in any name you need. These mail order certificates are authentic looking enough to use in getting a legitimate drivers license (but
not
a passport!). In fact, if you are having trouble obtaining the data you need to get a copy of a real birth certificate, you might consider getting a fake one, using it to obtain other legitimate ID, and then destroying the birth certificate to keep your trail clean.
You can also get fake drivers licenses and identity cards, but the better route is to use a fake birth certificate to get legitimate photo ID. Why settle for second best?
While fake ID is not a good substitute for legitimate documentation like drivers licenses and passports, it is extremely helpful to the identity changer in providing supporting ID and fleshing out the new identity. There is a good publication on this subject listed in the reference chapter. It describes how to get and use fake ID, lists the companies that sell it, shows pictures of the items for sale, and gives prices where available.
You can buy all sorts of ID to fill out the identity you've chosen. If you are looking to a professional work life you can buy all kinds of diplomas, certificates showing membership in professional organizations, certificates of merit and commendation, even college transcripts. At the other end of the scale, you can buy fake union membership cards, journeymen's cards and certificates that indicate completion of a variety of technical training courses. If you'd like a family, you can buy marriage certificates, school records for your fictitious children, even divorce papers. While this ID will not withstand the simplest of investigations, it is the kind of stuff that will rarely be looked at closely and where detection of your fraud probably won't get you into a lot of trouble. And it certainly adds meat to a well-thought-out identity.
Forged ID
For those having difficulty getting legitimate pieces of fake ID and considering purchasing forged ID on the street, my advice is DON'T. When you buy ID off the street, you don't know what you're getting into. First, forged documents are often exorbitantly expensive. The people you are buying them from have good reason to believe you are in desperate need of them, or else why go to such lengths to get them? They will charge you accordingly. If you are trying to get a forged passport so you can leave the country in a hurry, you should realize that it will often take as long to find a good forgery as it will to get the real thing issued under an assumed identity.
Second, when you buy forged documents off the street, you leave yourself at the mercy of the parties who sold them to you. The degree of cooperation between the police and small-time crooks in this country is amazing. They work on a quid-pro-quo basis whereby the police won't disrupt the illegal operation as long as they get either a cut or a little information now and then. And in no case does this system work better than with purveyors of forged documents. While their trade is illegal, the information they can provide is worth far more to the police than it is to crack down on them. The document forger earns twice off the naive purchaser: first by the outrageous price he charges you for the goods, and second by giving your name to the cops to "pay his rent."
The third reason to stay away from forged documents is that, rather than being forged, the documents are more than likely stolen. If you go running around with someone else's drivers license or passport, you are just begging for trouble. Chances are the original theft was reported to the authorities. They will be looking for someone using that name and trying to cash checks or make purchases using the stolen ID. And if you try to leave the country with a stolen passport that was probably reported missing before you even bought it, good luck. Stolen and forged ID is responsible for bringing down a lot of fugitives from the law who didn't have the time, foresight or resources to document a legitimate alternative identity. In short, if you don't need forged ID, don't get it. And if for some reason it's the only way to go, then get rid of it as fast as you can and pick up a legitimate identity.
COPING
"In a money society you can be independent with money, or independent without money. Anywhere in between you're under the thumb."
--Collins in
The Brass Rainbow
.
You have seen that documenting a new identity is not all that difficult. In fact, the hardest aspect of disappearing and switching identities is coping with the change in lifestyle as you establish yourself as a new person. The story of the prison escapee who has led a happy and sedate life as an auto mechanic for years only to be tripped-up by some trivial happenstance is a staple item in the newspapers. Even clever and well-planned disappearances like that of Larry Lavin's as told previously can be unravelled through a couple of seemingly insignificant oversights. The successful disappearee, especially one who is earnestly sought, must be able to land on his feet like the proverbial cat and move quickly and carefully thereafter.
The problems of the disappearee become critical the minute he walks out on his original identity and into a new one, regardless of whether the new identity has been groomed well in advance. He is immediately confronted with the questions of where to go, how to get work, and whether or not he should disguise himself. All the aspects of every day life we all take for granted are enormous problems for the newly-disappeared that must be solved
