Man’s 50-year secret: He was fugitive, with a new Identity

For more than 50 years, a Boston man kept a secret that not even his family knew until just before his death last May

Before Thomas Randele died, his wife of nearly 40 years asked his golfing buddies and his co-workers from the dealerships where he sold cars to come by their home.

They gathered to say goodbye to a guy they called one of the nicest people they’d ever known — a devoted family man who gushed about his daughter. This golfer never bent the rules, a friend to so many that a line stretched outside the funeral home a week later.

By the time of their final visit last May at Randele’s house in suburban Boston, cancer in his lungs had taken away his voice. So, they all left without knowing that their friend they’d spent countless hours swapping stories with never told them his biggest secret of all, his New Identity.

For the past 50 years, he was a fugitive wanted in one of the largest bank robberies in Cleveland’s history, living in Boston under a new name he created six months after the heist in the summer of 1969. Not even his wife or daughter knew until he told them in what authorities described as a deathbed confession.

How he was able to leave behind one family and create a new life — while evading a father and son from the U.S. Marshals Service who never gave up their hunt — is just now being pieced together.

Ted Conrad quickly figured out that security was pretty loose at the Society National Bank in Cleveland after starting as a teller in January 1969.

He told his buddies, “It’d be so easy for me to walk out with all kinds of money,” Russell Metcalf, his best friend from high school; they thought he was blowing smoke when he brought it up a few more times.

Then just a day after his 20th birthday that July, Conrad walked out at the closing time on a Friday with a paper bag stuffed with $215,000 from the vault, a haul worth $1.6 million today.

Conrad was flying across the country when the missing money was noticed the following Monday. Letters sent to his girlfriend showed he made stops in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles within the first week.

He mistakenly thought he could return in seven years when the statute of limitations expired in one letter. But once he was indicted, that was no longer true.

Conrad cut off contact with his entire family, including three siblings and his parents, who were divorced. Some family members eventually presumed he was dead because so many years had passed, said Matt Boettger, whose mother was Conrad’s older sister.

His mom, he said, was relieved more than anything to find out her brother had lived a happy life. “She thought she would go to her grave and never know,” he said.

The bank heist in 1969 didn’t capture the nation’s attention or even the city of Cleveland. Everyone else was focused on Apollo 11′’s historic flight to the moon that week.

The problem was that Conrad’s head start allowed him to disappear, and he was disciplined enough not to make any missteps. The last credible sighting came in October 1969, when a Cleveland couple visiting Hawaii met a man they later realized looked very much like Conrad.

Why Conrad committed the robbery has been analyzed endlessly.

“It wasn’t about the money. He always wanted to impress people,” said Metcalf, his high school pal, who remembered how Conrad once stole a deck of cards to prove he could. “He had no fear.”

The man known as Thomas Randele came into existence the first week of January in 1970, investigators have found recently. That’s when Conrad walked into a Social Security Administration office in Boston, asked for a social security number ssn under his new name, made himself two years older, and began building his new identity. Including a valid us passport.

At that time, it wasn’t unusual to wait until you were an adult, so his application didn’t raise any red flags. Elliott said he could open a bank account with a new identification card driver’s license, build credit, and create his new life. He even applied for and received a second passport.

During the 1970s, Randele worked as an assistant golf pro, giving lessons at a country club outside Boston and later becoming its manager. He spent a few winters golfing in Florida, according to his obituary.

He also met his future wife not long after arriving in Boston. They were married in 1982.

Around then, he began working in the car business, selling Land Rovers and Volvos at a handful of dealerships until he retired after nearly 40 years.

While Randele and his wife, Kathy, lived most of their years in a pleasant Boston suburb, they filed for bankruptcy protection in 2014. Court records showed they then owed $160,000 in credit card debt and had few assets.

Matt Kaplan, who managed two dealerships where Randele worked and golfed with him every Sunday morning for many years, called him the definition of a gentleman. In the early days after Randele’s identity was revealed, his friends couldn’t believe it. But now, looking back, there are a few things that make sense.

How he always had a beard. The photos of him wearing dark sunglasses on the golf course. His reluctance to talk about where he grew up or his extended family.

“You know, all the years I knew Tommy, I never heard him mention a sister or a mother or a brother or a father. Everything was kind of generalized,” Healy said.

“You could never pry anything from him,” said Brad Anthony, another close friend. “I figured maybe he had a bad childhood, and he didn’t want to talk about it.”

“The man I knew didn’t change all of a sudden because of something he did a lifetime ago,” Healy said. “He was a good man, he was my friend, and I think no less of him today than I did before this all came out. And I’d love to go play a round of golf with him.”

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Second Passport

New Identity

Anonymous Travel

Anonymous Living

Interpol Red  Notices/ Extraditions

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https://www.amicusint.ca/

(604) 200-5402

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#56-56000, BC Pkwy, Burnaby, BC  V5J 5G3

 

Is it legal to fake your death and have a New Identity?

Pseudocide—faking your death—is not technically illegal. However, to fake your death, you’d most likely need to break several laws.

“Pseudocide isn’t inherently a crime … but it involves so many built-in frauds that it’s virtually impossible to fake your drowning legally. Frankly, you’ll only be drowning in fraud,” James Quiggle, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud’s director of communications, told Live Science in 2012.

Why go to the trouble of faking your death? People may commit pseudocide so they can collect life insurance money, evade outstanding arrest warrants, get out of paying off school, car, or home loans, or start over with a new identity, leaving behind their problems with relationships or work.

Although no federal or state statutes ban pseudocide, someone who fakes their death may commit crimes such as conspiracy, fraudulently collecting life insurance money, evading taxes.

I have a spouse file a false police report, forge a death certificate or delinquency on loan payments.

And although someone can technically pull off pseudocide without breaking the law, they won’t be able to legally establish a new identity in the United States, and international travel will be restricted.

Government agencies like the Social Security Administration and the DMV, banks, and mortgage lenders require valid proof of your identity. If you’re using a false identity, you’re committing fraud.

Author Elizabeth Greenwood explores pseudocide and the disappearance industry in her upcoming book Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud. Greenwood describes both sides of the equation, including consultants who can help people “disappear,” as well as private detectives who investigate people suspected of faking their deaths to make false claims.

It seems that death and taxes have more in common than a simple certainty—there’s also plenty of money involved in both.


I want to start a new life somewhere away from my family. I want to appear dead to them to live my own life without feeling trapped all the time. How do I do this?


You cannot fake your death or make them think you are dead; it is illegal. However, you can “go missing”: unless you have a legal obligation to someone (financial contract, legal custody, etc.), you are under no legal obligation to say goodbye or tell where you are going.

If they file a missing person’s report, if you are contacted by the police or find out the police are looking for you, you must report in and tell the police you are fine — then the cops will close your file.

They cannot say to the complainant where they found you. You do not have to go to your old police station, where the complaint was filed: you can go to any police station or report in through a lawyer.


What if I want to start a new life without family or friends knowing?


Legally change your name and put it on a new identity card. Change your cell number, email, workplace, and hangouts. You’ll also need to move well away from them. Get enough money not to ask your family because you can’t use your credit history.


I have my deceased sister’s social security card, driver’s license, and old id card. Can I use that to start my new identity after shutting down everything related to my old one?


No, you cannot. The social security number/card is attached to a certificate of death. Once a death certificate is officially filed with your state or province, the SSN/SIN number is essentially invalid. Your passport will also be automatically be canceled, and you will need a “second” passport.


Will the courts allow a name change to obtain employment due to a criminal record? There are no open or pending cases, I need a job, and nobody will give me a chance.


If the court grants your petition, the judge signs the order approving your new name, and the clerk enters it into the public record. A name change will not erase your criminal record; the clerk will submit the name change information to local and national law enforcement agencies. If the court denies your petition, you have the right to file an appeal, to which you must bring additional evidence, or corrections of evidence and testimony, for a different judge to consider.


What if a prospective employer asks to see my credentials?


In advance of applying for jobs, you have two options if you create an identity on your own: (1) have your credentials transferred to your new name, or (2) abandon your credentials, such as your driver license.

If your credentials are as simple as education, you can go to your alma mater with your name change certificate and ask for your name to be changed on your records. You will need to establish a new identity and acquire new travel documents.

If it is a professional organization, they have a legal obligation to publish your former names, unless you can have an authority (law enforcement, District/Crown Attorney) verify that doing so will endanger you. The US.DOJ. or the RCMP WitSec has the means and authority to create new credentials for federal witnesses.


Will I be breaking the law by faking my death?

Pseudocide—faking your death—is not technically illegal. However, to fake your death, you’d most likely need to break several laws unless you have the Government connections and contacts to make it happen. At Amicus International, we can make it happen Legally. You can have the safety and security of anonymous living.

Our Service

Second Passport

New Identity

Anonymous Travel

Anonymous Living

Interpol Red  Notices/ Extraditions

Treaty Transfer

Reputation Rebuild

Crisis PR

Amicus International

https://www.amicusint.ca/

(604) 200-5402

amicusint@protonmail.com

#56-56000, BC Pkwy, Burnaby, BC  V5J 5G3

You want to live off the grid and create a new identity.

Why do so many of us choose to live below the radar and off the grid? Some of us stay below the radar for safety reasons, while others just run away from their past and start a new identity.

Either way, every action taken has a purpose. Good examples are when one is forced to live under the radar to escape an abusive relationship or run away from a dangerous criminal association.

How do you stay below the radar?

1. Stay away from the Internet

The Internet has become a crucial part of our daily life; it contains all your personal information. However, it’s also used to track down individuals who don’t want to be found and want to live anonymously.

Just accessing a website or opening an email can reveal your location. The best way to stay under the radar is to avoid the Internet altogether. If you have to go online, use a VPN to protect your identity and privacy. By using a VPN, it’s virtually impossible to track your location.

2. Living the simple life

Keep a low profile; never show that you have money. Drive a boring car and don’t stay inexpensive housing.

Use public transportation or ride a bicycle. Having a drivers license

Living inexpensive properties in the US and many other countries will get unwanted attention.

3. Always be on the move

It is hard to track someone who is always on the move. A very effective tactic used by many who want to live anonymously and not be followed by government agencies or other individuals when they want to disappear and live off the grid.

4. Don’t leave tracks

People get caught not because they don’t know how to hide but because they leave unintended clues that show their paths.

Clues can be clothes, perfume, or even your financial record. Either way, an intelligent mind will grab these clues and get you in no time. One way to ensure that you don’t leave any tracks is by going through all your belongings so that nothing remains behind.

A proper way to do it is by carrying a list that you can tick once you have packed a single item. As for your financial record, use cryptocurrencies. This day’s cryptocurrencies are virtually untraceable when used with a crypto id.

5. Using the right cell phone

Using an essential prepaid cell phone is required to stay under the radar. You must also ensure that you turn off your caller ID. This way, no one can tell who you are except the people you know. To ensure that you are safe from being tracked, it is advisable to keep changing the cell phone numbers every two weeks.

You should also remove the phone battery if you are not using your device.

6. Change your name

It’s hard to track someone who has changed their identity unless you have some data connecting the new and old identity. Changing your name is the most crucial step in staying under the radar.

Changing your name will require you to create a new crypto id. and bank account with the new name. Get a new driving license and shift to the neighborhood you previously lived.

The post You want to live off the grid and create a new identity. appeared first on Amicus.

source https://www.amicusint.ca/you-want-to-live-off-the-grid-and-create-a-new-identity/

Why You need a Crypto ID.

Even with cryptocurrency, investigators can follow the money unless one uses a Crypto-ID. or new identity.

Bitcoin, the Internet currency beloved by computer scientists, libertarians, and criminals, is no longer invulnerable.

As recently as three years ago, it seemed that anyone could buy or sell anything with Bitcoin and never be tracked, let alone busted if they broke the law. “It’s anonymous,” was how one commenter put it in Bitcoin’s forums in June 2013. “The FBI does not have a prayer of a chance of finding out who is who.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other law enforcement begged to differ. Ross Ulbricht, the 31-year-old American who created Silk Road, a Bitcoin market facilitating the sale of $1 billion in illegal drugs, was sentenced to life in prison in February 2015.

In March, the assets of 28-year-old Czech national Tomáš Jiříkovský were seized; he’s suspected of laundering $40 million in stolen Bitcoins.

Two more fell in September 2015: 33-year-old American Trendon Shavers pleaded guilty to running a $150 million Ponzi scheme—the first Bitcoin securities fraud case—and 30-year-old Frenchman Mark Karpelès was arrested and charged with fraud and embezzlement of $390 million from the now-shuttered Bitcoin currency exchange Mt. Gox.

Most Bitcoin users are law-abiding people motivated by privacy concerns or just curiosity. But Bitcoin’s anonymity is also a powerful tool for financing crime: The virtual money can keep shady transactions secret, but not the User’s Identity.

The paradox of cryptocurrency is that its associated data create a forensic trail that can suddenly make your entire financial history public information unless you have Crypto-ID. To Protect it.

When Bitcoin first emerged, law enforcement officers were “panicking,” They thought these technologies were dangerous and made it harder for them to do their job.”

Even in the strange new world of Bitcoin, FBI Assistant General Counsel Brett Nigh said in September 2015, “investigators can follow the money, but not a well Crafted “New Crypto-ID.”

Unlike money issued by governments, Bitcoin has no Federal Reserve, no gold backing, no banks, no physical notes.

It was created in a 2008 academic paper by a still unknown person named Satoshi Nakamoto, who used a Second Identity, also known as a Crypto-ID. To remain Anonymous.

Strictly speaking, Bitcoins are nothing more than amounts associated with addresses, unique strings of letters, and numbers.

For example, “1Ez69SnzzmePmZX3WpEzMKTrcBF2gpNQ55” represents nearly 30,000 Bitcoins seized during the Silk Road bust—worth about $20 million at the time—that were auctioned off by the U.S. government on 1 July 2014.

Those Bitcoins have been split up and changed hands numerous times since then, and all of these transactions are public knowledge.

The past and present ownership of every Bitcoin—in fact, every 10-millionth of a Bitcoin—is dutifully recorded in the “blockchain,” an ever-growing public ledger shared across the Internet.

What remains hidden are the true identities of the Bitcoin owners: Instead of submitting their names, users create a code that serves as their digital signature in the blockchain.

Keeping the system running and preventing cheating is left to a volunteer workforce known as Bitcoin miners. They crunch the numbers needed to verify every transaction.

Added to this is an ever-growing math task known as “proof of work,” which keeps the miners honest.

The calculations are so intense that miners use specialized computers that run hot enough to keep homes or even office buildings warm through the winter.

The incentive for all this effort is built into Bitcoin itself. The act of verifying a 10-minute block of transactions generates 25 new Bitcoins for the miner. This is how Bitcoins are minted.

Like any currency, Bitcoin’s real-world value emerges as people trade it for goods, services, and other currencies. If you’re not a miner, you can only get Bitcoins from someone who already has them.

Companies have sprung up that sell Bitcoins—at a profitable rate—and provide ATMs where you can convert them into cash. And, of course, you can sell something in return for Bitcoins.

Once both parties have digitally signed the transaction and recorded it in the blockchain, the Bitcoins are yours.

As Science went to press, Bitcoin’s market capitalization, a measure of the amount of money invested in it, stood at $5.6 billion.

That money is very safe from theft, as long as users never reveal their private keys, the long—and ideally, randomly generated—numbers are used to create a digital signature.

But as soon as a Bitcoin is spent, the forensic trial begins.

By 2013, millions of dollars worth of Bitcoins were swapped for illegal drugs and stolen identity data on Silk Road.

Like a black-market version of Amazon, it provided a sophisticated platform for buyers and sellers, including Bitcoin escrow accounts, a buyer feedback forum, and even a vendor reputation system.

The merchandise was primarily sent through the standard postal system—the buyer sent the seller the mailing address as an encrypted message—and the site even provided helpful tips, such as how to vacuum-pack drugs.

Investigators quietly collected every shred of data from Silk Road—from the images and text describing drug products to the Bitcoin transactions that appear in the blockchain when the deals close.

Ultimately, investigators needed to tie this string of evidence to one crucial, missing piece of data: the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the computers used by buyers or sellers.

The challenge is that the Bitcoin network is designed to blur the correspondence between transactions and IP addresses. All Bitcoin users are connected in a peer-to-peer network over the Internet without the benefit of a crypto identity.

Data flow between their computers like gossip in a crowd, spreading quickly and redundantly until everyone has the information—with no one but the originator knowing who spoke first.

This system worked so well that it was carelessness, not any privacy flaws in Bitcoin, that led to the breakthrough in the investigation of Silk Road.

When Ulbricht, the ringleader, was hiring help to expand his operation, he used the same pseudonym instead of crypto id. he had adopted years before to post announcements on illegal drug discussion forums; that and other moments of sloppiness made him a suspect.

Once the FBI tracked his IP address to a San Francisco, in California, Internet cafe, they caught him in the act of logging into Silk Road as an administrator.

Other criminals could take solace in the fact that it was a slip-up; as long as you used Bitcoin carefully, your identity was protected behind the cryptographic wall and crypto id. But now, even that confidence is eroded.

Among the first researchers to find a crack in the wall were the husband-and-wife team of Philip and Diana Koshy.

In 2014, as graduate students in McDaniel’s lab at Penn State, they built their version of the software that buyers and sellers use to participate in the Bitcoin network.

It was designed to be inefficient, downloading a copy of every single packet of data transmitted by every computer in the Bitcoin network. “We wanted to see everything,” Philip Koshy says.

Suppose the data flowing through the network were perfectly coordinated, with everyone’s computer sending and receiving data as frequently as the rest. In that case, it might be impossible to link Bitcoin addresses with IP addresses.

But there is no top-down coordination of the Bitcoin network, and its flow is far from perfect.

The Koshys noticed that sometimes a computer sent out information about only one transaction, meaning that the person at that IP address was the owner of that Bitcoin address.

And sometimes, a surge of transactions came from a single IP address—probably when the user upgraded their Bitcoin client software.

Those transactions held the key to a whole backlog of their Bitcoin addresses. Like unraveling a ball of string, once the Koshys isolated some of the addresses, others followed.

Ultimately, they were able to map IP addresses to more than 1000 Bitcoin addresses; they published their findings in the proceedings of an obscure cryptography conference.

It is unusual for an academic paper to cause both The New York Times and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to come calling. “It was crazy,” Philip Koshy says.

Their technique has not yet appeared in the official record of a criminal case. Still, the Koshys say they have observed so-called fake nodes on the Bitcoin network associated with IP addresses in government data centers in Virginia, suggesting that investigators there are hoovering up the data packets for surveillance purposes too. (The pair has since left academia for tech industry jobs.)

Researchers have followed apace as criminals have evolved more sophisticated methods to use Bitcoin. Meiklejohn—who says she regularly works with law enforcement but is “not comfortable discussing the details”—was one of the first researchers to explore Bitcoin “mixing” services.

The basic idea is to protect the anonymity of transactions by swapping many people’s Bitcoin stashes with each other, as in a shell game.

The forensic trail shows the money going in but then goes cold because it is impossible to know which Bitcoins belong to whom on the other end. “So in principle, this is a solution to Bitcoin’s anonymity problem,” Meiklejohn says.

But even mixing has weaknesses that forensic investigators can exploit.

Soon after Silk Road shut down, someone with administrative access to one of the newly emerging black markets walked away with 90,000 Bitcoins from user escrow accounts.

The thief tried to use a mixing service to launder the money but wasn’t patient enough to hide the tracks, Meiklejohn says. “It’s difficult to push large amounts of Bitcoin through mixing services secretly.

It’s highly noticeable no matter how you do it.” Thomas Jiikovský, the man under investigation by Czech police, is suspected to be the thief in question.

From a detective’s point of view, the beauty of Bitcoin is that the blockchain records all. “If you catch a dealer with drugs and cash on the street, you’ve caught them committing one crime,” Meiklejohn says. “But if you catch people using something like Silk Road, you’ve uncovered their whole criminal history,” she says. “It’s like discovering their books.”

Precisely that scenario is playing out now. On 20 January of this year, ten men were arrested in the Netherlands as part of an international raid on online illegal drug markets without using new identities.

The men were caught converting their Bitcoins into Euros in bank accounts using commercial Bitcoin services and then withdrawing millions in cash from ATMs.

The trail of Bitcoin addresses allegedly links all that money to online illegal drug sales tracked by the FBI and Interpol.

If Bitcoin’s privacy shortcomings drive users away, the currency will quickly lose its value.

But the demand for financial privacy won’t disappear, and new systems are already emerging. “I don’t feel people have the right to know, unless disclosed, how much cash is in my wallet, just like I don’t feel anyone should know what conversations I’m having with anyone else,” says Ryno Matthee, a software developer based in Somerset, South Africa.

Matthew is part of a team launching a new anonymous online market called Shadow this year, which will use its cryptocurrency, ShadowCash.

The goal is not to facilitate illegal transactions, Matthee says. It will be up to the users, who administer the system, to police it, he says, but to help prevent abuse, “we are going to try our best to filter out known keywords for drugs or worse.”

Shadow is far from the only Bitcoin competitor. Scores of alternative cryptocurrencies now exist, and some experts predict that one may finally go mainstream.

Some banks already rely on Ripple’s cryptocurrency to settle large global money transfers.

And the U.S. government “has been engaging with the cryptocurrency community and learning from them,” says Bill Gleim, head of machine learning at Analytics, a company based in Menlo Park, California.

Gleim believes the federal government will issue its cryptocurrency, “maybe as soon as late 2016.” If so, it is likely to require users to verify their real-world identities.

That could defeat the purpose of cryptocurrency in the eyes of privacy advocates and criminals. Or maybe not: The next move may go to the criminals in this technological game of cat and mouse.

The post Why You need a Crypto ID. appeared first on Amicus.

source https://www.amicusint.ca/why-you-need-a-crypto-id/

A-List of The Easiest Citizenships You Can Get And Cheapest Countries To Buy Passport

Are you trying to find the easiest country to get citizenship & how to legally obtain a second passport?

If you’re lucky enough to have ancestors from places like Poland, Italy, or Ireland, then obtaining a second passport is quite straightforward assuming you can document your family ancestry.

However, for most people who aren’t part of this fortunate bloodline club, obtaining dual citizenship or a second passport requires either:

• Money
• Time
• Flexibility

Having dual citizenship allows you to become a citizen of two or more countries at the same time. While not all countries allow you to hold two (or more) passports at the same time such as India or China, most countries such as the USA, Canada, and the UK do. There are also those countries where it’s a grey zone, like Germany, Panama, and Singapore where it is generally not allowed in theory though often done in practice.

How To Get Dual Citizenship

There are four primary ways to acquire second citizenship:

1. Ancestry
2. Naturalization
3. Marriage
4. Investment

1. Ancestry

Many countries allow you to easily acquire citizenship if you can prove that you have ancestral ties. This is especially prevalent in parts of Europe. For some countries, you need to prove that your parents were born there, but for others (e.g., Lithuania, Ireland, Italy) you can qualify for ancestral citizenship even if your grandparents or even great grandparents were born there.

Citizenship by descent is usually free, the process can be finished relatively quickly and is undoubtedly the best way to obtain second citizenship if you qualify.

2. Naturalization

The process of acquiring citizenship by naturalization usually involves living in a country for a specific number of years as a permanent resident before qualifying to apply for full citizenship. Obtaining permanent residency is the first step which usually requires spending more than 183 days a year for x number of years.

The requirements for acquiring full citizenship can vary greatly from country to country. You could qualify for citizenship in as little as three years in some cases (e.g., Paraguay, Armenia, Dominican Republic), or well over 10 years in other cases (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). The specific requirements regarding how much time you need to actually spend in the country, whether you need to establish economic ties, know the language, history or constitution depends upon the country.

Panama is the easiest place in the world to establish residency under the so-called Panama ‘Friendly Nations Visa’.

It’s a straightforward process that involves setting up a local company and opening a bank account with a fairly small sum. You don’t even have to spend time in the country.

And after five years, you’re eligible to apply for naturalization.

Naturalization is the most time-consuming way to become a dual citizen, but it is not the only option. Although it is affordable it is only for individuals who desire to live in the country on a more permanent basis.

3. Marriage

Citizenship by marriage is another form of naturalization. Most countries in the world can give you a second passport if you marry a citizen such as Canada, Ireland, France, and the United States. However, this is not a viable citizenship strategy.

Sham marriage arrangements are a bit risky. Not only can you get in trouble and kicked out by the government if you are caught but you are easy prey to extortion by the arranged spouse.

4. Investment

A growing number of countries are offering what is known as citizenship by investment or economic citizenship. These are aimed at individuals who are looking to acquire dual citizenship in the fastest and easiest way possible. In exchange for a real estate purchase or an economic donation anywhere around 300,000 USD Dominica and Vanuatu to upwards of 1-2 million for citizenship in places such as Malta and Cyprus you can get a passport in as little as 3-6 months. You can expedite your visa processing times in Vanuatu for an extra 100,000USD and get it in 30 days making it the fastest citizenship by investment in the world.

There are generally no residency requirements or any minimum number of days that you are required to live there per year. You do not even need to visit the country beforehand, it can all be done online, the citizenship lasts for life and can be passed down for future generations.

The most popular places to ‘buy’ second citizenship or golden visas are the Caribbean Island nations. There are about five options available in the Caribbean and they are generally the simplest and most affordable to obtain.

If you decide on the Caribbean, you also benefit as most islands have no taxes, all the passports are ranked very well allowing 140+ countries you can visit with visa-free travel, together with the ability to live in some of the most picturesque and liveable destinations in the world.

Some of the best citizenship by investment programs are from countries like:

• St. Kitts & Nevis
• Dominica
• Vanuatu
• Malta

Though all have official economic citizenship programs or golden passport opportunities that can be purchased through a real estate investment or a donation of upwards of 600,000-850,000 USD depending on the country.

The cheapest citizenship-by-investment program, such as Dominica’s is currently at 500,000 USD and whereas others such as Cyprus and Malta start at seven figures.

If you’re flexible with your time and lifestyle you can obtain citizenship in one of these places at relatively little cost.

Benefits of Dual Citizenship

Some of the benefits of getting a second passport are:

• Better Quality of Life
• Some countries are simply better to live in than others. Many of the countries which offer convenient ways to obtain dual citizenship happen to also have beautiful locations, are affordable and give access to high-quality health care and education.
• Increased Freedom of Movement
• For those who come from nations with weak/restrictive passports with limited visa-free access, a second passport is often the perfect solution.
• Tax Optimization
• Many countries that offer dual citizenship also have 0% taxation possibilities. It is possible to greatly minimize or even completely eradicate your tax burden by obtaining dual citizenship in a tax haven. Countries such as Antigua or Vanuatu for instance make it possible to live there without having to pay income or capital gain tax. However, each country has its own rules about taxation, and it may not be possible to completely avoid taxation depending. It will likely depend upon the second passport that you hold.
• Plan B
• In uncertain times, having a second passport can be a perfect backup plan in case you face uncomfortable living circumstances at home. The damaging consequences of unexpected political or economic upheavals, martial law, capital controls, violence can all be mitigated knowing that you have a solid plan B.
• Investment Opportunities
• Having dual citizenship opens a new array of business and investment opportunities in your new country of citizenship, as well as to other places in the world where there are strong economic and political ties.

Are You Looking for Dual Citizenship?

The benefits of acquiring dual citizenship are inestimable. Having a second passport can lead to significantly higher levels of personal and financial freedom, can provide you with increased security and a plan b if anything goes wrong.

Many are seeing the value of obtaining a second passport in today’s global economy. There are a variety of reasons and uses for acquiring a second citizenship, including:

• Visa-free travel
• Business opportunities
• Taxes reduction
• Diversification
• Lifestyle
• Renunciation

Whatever your reasons might be, there are many options out there for obtaining a second passport. It is important to understand that the easiest is not always the best. Before settling on where you would like to acquire a second passport, you need to fully consider what it is you require from your citizenship and whether the country in question fulfills these requirements.

That being said, we will always be looking for the easiest way to do things whether that’s for citizenship or anything else, so here is our list of easiest places in the world to get a second passport and citizenship.

Easiest Countries to Get Citizenship

1. Ireland
2. Portugal
3. Paraguay
4. Armenia
5. Dominica
6. Israel
7. Panama

1. Getting a Second Passport through Grandparents – Ireland

The easiest way to obtain an Ireland passport and citizenship is if you can prove that you have Irish ancestry, i.e. if one of your parents or grandparents are Irish. In this case, you simply need to apply for citizenship through the Foreign Birth Register.

If you do not have Irish ancestry, you can still become an Irish citizen through their naturalization process by having four years cumulative residency over eight years, followed by one full year of residing in the country.

This means you can become a naturalized citizen after five years of residency. This can be reduced to three years if you have an Irish spouse.

Irish citizenship gives you the right to live or work in the European Economic Area and EU. Its popularity and ease are shown by the fact that Ireland has over 14 million active passports in circulation, but a population of only four million.

2. Get Residency through Online Worker Visa – Portugal

Portugal is one of the easiest options for obtaining EU citizenship by naturalization. The process is straightforward: become a resident of Portugal, and then apply for citizenship after five years.

The best ways are through their Online Worker Visa. You will have to spend at least four months in Portugal during the first year of residency, and thereafter at least 16 months during each two-year period.

Throughout the five years, you cannot leave the country for more than 6 consecutive months. You will also have to prove that you have sufficient means to support yourself. For wealthier individuals, Portugal also offers a fast-track residency option through their Portugal Golden Visa program. It is one of the best residency-by-investment programs in the world today but comes with a price tag of roughly 650,000-900,000 EUR.

While there are some financial and physical presence requirements in Portugal, they are far laxer than other EU countries. So, if you want an EU passport but do not have the right ancestry, Portugal may be your best bet. It offers an excellent passport and is a highly liveable country!

3. Get Citizenship Status in 3 Years – Paraguay

The South American nation of Paraguay has proven to be one of the easiest countries in South America to obtain second citizenship by naturalization. The process takes as little as three years and is available to almost anyone.

The be eligible it’s required to keep USD 500,000 in a Paraguayan bank account and spend a minimum of 183 days per year in the country.

Paraguay has a good passport which offers visa-free travel to 143 countries with most countries in Europe and the whole of South America.

 

4. Citizenship through Residency – Armenia

It is possible to become an Armenian citizen by naturalization in just three years. The first step is obtaining an Armenian residence permit, for which you will need to invest in the country.

This investment can be made in real estate (which can be sued as your new home) and other qualifying sectors. You can also qualify for residence by attending the Armenian University. After three years you are eligible to apply for citizenship as long as you spend sufficient time in Armenia to maintain your residency.

 

5. Citizenship by Investment Program – Dominica

The Commonwealth of Dominica’s second passport is located in the Caribbean and has an economic citizenship program established in 1991. The second passport program gives citizenship options available through a real estate purchase or a cash donation.

The Island of Dominica has a citizenship program that is one of the cheapest golden passports you can find. With an investment of 700,000 USD in cash or 900,000 in real estate, you become eligible to apply through the country’s citizenship by Investment Unit. The average processing time is around 3-6 months, with the possibility of it being expedited.

 

6. Law of Return Citizenship – Israel

Israel offers one of the fastest and easiest paths to obtaining dual citizenship under their “Law of Return”. This option is available for all Jewish individuals or those with Jewish ancestry.

This even includes those who convert to Judaism. Those seeking Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return are eligible within a few months after entering Israel.

It is important to consider whether Israeli citizenship is indeed right for you though. Israeli citizens are forbidden from entering certain Islamic countries, and there is a long history of complex politics and foreign relations.

Furthermore, Israeli citizens are officially required to serve in the military for a certain period, however, this may be waived in some situations. It is important to confirm whether this would be a requirement.

7. Friendly Nations Program – Panama

Panama is considered by many to be the easiest place in the world to obtain residency through their Friendly Nations Visa program. The requirements are simple to fulfill. You just need to come from one of the 50 eligible countries and demonstrate economic ties with the country to apply.

This can be as simple as registering a company and making a deposit of approximately USD 5,000 – 10,000 at a local Panamanian bank. The money can even be withdrawn after residency is obtained.

The great thing about obtaining permanent residency in Panama is that you don’t have to live there to maintain your residency. You simply must apply in Panama after two years to renew your residency.

After five years of permanent residency, you can apply for full citizenship by naturalization.

The last and most recent development for Panama citizenship is through their Panama Golden visa, which allows a residency through investment, that gives you residency through 4 new programs allowing investment in real estate, stock purchase, or fixed-term deposit.

Cheapest Citizenships and Passports to Buy

Most of this article has focused on those countries which are easiest to obtain citizenship by naturalization and other affordable means. However, for those who want to speed up the process and have the financial capability, the Caribbean nations offer some of the most affordable and easy citizenship by investment options.

The benefit of these options is that they are extremely fast (usually under 6 months in total), with expedited possibilities in 2-3 months, no residency requirements, the passports can mostly be done online, and you do not need to visit the country beforehand.

Getting a Second Citizenship in the Caribbean

These programs are called citizenship by investment and are currently offered in a dozen + countries around the world as a means of increasing government revenue. The state gives a passport to applicants who either invest in real estate or give an economic donation.

While there are several countries in the Caribbean that offer such programs, the ones that stand out are:

1. Dominica
2. Antigua & Barbuda
3. St. Lucia
4. St. Kitts & Nevis

In all cases, citizenship can usually be obtained through investment and/or donation of anywhere between USD 400,000 – 850,000. You can find more information about these affordable citizenships by investment programs in our article citizenship by investment.

Cheapest Countries to Buy a Citizenship: Caribbean

There are many excellent citizenships by investment programs out there to choose from, but in this article, we will focus on three of the most affordable options. The good thing here is that these three programs are also up there with the best in terms of quality and simplicity. So, this is one of those cases where the cheapest might be the best anyway.

 

1. Dominica Citizenship

For a while, Dominica’s citizenship program offered the cheapest second passport available at only USD 300,000. However, it is now tied in first place with St. Lucia. The process is simple: in exchange for a minimum donation of USD 400,000 to Dominica’s Economic Diversification Fund, you can expect to be granted full citizenship within 3 – 9 months.

Dominica also offers the option of making a USD 500,000 investment in approved real estate. This might be preferred for those with more free funds available and who wish to recoup some of their investment in the future.

Dominica’s passport is quite strong and offers visa-free access to 139 countries. These include the Schengen area, the UK, and Russia.

 

2. St. Lucia Citizenship

St. Lucia’s Citizenship by investment program is younger than that of Dominica’s, but maybe even better value-for-money. The minimum donation requirement is also USD 300,000 making it the joint cheapest option. Thereafter, it takes only 3-4 months to be granted full citizenship.

St. Lucia also allows an approved real estate investment of USD 900,000, as well as the option of investing in government bonds. Experience has shown that the donation options are almost always better and simpler when it comes to these programs.

St. Lucia also offers a good passport with visa-free access to 144 countries. However, unlike the Dominican passport, Russia is not on this list. St. Lucia also offers significant advantages as a new tax home.

 

3. Antigua & Barbuda Citizenship

Antigua & Barbuda citizenship program is the third island nation that offers citizenship in exchange for a donation of USD 400,000. However, Antigua also has a processing fee of around USD 425,000 which raises the total cost to USD 525,000. This means it is not quite as competitive as Dominica and St. Lucia but still offers good value-for-money. Processing time is also around 3 – 4 months.

If one prefers the investment route, Antigua allows a USD 900,000 in real estate. There is also an interesting option of being able to invest USD 900,000 into a business if you are part of a group of other applicants investing USD 5 million collectively.

Antigua & Barbuda is officially the strongest passport out of these three options, with visa-free travel to 151 countries. Antigua has one significant advantage for family applicants, in that a family of four can apply for the same price as a single applicant. This makes it by far the cheapest option for families or married couples.

 

4. Nevis Citizenship

Nevis and St Kitts have an economic citizenship program that is the longest-standing program of its kind. Starting back in 1984 it was the first country in the world that started to offer citizenship to people around the world to encourage migration in a country that was seeing an increase in people leaving the country.

It has become extremely popular offering its services for 130,000USD, or through an investment of 900,000 USD in real estate which must be held for five years.

Easiest & Cheapest Country to Get a Passport in Europe

If you are stuck on getting an EU passport and new identity then two options are particularly attractive right now.

Easiest Passport in EU – Portugal

There are several residencies by investment programs offered in Europe that offer citizenship and passport possibilities after residing in the country anywhere from 5-10 years. Most of them have a requirement that you physically live in the country for half of the year, however, Portugal offers a residency by investment that has almost zero physical living requirements (2 weeks a year) and gives you a full EU citizen with a passport from Portugal after 5 years.

The program requires an investment in real estate for 350,000 EUR or a donation of 900,000 EUR. After having the golden visa for five years, the individual becomes eligible to apply for citizenship.

 

Cheapest Passport to Buy in The EU – Malta

Malta currently offers a one-of-a-kind program and has the cheapest EU passport that you can buy which gives you access to all of Europe through its citizenship through investment program. For 900,000 EUR the process takes up to 36 months, but for a donation of 1,050,000 EUR, the application can be expedited and completed in 12 months. To fulfill the requirements, you need to rent a property for no less than 516,000EUR a year for 5 years or purchase a property of 900,000EUR or more.

This program has become incredibly popular over the last year and will continue to do so especially since the Cyprus program closed and as a result, remains the only program of its kind where you can get an EU passport in 1 year as other programs take a minimum 5 years.

Fastest Countries to Get Citizenship

Unless you are lucky enough to be a part of the “bloodline club”, then there are two other primary ways of acquiring second citizenship quickly. The first is through one of the numerous Economic Citizenship programs (the most popular ones being in the Caribbean), and the second is through a fast-track naturalization process.

Fastest Countries To Get Citizenship By Investment

St. Kitts & Nevis is the fastest country to get citizenship in 1-2 months. The country introduced the first citizenship by investment program back in 1984, and since then many other countries have followed in their footsteps that allow you to effectively buy a second passport by making a qualifying investment or donation. As a rule of thumb, almost all of these programs offer a fairly rapid path to full citizenship (usually in the region of 3 – 6 months), but some are faster than others. The five fastest citizenship by investment programs are:

1. St Kitts & Nevis: Standard processing time for a St. Kitts & Nevis economic citizenship is 4 months for $450,000, but for an additional fee, it can be fast-tracked to 1-2 months.
2. Vanuatu: the minimum qualifying donation to buy second citizenship in Vanuatu is $530,000, and can be expedited and finished in 30 days
3. Grenada: Grenada is another Caribbean economic citizenship program that grants citizenship in as little as 2 – 3 months for $650,000
4. Dominica: Dominica provides citizenship for $500,000 and can take anywhere from 2 – 3 months from when the application is submitted.
5. St. Lucia: The processing time for the St. Lucia CBI program is roughly 2 – 3 months and costs $500,000

Fastest Countries to Get Citizenship By Naturalisation

Argentina is the fastest country to get citizenship by naturalization which you can get after residency in two years. For those who do not have 6 figures to hand out to buy a second passport, or want to get citizenship in a country that does not offer an economic citizenship program, citizenship by naturalization is an alternative.

This is generally a lengthy process taking upwards of 5 – 10 years; however, there are a handful of countries in which one can become a naturalized citizen much more quickly. Five of the fastest are:

1. Argentina: After getting residency you can get citizenship in just two years.
2. Peru: It is possible to become a fully naturalized citizen in Peru after just two years of becoming a resident.
3. Paraguay: Paraguay provides the opportunity to become a citizen in just three years if you are lucky, although it can also take longer. Furthermore, the process is one of the easiest available.
4. Dominican Republic: The naturalization timeline for the Dominican Republic can be as little as two years. It does not always guarantee success though and in some cases can be longer.

Best Passport to Have: Which Should you Choose?

As always, there is no clear answer as to which citizenship by investment is the best option. It depends on each individual’s circumstances, needs and preferences. We have listed three of the cheapest options available. If you are a single applicant, then your best bet is probably to choose between Dominica and St. Lucia.

Dominica is more ‘Eastern-friendly’ as it offers visa-free access to Russia and is also establishing connections with China and the UAE. St. Lucia, on the other hand, seems to be more ‘Western-friendly’ and is a marginally stronger passport for now. Other budget-friendly options outside of the Caribbean include Vanuatu at USD 530,000 and Turkey at USD 950,000.

Finally, if you are interested in one of the more prestigious European passports, two of the best choices in the area are Malta and Cyprus. However, it will set you back about EUR 1 -2 million. If that is not a problem for you, we say go for it!

 

The post A-List of The Easiest Citizenships You Can Get And Cheapest Countries To Buy Passport appeared first on Amicus.

source https://www.amicusint.ca/a-list-of-the-easiest-citizenships-you-can-get-and-cheapest-countries-to-buy-passport/

How to Legally Change Your Name

There are several reasons someone may want to change their name, often after a marriage or divorce or disappear altogether. The process of legally changing your name generally includes petitioning to change your name and using your new name.

Steps to Legally Change Your Name

1. Petition to change your name by filling out a name change form, an order to show cause for legally changing your name, and a decree to change your name and get a new identity honestly.
2. Take these forms to the court clerk and file them with your state’s required filing fees.
3. A judge or magistrate will review your forms and grant the name change in most cases.
4. Some states require a more formal advertisement before you use your new name, simply by posting a notice in the local newspaper.
5. Use your new name and a new identity.

Using Your New Name.

The most important thing to change your name legally is to start using your new name. You can do this by:

• Introducing yourself using your new name
• Filling out forms and applications under your new name
• Telling your family and friends to only refer to you by your new name
• Informing your school, employer, and other institutions of your new name (some institutions may require legal documentation of your name change).

Be sure to check the requirements in your state by visiting your state government’s website or calling your court clerk.

In most states, it’s a relatively simple process to change your name through the court system. Most state government websites have forms online that you can print and use. The questions on the conditions are very straightforward. They may include your old name, new name, Social Security number, the reason for your name change, and a promise that you are not changing your name to escape debt or criminal liability.

Can I Change My Name to Anything I Want?

Typically, you may legally change your name to whatever name you’d like, although state marriage laws may also provide additional legal guidance. There are some exceptions, though. For example, you can’t:

• Change your name to escape debt liability or hide from criminal liability
• Change your name to commit a crime
• Change your name to mislead, which usually involves taking the name of a famous person (courts typically do not allow this unless you have a convincing reason that’s not related to the famous person or the use of their name)
• Choose a confusing term that includes numerals or punctuation (although some courts have permitted people to spell out the numbers, for example, “Seven” instead of “7”)
• Choose a name that would intimidate, offend, be considered obscene, or is a racial slur.

What Are the Most Common Reasons People Change Their Names?

Marriage and divorce are easily the most common reasons people change their names and start a new life. Generally, if you’re changing your name after marriage, a marriage certificate is the only thing you need. A divorce decree is all you need to change your name back after divorce.

Is Filing My Name Change in Court Required?

Not in most states, but it’s helpful. Most states allow you to change your name simply through usage legally. You can choose a name and start using it in your business’s social settings. This can be a completely legal name change.

The problems arise when it comes to government and financial agencies. Because identity theft, credit card fraud, and even the fear of terrorist spies are rampant, many economic and government agencies may require legal court documents to prove your identity; there are certain forms of identification, such as a Social Security card, birth certificate, and passports, which will require legal name change documents.

Again, since every state varies on its name change rules, be sure to check with your local court clerk to find out your state’s requirements.

Who Should You Notify of Your New Name?

Be sure to change your name on all of your personal and legal documents, such as wills, deeds, titles, trusts, accounts, and powers of attorney. Changing your name on estate planning documents will make it much easier for your heirs in the future but could also affect your credit history.

While your heirs can’t be disinherited because of a name discrepancy, they may have to go through more steps to show your former name and true identity before being awarded their share.

In addition to your friends and family members, here are some of the entities that you should notify once you legally change your name:

• Employers
• Schools
• Post Office (via change of address form)
• Department of Motor Vehicles
• Social Security Administration
• Department of Records or Vital Statistics (issuers of birth certificates)
• Banks and Other Financial Institutions
• Creditors and Debtors
• Telephone and Utility Companies
• State Taxing Authority
• Insurance Agencies
• Registrar of Voters
• Passport Office
• Public Assistance (Welfare) Office
• Veterans Administration
• Social Media Accounts

If any of these entities give you a hard time telling them about your legal name change, remind them of your right to do so and offer them a copy of the court order.

If necessary, talk to a supervisor. Remember that many financial institutions and creditors will be reluctant to fear identity theft and fraud. Be patient, and continue enforcing the use of your new name. Eventually, it’ll catch on permanently.

Talk to a Lawyer About How to Legally Change Your Name

Legally changing your name, whether for marriage, divorce, or another reason, can be a significant life event. The laws in every state are different, and you’ll want to make sure you’re doing it by the book, including filing your legal name change petition with the appropriate government entity.

The post How to Legally Change Your Name appeared first on Amicus.

source https://www.amicusint.ca/how-to-legally-change-your-name/

Cybermarket for New identity documents

The illegal trade of identity documents on the surface Web and in Onionland

The online market of forged identity documents is quickly evolving. Sellers of these documents operate both on the surface Web and the deep Web, specifically in ‘Onionland,’ thanks to the typical features of the internet; anonymity, gaps in the legislation, and the absence of an actual tangible distance in cyberspace create an environment that provides several advantages to fraudsters.

The market has been studied with a criminological approach, mainly virtual ethnography. The analysis was conducted on the surface Web and on the part of the deep Web called ‘Onionland.’ While the former is the part of the Web that most people use routinely, the latter may need some further explanation.

Onionland

Onionland is part of the deep Web, made of dynamically‑generated internet content that cannot be accessed by a link crawling search engine such as Google.1 Onionland is a darknet, a sort of parallel Web, which can only be reached using a specific software called Tor. Tor, an acronym for ‘The Onion Router,‘ was initially designed and implemented by the US Naval Research Laboratory.

Its primary purpose was the protection of government communications. Although still used by the military, Tor is nowadays employed for a wider variety of reasons by ordinary people, journalists, law enforcement officers, activists, criminals, and many others. It is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the internet and to remain anonymous. This is the main reason why Tor became so successful (there are a few million users connected every day) and why it is also a perfect place for illegal activities.

During the research, 50 websites and blogs that produce forged identities were analyzed, and 65 vendors were contacted through email. An essential source of information was the forum ‘Complaintsboard.com,’ where hundreds of posts and comments linked to the market were analyzed.

Sellers on the cybermarket

The profiles that emerged from the research showed significant differences. It was possible to isolate three main types of sellers:

• Group A: Website owners: sellers who manage a website or a blog used as an online shop. They are present both on the surface Web and in Onionland.

• Group B: Email sellers: sellers who spam forums with advertisements to publicize their products. They are massively present on the surface Web but rare in Onionland. 85% of this group are likely scammers and ‘con artists.

• Group C: Onion vendors: vendors active in Onionland who use dedicated illegal markets, such as Black Market Reloaded, Silk Road and Sheep, or specific forums.

Group A: Website owners on the surface Web

The website owners active on the surface Web usually work in a team. Every team member has a specific function: managing the website, sourcing the materials for the products, or creating forged documents. These websites are likely built-in offshore servers or Eastern European or Far East countries, weaker criminal legislation. Websites and blogs are built up similarly: the homepage presents links to products, prices, contacts, and FAQs. Sellers deny any responsibility for the production and commercialization of forged identities, arguing that the documents are just for fun, without any unlawful intent, and that they should not be used for illegal activities or as genuine documents.

Payment methods and prices

Discounts are often offered if the client buys a special deal such as ‘the full identity package’: an identity card, a passport, and a birth certificate (although the products can vary). There are different methods of payment depending on the seller: cash, cheques, bank transfers, credit cards, and Western Union or an equivalent are accepted, but also PayPal, Ukash, MoneyGram, or even Bitcoin. Upfront payment is the rule, which can vary from 15% to 60% of the total amount. This is justified as cost for materials, machines, and bribery. Since the upfront payment is often an indication of a scam, some sellers follow a scheme directed to gain the client’s trust. First, they take the order, after which they send a video that shows the creation of the requested document. When the customer’s trust increases, they ask for the upfront payment.

Many websites claim to provide any identity document, but their reliability is low. Others are instead specialized in particular products:

• American social security: USD 500 – 630;

• American Birth certificates USD 220 – 330;

• IDs and driving licenses of European countries (mainly Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and The Netherlands) and English‑speaking countries (United Kingdom, Australia,

New Zealand and Canada): EUR 300 – 650.

Some websites specialize in passports. In general, they claim to provide both counterfeit passports (which they call ‘fake’) and original ones. A fake passport has a low quality: the buyer receives a copy or a scan of a genuine passport, which can be used to purchase products on the Web or prove identity when it is not necessary to show the document physically. Forgers speak about ‘original’ documents when they claim to provide a passport with all the standard security features registered in a national database. This product is more expensive and promises to start a new life, but it should allow travel and pass security controls.

Passport scans or replicas cost EUR 1200 – 3200. For a supposedly genuine one, the vendor asks EUR 33,500 – 74,000 (Indonesian) up to EUR 72,000 for a passport from the United Kingdom, but prices can go up to EUR 870,000 for a diplomatic passport. Prices depend on the chosen nation: the European countries are the most expensive.

Some companies also provide non-existent documents and consequently scam the client. Examples are the ‘European identity card’ or the ‘European work permit card.’ 2

Group A: Website owners in Onionland

The sellers of Group A in Onionland are organized slightly differently than on the surface Web. First of all, sellers in Onionland ask clients to register themselves on their website with a username and a password. Secondly, it is impossible to access the website’s entire contents without registration and contact the seller directly. Thirdly, all the companies specialize in selling only a limited number of documents, such as passports from a small group of selected nations. The only accepted payment method is Bitcoins. Passports are the primary documents available: the website ‘Onion Identity Services’ sells Canadian passports for USD 62,500, Dutch ones for USD 53,150, and a passport from the UK costs USD 84,000. For identity cards or driving licenses, the amount varies from USD 900 – 3,000.

Group B new identity

Email sellers are involved in verbal fights in forums and websites such as complaintsboard.com. This ‘war,’ using techniques of social engineering using social media accounts, is made by fake and real feedback written, on the one hand, to gain the clients’ credibility and trust, and on the other to destroy the reputation of the competitors. The wording analysis shows that the contents and approaches are always the same: the seller affirms his abilities and long experience in the field, warning the client of the risks of dealing with other retailers.

The products offered by email sellers range from passports to identity cards, from driving licenses to birth certificates, for every nationality. Sellers claim to provide copies, new identities and tampered/used documents belonging to other people. In the latter case, only the photo and the data physically printed on the passport are replaced, while the information on the chip is still one of the previous holders to allow them to disappear completely. These documents can be safely used if they are not verified with a machine reader or used to check credit history.

Other vendors claim to produce e‑Passports registered in the database of the issuing country. They assure to work with groups of hackers who can break into a system and modify the database. Nonetheless, it is doubtful that they can change public and secured databases in a short period, considering that their delivery time is two to seven days.

All sellers provide email addresses, telephone numbers (usual numbers in Western Africa), and Skype contacts. Some email sellers are active on Facebook and YouTube.

The price for a genuine passport ranges from EUR 8500 – 132,500, while for a fake one, the cost lies between EUR 8500 – 16900. Identity cards and driving licenses are cheaper, up to EUR 1000.

Group C: Onion vendors

The final group is represented by onion vendors who mainly use dedicated markets in Onionland, such as Silk Road or Black Market Reloaded. They also place their advertisements in other forums where it is possible to buy weapons, drugs, and stolen credit cards. What are the differences between the different groups?

First, onion vendors must register themselves on the market to sell a product. They can choose to be ‘vendors & purchasers’ or only vendors, but unlike the purchasers (who must be registered as well), vendors immediately have to pay a fee to rent the ‘advertising space.’

Secondly, they are limited to self‑made internal regulations that help build trust with clients. The customers and the other vendors can use their social control by denouncing fraudsters or unreliable sellers. At the same time, the market owners can exercise a helpful formal control to reduce the risk of opportunism. The consequences for failure to comply with the regulations can be immediate expulsion from the website. It is difficult to say how strict the website controls are. Still, these policies are likely to be essential for the platform itself: the other sellers have all the advantages to stop a fraudster, particularly if they want to keep an open market where clients feel safe. It is a way to maintain trust based on reputation.

Finally, and most importantly, there is a system of feedback. Customers can leave comments that describe both the quality of the product and the vendor.

Like other groups active in the Dark Net, the onion vendors are also characterized by the limited variety of the products sold: vendors only provide specific documents limited to a small number of nationalities. There is usually an accurate description of how it can and cannot be used.

The market prices are a bit higher than those on the surface Web. A scanned ID can cost up to EUR 9500, while a genuine passport can amount rocket to several thousand. It is possible to contact the vendor privately or use the public board on the market. It seems there is a prevalence of independent and acting‑alone sellers, whereas specialized teams were not encountered. While on the surface Web, the retailers often mention where the products come from, onion vendors never say their contacts.

Conclusion

The cyber market for forged identity documents is quickly evolving, thanks to the typical features of the internet; anonymity, gaps in the legislation, and the absence of an actual tangible distance in cyberspace create an environment that provides several advantages to fraudsters. It is possible to conclude that a high percentage of the sellers, around 70%, are probably scammers who cannot offer any new identity document. Nevertheless, several vendors in category A) and a large percentage of the sellers who operate in Onionland are more ‘trustworthy.’ It is highly likely that they can provide the requested products. This market is a means to conduct an activity with its roots in the physical world, and the chances are high that it will become a problem for law enforcement agencies. Vendors can quickly disappear when they feel hunted, and they can quickly create a new website or new market. This risk is increased because legal control is fragile in Onionland.

The post Cybermarket for New identity documents appeared first on Amicus.

source https://www.amicusint.ca/cybermarket-for-new-identity-documents/