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How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

nytimes.com

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Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#21

Post by user9182031 »

chris_va wrote: post #17

> To make sure his phone wasn’t keeping a record of everywhere he’d been — and potentially transmitting it to apps he was using — he turned off all its geolocation services. ... Of course, IMEI tracking (from tower registration) can get you pretty much all of this data anyway. This article is more about how to partially obfuscate your identity to private actors. It would be interesting to know how fast a professional…

It looks like $300 is enough to buy the IMEI data.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-29/seems-you...

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#22

Post by uponcoffee »

duiker101 wrote: post #14
uponcoffee wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His real identity is tied to the DMV, which ties him to the car, which is tied to the LLC; does this not deanonymize the LLC? From the LLC you get the rest of his large assets, namely his second house.

How is the car tied to the LLC?

> When he purchased a new car, he picked a much less flashy model, and he used the L.L.C. to sign the papers.

> To register his car, the D.M.V. insisted on a real name — not an L.L.C. — and a street address.

As far as I can tell, the car belongs to the LLC, it's not in his name, but his real identity is a registered driver or some such to said car.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#23

Post by duiker101 »

uponcoffee wrote: post #22
duiker101 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the car tied to the LLC?

> When he purchased a new car, he picked a much less flashy model, and he used the L.L.C. to sign the papers. > To register his car, the D.M.V. insisted on a real name — not an L.L.C. — and a street address. As far as I can tell, the car belongs to the LLC, it's not in his name, but his real identity is a registered driver or some such to said car.

That's a fair point, thanks for pointing it out.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#24

Post by ilamont »

SilasX wrote: post #19
ilamont wrote: post #4

I am surprised it is possible to get a corporate credit card without a human’s name or identity tied to it.

Isn't it tied to someone via the corporation's ownership, still?

The article said it was possible to register an LLC in those states without a name, and the CC is (apparently) tied to the LLC, not the owner or employee.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#25

Post by RandomBacon »

Syzygies wrote: post #20
1024core wrote: post #3

"Bitcoin evangelist": The most anonymous way to buy things, of course, is to simply use cash .... Buys a house, in cash. Buys another "throwaway" house for his car, in cash. Buys car, in cash. And then claims: " Mr. Lopp estimates that his efforts to disappear have cost him about $30,000. " Yeah, right.

Auto insurance is a legal requirement. My insurance company asks me to state where my car is habitually parked, and would consider a misleading answer fraudulent.

> Auto insurance is a legal requirement.

Not in all states. In Texas, you do not need auto insurance if you can prove you have the financial ability to pay what an insurance company would otherwise pay.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#26

Post by SilasX »

ilamont wrote: post #24
SilasX wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it tied to someone via the corporation's ownership, still?

The article said it was possible to register an LLC in those states without a name, and the CC is (apparently) tied to the LLC, not the owner or employee.

But they still record the name of the person who registers it, right?

It's not like they'll find a homicide tied to a CC and then be like, "oh, the CC is in the name of an ownerless corporation, I guess we're out of luck".

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#27

Post by badideaprojects »

It just all seems like cosplay. Time, expense and inconvience in order to gain anonimity from casual twitter followers?

Will this protect him against a slightly funded and half motivated actor? Probably not.

“Announcing Jameson Lopp as a speaker at Baltic Honeybadger 2019 Bitcoin conference #bh2019, (link: https://bh2019.hodlhodl.com) bh2019.hodlhodl.com”

https://twitter.com/hodlhodl/status/1099286199783481350

Unless he is making a virtual appearance, just follow him or grab him there.

EDIT: I should make it clear I’m not just referencing the article but also the twitter conversations I’ve seen from th author (swatting is a good reason to take some of these steps obviously). For example, https://twitter.com/lopp/status/920669889064570880. He even comments himself in that thread “Local PD isn't going to send out the SWAT team again without calling me first”

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#28

Post by ghaff »

Syzygies wrote: post #20
1024core wrote: post #3

"Bitcoin evangelist": The most anonymous way to buy things, of course, is to simply use cash .... Buys a house, in cash. Buys another "throwaway" house for his car, in cash. Buys car, in cash. And then claims: " Mr. Lopp estimates that his efforts to disappear have cost him about $30,000. " Yeah, right.

Auto insurance is a legal requirement. My insurance company asks me to state where my car is habitually parked, and would consider a misleading answer fraudulent.

If you're serious about hiding your physical location, this honestly doesn't seem like much of a showstopper. It happens routinely anyway and, barring obvious red flags, it's going to be hard for an insurance company to discover the fraud.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#29

Post by cypherpunks01 »

CPLX wrote: post #16
cypherpunks01 wrote: post #15

This article has so little to do with Bitcoin that I think a more descriptive title would have been: "How a Very Wealthy Person Conceals His Name and Address From The Public"

Wealthy maybe but not very wealthy. A very wealthy person would have many more options. This is more of a guide for someone that has money to burn on this as a (serious) hobby but isn't ludicrously out of reach for most readers.

I'd politely disagree, for most of the points yes, it's achievable for folks with disposable income, however I don't think the average reader (NYT or HN) can afford to buy 2 new homes and 1 new vehicle all in cash.

> When he found a property to buy, he used the L.L.C. and a cashier’s check from the L.L.C.’s bank account to pay for the house in full. A mortgage was not going to be possible.

> 9. Buy a boring car.

> 10. Buy a decoy house to fool the D.M.V.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#30

Post by a2tech »

uponcoffee wrote: post #22
duiker101 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the car tied to the LLC?

> When he purchased a new car, he picked a much less flashy model, and he used the L.L.C. to sign the papers. > To register his car, the D.M.V. insisted on a real name — not an L.L.C. — and a street address. As far as I can tell, the car belongs to the LLC, it's not in his name, but his real identity is a registered driver or some such to said car.

And the address his DMV records are tied to is a crap box his LLC owns somewhere he doesn't live.
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