Living Free
The fewer people seen calling at you residence, the safer. Neighbors will often notice home deliveries, which can prove to be fertile leads for future snoops.
Avoid membership in political groups or other civic organizations.
As a rule these groups are filled with super sneaky, nosey individuals more willing than not to stab someone in the back if it suits their selfish purposes. Total snakes.
Arrange to have your mail sent to a 24-hour Post Office box, to a mail drop, or a mail forwarding service. This way the only mail to be left at your residence will be the “Occupant” variety. Make it a rule
NEVER to sign for certified or registered mail. Tell the carrier that you are not the person named on the receipt, or that so-and-so moved months ago. Where? Austria….. or was it Australia?
Avoid having arguments or run-ins with neighbors. An old, unresolved grudge might be just the spark that sends an investigator to your new location. “Getting even” is a passion few people can resist.
If a snoop is trying to trace you by telephone he may invite you to call him person-to-person collect. *DON’T DO IT.* Ignore the request, no matter what the excuse is. You might be tempted with some pie-in- the-sky lie, but what he’s really after is your *location*. If you don’t give yourself away in the conversation, he will simply call the operator back for time and charges, and while she’s at it, the location of the telephone originating the call. She will be only too happy to help.
If you have to live in a motel, hotel, or nosey apartment complex, always make it a point to be ordinary and outwardly polite to any employees on the premises. Give them no reason to remember you other than as a normal person. Freaky behavior is easily noticed and remembered by telephone operators, janitors, maids, superintendents, house detectives, and bell boys. Tips make them TALK, too.
It’s safest not to take in roomers or boarders, even though they can help with expenses and provide companionship. The fact is, they can get “too close” to you by picking up all kinds of information tidbits which could come back to haunt you should certain kinds of third parties start pumping them. Even though you might feel you could trust them, it’s very easy for a friend to give you away… innocently.
In changing to a new identity within the same general area, make it your policy to patronize none of the commercial establishments you did before your name change. This would include service-oriented businesses, too, such as shoe repairs, TV repairs, photographers, cleaners, poodle parlors and massage parlors. If you or a member of your family had been assisted by such charity organizations as the
March of Dimes or Community Chest, make sure that future aid is obtained from some other organization.
If you need to have prescriptions filled often, do two things:
- Have them filled by different pharmacies; don’t patronize the same one repeatedly, and,
- Never give the pharmacist your correct address and/or telephone number.
If you are in need of continuing prescription, such as for certain heart conditions or diabetes, consider having it filled by mail from one of the large interstate mail-order pharmacies.
These outfits usually offer greatly reduced prices as well, as they are willing to deal in generics, as opposed to strictly name-brand drugs. Check ‘em out.
Try to avoid all contact with law enforcement people. They are like sponges whenever they deal with the public: they take in endless quantities of information whether you are the victim or the perpetrator.
When approached by investigators and spies, they just love to spill out all they know, and sometimes get in on the act themselves. Avoid trouble and avoid cops.
Credit bureaus and department stores will have credit files on you if you’ve used them in the past. It would be safest to avoid using credit in the future, but if you need to get plugged back in the credit scene, it would be advisable first to read our own book, “CREDIT”, to see how credit can be set up from scratch under new identity. This useful book has the kind of inside information one needs to make the credit- granting system perform to his special situation.
If you follow our suggestions regarding delivery of your mail, you will naturally never accept any Registered or Certified mail at your address. Since the carrier will never know your identity by leaving only mail addressed “Occupant”, you can safely tell him who you are not whoever is named on the piece of mail he is trying to deliver. Don’t be rude or arouse suspicion; simply help him do his job by telling him there is no such person at your address. If he asks who *you* are, he’s out of line. He will return the letter marked “Unable to Deliver at this
Address”, or “Unknown at this Address”, or something else to the same effect.
Sometimes snoops will address mail to a fictitious person “care of” your last known name and address in the hopes it will be forwarded (somehow), and that you will have the stupidity to return it to them with your new address (provided by you). Any suspicious or unfamiliar mail with your new address should simply be marked “Unknown”, “Return to Sender”, etc., and deposited in a public mail box for return.
If the letter doesn’t come back to the sender because you kept it or chucked it, he may well try again with something more enticing, or even pay a personal visit. Tracing by mail is the cheapest route for snoopers, so be on the lookout for any mail you’re not expecting or seems the slightest bit suspicious. This will be the opening salvo in any investigation to determine your whereabouts. *Watch your mail!*
Providing any information other that return instructions per above can invite disaster, too. Putting on a fake forwarding address, or even a “General Delivery” notice, will tell the sender, when the letter is returned, that *someone* at the address on the letter knows more than he does. The “Registered Letter”, physical surveillance, or a personal visit will be his next move. You can count on it.
Be especially watchful for any letters with an “Attorney’s” return address. They deserve no more respect than any other letter. If you’re not expecting correspondence from your own attorney, it’s very likely a fake name used by an investigator. This gambit is many times used on third parties (close relatives of yours) in the hopes they know where you really are and that they have the “courtesy” to forward the letter to you. This is a good reason for you NOT to tell relatives where you can be reached. If they don’t know, they can’t tell.
