CREATING A BULLET-PROOF IDENTITY

"The whole system of identification for people in the United States and most foreign countries is a house of cards. And it's erected on soft, dry sand."--Gray, in a conversation with the author.

I was in the San Francisco International Airport waiting to catch a plane to Texas when I met the man who provided most of the information for this chapter. He was a smallish man with a neatly-trimmed gray beard, wore an expensive gray suit and carried an aluminum Halliburton attache case which was quite the worse for wear and was also gray in hue. I never learned his name, but I've come to think of him as "Gray."

I struck up a conversation with him because he was such a contrast to the good ol' boy types who filled the waiting area. We chatted in the aimless way of strangers until I casually mentioned I was researching a book on deliberate disappearances and identity changes, at which point he became electrified. I've thought back on the incident many times since and I do not believe he was a disappearee, although the information he gave me about documenting an identity has checked out 100%. Most of what follows is based on my conversations with Gray, which lasted until I deplaned in El Paso.

LOCATING AN IDENTITY

The first step in creating an identity is locating a good one to use. The word "locate" is the key here. While it is possible to fabricate an identity from scratch, and many people have done it successfully, it is an extremely difficult way to go about solving a simple problem. And the manufactured identity almost never withstands investigation as well as a genuine identity used by an imposter.

Almost everybody is investigated at one time or another to a greater or lesser degree. It may be the personnel department where you've applied for a job, a bonding company investigating your past before they agree to guarantee your performance, or a prospective father-in-law checking up on his daughter's suitor. Although most of these investigations are not very rigorous, it is fairly easy to turn up enough information (or the lack thereof) to spot a completely fictitious identity. On the other hand, the person who adopts a genuine identity should be able to document it thoroughly enough to avoid discovery.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1065