A New You? Going offshore for sun, sand and a new identity or two
(MONEY Magazine) – Forget about switching your broker or your gym. Why not usher in a new millennium with a far more radical change--a new identity? According to a slew of somewhat bizarre websites, the idea is shockingly feasible. Sure, there's the question of what there is to hide. On the other hand, there's a certain delicious thrill in the notion of escaping from the banality of everyday existence into a new, unbounded life. Walter Mittys of the world, here is your plan. THE PRIMER: Web surfers who prefer John Le Carre's spies to James Thurber's dreamer may enjoy the 120-page How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found ($8 at www.bn.com). Just imagine: You too could run away--perhaps with a nubile nuclear physicist--and never look back. THE PAPERS: Do you envision globetrotting with a wardrobe of passports? Stephen Feldhaus, a partner in the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski, says, "U.S. citizens can carry as many passports as they want. Sometimes it's practical if you're traveling in a place that has a history of hostility toward the U.S." You can get foreign passports quite legitimately by establishing residence in another country or, in certain countries, in exchange for investments, says Feldhaus. But that would be too mundane. Instead, you apply for a second passport through a website that says it's an "introducer" to sources in Grenada. It claims that you can create a new name for this second passport that won't be recorded anywhere else. So, say, Boris Yeltsin becomes John Doe in Grenada. (For this we sent in the Marines?) THE BANK ACCOUNT: What will you spend, now that your name is, oh, James Bond, Dr. Evil, whatever? Offers abound for offshore banks in Caribbean locales and for "anonymous password accounts--no ID required." One site says its ID-free Visa card gets some clients so excited that they "forget their very own name!" and "have no choice but use a fictious [sic] name..." THE RENDEVOUS: It's not just dubious websites that offer to help you move money offshore. Included with a stay in the "Wall Street Suite" at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman, along with the stocked humidor and massage for two, is a consultation with a private bank rep to help set up an offshore account. THE TAX DODGE: While the fantasy of a secret life may be seductive, the offshore havens that offer "tax avoidance" may be most alluring. But keep in mind: "These schemes are the same ones winking when the real dirty money comes in," says Charles Intriago of Money Laundering Alert. And there's nothing remotely romantic about that. --SUZANNE WOOLLEY |
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