Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 2: Completely disappear
• Method 2 of 2: Start your new life
• Tips
• Warnings

Whether you're on the run from the police, running away from home, or simply wanting to start your life over, sometimes in life you have to stage your own death in order to escape. See Step 1 for some enlightening tips on how to fake your own death without arousing too much suspicion.

To step

Method 1 of 2: Completely disappear

1. Decide if you really want to do this or not. Faking your own death is against the law almost everywhere. Does your situation really require a fake death? Can't you just move? Are you applying? Are there any alternative options? You should only do this if you continue to feel that faking your own death is the only way to start over or run away, and you don't have suitable alternatives.
   • Understand the consequences of faking your own death. You are not allowed to interact with friends or family. If you decide to involve them, they will most likely call the police or end up betraying you. If you really want to let someone know, try to find an understanding friend who - for whatever reason - will never betray you to the police, your family, or in general.
2. Do not use anything that can be traced back to you. Understand that you cannot use email accounts, memberships, cell phone, or other personal details from your old life after staging your own death. This is probably the trickiest of all the things you need to arrange before actually doing it.
   • Since money is necessary to start a new life, gradually withdraw money from your account prior to your fake death, leaving things like credit cards and other documents behind. Erasing them completely can arouse suspicion. However, if you are in a hurry, withdraw a huge amount of money, but try to leave as little as possible to avoid suspicion.
3. Watch out for the little things that can give you away. Don't act suspicious in advance. Also remember not to use laptops, computers or mobile phones afterwards (unless you can change the SIM card); these can be traced back to you once you've disappeared. In addition, people may notice that they are gone.
4. Decide a cause of death. Suicide is probably the easiest. While it may be difficult for next of kin to come to terms with, if it is clear that your "death" is due to suicide, innocent people will not be charged with your "murder". Suicide is also a more foregone conclusion: chances are that people are less likely to search for camera images and personal data, etc. if they think you have "committed suicide" than if you have mysteriously disappeared.
   • Choose a suicide method that ensures that there is no body to be found, or failing that, a place where it is difficult to find a body. A common option might be to jump off a bridge and leave a note implying that you are about to do it. Even if it really were, if the "body" is hard to find, the police are less suspicious if there is no body.
   • Another option is to "disappear at sea". In most coastal towns it is possible to fake your own death by "disappearing at sea". If you have disappeared at sea for at least six days without any communication and sufficient evidence of possible death at sea (belongings washed ashore or parts of a ship), you will be pronounced dead. This method can be difficult as it takes a whole ship; but it may be less troubling to your loved ones than suicide. This can also make you look less guilty should you be caught in your new life.
5. Do it. Put down a note for your "suicide" before you disappear. Get out of town as far as possible and start over with a new identity. Be free.

Method 2 of 2: Start your new life

1. Turn off all contact with people from your old life. Unfortunately, many people who fake their own deaths mess up this part of the process by cashing in the insurance money they hoped to get, or by being fined for speeding. If you want to get away with it, you have to disappear completely.
   • Start by hiding somewhere near a cheap motel for a few weeks to keep your lowdown. Get a load of groceries, and keep a low-key while watching detectives on TV until the police decide to give up looking for you. When you have to go out, you disguise yourself.
   • Ultimately, you have to move yourself elsewhere so that you can start looking for a new life.
2. Assume a different identity. Who do you want to be now that your old self is dead? A smooth gambler and poet from South Holland who decided to forgo his family tuna business and move to Australia to work with cars? A small town bar owner who was drawn to bustling Los Angeles? Decide who you want to be and start arranging:
   • Your new name. Practice with your signature, saying your name, and introducing yourself with your new name. Pick something cool. Ace Van Houten? Pleasant.
   • Your new style. How do you create your new image? Choose clothes that are different from your old clothing style, and make sure your new you is not overridden by your old clothing style. Dress in such a way that you can walk past your own mother on the street without her recognizing you. Grow a beard, shave your head, change your hair color, embrace leather clothes, do whatever it takes to develop a completely different style.
   • Your story. What are you going to tell people about yourself? How do you introduce yourself? How can you successfully disguise your old identity when meeting new people?
3. Create a fake identification document. When you have worked out your new identity and you introduce yourself as Ace Van Houten, find or create your own fake documents that will help you start a new life.
4. Go somewhere no one knows you. Flying is probably not possible unless you have some great forged documents, but try to get somewhere far away by hitchhiking safely or taking the cheap bus.
5. Work black. Reporting tax will be difficult, so working undeclared and staying on the run will keep you relatively safe. Consider doing migrant work, going out into the countryside and working at a farm or other contract work that is easy to do undeclared. Picking tomatoes in the West can be lucrative, as can sorting roses. Stay on the road and discover the country.
6. Keep quiet. Becoming a prominent figure is not a good idea. Prepare for a quiet and simple life, little fun and keep yourself mysterious. When people get too close, it's time to leave.
   • Stay away from tourist attractions and sights; there are cameras everywhere that can spot you. Moreover, there is a good chance that some of those vacationers have ever known you.
   • Wear a hoodie with the hood over your head if you don't want people to see you clearly.

Tips

• The most important thing to make this work is to purchase fake passports and move abroad. You can probably get a decent job, without having to pick fruit, in a less Western country. If you don't arrange for false papers before staging your fake suicide or other elected death, the chances of getting caught skyrocketing. For example, most hotels and some motels require an ID if you want a room. Choosing a name like Baron Friedrich von Glückenheim will likely attract a lot of unnecessary attention. If you get to pick one, choose a normal name, place of birth etc. If not, be happy with what you get. It can arouse suspicion if you, as a foreigner, hold a low position in another country, but that does not have to be the case. This should be a parameter that you should take into account when choosing the country you want to live in, such as skin color, language, dialect, etc.
• Since you can't just register a 'new' adult 30-year-old as a taxpayer out of the blue, moving abroad makes it easier for you to find a job that's more stimulating than picking fruit, and of course decreases your chance of be caught. It is recommended to work on a cargo ship or other large fishing boat. However, note that for some freighters you will not need a certificate for carrying chemicals and whatnot, so this should be sorted out in advance. These certificates come with an ID tag and this could prove to be a problem for your new me. Never take a job with the government, almost all governments disclose employee files and are easy to get hold of.
• It is of the utmost importance that you do not do any research on a computer / phone that you leave behind, nor on the internet at home as your browser history can be easily retrieved by your internet service provider. Don't be shortsighted or use your work computer. Libraries and other public computers are preferred, but not too close to your home, of course. Try to spread it over some of these places, so that you don't go to one library or internet cafe 3 times a week for months. For example, this can make other regular visitors curious, which will only lead to unnecessary attention. Use your fake ID to request a library card! If you have to make phone calls about matters concerning your future new life; use prepaid phones! Prepaid SIM cards do not require a name for registration. Buy these phones with cash just like anything else you plan on using for your new life. Suicide does not fit the profile of many people, so by not leaving evidence, infidels cannot find much when they poke around various documents.
• Money is still a problem. By taking in small amounts over a longer period of time, you can get enough together to last for a while. But for this to work, you have to spread these recordings over at least a number of years. Because if you withdraw € 500 every month, this data will not go unnoticed. But by withdrawing larger amounts less often, you should be able to explain these withdrawals by trips and what not. You can do this by, for example, buying airline tickets, but then you have to check in to make it legitimate. And if you have a family, this is out of the question. Probably the best way is to withdraw smaller amounts more often. Set up a new bank account with your new name and ID as soon as possible, preferably at a bank in the city where your new hometown is. This reinforces the validity of your new identity. Deposit all the money you have withdrawn from your old account there, so it is impossible for someone to accidentally find your cash in a bag under your bed.
• To get fake papers, look on the internet for a regional provider. This absolutely shouldn't happen on anything that can be traced back to you, but since you don't have your new identity yet, you should use your old one for this first step. Try to get a phone number quickly so that your internet use in a public place is minimal. Keep in mind that good counterfeits cost a lot of money. These documents are the cornerstone of your new life so don't be too frugal. This will likely be one of the biggest expenses on your new life. As you know, everything must be planned before you "die." Planning a year in advance will give you a good head start on your new life. A very simple example is:
  • Purchase of false papers (identification card, passport)
  • Wherever you want to start your new life, do methodological and rigorous research. Don't Google the words "good place to start over".
  • Plan your escape carefully. In a suicide, ideally your note and your absence will not be noticed until several days or a week after your disappearance. By then you must already live in another country or continent with your new papers and plan of action. Traveling by boat allows you to move more freely than with an airplane.Trains are preferred if the rail network between countries is good. The conductor only looks at your passport, often without registering it.
  • Have a job waiting for you, or at least have some prospects by the time you get to your new place to live so you can keep yourself afloat for a while.
• Don't forget to block all communication with old contacts. Even when you have a completely new look, they may still somehow recognize you.
• Doing this as a teenager makes it more difficult because you have more family ties and less money to help you.
• Remember that you need a place to live, otherwise you will end up on the street.
• It can help to look different, but you don't need plastic surgery. Sometimes something as simple as changing your hairstyle or hair color can already make you look unrecognizable.
• Don't try to commit crime. The police can find out, and you'll be in even deeper trouble.
• Finding a job can be difficult, so if you can (that is, if your disappearance is unremarkable), officially change your name and put up a new resume, etc.
• Start over. This is an opportunity to redefine yourself forever.
• It's easier to do this when you have fewer family and friends.

Warnings

• Phones have tracking transmitters. Buy a new one.
• Don't do this when it comes to the money, because that won't work. Eventually you will be arrested anyway, and you have used your family for your own personal gain.
• Don't get noticed.
• If you are arrested, there can be dire consequences, especially from loved ones or family, who are unlikely to understand your reasons for faking your own death.