I typed “how do I plan a disappearance” online, and the results were more about people looking to leave the planet, if you know what I mean. Finding authentic information online is like a treasure hunt. However, if you are planning a disappearance, you are in the right place.
I am Frank M. Ahearn, privacy expert and author of the New York Times bestseller How to Disappear and other privacy books.
Over the years, I have disappeared people who needed to go. My expertise comes from my work as a skip tracer and social engineer, locating people for PIs, lawyers, insurance companies, and even tabloids. That gives me a unique understanding of how people are hunted. Today, it is a bit different because we live in the digital era, and AI is encroaching on our privacy.
If you are planning a disappearance, the first step is to look at your own actions and ask yourself what your patterns are. How do you do that? Type into AI and ask. You may discover small details about yourself that surprise you.
The future of hunting people will not only be about looking for them. It will be about looking for their patterns.
Let’s say someone gets hold of your laptop or mobile and determines that when you type, you pause before hitting the D key. Like a dog, they tell AI to hunt for people online who stall on the D key. Maybe when they find those people, they narrow the search until they identify you.
Sounds crazy, but it is not too far off.
How do you plan your exit? Know who you are before you go. Once you understand your habits and patterns, you need to think carefully about what information your searches and devices may leave behind. If you ignore your digital footprint, the patterns you leave behind may eventually lead back to you.
I think of disappearing in three steps.
The first is taking care of what you must leave behind and deciding where you will go. When you begin stripping yourself of things from the past, you need to do it discreetly so no one suddenly realizes what you are doing. What happens to your home, clothing, furniture, car, and the other pieces of your life? Where will you go? Can you live there legally? Can you earn money discreetly? Can you actually live the life you are planning?
The next step is getting out of Dodge. How will you get from A to B without turning your departure into an event? The idea that you can create absolutely no footprints is unrealistic. The point is to leave as little information behind as possible and not make it easy for someone to follow the trail.
Then comes living as a disappeared person.
What does that mean to you?
Leaving is one thing. Staying gone is another. You have to think about how you will live, earn, meet people, build a new life, and avoid rebuilding the same patterns that belonged to the person you were trying to leave behind.
That is the part many people forget.
They spend all their time thinking about disappearing and very little time thinking about what happens after they disappear.
About Frank M. Ahearn
Frank M. Ahearn is a privacy expert, disappearance expert, former skip tracer, and New York Times bestselling author of How to Disappear. He began skip tracing in 1984, finding people through information, social engineering, and human behavior. He eventually turned that knowledge around and began helping people understand how they are found, how to protect their privacy, and how to disappear.
Frank works with people who need extreme privacy, want to leave an old life behind, or need to understand what it really means to stay gone.
How to Disappear: A Pocket Guide to Thinking, Planning, and Staying Gone
If you are thinking about disappearing, start by asking yourself the right questions before you make a move. How to Disappear: A Pocket Guide to Thinking, Planning, and Staying Gone is about exactly that: thinking through the departure, planning the new life, and understanding what it takes to stay gone.