Faking your death can have serious and unintended consequences in the long run.
It’s possible that lying about your death will make you wish you were dead. It’s also possible that faking your death will come back to haunt you.
Have you ever imagined that if you could start over with a new name and life, you’d be able to control everything? You would assume that faking your death is the ultimate way to start over in today’s world, where it appears very easy to build a whole new persona, and you can quickly go where no one knows you. After all, no one will be looking for you if everyone thinks you’re dead, right?
Is it Illegal to Pretend to Die?
It may surprise you to learn that there are no state or federal laws that make it illegal to stage your death. Perhaps it will be less complicated than you anticipated! Not so quickly…
The Consequences of Reporting or Claiming Your Death Falsely
Even if you don’t break any laws by inventing your death, you’ll find it impossible to live a lawful day-to-day existence afterward, assuming you engage with society.
Unless you live entirely off the grid, with no access to electricity, running water, a phone, or other contemporary conveniences, it will be exceedingly difficult to avoid widespread fraud:
If you try to create a credit under your new name, you’ll be committing fraud by providing false information, so don’t buy a house or car unless you have cash on hand.
When applying for a job, you’ll almost certainly have to lie about your work history and other things.
That, too, is deception. Are you looking to rent an apartment or a house? You’ll have to use the identification of someone who doesn’t exist if you have to fill out a lease application–more fraud. You’ll need utilities if you live in an apartment or a house.
Providing false information is required in almost every application for power, gas, water, and other services. Instead of burying your money in the backyard or stuffing it in your mattress, why not put it in a bank? The bank will require a social security number, which you will not be able to use.
But hold on there’s more!
Before you “died,” did you have a life insurance policy? You’ll be breaking the law if you take any of the money. If your loved ones receive the money and it is proven that they were aware that you faked your death, they may also be charged.
Did you owe state or federal taxes back when you “died”? Tax fraud is when you pretend to die to avoid paying your taxes. Were you obligated to pay child support or alimony before your untimely “death?” It’s fraud to stage your death to evade those payments.
What Are the Consequences If faking your death Is Found Out?
Fraud can take two forms: civil and criminal (or both). Depending on the seriousness of your case, you may face felony penalties if you are charged with fraud. Fines, prison terms, and restitution may be imposed as a result. A civil fraud complaint can result in a verdict that holds you responsible for significant damages to another person or company.
Do you wish to begin a new life by faking your death?
Find someone somewhere with a lot of money but where you are scarcely or not known. Take the money since you’ll need it to vanish. Alternatively, you may borrow money (a lot of money) from a loan shark. Make a few payments and leave town with the rest after notifying the police that this man is threatening you.
The authorities will focus their inquiry on the loan shark, and your disappearance could be treated as a deliberate act for weeks, months, or even years.
Please choose a destination and learn everything there is to know about it. Use the library to do so, or buy books in cash from a used bookstore and never show them to anyone.
Choose a day (typically a workday) and then make your move. Leave your automobile in a nearby city or exurb, “drop” a wallet containing all of your identification in a third, and abandon your cell phone (functioning, of course) in a fourth.
By dividing law enforcement’s attention, you’ll make it challenging for any single agency to put all of the pieces together.
If you’re feeling very daring, take a bus (which you won’t find at the central station), hitch a ride, or take the train. Carry a large flashlight instead of a knife or pistol if you need a weapon. Knives and firearms will only get you in trouble.
Travel to your first destination
If you’ve left a trail, make sure it finishes there. While you’re there, don’t work unless necessary (thus the money); instead, begin investigating your eventual location. Make sure it’s either a city you’ve never visited or one you’ve never lived in.
Alternatively, if you’ve been there before, make sure it was more than 15-20 years ago or when you were a child. You can, of course, bring relatives with you.
Leave your home looking ransacked, but not in the way that it would appear in a movie or TV show. – Extra points if you get a little blood on your hands. You’ll get bonus points if you can escape without being seen by any of your neighbors.
(ILLEGAL)
Either do it yourself or have someone you trust phone the local police station and inform them that you have been murdered. Make sure they present enough information that it can’t be readily dismissed.
To achieve this, call from outside the state or nation using a burner phone (a disposable cell phone). Bonus points for digging a hole in a secluded location and then filling it half-heartedly while leaving bloody garments in and around it. If you’re a method actor, cut off a finger and let it be discovered, you’ll get bonus points.
After three to six months in your initial city, go abruptly to your final destination – once again, in a manner that leaves no trace of your travels. If you can get an ID from a homeless person who resembles you, do so. That is what you should use till you get to your final destination.
More Illegal…
When you reach your final destination, look for another homeless person who looks like you and purchase their identification. Obtain breeder documents (library card, Social Security card, birth certificate, etc.) to “backstop” your assumed identity.
Find a low-paying job that you can do while staying out of trouble. Make sure you stay away from the cops and any potential difficulties. The hole and the phone call will aid in persuading the cops that something strange has happened to you.
They look into it for a while, but if there are no leads and the trail appears to have ended, they consider it a cold case and file it away until (or if) new information becomes available.
They might look at the loan shark, who might also be looking for you.
You cannot obtain insurance, receive your last paycheck, sell all of your belongings (or even take much with you), and never come home. Keep an eye out because the world is small, and you will bump into someone you knew.
Summary
Though faking your death to avoid legal or financial obligations is not a direct violation of state or federal law. Making it nearly hard to live a fulfilling life without engaging in fraud daily.
Because you’ll be obliged to give false information when applying for employment, apartments, and credit, you’ll be vulnerable to fraud accusations at every turn.
Furthermore, the fraud claims may be criminal or civil, resulting in incarceration, penalties, restitution, or monetary damages.
Instead of trying to fake your own death, let Amicus International Consulting offer you some alternatives, contact us today and let us help.
