Posted 06 Mar 2011
Sorry David Copperfield. No matter how good a magician you are, there are some assets that you can't make vanish, and it has nothing to do with genetics. I'm talking about assets that have your name written all over them in the public record.
It is hard to put real estate, vehicles, and other attention grabbing assets into a private safe somewhere. Even if you did, jealous ex boyfriends, business competitors, and shysters can still look you up and see what you have stashed away.
The reason why your assets can make you so vulnerable is because the law requires that certain records be made available to the public. That includes some records with very revealing information about you and your stuff.
Its a lot like forcing you to go out in public with your fly open. Many of the websites that publish personal information, like Intelius and Lexis-Nexis, get a lot of their information from these public records.To make it harder for the curious and nefarious to tap juicy assets for personal information, you have to know where you are vulnerable.
The practice guide for California attorneys practicing debt collection has a great list of places to look for personal information in public places to help their clients get a piece of assets from debtors. Those same sources, and one or two others, can be used by anyone for less legitimate purposes.
There is some variation by state on who can request certain records and how to do it, but these places are a great start to see how badly you need to keep your assets hidden in plain sight.
Phone directories are the oldest trick in the book. Just about everyone, everywhere has a phone.
A number can be a way to contact you even if you don't want to be contacted. Phone numbers are also a great way to narrow down searches for other assets based on the geographic location of your area code, making the search for your other assets cheaper and easier. In some cases, your phone number can lead right to your front door.
The county assessor keeps track of the value of real estate and some personal property for tax reasons. This is a good way to find the value of any of these kinds of properties. In many cases, the assessor will have ownership information, including the address of the property and a mailing address where the tax bill is sent. If you pay any property tax, some of your information shows up in these records.
The recorder keeps records of all documents that are recorded. This includes real estate transactions, birth certificates, marriage records, death records, and a lot of other documents. Your real estate and an outline of your most important dates will show up in the county recorders office.
Court records, both civil and criminal, are public. If you (or your property) were involved in court proceedings, your information is out there for anyone to see unless you have taken steps to cover it.
Large assets transferred at death and who they are transferred to are all kept in the probate court records. If you or someone in your family has received major assets this way, the whole world can know.
In most states, the Secretary of State will have a list of all of the business entities formed and who their owners, principal directors or officers, and registered agent are.
If you act in any one of those capacities, your name is going to be easy to find. If you own any assets in the name of those business entities, they will easily be traced back to you.
Most states have a central location where alcohol permits, concealed weapons permits, building permits, and other business permits and licenses are made public record. If you have any of those kinds of permits, your information is out there for all to see.
Car ownership can be discovered through a request to the DMV. Often, when there is a car loan outstanding, the ownership information will also reveal a bank where you might have other accounts. A 2 for 1 deal.
A simple Google search can turn up a lot of things that you might have been involved in. Did you act in a play in a community theater? If they post that info in the internet, it can lead right to you. So can coaching a little league team, or anything else you might do.
Even Google Street View can confirm that you live in a certain place or drive a certain car. I have successfully used Google Street View to investigate opposing parties in litigation.
You may have a website of your own. That website might have information on it that would lead a clever investigator right to your doorstep. Even if you don't post your address on your site, the ownership information can be looked up on whois.com. If you registered under your own name and address, boom, there you are.
If you post it, they will come. Mark Zuckerberg found out the hard way how dangerous it can be to have some personal information available to the public. Facebook and other social networking sites are a gold mine for information about your assets.
There are usually ways to make profiles private, but those settings have been known to change overnight with no warning, and their privacy is easy to get around.
People have been known to make fake profiles of old friends of a target to connect with an otherwise private profile and get the juicy details of their life. Even if you don't reveal any information on purpose, a loose lipped friend may let something slip, the profiles of the people in your network can reveal your location, even the pictures themselves can have GPS coordinates embedded into the code of the picture, which have been used to track people right to their living room.
If you own stock in your own name, it may be possible for another shareholder to get access to the shareholder list of the company and find you. Sometimes, those lists are sold to others. Once a list like that is sold, who knows where the information will end up.
Conclusion
Almost everyone has information in one or more of these public places. You know you do too, don't lie. If so, your assets are hanging out for all to see. Go ahead and look yourself up in these places to get an idea of how private your assets really are. There are ways to remove almost every one of your major assets from those public records.
The book How To Vanish will show you how to do everything you can legally do to remove that information. In future posts, and in a few past posts, I go over specific instructions to remove your personal information from every single one of these sources, without having to sell your assets on the street. Sorry David Blain.
No matter how good a magician you are, there are some assets that
you can't make vanish, and it has nothing to do with genetics. I'm talking about
assets that have your name written all over them in the public record.
It is hard to put real estate, vehicles, and other valuables and attention grabbing
assets into a private safe somewhere. Even if you did, jealous ex boyfriends, business
competitors, and shysters can still look you up and see what you have stashed away
somewhere.
The reason why your assets can make you so vulnerable is because the law requires that
certain records be made available to the public. That includes some records with very
revealing information about you and your stuff. To make it harder for the curious and
nefarious to tap juicy assets for personal information, you have to know where you are
vulnerable.
The practice guide for California attorneys practicing debt collection has a great list
of places to look for personal information in public places to help their clients get a
piece of assets from debtors. Those same sources, and one or two others, can be used
by anyone for less legitimate purposes. There is some variation by state with who can
request certain records and how to do it, but these places are a great start to see how
badly you need to keep your assets hidden in plain sight.
Keep Your Assets Hidden In Plain Sight
Phone Directories
Phone directories are the oldest trick in the book. Just about everyone, everywhere
has a phone. A number can be a way to contact you even if you don't want to be
contacted. Phone numbers are also a great way to narrow down searches for other assets
based on the geographic location of your area code, making the search for your other
assets cheaper and easier. In some cases, your phone number can lead right to your
front door.
County Assessor
The county assessor keeps track of the value of real estate and some personal property
for tax reasons. This is a good way to find the value of any of these kinds of
properties. In many cases, the assessor will have ownership information, including the
address of the property and a mailing address where the tax bill is sent. If you pay
any property tax, some of your information shows up in these records.
County Recorder
The recorder keeps records of all documents that are recorded. This includes real
estate transactions, birth certificates, marriage records, death records, and a lot of
other documents. Your real estate and an outline of your most important dates will
show up in the county recorders office.
County Clerk
Court records, both civil and criminal, are public. If you (or your property) were
involved in court proceedings, your information is out there for anyone to see unless
you have taken steps to cover it.
Probate index
Large assets trsnaferred at death and who they are transferred to are all kept in the
probate court records. If you or someone in your family has received major assets this
way, you've got some 'splainin' to do.
Secretary of State
In most states, the Secretary of State will have a list of all of the business entities
formed and who their owners, principal directors or officers, and registered agent are.
If you act in any one of those capacities, your name is going to be easy to find. If
you own any assets in the name of those business entities, they will easily be traced
back to you.
State/County/City Permits and Licenses
Most states have a central location where alcohol permits, concealed weapons permits,
building permits, and other business permits and licensesare made public record. If
you have any of those kinds of permits, your information is out there for all to see.
DMV
Car ownership can be discovered through a request to the DMV. Often, when there is a
car loan outstanding, the ownership information will also reveal a bank where you might
have other accounts. A 2 for 1 deal.
A simple Google search can turn up a lot of things that you might have been involved
in. Did you act in a play in a community theater? If they post that info in the
internet, it can lead right to you. So can coaching a little league team, or anything
else you might do. Even Google Street View can confirm that you live in a certain
place or drive a certain car. I have successfully used Google Street View to
investigate opposing parties in litigation.
Your Website
You may have a website of your own. That website might have information on it that
would lead a clever investigator right to your doorstep. Even if you don't post your
address on your site, the ownership information can be looked up on whois.com. If you
registered under your own name and address, boom, there you are.
Socail Networking
If you post it, they will come. People have been known to make fake profiles of old
friends to connect with an otherwise private profile, to get into the juicy details of
their life. That is assuming you have made any profiles somewhat private. Even if you
don't reveal any information on purpose, a loose lipped friend may let something slip,
the profiles of the people in your network can reveal your location, even the pictures
themselves can have GPS coordinates embedded into the code of the picture, which have
been used to track people right to their living room.
Shareholder Lists
If you own stock in your own name, it may be possible for another shareholder to get
access to the shareholder list of the company and find you. Sometimes, those lists are
sold to others. once a list like that is sold, who knows where the information will
end up.
Conclusion
Almost everyone has information in one or more of these public places. You know you do
too, don't lie. If so, your assets are hanging out for all to see. There are ways to
remove every one of these assets from those public places. The book How To Vanish will
show you how to do everything you can legally do to remove that information. In future
posts, and in a few past posts, I will go over specific instructions to remove your
personal information from every single one of these sources, without having to sell
your assets on the street.
