RESISTING TEMPTATIONS

A trick often used by bill collectors, investigators, and other nasty nosies is the old “send the sucker a check” rou- tine. It works like this.

The investigator or bill collector, unable to find out where a particular subject does his or her banking, will send the sub- ject a check made out by a bogus business. (Yes, they use them too!) A subject who is not street-smart may be tempted to deposit the check into his or her bank account. Big mistake! It will have been stamped by your bank when it was cleared. Bingo! When the investigator gets the check back, he now knows where he can attach assets and also has a better idea of where you are truly hanging out these days.

The best choice is to throw the check away. Some unscru - p ulous people I have known have “lost” these checks in poor neighborhoods so that they could be fraudulently cashed by homeless people or drug addicts, further throwing the investi- gator off the trail. Doing this, however, may be construed as assisting in a felony and could lead to criminal charges against you.

If you really want to cash the check, take it to the bank on which it is drawn. This really annoys investigators, as it causes them to lose money without gaining any additional informa- tion about their subject.

Whether you desire to live under a new identity or simply lead a private life, safe driving is of paramount importance. Why? Put simply, you don’t want to attract the attention of police. Many people are hauled into court under criminal war- rant or capias (civil arrest warrant). Most of these individuals never receive a knock on their door. The police depend on “catching” them during routine traffic stops. Once you are pulled over, they have the right to check Big Brother’s data mines (National Crime Information Center, a/k/a NCIC, com- puter and standard local databases). If your name pops up or if something else is amiss (SSN seems inconsistent with given age, etc.), then the cops have a right to detain you for up to 48 hours without charging you with anything. During that 48 hours, they will investigate you and interrogate you to learn whatever information they can. This is not welcome attention for identity changers or privacy seekers, of course.

At red lights and stop signs, keep a car length between your front bumper and the vehicle in front of you. Be prepared to turn out to the left or right if someone comes running toward you with a flamethrower. Always have an escape route in mind.

Always know who is behind you on the highway or back roads. Pay attention to their movements. Are they trying too hard to stay a certain distance behind you? Do they appear to be talking to themselves? (If so, they may be speaking to their surveillance partner by radio.)

If you suspect you are being followed, use the following tactics to find out:

• Take three right turns. If the car you were suspicious of is still behind you, you are probably being followed. • Go around a rotary twice. Again, if your tagalong

made the same “mistake” you did, you are probably being followed.

ving again. If the other driver abruptly resumes his trip, you are probably being followed.

If you determine that you are in fact being followed, exe- cuting any of the following ideas will help temporarily throw someone off your trail:

• Drive right by your exit, street, apartment complex, or house (whichever applies).

• Go somewhere you’ve never gone before and act as if it’s very important that you are there. Let your follower take a bunch of meaningless notes.

• Go “home” for the night to one of the larger motel chains. Pay the clerk and slip out the back. (Small, roadside motels don’t have “backs” to slip out of— there is usually no way to leave your room other than in full view through the door by which you entered it.) If there appears to be no viable option to scram without the PI noticing, try using the pool, pretending to get ice from the ice machine, or spending some time in the rec hall, Jacuzzi, or lobby to throw him off. You could walk into town or go across the street to the convenient Chinese restaurant and make your getaway from there. Return for your vehicle after the PI has left.

Never drive while intoxicated. When you are driving, you are vulnerable. If you are drunk, you will eventually get cocky and make a mistake. Don’t do it.

Let tailgaters pass you when it’s appropriate to do so. This keeps you in the middle of the traffic stream, where you will stand out less to the authorities. Also, the speeders will keep the police busy if there should be any on the road ahead.

Conversely, if there is some reason you do not want a police car directly behind you, you may wish to keep the tail-

Always register your vehicles to a mail drop in a company name (trust, corporation, etc.). By doing so, it will not lead somebody to your front door if they ever run your license plate.