Anonymous Prepaid Debit/Credit Cards - Sigo

[AZRedhawk44]

I want a prepaid, reloadable debit card that doesn't have my name on it.


Never mind you why I want one... I want one.

But, the glory that is Bush II and his delightfully freedom-loving two term GOP Congress decided that I shouldn't have one, and wrote and passed the Patriot Act making such things illegal.


But evidently, not illegal for illegals.  If that makes any sense.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/nyregion/30card.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/20/nation/na-debit20

I want one of these things.  Now.  I'm seriously thinking about faking myself off as a Canadian illegal immigrant during my cross-country motorcycle trip coming up, stopping at one of these labor centers, and getting a damned Sigo card and sporting an alias on it.

I really want a dose of electronic anonymity.

[brimic]

I thought the Visa debit cards from Walmart can be bought with cash?
Simply go to a library and use their internetz to register them under an alias.
My workplace used to give these cards out for awards for special projects or innovations, they were registered with our corporation and worked just fine- no questions asked.

[AZRedhawk44]

If you want a reloadable one, or with more than $250 on it, gotta deal with the ssn baloney.  Unless you're an illegal.

[roo_ster]

My name is Corn Julio.  I need MC for my bolthole.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I thought the Visa debit cards from Walmart can be bought with cash?

yes

[charby]

Don't make any cellphone calls either on your trip.

[Nick1911]

Don't make any cellphone calls either on your trip.

Indeed.  Or get a burn phone.  And don't use it to call anyone you actually know.

Ah, the future!

[AJ Dual]

If you want a reloadable one, or with more than $250 on it, gotta deal with the ssn baloney.  Unless you're an illegal.

It would be worth the experiment to put a bogus SSN in when the pre-paid Walmart/GreenDot Mastercard/Visa and see what happens. Keep the balance low so you can walk away if they freeze it. Wear a hat. I don't know that they actively do it, but WM has the capability to do facial recognition of all cash transactions at the registers through the security cams so they can demographic/purchase-track the cash customers almost as well as the credit/debit card ones. 

More of a "Cash face profile 1234A" buys Charmin every month, spit out a Cottonelle coupon at the self-serve register kiosk with his receipt-sort of thing... However, the potential for abuse goes much further obviously.

I bet illegals who don't have access to Sigo cards are already doing something like this.

Maybe just go down to "that corner" at the Home Depot lot and ask one of them how they do it and offer them a couple of bucks for their time and the info.

[Monkeyleg]

For a couple of years I bought those cash cards that you can use with PayPal to pay for goods or services on the internet. You buy them with cash, and use them like cash.

Well, those days are over. You now need to give them personal information. No more anonymity.

[French G.]

Getting harder and harder. I believe that cash is suspect too, ATMs have the capability to log bill S/Ns dispensed so it seems you'd want to turn cash over a couple of times. How about a stack of the non-reloadable ones?

[AZRedhawk44]

Getting harder and harder. I believe that cash is suspect too, ATMs have the capability to log bill S/Ns dispensed so it seems you'd want to turn cash over a couple of times. How about a stack of the non-reloadable ones?

When you get down below the amount for your next intended purchase, you can't use it.

Example:  Buy a $250 card.  Spend $220 on Amazon.  You have $30 left.  You want to buy a $75 doo-dad on Amazon.  You can't use that $30 on the card towards the $75 doo-dad. 

To fully leverage the power of prepaid cards, you need to be able to refill it.  Enter the SSN problem.

[brimic]

It would be worth the experiment to put a bogus SSN in when the pre-paid Walmart/GreenDot Mastercard/Visa and see what happens. Keep the balance low so you can walk away if they freeze it. Wear a hat. I don't know that they actively do it, but WM has the capability to do facial recognition of all cash transactions at the registers through the security cams so they can demographic/purchase-track the cash customers almost as well as the credit/debit card ones. 

More of a "Cash face profile 1234A" buys Charmin every month, spit out a Cottonelle coupon at the self-serve register kiosk with his receipt-sort of thing... However, the potential for abuse goes much further obviously.

I think a much more funner experiment would be to use a card in your own name, then buy only items like ammonium nitrate, bleach, electrical transformers, electronics components,  diesel fuel, pool chemicals, shotgun primers, and disposable cell phones.

[Jamisjockey]

No matter.  They'll track the cash you use to purchase the prepaid debit card.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904rfidtagsexplode.html

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

No matter.  They'll track the cash you use to purchase the prepaid debit card.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904rfidtagsexplode.html

real tin foil theory

and from prison planet  what a shock

http://www.snopes.com/business/money/strip.asp


and bogus   not as shocking

[Jamisjockey]

In all seriousness, though:

If you fraudelently aquire a prepaid load and go card, and you then use it on the internet to aquire goods, I'd bet dollars to donuts they could tag you with wire fraud or some other such charges.

If you're so bound and determined to not leave a foot print, try this.

Hit the ATM.  Draw out cash.  Go inside, have teller convert cash into different denominations.   
As for online purchases, you're probably hosed.

[brimic]

If you fraudelently aquire a prepaid load and go card, and you then use it on the internet to aquire goods, I'd bet dollars to donuts they could tag you with wire fraud or some other such charges.

If you're so bound and determined to not leave a foot print, try this.

Hit the ATM.  Draw out cash.  Go inside, have teller convert cash into different denominations.   
As for online purchases, you're probably hosed.

There is bound to be some sort of law on the books or soon to be to tighten the clamps down tighter.
The free market experiment of the internet is coming to an end- .gov has been trying to figure out how to tax it for quite some time, non-anonymous currency is likely to be a big part of it,

[French G.]

When you get down below the amount for your next intended purchase, you can't use it.

Example:  Buy a $250 card.  Spend $220 on Amazon.  You have $30 left.  You want to buy a $75 doo-dad on Amazon.  You can't use that $30 on the card towards the $75 doo-dad. 

To fully leverage the power of prepaid cards, you need to be able to refill it.  Enter the SSN problem.

I understand that the idea is sub-optimal, but I've been given gift cards and use them similarly. Sharpie marker,use them for one bigger purchase, write how much is left on it on the card, buy that much gas.

[Ron]

What about the bitcoin currency?

Seems it has really taken off in Iran from an article I read a bit a go