Тег: Know Your Customer

How to Deceive the State: The Art of “Multiplying Identities”

Today, let’s talk about a technique that is older than the internet, but in the digital age, it works better than ever. Let’s call it “personality multiplication,” which, of course, is not about schizophrenia, but about survival.
 
Why don’t the cops catch all the “small fry”? Any state, even the most crazed one, has finite resources. The FSB, the tax office, Roskomnadzor, inspectors—these are real people with salaries, KPIs, and lunch breaks. They physically cannot chase everyone who exchanged 50 bucks for crypto or wrote “the emperor has no clothes” on Telegram.
 
Therefore, the system has reaction thresholds. Crypto exchange without KYC—Rosfinmonitoring’s attention kicks in from 600,000 ₽ per operation. The tax office will stir when “undeclared” income starts smelling like millions. And for a single post with swear words about Putin from an anonymous account with 50 followers, no one will send a SWAT team—it’s economically inefficient.
 
However, the system accumulates dossiers. Cops often intentionally “overlook” the small stuff—they wait until you reach a critical mass, and then they come with a search warrant and present the aggregate volume. And the solution here is quite obvious: be an ant, not an elephant! Every action of yours should look like the action of a new, separate person. Episodes can only be combined into one case if a link between them is proven. And if there is no link, there is no case.
 
For example, you want to exchange 5 million rubles in crypto without KYC? Don’t do it in one operation from your phone linked to your passport. Break it into 9-10 transactions, and for each:  

  1. A new fictional “Full Name” and username for the P2P counterparty.
  2. A different VPN server.
  3. A separate email (Proton Mail, Tutanota, disposable emails registered via Tor).
  4. A different browser (Mullvad, Brave with cleaning, AdsPower, TOR Browser).
  5. Different anonymous SIMs on different disposable devices or different anonymous virtual numbers from different rental services (or at least different accounts).
  6. Different wallets, where money moved through a mixer or at least through a chain of exchanges BTC > XMR > BTC; this also applies to paying for the rental of an anonymous number and VPN in the previous steps.
  7. Different time patterns—not every Monday at 19:00.

 
To the system, this will look like 10 different people, each below the interest threshold. You can only be combined into one case if someone performs a manual analysis—and no one will do a manual analysis over 500 thousand rubles.
 
Or take another example—opposition activity. Writing texts? One virtual number, one VPN, one browser profile, one Telegram account. Want to post a video from a protest that strongly irritates the authorities or even one of drone “arrivals”? This is done by another of your personalities from a different IP and device (or at least a virtual machine).
 
The same goes for grey businesses. One sole proprietorship with a turnover of 50 million—a candidate for an audit. Five “friends-relatives” with a turnover of 8 million each—statistical noise (just don’t make them actually related—that is the very “link” by which they will merge you).
 
The main mistake beginners make is when one common element leaks the entire scheme. The same VPN provider linked to your card? One recovery email for 10 “different” accounts? All “different people” eventually merge into your one Sber card? Accidentally logged into an opposition account from home Wi-Fi without a VPN? Transferred crypto change from an anonymous wallet to your personal one linked to a KYC exchange? Logged into two different burner emails in one regular browser? Such scenarios have more than once become a sentence for personalities disliked by the authorities. From all this follows the main rule of survival under the tyranny of a stationary bandit: your anonymous “personalities” must never intersect!
 
Doubt that this actually works? It works, and how! Millions of people still quietly receive their salaries in USDT through dozens of small P2P deals. And the number of arrests for this is minimal, and they arrest specifically those who either chased hype or moved millions through a single wallet.

Voluntarist, Bitarch

The “Rich Pauper” Strategy: How to Cheat the State and Preserve Capital

Imagine two guys. The first drives a shiny Ferrari, wears a Brioni suit, and posts photos of oysters on Instagram. He has a mountain of debt, insomnia, and breaks into a cold sweat every time a letter from the tax office arrives. The second takes the subway in an inconspicuous logo-less hoodie, eats shawarma on the corner, and sighs during a conversation with a neighbor about how utilities have gone up again. But in his head is a seed phrase for a wallet containing hundreds of bitcoins. Which one of them is truly free? For any self-respecting agorist, the answer is obvious.

We are living in an era where the state has turned into a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex. And as we remember from “Jurassic Park,” a T-Rex’s vision is based on movement. In our reality, it is based on showing off. If you want to live freely, build your capital, and avoid attracting the attention of “comrade major,” the tax inspectorate, or simply criminal elements, you need to master the greatest art of the 21st century: being a “poor” rich person.

First and foremost, you should rent everything rather than owning it. Do you know what buying a luxury home or car in your own name is? It’s voluntarily pinning a huge target to your back that says: “I’m here! Milk me!”. It is the ideal asset for confiscation, seizure, or exorbitant taxes. Rent your housing and transport. Ideally, not even in your own name, but through trusted representatives, cooperatives, or anonymous companies, if the scale allows. You can live in a penthouse and drive a Bentley, but on paper, you are just a passerby.

It is also important to give up luxury: Rolexes, Birkin bags, Gucci belts—these are taxes on insecurity. In agorism, your clothing is camouflage. Dress neatly, but in a way that makes you impossible to remember. Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg didn’t popularize basic t-shirts for no reason. When you have no labels, people (and officials) cannot “appraise” you. You blend into the crowd.

Of course, you must not talk about your assets! Friends will start asking for loans (and get offended if you refuse). Acquaintances might accidentally blurt out about your wealth in a bar where the wrong person is sitting. Money loves silence, and crypto loves graveyard silence. To everyone, you should be that guy who “does something on the internet, seems to have enough for food.”

It would be a good idea to learn how to professionally play poor. In our society, successful people are envied, while the poor are pitied and left alone. Complain about inflation, sigh when paying a bill at a cafe, always ask for discounts and promo codes, and haggle at markets. It’s not about the 5 dollars saved—it’s about creating an alibi. When you constantly demonstrate that you are counting pennies, no one will even think that you can be “de-kulakized.”

Another tip: delete Instagram to hell, or at least stop posting photos from business class. Social networks are an open database for tax collectors and scammers. Your profile should look as if you spend your vacation at your grandmother’s cottage, not in the Maldives.

Furthermore, invest your money in things that cannot be taken away. Instead of gold chains, invest in your health (best medicine, quality but simple food, biohacking) and in knowledge. And foreign passports and residency permits (which, of course, you will tell no one about) are the best insurance, invisible to neighbors.

And finally, use cash and P2P. If you pay for everything with a named bank card, your consumption profile is visible as clear as day. Pay for daily expenses in cash wherever possible, as paper money leaves no logs.

In conclusion, it should be said that agorism is not just a philosophy of the free market, but a daily spy game. The stationary bandit wants you to be transparent, predictable, and tied to a place. But you can live in such a way that you will only smile, watching the system try to grab you by the throat, while its fingers grasp emptiness. Because for the system, you simply will not exist; you will be a ghost. A very wealthy, free, and invulnerable ghost.

Voluntarist, Bitarch

Why financial anonymity is a basic human right, and the cancellation of currency control is the key to the prosperity of society as a whole

I’m sure many of you are tired of having to prove to the bank, tax authorities, and even just some random official that you aren’t a camel—that your money was earned “legally.” Familiar situation, right? I think everyone has at least once experienced the humiliating feeling when your own honestly earned money suddenly turns into suspicious substance, and to get it, you have to collect a stack of papers as thick as Tolstoy’s *War and Peace*.

And let’s not just talk about taxes. Many people live in the “paid and sleep peacefully” paradigm (although the dream of seeing tax rates is more like a nervous one). The problem is another—even if you are willing to give a stationary gangster “his share,” he doesn’t always simply go through with the deal, and you often have to lose dozens of percent of your income on an absolutely useless procedure of “legitimation.” Some people are forced to draw contracts with non-existent sole proprietors, some buy fake services, and others even give half their earnings to “cash” (in some “developed” countries it’s already not an exaggeration)—just to have the opportunity to use their own money.

Why does this happen? Governments demand “their share,” but they are afraid of losing control, especially due to the appearance of financially independent people who can even finance opposition, so they suffocate any attempts at free use of money. And this story, unfortunately, is not just about Russia, but also about all other states.

It’s important to understand: money is simply your work, talent, and time transformed into numbers on your account. By depriving a person of the ability to manage earned money, the state essentially deprives them of part of their freedom. Presumption of innocence? Forget it. Now the presumption is this: if you have money, you are automatically either a thief, a swindler, or just a clever guy until someone proves otherwise.

Also, states are fighting cash and trying to drive everyone into a transparent electronic world where every ruble or dollar will be seen through. In Germany or the United Kingdom, accounts can already be blocked instantly if you try to withdraw just a few thousand euros in cash. Why is this done? Supposedly, to combat terrorism and crime. But the result is bleak: crime remained as it was (almost all criminal money is washed—the effectiveness of the fight is practically zero), and ordinary people suffer from bureaucratic hell.

Here’s the translation:

Right here, cryptocurrencies and technologies of financial anonymity come onto the scene. The authorities hate them, calling them dirty and dangerous. But in fact, they are the only island of financial freedom remaining in a world of total control. As long as you have crypto – you truly own your money, rather than renting it from a bank or tax service (of course, if you store it on your own wallet, rather than on an exchange or other intermediaries). Of course, crypto isn’t perfect, and the state is trying to take away this tool too; luckily, so far unsuccessfully. But its popularity shows – people need a place where their money remains only their money, without constant justifications and humiliating procedures.

Furthermore, currency control significantly reduces economic activity. Many people have cash or crypto for buying an apartment, a car, land, but prefer to live “like everyone else” and not attract attention. This is not just inconvenience for individual citizens – it damages the entire economy. When people don’t invest and spend their honestly earned money, the entire economic chain suffers: demand falls, production shrinks, employment and incomes decline. The result – economic stagnation and a loss of enormous growth potential and well-being for all.

Incidentally, arguments against currency control are much more readily accepted by a wide audience than, for example, arguments about abolishing taxes. It’s difficult for people to imagine how social benefits would be funded without taxes, but abolishing currency control no one loses – on the contrary, everyone wins thanks to economic growth and freedom of entrepreneurship!

Voluntarist, Bitarch

How the state’s imposition of AML/KYC encourages fraud

One of the requirements from the state is the identification of individuals participating in financial transactions and the sources of their funds. KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering, consisting of transaction history analysis) procedures are explicitly stated in the laws of many countries. Usually, when someone wants to exchange cryptocurrency through a “white” exchanger or exchange platform, their transaction is checked by AML tools and, if it is assessed as high-risk, the client is required to undergo KYC—provide their passport details and information about the source of funds. All this is justified as a fight against various crimes, fraud, and even terrorism. However, as we will now see, such procedures can, on the contrary, encourage fraudulent activity.

One of the fraudulent schemes directly linked to AML/KYC is revealed by the creator of the cryptocurrency exchange monitor antiswap.info. When someone wants to perform a crypto exchange, exchangers conduct an AML check of the transaction via third-party services. But the methods used by such services raise doubts. For example, you yourself may not be involved in criminal activity in any way, but if the coins you currently hold were involved in it a dozen transactions ago, they will already be considered “dirty,” and you will have to deanonymize yourself and somehow prove the legality of the origin of the funds.

One of the users of the kurs.expert monitor points to cases where people were simply withdrawing funds from closing exchanges, and these were flagged by AML verification services as stolen. The essence of AML checks was also well described by one of the commenters on the miningclub.info forum: “I sold a bicycle to Vasya and bought a car from Masha. A year later, it turned out that Vasya was dealing drugs and making drops while riding the bike he bought from me with drug dealers’ money. It turns out I am an accomplice and Masha is the owner of ‘dirty’ money. Consequently, will her account be blocked, as well as the cash register of the store where she bought sausage yesterday?”. Furthermore, many commenters there point out that AML verification services may assign a transaction risk without any basis at all, since no one checks how they conduct this procedure.

Naturally, if you fail the AML check and the exchanger does not like your arguments during KYC (or if you simply do not wish to deanonymize yourself), your funds may simply be stolen, or you may be charged a huge commission for their return. As the creator of Antiswap writes, a third of the exchangers listed on the popular Bestchange monitor were caught doing this. But why then do almost all exchangers there have a perfect rating? The reason is that Bestchange considers the seizure of coins due to failure to pass AML/KYC to be solely the client’s fault, and all complaints regarding this are moved from negative reviews to neutral ones, which do not affect the exchangers’ rating.

At the same time, you are unlikely to go to state authorities to complain about such exchangers, as they will likely also have questions regarding the origin of your funds, and thus you may only create new problems for yourself and recover nothing. Thus, exchangers with dishonest owners and employees can practically legally engage in theft and fraud.

The website antiswap.info contains a list of such fraudulent exchangers, as well as a list of those who can be trusted. Of course, among the trusted exchangers, very few openly state their readiness to conduct exchanges without forcing the user to undergo AML/KYC, because many are still afraid of repression from the stationary bandit and publicly report their compliance with its requirements, even if they actually perform no checks. This creates difficulties in finding exchangers that are truly ready to conduct anonymous transactions. However, it is still important to separate blatantly fraudulent exchangers from those who can be trusted with high probability.

Voluntarist, Bitarch