Silk Road forums
Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: marker2319 on March 05, 2012, 02:07 pm
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So I want to start receiving a few more packages from SR then what I do at the moment and I have been thinking about a "safer" way of doing this. Im in Australia so things are already pretty difficult as it is. I want to avoid my name on packages as, lets just say, I already have a few things against my name (not postal or customs related). Now most of you are going to say, its a bad idea for me to receive anything! but so far 4 outta 4 packages, from NL, safely to my address! Its a risk were all taking right?
So what I was thinking, is opening a PO box, but making up a business name of some sort, like Coastal office supplies or if I wanted to be real tricky, coastal health and pharmaceuticals... I don't know, something along those lines..
Just think about the people who have had the box before you!! Say if 15 people have had that box before you, each with 3 different people that have mail sent their under the current owner, that's 45 different people that could've had this "business"
Now please don't SHOOT me down if you think its a bad idea. Just throwing something out there see what you guys think, or maybe you have a better idea?
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attempting to be a pharmaceutical company "might" be pushing it just a bit. since you'd need all sorts of federal permits to be one, and your dealing with federal customs, ect. most post offices in the US at least wont deliver to a box addreessed to a different name than the one that opened it. so a fake id is alwayz a good idea. if you know what you're doing. although i have found "mom n pop" stores that would deliver to a different name no problem. one actually just put all the packages that came in daily in a big box in the middle of the floor of what was otherwise a large tibeten clothing/jewelry import store. If you knew when to expect it you could just pop in and pick it up pretty anonymously. which is fine, domestically.
if you have stuff coming thru customs, depending on how much, you probably want to let your packages sit for a while. i know folks that'll wait well over over a month for the package to cool down. this at least eliminates the possibilty of an ongoing physical stake-out. it you make sure to keep you order split into small enough amounts coming thru. some people will, fx, have someone a partner to have a seemingly normal, active box there so that can regularly be checking like any other customer, and doing recon. again, they don't normally have the desire or resources to do a physical stake-out for very long, that is if you have ensured to split any larger orders into multiple, smaller packages. into amounts they aren't/can't be bothered to physically pursue. using smaller packages also increases the chances of most of your order making it thru.
to fight this limitation they have been known to install cameras at the post office they can view remotely, like in the PF case. hence the idea behind doing anonymous recon. to spot these things. using multiple, anonymous, boxes dispersed geographically can be a good idea. and at times they insert tracking beacons. but id imagine a small hand-held metal detector 'could' potentially help you determine if they have done this..
good idea if it's coming international to track your package carefully, and anonymously. if there are any significant or out of the ordinary delays at customs, it could be a red flag. and you may want to reconsider your plan of attack.
although i'd like to hear more about the possibilty of, in the US, opening a po box's anonymously online. don't know if that's possible i AU, but it apparently is here. I assume one can just get the key sent "anywhere" then?...even another box? gotta look into it some more...
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Here is what I'd do.
when you ship it--simply put a fake name (or even real name if you think they are paranoid enough to look up the shipper).
When you ship it, instead of using the person's name, simply use that line as 'Vitamin Samples" and the rest of the address).
This will allow the recipient "Plausible deniability" Yeah, the money is down the drain, but would rather loose money than be locked up.
Also, tell the person to ship Vitamins to that address so again, it's a pattern. Just my $.02
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I use a P.O. Box and have had no trouble but I've had one for going on two decades now anyhow and all my normal mail gets delivered there so a few random boxes, letters and parcels don't look suspicious at all.
My suggestions are these:
Don't use a fake name or even a misspelled variation of your real name. I'd assume the same person or people deliver your mail everyday and anything that looks off might catch their attention and cause a flag to go up even if they're spread out over the course of weeks, or perhaps even months. Just make your orders blend in with everything else.
I rather use an official p.o. box over a mom and pop. Reason being, anyone can snoop, postal employees or otherwise but I feel a postal employee, because of concern of losing a decent paying job, the source of their livelihood, is less inclined to pry than someone who owns a mail service business who might poke around just out of sheer boredom. Plus, it's just one more set of hands to go through while still being subjected to postal investigation. The less sets of hands and eyes, the better.
Add the large of amount of mail that goes through the postal system, it's more likely to go undetected compared to the relative small amount that passes through a privately owned business.
I don't use a business name but I don't consider it a bad idea. You just have to let the post office know that you're going to have packages delivered in that name, at least that's how it is here in the states.
I agree with the other poster, don't use a name that associates your box with health care or pharmaceuticals. There's no reason to. I had a package delivered to me from a SR vendor with a return address belonging to a pager company which I thought looked strange. I mean, who uses pagers any more besides maybe drug dealers? I would have red-flagged it if I were a postal worker. If it were up to me, I'd probably use a computer company as a front. Packed computer parts are identical in shape and size to drug shipments and shouldn't arouse suspicion.