Let’s say (for whatever reason) I establish an alternate identity and craft an entirely separate persona using every means at my disposal short of forging documents.
If I pay cash for everything, and commit no illegal acts using this alternate identity, can I be charged with anything simply for using my second identity?
It would depend on exactly what you mean by “alternate identity”. If you want to call your self “Bob”, and reserve restaurant tables in that that name, or even if you decide to call your self “astro” and post to messageborads, then it’s going to be OK. If you want to go further (i.e. have any meaningful documention) then it’s going to be pretty much illegal.
Well let’s say using cash I rent a house, and depositing a large sum start a bank account using that address, go on from there. As long as I can avoid anything that requires a Social Security # or birth certificate I should be able to manage. As long as I’m not relying on false documents is any of this necessarily illegal?
Offhand, I’d say it would be almost impossible to create a documented alternative identity without commiting an illegal act.
After seeing your second post, I’d guess what you’re describing might be legal. There’s nothing illegal about changing your name, and what you’re suggesting is an unofficial temporary name change. Assuming you could find somebody to agree to rent you a house without you showing any proof of identity, I can’t see any law being broken.
According to my bank, to open an account, you need
I had a mailman explain to me that using a fake name when ordering through the mail is mail fraud.
Don’t know if this is true or if my mailman was just annoyed with me.
So what was the fake name you ordered with? 
Don’t certain celebreties in the media do this very thing? They have their given name, but they also have thier stage name that they are famously known by.
I also know of one magician that has two distinct identites and most people think he is, in fact two different people.
You can use any name you like as long as it’s not an attempt to commit fraud. If you order something by mail and have it sent to a false name, there’s nothing wrong as long as everyone involved gets paid.
The PO may have internal rules that only allow certain people to receive mail at an address. But you could open a PO box and specify that “My Alias” is one of the names that can receive mail there. The PO will deliver. It’s even easier if you go to a UPS Store and set up a private mailbox.
Checks mailed to your alias can be endorsed by the false name and then reindorsed by you. (That’s a third-party check, and is legal – though many businesses won’t accept them because of problems collecting if it’s bad. But a bank will deposit it into your account, at most with a rule that the funds won’t be released to you until the check clears).
Starting a bank account now seems to require ID, but even then, you can talk with the bank manager and they may be willing to create an account in your false name as long as they have a record of your real name and SSN.
I remember seeing an interview with Martin Sheen (I think on the Ellen DeGeneres show) in which he said he had two social security cards: One that said Martin Sheen (his showbiz name) and one that said Ramon Estavez (his legal name, which he never changed). He used the first for acting jobs and the second for waiting tables and things like that. Both cards had the same number; he just submitted a second name to the same account.
I wonder whether this is legal or whether he was the lucky beneficiary of a paperwork screw-up.
Although I am certainly not a lawyer, but I would think that the fact that you paid cash to buy the house really wouldn’t matter since the transaction would also involve the deed and tax rolls. I can’t help but think at least the tax end of it would be subjecting you to fraud charges.
No, the tax end wouldn’t. Property taxes are taxes on the property itself, not a person. If the taxes aren’t paid for a certain period of time, the government seizes the property.
It should certainly be possible to hold property, open bank accounts, pay taxes etc. under more than one name; otherwise it would be nearly impossible to operate a one-person business under a separate business name. Writers can and do use several pen names, and recieve mail and deposit checks made out to their pen names. I think in all such cases though, it’s advisable to make sure appropriate letters explaining the situation are on file in all appropriate places so that everyone understands nothing shady is going on.
The biggest problem with using more than one personal name (not a business name) is that most people doing this are intending to commit fraud, hide assets from divorce lawyers, hide income from the tax collectors, commit bigamy or adultery, or engage in some other kind of deception. So anyone who finds out you’re using more than one name will probably assume you’re Up To Something until you prove otherwise. This could be burdensome.
Astro, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now? Maybe Bricker or Dewey or Random can help you.
I’m having a hard time thinking of a legal reason to do this, but maybe that’s just what the DHS wants.
Before 9/11, they had to show intent to defraud or some other crime before giving you a problem about using an alternate name.
Lots of people went by a nickname or their middle name, simplified or fancyfied the spelling of their last name, used pen names, etc.
To deposit a check in a business name, in California you had to go through a “Fictitious Business Name” procedure, registering it publicly. For a name ending in “Incorporated”, you had to file with the State as a corporation and meet certain standards.
Now, I believe that the DHS, etc, have required financial institutions, employers, and so forth, to get more information from you before doing business. At one point, feeling paranoid about giving a credit card over the Internet, I tried to get the kind of card you fund by putting in so many dollars, and then use for transactions. That would limit any damages. My bank made it clear that there was no way of doing that without my name, SSN, address, and I think Date of Birth, being on record. So I didn’t feel protected from identity theft.
I knew a couple of old cranks from before the 9/11 days that weren’t paying taxes and were using alternate names to receive money–one was a furnisher refinisher/auto repair guy, technically competent, that worked by the job. And I had known another guy who, when he came out of state prison, dropped a letter from his last name, drove for Goodwill for some years (“social handicap”), and later worked other driving jobs under his new name.
When they went over airport workers with a fine toothed comb, they were “smoking them out”, and you do wonder how many were dangerous lying fanatics, or security risks, and how many were just pore dumb SOBs trying to make a living.
BTW, I’m descended from people who came into this State when people used to sing,
“What was your name in the States,
Was it Johnson or Thompson or Bates,
Did you murder your wife, and run for your life,
Oh, what was your name in the States?”
Really? I always assumed a pen name was a publisher-in-on-the-misdirection type of situation. So that if I penned something that was published as written by ‘stormy’ the check from the publisher would still come to ‘rainy.’
Is this not how it works?
-rainy
I came across an interesting book on keeping your personal information private.
The name was How To Be Invisible [1]
Some items gleaned:
Unless you’re under 18 years of age. Cite from American Airlines.
Of course that could be a little difficult to fake for some of us (including this 42 year old ).