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Besides the utility of a go bag.. having portable wealth can get you into trouble with the police or border crossing agents.
Civil asset forfeiture is a very real thing at border crossings. If you must take portable wealth have documentation about where it came from a available
If you are fleeing from the US, get a bunch of guns. Gotta make money from illegal weapon sales overseas, just as the founders intended. π
God Bless The 2nd Amendment π
(Also, build a backyard nuke while you're at it, sell it to the Libyans)
Printer ink.
Iβm just kiddingβ¦ listen to all the other smart people in this thread and not me.
Well I think ink is worth more per volume than blood.
US: The way to effectively do thos is to open a series of accounts, in a tree structure, in countries that aren't CRS compliant. Disperse the money into the structure. This will buy time, mitigating losses in the event of an asset freeze, likely not being caught until FACTA reporting to the IRS. Get the money out ASAP. There's better methods if laws don't matter.
If youβre planning to leave with enough time, register a business or trust or something, transfer your money to a shell company, repeat as necessary then transfer it to the place youβre trying to go.
Use the tools of the people with money not the tools of people who get patted down for loose change by the tsa.
Has this worked before?
Extremely effective, happens all the time with amounts more than an average person can ever earn.
You could also explore some crypto options like monero (XMR). It can be theft resistant if you set it up properly.
Edit: Mind replying to me instead of downvoting? What is the problem with crypto in this scenario?
Lolol, it's the Reddit mindset, they see "Crypto" they insta downvote.
Btw, there's always like 1-3 downvoters from bots, even if you make a totally non-political post like a picture of a cat. That's just how Lemmy is.
Not a topic I'm super familiar with, but I feel I've heard people often are either robbed or have their items confiscated by authorities. Same with unhoused people not wanting to have stuff that would make them a target.
If it was something you had a little bit of prep time for, ziplocking USD or EU and seeing it into a grubby jacket where the repairs would blend in and not garner attention would be the most portable and effective thing to do while minimizing theft potential, other than having all eggs in one basket unless you split it between different garments. Also make sure it is pretty weatherproof to prevent mold damage.
It also has the benefit of being immediately usable, should you need to pay for transport or food. If it was seen in a puffy coat, one could discreetly remove one pack of bills while leaving the rest secure. The immediacy that cash can be used may make up for having something potentially more valuable that you would have to barter or fence, as pretty much any human has a need for cash.
To add that secret compartments in your accessoirs.
My sling bag for example has 2 velcro pouches on each side of the band. You would think they are sewn shut but on closer expections they are actually vecroed.
Using it as a emergency storage for some coins. Helped me once already.
Not putting in a link until requested. No need to advertise :)
I think I actually had a coat once with a hidden pocket like this that I didn't know about until I had it for quite some time! It wasn't big enough to hold a lot, but it was a very secret stash. Even some coats I have with inside pockets blend in very well, but those probably wouldn't pass someone searching me at a checkpoint of any kind.
My pouches are a sort of faux leather type of material. I couldn't fill it with anything bulky but I could certainly get a small stack of 200β¬ bills inside without being bulky.
I planned to sew in the coins somehow into my backpack and jacket. But this a good idea for cash.
Gold is still the preferred way of storing wealth in many parts of the world. You can just take gold bars with you which should have value anywhere.
Physically get them out might prove to be a challenge as the customs would definitely question your bags of gold.
Gold caps (teeth) painted with white enamel was the method of choice in the past.
There are actually limits to what you can bring into/out of a country.
If you're crossing a border they'll try to customs you about gold coins/bars, jewelry you can claim is like, a precious family heirloom or your wedding ring or whatever.
Could you clarify customs me? Someone above mentioned I should have some recipes on those. I dk if that's enough.
From the phrasing "fleeing a country" I imagine they want to circumvent border checks/wouldn't be able to pass a border legally anyway?
It's unclear. If they're a trans person fleeing the US, they could still pass the border normally for now.
I'm fairly sure these days most refugees at least go through some manner of process in the country they claim asylum in. You can't really exist off grid anymore
I know some people who largely do exist off grid, but in any case, for asylum claims it's common to claim asylum after having already crossed the border of the target country without going through the checks. My friends who are asylum seekers have done that. I imagine in general you'd have less chance of being deported if you're already living in the country vs trying to cross the border.
AFAIK, in all anglosphere countries at least, the vast majority of asylum seekers are processed by border patrol shortly after entry, and they certainly would go through your belongings on the premise there was drugs or a nuke or something and find the gold bars.
I think its like $10k for in or out of the US and items of value
Probably a good amount to start over. Grandma wad a refugee and came over with way less. Granted she had to work like uncle ruckus but she also couldn't read either.
Good usecase for bitcoin
Not sure why downvoted. Itβs just memorizing a username and password.
Stupid question. How do you then get cash for that wherever you end up? Do you need a bank account?
If you aren't trying to hide the money, just find an online exchange like Coinbase or Kraken (they'll ask your real identity of course), then link to bank account, and voila!
Also there are bitcoin ATMs everywhere. They'll also ask for your identity these days.
Same as with everything else: you sell them to someone willing to buy
There are random bitcoin/crypto ATMs in some major cities.
So probably there. Dunno if they require an account.
If you use a decentralized trading platform like Bisq, you can even use face to face cash trades that keeps no logs of anything that ties to your identity.
Currency. Paper money that has high acceptance internationally, like US Dollars or Euros, both can be easily traded by local currency pretty much anywhere in the world.
Lol, not US Dollars. Not after November 5th, 2024.
Just go Euro
Seconding this. The best money is still money.
If you can't get a good stable currency or you have legitimate fears that the currency you can get is in danger of some kind of collapse, gold or silver coins would be your best second bet. In this case you'll want well known coins minted by an actual government such as an American gold eagle or the Canadian silver maple leaf rather than the coin shaped "rounds" that a lot of places sell. The rounds will have the same issue as jewelry, you'll have to haggle over weight and quality every time you sell one. Actual coins issued by a government mint will have pretty well established values so they will be easier to sell at a fair price.
Idk how long the US dollar will have high acceptance internationally. I mean it may not change much or it may change a lot, depending on what happens the next few years.
My buddy grandpa left murica to go to his home country but traded all his dollars to local currency. When he got off the boat local currently collapsed hard. Huge fear of mine.
Yeah the BRICS will make the dollar obsolete.
/s (if that wasn't super obvious)
Honestly I didn't get the joke because i didn't know anything about BRICS until just now π
Russia is trying to make business with poorer countries to prop up the falling ruble, etc. I don't think the dollar or the euro has anything to be afraid of in the near future.