New Identity and the Paper chase system - All about assuming the identity of a dead infant - paper chasing has been a popular way to obtain the birth certificate of a deceased child, fraudulent criminal

Intro | PaperChasing | Using Fake ID | Common Mistakes | Changing ID FAQ | Real Life Stories

Creating a New Identity Through the Paper Chase System

Can you really create a new identity by borrowing the identity of a dead infant? If you look around you'll find dozens of publications that promise to help you create a new identity in just this way.

Many of these books are based on a technique developed back in the 1970s known as "paper chasing". According to this overused system you wander around a cemetery until you find the grave of an infant who was born about the same time you were. Then, using the information on the gravestone, you obtain the dead infant's birth certificate. You then resurrect the dead child's identity on paper and assume it as your own.

Unfortunately this simple and rather appealing system has one fatal flaw. There's simply no way you can be sure who you'll end up sharing your new identity with. Remember - there's always the chance that someone else visited that same gravestone before you.

One young man who attempted to create a new identity via paper chasing had a slight problem the first time he tried to use his new persona. He confidently checked into a motel only to have a dozen police banging on his door ten minutes later! It seems that he was sharing his new identity with a wanted bank robber.

Another lady living under a deceased child's identity landed in a local jail when she tried to cash a check in one of those check-cashing stores. Once again, a criminal had beat her to the punch. In order to get herself out of jail, she had to reveal all the details of her original life to the police.

Unfortunately a new identity borrowed from a dead infant can easily be exposed as fraudulent as it will forever be linked to others by both the name and the birthdate. Today many vital records offices are busy cross-referencing their birth and death records. As a result, in the near future anyone who attempts to verify one of your new identity documents will be promptly informed that you're dead!

Since this approach is a favorite of hardened criminals and is widely discussed in prisons, there's an excellent chance you'll end up sharing your new identity with a major criminal. Perhaps you'd like to share your new identity with someone on the FBI's top ten most wanted list? Or maybe you would you like to share your new identity with an international terrorist? While this system worked well back then, today it's clearly an invitation to disaster and should be carefully avoided.