Member-only story
Passports of Escape
Identity Reinvented
Darknet businesses are popping up everywhere and are going mainstream. Yes, several Darknet organizations will build you a new identity along with a suitable passport. However, we are now seeing regular governments who want to get in on the action. Take, for example, the small island northeast of Australia that used to be called the New Hebrides now renamed Vanuatu. Vanuatu achieved independence on 30 July 1980 from France and Great Britain. No, we never heard of it either. They have a great business model is selling citizenship in their country. If you bring enough investment funds, a nice shiny new Vanuatu passport can be yours.
What does this have to do with the Darknet business? It seems that the Vanuatu citizenship bureau isn’t too fussy about why you want the passport and citizenship. Our friends at the Guardian have done a little digging on those people who feel compelled to leave their birth country to settle in beautiful Vanuatu. Some new arrivals to Vanuatu include an Italian broker accused of extorting the Vatican, the consequences of which could be more than Italian jail time. South African brothers were accused of absconding with bitcoin worth more than $3bn from their investors, the alternative included potential missing body parts. And, a disgraced Turkish banking mogul who served time for harboring his nephew after a murder…
