Here’s the ultimate guide on anonymous payment modes. I say guide, because this isn’t just a list of the best untraceable payment modes. Rather, you’ll also learn how to acquire said payment modes and add anonymity to your transactions.
Do you wish to make an anonymous payment online, or offline? Well, it doesn’t matter to me. This guide covers both arenas. Yes, you’ll learn how to pay both online and offline without that payment being linked to you.
In most cases, there are no additional charges to you. These are simply different ways to pay for your things and are free.
What are Anonymous Payment Modes for Privacy and Anonymity?
I know, you’re saying – Hey, I know what anonymous payments are. Why else would I be reading this? While you’re correct, help me improve your understanding (please?)
There is not one, but two major types of anonymity related to payments.
The first is- “100% anonymity from your government, the seller, and everyone else”. This is when you need to ensure not even law enforcement can link your payments to you.
The other kind is simply “anonymity from the seller”. This is when you wish to purchase something without revealing your identity to the seller or on the purchase receipt. You may not like leaving footprints or your name with sellers for various reasons (e.g. buying sex toys, Porn Videos Subscription, or Any kind of Software tools (VPN software, Privacy Software)).
For the most part of this guide, I’ll be talking about the first kind of anonymity. This is because the first kind ensures you automatically get the second kind of anonymity I just mentioned.
However, the first kind (100% anonymity) requires a few additional steps than the second kind. Hence, towards the end of this piece, I’ve included a few of those too.
Anonymous Payment Modes – The Very Basics
For any and all types of anonymous payments, there are a few basics you must ensure. Regardless of which payment mode you use, these steps are almost mandatory.
- Use a VPN for all online payments. Even if you use the most anonymous modes of payment, you can always be traced without a VPN. That’s because your IP is always recorded for almost all transactions on the web. Even if your payment is 100% anonymous, your IP reveals that it was made from your machine and location. The VPN hides your IP address and makes you invisible. I’ll suggest NordVPN as it’s the most secure VPN in my opinion despite being one of the cheapest.
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- Never use your real name/address when buying or signing up at any of these anonymous payment modes. If real data is mandatory, that service isn’t anonymous.
- Always use an anonymous e-mail ID whenever an e-mail is required. You may Try Tutanota, Proton.me, Skiff.com or Countermail email services .
- When paying offline, pay attention to cameras. They can always obliterate any and all anonymity your payment mode may offer you.
- Turn off your phone’s GPS (and internet if possible) before you arrive at an offline payment location.
Cryptocurrencies (Online Payments)
Cryptocurrencies are without doubt the most anonymous modes of payment in existence (if you put in some efforts).
They’re basically like digital money. You buy Cryptocurrencies and store them in a wallet on your computer or phone. You can then make payments wherever needed using this digital wallet.
With crypto, there are no names involved. No account numbers or identification. Whenever you need to pay, you basically send funds from your wallet to the wallet of the receiver.
The only information the receiver receives from you is your wallet address. It cannot be used to link the payment to you personally.
Cryptocurrencies are mostly used as an investment or asset due to their magnanimous growth.
However, Satoshi Nakatomo’s (founder of Bitcoin) goal with Bitcoin was not to create an investment asset. Rather, it was to facilitate payments and create a digital financial system.
In other words, Cryptocurrency was created to replace traditional money.
Now, not all Cryptocurrencies are anonymous. Even when they are, some are more anonymous than others. For e.g. Bitcoin was initially considered to be anonymous but it still can be traced with hardcore blockchain analysis. Monero on the other hand is much harder to trace.
Trying to buy these cryptocurrencies anonymously then you may try peer to peer trading exchange like paxful.com localcryptos.com.
Cryptocurrency Debit Cards (Online & Offline Payments)
The first and primary argument used against Cryptocurrency is that it’s limited. It requires an internet connection and only a handful of merchants actually accept Cryptocurrencies.
Not anymore. We’ve now got Cryptocurrency “Debit cards”. These are just like any other normal debit card you use. The only difference is, instead of your bank account, these are linked to your crypto wallet.
These can be used nearly everywhere in the real-world. Any place that accepts card payments accepts most of these cards. You don’t even have to tell them you’re using Cryptocurrencies.
You simply swipe your card as you normally do. The only difference is, the funds will be deducted from your crypto wallet and not your bank.
Not just purchases, some of these cards even allow free ATM withdrawals. That means you can literally withdraw your Cryptocurrencies using a normal, everyday ATM! How much more real-world can it get, eh?
The currency conversion happens in real time in most cases.
As is expected, most of these cards aren’t free. There’s generally a yearly/one-time fee for the card and some charge (usually very minimal) on each transaction.
The Coinbase debit card or the Binance debit cards are currently some of the best. I say best in terms of security, fees and cashbacks.
Prepaid Debit Cards
These are a much older form of anonymous payments. They’re similar to Cryptocurrency debit cards, the difference is there’s no Cryptocurrency involved.
These cards are pre-loaded with funds. While buying these cards, you aren’t required to provide any identification.
This means, you buy a card, walk to any place that accepts cards and make your payment. Because this card has no link to “you”, the payment will never be linked to you.
The biggest drawback with prepaid debit cards? You can’t reload them anonymously. Reloading often requires details that may link the card to you.
It’s best to use a prepaid debit card just once, till it runs out of funds that were pre-loaded onto it. These aren’t very expensive and can be easily discarded.
You can buy these prepaid debit cards very easily almost anywhere. I’ve found them at grocery stores, metro stations, gas stations and many other locations. You can also buy them online from hundreds of providers.
Note: For Prepaid Debit Card you can check out https://crypto.com/
Cash
I doubt I even need to explain this. Cash is a physical asset that you exchange for something of equal (more or less) value.
It’s noteworthy that cash used to be a lot more anonymous than it actually is today. These days, cash transactions bigger than a specific amount often require you to attach identification.
However, cash is still king when it comes to making person-to-person payments. This is because it’s very hard if not impossible for the receiver to prove that the cash came from you.
The only problem on your end is taking care of your acquisition point. You need to ensure you did not get that cash directly from a bank or ATM for maximum anonymity.
If any receipts of the transaction exist, make sure you use false details for your name and other data. Do note that this may be illegal in your region in which case I’d suggest not breaking the law.
Cash can actually even be used to buy Cryptocurrencies. That makes your crypto 100% anonymous and it’s still legal.
Gift Cards
I’m sure you’ve heard scammers often asking for “gift cards”. There’s a reason for that. Once they get the gift card, it becomes very hard for you to trace or convict them.
So, gift cards do not have any personal information attached to them. They’re more or less similar to prepaid cards. The difference is most gift cards are attached to specific merchants, e.g. Amazon. These can only be redeemed at that merchant and nowhere else.
Do note that open-loop gift cards do exist which can be used almost everywhere.
Even if you purchase a gift card using your credit card, they’re still pretty anonymous. The only thing someone can link in this case is your purchase of the gift card. However, your purchase of an item using that gift card cannot be linked to you.
That’s because anyone could’ve used the gift card to make a purchase, without requiring additional authentication from you.
Physical Proxy
This isn’t much of a “payment mode” and is rather a social engineering technique that can help you make purchases anonymously.
You’ll need either a person or a person’s phone/computer to execute this.
It simply requires you to ask someone else to buy something for you. They buy the item, pay for it with their own money/card, and receive it at their address.
You simply collect it from them and pay them for the item in cash.
Similarly, if you’re buying a digital item and do not wish to use Cryptocurrencies, you need a second device. You use that device to make your purchase and ask the device owner to pay for it using their own e-mails and funds. You pay cash, again.
This helps with both the anonymity types I discussed earlier. First, the seller has no receipt of “you” making that purchase. Second, the law can never prove your involvement as you paid cash.
How to Make Your Crypto Payments Anonymous?
Cryptocurrencies are extremely private by default. However, the anonymity also depends on how you acquired your coins. Whenever buying Cryptocurrencies, you must ensure that you’re not leaving any footprints behind. You can do that if you follow the following:
- Do not use exchange/wallets that require identity verification.
- It’s best to buy Cryptocurrencies using P2P (another person) and pay them using any third-party payment mode. This ensures there’s no link between your payment for the purchase and the Cryptocurrencies you bought. You can use exchanges like paxful.com and localcryptos.com for anonymous P2P transactions.
- Avoid using Credit/debit cards for crypto purchases.
- It’s best to always mix/tumble your Cryptocurrencies once you’ve purchased them*. You can use established mixers like bitmixer for full anonymity.
- As suggested earlier, always use a VPN for Crypto and all other payments.
*Mixing your coins is a simple act of you sending your coins to a mixer’s address, and the mixer sending you new coins in return. The coins you get are different, new coins and not linked to the ones you sent. It basically cleans any footprints that may be associated with your original coins as you now have different coins.
How to Buy Something with 100% Anonymity Online?
Being anonymous online is way easier than maintaining offline anonymity. I’ve covered offline anonymity in the next section too. For now, here’s how you can buy something without being traced online:
- Download a NordVPN. This will ensure none of the actions you perform next can be linked to you or your machine.
- Go to a peer-to-peer Cryptocurrency exchange like Binance and purchase Bitcoin or Monero. You can use any payment mode to pay for these Cryptocurrencies. Because it’s P2P, the payment can’t be linked to your crypto purchase.
- Optional but highly recommended: Mix the Cryptocurrencies you just acquired for additional anonymity.
- Go to the any website that accepts Cryptocurrencies and buy whatever you need.
How to Buy Items Anonymously from Amazon/Walmart/Target offline?
A major misconception with Cryptocurrencies is that they can only be used online, or for online purchases.
No, I’m not talking about you using a Cryptocurrency debit card here. Sure, you can do that. But, there’s another method to make anonymous payments offline.
- Follow the steps in the section above so you have clean (mixed)
- Go to It’s a website that lets you buy gift cards for nearly all major brands, using Cryptocurrencies.
- On Gyfter, select your merchant. You can go with Amazon, Walmart, Target or any of the other brands.
- Purchase the gift card using the Cryptocurrencies you acquired earlier.
- Purchase the item you need using this gift card.
This is anonymous because there’s no link between the Cryptocurrency and the gift card. Then, an additional layer of separation exists between the gift card and you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Here are a few questions that will help you understand untraceable payments better.
Are anonymous payments legal?
Obviously. If paying cash is legal, so are anonymous payments. It’s never the mode of payment that’s legal or illegal. It’s always what you’re paying for, and how you’ve got the funds or currency that you’re paying with.
Are Cryptocurrencies legal?
Yes, Cryptocurrencies are legal almost everywhere (except a few countries which like to ban nearly everything, e.g. China). In fact, a number of countries have even adopted Cryptocurrencies as legal tender, El Salvador is the first name on that list.
Even countries like U.K, Denmark, Japan, France, UK, Spain and many others have legalized Cryptocurrencies.
Which is the best of these modes of anonymous payment?
Cash has ruled the world for a very long time and there’s a reason for that. However, if you’d like to pay online, there’s no mode more anonymous than Cryptocurrencies.
Are these payment modes slow?
This was true maybe half a decade back. Today, anonymous payment modes are just as fast as cards or PayPal transactions. Sometimes faster.
What and where can I buy using anonymous payments?
Any website that accepts Cryptocurrencies essentially accepts anonymous payments. If you get a Bitcoin debit card, you can buy almost everything on the planet using your debit card offline.
Some of the top companies accepting Cryptocurrencies directly are Tesla, NameCheap, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Lamborghini, Virgin Galactic and many hosting services, domain services and much more.
You can also use your Cryptocurrencies to purchase gift cards for various merchants (Amazon, Walmart, Target etc.) and buy anything anonymously.
Do I need to pay tax on anonymous payments?
Technically, no. They’re anonymous, so your government has no reason to ask you to pay for a transaction that’s not even yours. I’d highly suggest not avoiding taxes though.
Legal Disclaimer:
This article discusses more than one way to pay anonymously. Note that this is only for educational and research purposes.
This article should not be used to engage in illegal activities. These activities include but aren’t limited to the sale/purchase of illegal goods, tax evasion, etc.
Any and all of your actions will be your own responsibility. This website and its creators will not be held responsible for any of your actions.
Final Words:
To sum it all up, I’ll say use Cryptocurrencies for all online payments and gift cards for offline payments. Use Cryptocurrencies to purchase those gift cards for added anonymity.
Again, no mode is safe if you aren’t careful on your end. Hence, do not skip the VPN as the IP address nullifies any anonymity you may otherwise have.
Finally, be sure to not engage in illegal activities or use these methods for tax evasion. That’s a crime. That’ll be all; I do hope you’ve found at least a few anonymous payment modes on this guide.
