What is a Banking Passport?
Are Banking Passports Still Useful in the 2020s?
Banking passports are travel documents, often from poor African or Asian countries and considered useless for travel but useful for opening a bank account.
They’re often promoted as being available with any name and date of birth you want.
One promoter recently offered banking passports with secondary ID and fake utility bills to open bank accounts.
Promoters charge thousands of dollars for these dubious documents.
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As there are multiple people promoting these documents online I have no doubt that some people are buying them.
It seems like an insane risk to take. If you’re even able to open the account how long can you keep it for?
Banks have to report any accounts or even account opening requests that appear suspicious.
If you’re a white anglo-saxon opening a new account with a passport from an obscure Asian or African country you will likely be flagged up for additional scrutiny.
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Worse yet, if you manage to open an account with your newly acquired banking passport and deposit money in the account you might find it gets blocked and questions are asked later.
In this scenario you would never be able to back up your identity if you had to take the bank to court to access your funds.
You’d be waving goodbye to whatever amount you deposited in the bank account.
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Nowadays with CRS you’ll be asked for tax information too.
You might not care about your account details being sent to the African or Asian country where your fake passport comes from but who knows what lines of enquiry it opens up when some bureaucrat in a far off land wonders who you are.
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Having a banking passport may seem like a good way to beat the system.
I understand that mentality.
Every day here at Offshore Fortress we look for innovative ways to legally beat the avalanche of pointless bureaucracy thrown at us.
However buying and using a banking passport is not going to work in the 2020s.
There are plenty of legal ways to achieve what you want in the offshore world.
It might take a little more time and planning but you will sleep well at night knowing that your assets are fully secure whatever happens.
Those that have fallen for the pitches of the snake oil salesmen promoting banking passports may not be so fortunate.
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If you'd like help with protecting your assets, opening bank accounts or getting second citizenships and residences email info@offshorefortress.com or contact us here