Is there a way to send a package anonymously in the U.S. so that the recipient can't find who sent it?
Weird question: how can I postal mail a package without revealing my sending location | MacRumors Forums
Best way to receive packages anonymously?
Your best option is finding someone with a normal street address that is willing to "rent" their address to you. Ship everything via a courier and not the USPS. FedEx is an option but a small, private courier would be even better.
If money isn't an issue, pay someone to pick up the item for you and then transport it to a place of your choosing and to leave it there or deliver it.
More on reddit.comNew shipper
No, I am not sending illegal or harmful things. I am wondering because I want to ship a spare part I'm not using to an online friend who I don't know IRL. They can receive it anonymously through a package locker or P.O. box. Ideally, I would like it so they can't see my name or address either.
I don't care if the shipping company has my records, so long as the recipient doesn't (and can't obtain it).
I realize that this a stretch, but I am looking for ways to recieve packages purchased anonymously - or at least enough to through off anything but a specific, active, law enforcement investigation (i.e. mass, casual surveillance wont see it as me, and anyone looking back months or years down the road wont have be able to make the connection - at least without extraordinary measure). Nothing being delivered is illegal or even necessarily dangerous - it's just things I wouldn't want to be formally associated with, plus a general desire to spoof behavioral analysis/profile building.
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The "purchasing" part is already pretty well taken care of: Burner emails/accounts with no real personal info, over Tor (when possible), or over strong (tumbled Bit-coin payed/fake email) VPNs in a public location when not, using tumbled Bit-coins/store bought pre-paid gift cards at places with no cameras, far from home, only used months after acquisition, blah, blah, blah.
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My issue is delivery, I can considered using rent-a-mailbox places with a false ID, and rotating every few months. But, someone said that your documents eventually get submitted to USPS, and then federal checks, so bad things can happen/anonymity wont necessarily last. I have no idea if it is true - but it does raise concerns.
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This is not for general online shopping - I think it is too difficult to manage anonymizing for all routine purchases/if it gets too obvious it will fail, so I guess the databases will end up knowing my general household purchases. But I'd like some private options.
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So, any other ideas? Any well run dead-drop/locker type places? Places that don't interact with USPS so false IDs wont be an issue? etc.
Your best option is finding someone with a normal street address that is willing to "rent" their address to you. Ship everything via a courier and not the USPS. FedEx is an option but a small, private courier would be even better.
If money isn't an issue, pay someone to pick up the item for you and then transport it to a place of your choosing and to leave it there or deliver it.
I like your due diligence on that you are actually making sure that your opsec is airtight. It seems like you are trying to finding a way to cover every possible attack vector. Well done! Keep going.
As to your question: I haven't found a really bulletproof way to do that yet too.
In theory, someone could setup a global service that accepts and processes mail as a trusted intermediary. A seller could generate a new unique package sticker on the service's website (print it) that records the state of the package in the company's database. When registering the packet (generating the package sticker on the website), the seller will need to pay a fee via Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. After that has been done, the package sticker will be registered in the company's database and is awaited for arrival.
This package sticker could consist of the following aspects. The buyer gives the seller information on the branch of the company that is most convenient for him to visit. The seller will provide a message in plain text to the buyer who will hash it and encrypt it with PGP. The buyer then sends back the hashed and encrypted message. The seller will put the company's branch (its location), the message in plain text and the hashed and encrypted version onto the package sticker and send it off.
The company will receive the package, scan the printed package sticker (see if it matches with a registered package sticker; else discard) and take custody of the package for a certain amount of time. When the buyer wants to get the package, he will visit the branch, and prove that he can decrypt the message by using his private key in an app provided and created by the service to facilitate proof of ownership. The idea is a bit like the process of tumbling Bitcoins.
There are some caveats with this attempt (I just came up with it to think of an approach to tackle this). In some cases, the trusted intermediary could collude with LE and turn itself into a honeypot. I also don't know if this attempt breaks any laws or not. That's up for the lawyers to decide. There might be more attack vectors that I'm not seeing right now.
It's also important that no logs of IP addresses are kept, that there are no cameras in the pickup room and that mail records are deleted after the package has been picked up. This should guarantee maximum secrecy.
For a trustless way, you should take a look at Lelantos. It's like The Onion Routing, but for anonymous real physical packet delivery exactly what you are searching for. https://www.deepdotweb.com/2017/06/20/lelantos-first-blockchain-based-anonymous-package-delivery-system/ It's still only a proof of concept though.
Do you require to show proof of id if the shipper isn’t saved under their phone number/just new to shipping or just take their word who they are?