{"id":291859,"date":"2021-07-06T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-to-sign-up-for-a-vpn-anonymously\/"},"modified":"2021-07-06T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T12:00:00","slug":"how-to-sign-up-for-a-vpn-anonymously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-sign-up-for-a-vpn-anonymously\/","title":{"rendered":"#How to Sign Up for a VPN Anonymously"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40afaf40a36\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40afaf40a36\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-sign-up-for-a-vpn-anonymously\/#How_VPNs_Know_Who_You_Are\" >How VPNs Know Who You Are<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-sign-up-for-a-vpn-anonymously\/#Change_the_Way_That_You_Pay\" >Change the Way That You Pay<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-sign-up-for-a-vpn-anonymously\/#Use_Disposable_Email_Accounts\" >Use Disposable Email Accounts<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-sign-up-for-a-vpn-anonymously\/#VPNs_That_Dont_Need_Email\" >VPNs That Don\u2019t Need Email<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;#How to Sign Up for a VPN Anonymously&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage wp-image-732517 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/people-icons.png?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Silhouettes of two unknown people.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-vector\/male-female-face-silhouette-icon-man-1177923211\" data-credittext=\"Victor Metelskiy\/Shutterstock.com\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-vector\/male-female-face-silhouette-icon-man-1177923211\">Victor Metelskiy\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>VPNs are advertised as the best\u2014even the only\u2014way in which you can be anonymous while browsing. However, there are two big ways you could lose anonymity: The first is the logs some VPNs keep, and the second is the VPN sign-up process itself.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_VPNs_Know_Who_You_Are\"><\/span>How VPNs Know Who You Are<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p> Even if you\u2019re using the best VPN out there, with up-to-date protocols, state-of-the-art encryption, and a privacy advocate\u2019s dream of a no-log agreement, the VPN itself knows who you are for two reasons: your email address and your payment information.<br \/>\nMost VPNs (We\u2019ll talk about the exceptions later.) require that you submit your email address to create an account. You probably signed up to your email provider with your real name and are using it in correspondence, giving the VPN at least one data point to connect with your account activity.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also a chance that you used your email publicly somewhere, meaning that all anybody would need to do to find out more about you is to plug your email address into a Google search bar and watch the results roll in.<\/p>\n<p>However, the data that can be gathered from your email address is small compared to what can be gleaned from your payment information. Most people default to their credit card or PayPal when buying stuff online, and, well, these companies know a lot about you, and they can\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal-community.com\/t5\/Getting-started\/What-data-is-shared-when-paying-with-Paypal\/td-p\/1245237\">share the information with<\/a> whomever you make a payment to.<\/p>\n<p>They can share not just your name and email, but also, your physical address and any secondary addresses that you use. This data can be a treasure trove to the wrong company, and there are plenty of untrustworthy VPN services out there.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Change_the_Way_That_You_Pay\"><\/span>Change the Way That You Pay<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The best way to avoid a paper trail on your payments is to use either cryptocurrency, cash, or even gift cards. As a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> rule, cryptocurrency\u00a0can\u2019t be traced\u2014not in the same way that credit card transactions can be traced, at least\u2014meaning that you can spend it wherever and whenever and that nobody should be able to find out that it was you waving fat stacks around.<\/p>\n<p>Most VPN services will accept the big names of crypto, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, or services like <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/bitpay.com\/\">Bitpay<\/a> that let you pay with Bitcoin at a set exchange rate. It definitely pays to check your VPN of choice first, as there are no hard and fast rules regarding which services accept what cryptocurrency. Our favorite VPN is <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expressvpn.com\/order?offer=3monthsfree&amp;a_fid=howtogeek&amp;data1=htg&amp;data2=731260\">ExpressVPN<\/a>, and it <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expressvpn.com\/blog\/expressvpn-now-accepts-bitcoin\/\">lets you pay with Bitcoin<\/a>, Etherium, and other cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, crypto comes with two drawbacks. One is that its value relative to existing fiat currencies is unstable, meaning that you could be overpaying or underpaying from hour to hour (It pays to stay alert.). The second issue is that most cryptocurrencies aren\u2019t <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.acuant.com\/blog\/how-anonymous-is-cryptocurrency\/\">anonymous so much as pseudonymous<\/a>.\u00a0If you use a transparent address when making your transactions, you can still be tracked.<\/p>\n<p>A much more stable method and private alternative is cold, hard cash, but that comes with difficulties of its own, most notably how to get it over to your VPN provider. The only good way to get physical banknotes over to your provider is by mail, which some people might be a bit leery about thanks to the age-old advice to never send cash through the mail.<\/p>\n<p>However, few actual postal services seem to repeat this advice: USPS, for example, lets you <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/faq.usps.com\/s\/article\/What-are-the-Limits-for-Insuring-Cash-and-Checks\">insure cash<\/a>\u00a0if you send it registered. Unless you live in an area where mailboxes are regularly broken into, it seems safe enough to send banknotes by mail.\u00a0We figure that, if it was really that bad of an idea, no VPNs would offer it as an option at all.<\/p>\n<p>Still, though, only three VPN services that we know of accept cash, namely,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mullvad.net\/en\/pricing\/\">Mullvad<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ivpn.net\">IVPN<\/a>, and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/protonvpn.com\/support\/payment-options\/\">ProtonVPN<\/a>. Mullvad and IVPN only need you to send the activation token (more on that later) and the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ropriate amount in any number of currencies (euros are the default), and you\u2019ll be signed up once the payment arrives. ProtonVPN requires you to work out your cash payment details beforehand over email.<\/p>\n<p>If you really want to avoid sending cash through the mail and don\u2019t like any of the other options we mentioned, you could go old-school and use a USPS money order to pay for a service called <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ghostpath.com\/signup\/29\">Ghost Path<\/a>. As far as we can tell, this is the only service that offers this option. Obviously, it only applies if you live in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Although we found some mention of using gift cards, paid for with cash, to sign up to several VPNs, only <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/pages\/buy-vpn\/\">Private Internet Access<\/a> seems to accept them. It seems that no other providers accept gift cards from any issuer anymore.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Use_Disposable_Email_Accounts\"><\/span>Use Disposable Email Accounts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Using an anonymous form of payment is the first and most important step to staying hidden when signing up for a VPN. The other is to hide your email address. After all, if you use crypto but also use your regular email address, then you\u2019re not anonymous. You can fix this by using a fake account by creating a throwaway account with Gmail or <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mail.yahoo.com\/\">Yahoo Mail<\/a>\u00a0without using your real name when doing so.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t fancy doing this, you can also use a service designed for throwaway email, like <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/10minemail.com\/en\/\">10 Minute Mail<\/a> or <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guerrillamail.com\/\">Guerilla Mail<\/a>. These kinds of disposable email accounts are enough for VPN services, although you\u2019ll need to make sure that your account info is safe\u00a0(A password manager like Bitwarden or KeePass is a good option.), as you won\u2019t be able to use the service if you ever lose your account credentials or the like.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"VPNs_That_Dont_Need_Email\"><\/span>VPNs That Don\u2019t Need Email<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you don\u2019t want to bother with email at all, there are a few VPN services that don\u2019t require an email address to sign up. Examples include the aforementioned Mullvad and IVPN as well as <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/windscribe.com\/signup\">Windscribe<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptostorm.is\">cryptostorm<\/a>, although that last one isn\u2019t recommended for newbies, as it\u2019s not exactly user-friendly.<\/p>\n<p>In all cases, your account with the VPN service doesn\u2019t use an email address, but a randomly generated code instead. Signing up to them and using either cash or crypto should mean that there\u2019s no trace of you whatsoever, meaning that you can use your VPN in perfect anonymity\u2014as long as you use Incognito Mode and take other measures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/731260\/how-to-sign-up-for-a-vpn-anonymously\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#How to Sign Up for a VPN Anonymously&#8221; Victor Metelskiy\/Shutterstock.com VPNs are advertised as the best\u2014even the only\u2014way in which you can be anonymous while browsing. However, there are two big ways you could lose anonymity: The first is the logs some VPNs keep, and the second is the VPN sign-up process itself. How VPNs&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":291860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/people-icons.png?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}