I'm curious as to what everyone does to cover their tracks while making preparations to create their grow. I'm talking everything from going to the hardware at late at night to pick stuff up to having multiple people pick up supplies. As you can probably tell, I'm one of the most paranoid people you will meet which I think is a good trait for such a hobby. I was even getting nervous at the hardware store while we stacked buckets onto shelves even though my friend said to not worry about it but I still had him take them off as fast as possible lol. What are the do's and don'ts of gathering all pertinent supplies, setting up, and growing in the most secure way possible? I know that when it comes to the actual grow itself, it will differ but there should be some basic guidelines to not showing your hand so to speak I'd like to see this thread become a guide to covering your tracks as from everything I have read, this subject isn't talked about much.
The first thing that comes to mind is pay with cash or money orders when you buy sketchy items. Second...no make that first is don't tell anyone.
like oldskool said, use cash. don't buy all the stuff at the same time, at the same place. also, use your imagination when making purchases. you mentioned buckets. slop some paint on some old jeans and a t-shirt. now you're a painter, buying buckets, no big deal. put on some horn rims and put a pocket protector full of pens in your tucked in white shirt. stuff like that.
Disguise yourself as a painter to buy paint buckets at the hardware store, lol. If you're that paranoid growing cannabis isn't for you. Next time you buy soil disguise yourself as a Mexican or Japanese gardener. There's nothing illegal about buying anything you need to grow accept for buying live seeds in the US. All my seeds are dead, btw. There's a sting set up and they're waiting for you to buy paint buckets so they can follow you home; tip off the DEA, and raid your house, LOL. Don't buy from a hydro shop online with your credit card either... they're all fronts for DEA sting operations Borrow a friends car to go to the hydro shop and make sure you shake any tails before you start heading towards your home, lol. Don't take too much cash out of bank ATM at once, it's a big red flag and the Systems Analysts will report the suspiscious activity to the feds. Better wear a disguise and go to the teller line at the bank. MAKE UP AN ELLABORATE STORY TO EXPLAIN WHY YOU NEED TO WITHDRAW MONEY FROM YOUR BANK ACCOUNT BECAUSE THEY ARE WATCHING YOU! Oh yeah, don't tell anyone, accept the people in the public Internet forums. Seriously... Odor, light leaks and nosey neighbors is what will get you busted. Other things that can get you busted are telling someone who in turn is busted and then flips on you to cut a deal. Or you piss someone off and they narc on you. And last, but not least... you're growing on such a large scale you are actually worth the time and effort to investigate, build a case against, raid and prosecute. They're not going to come after you for buying paint buckets at the local hardware store or for buying grow supplies from an online hydro store. Imagine going into a Judge's chambers with that and asking for a search warrant Peace
one of growers biggest problem is a 'break - in ' if your broken into , even if the theifs dont find your op the cops will turn upto to make your property secure untill you arrive home . thats my biggest paranioa anyway
That's a valid concern but I won't stress over something I can't control and may never happen. My neighbors and I watch out for eachother's homes and it's not likely to happen here. I'm not buddy-buddy with my neighbors and they don't come into my home, but we are friendly and do watch out for eachother. Peace
LOL that was awesome man. I only used the buckets as one specific yet insignificant part of the overall picture. Sure, you can call me paranoid to the point of being ridiculous but there are factors that require such diligence. I'm a realist and I know that simply buying materials won't look suspicious because honestly who actually looks at what anyone else is actually buying? Well, I do actually but I've been doing this long before this hobby arose. You don't ever look at what people are buying when you're standing there waiting to be rung up? What does have me concerned is even in that 1 in a 1,000,000 chance that an off duty cop or narc happens to be behind you. They see buckets, racks, a/c ducts, whatever boarding used for walls, etc and just happen to get suspicious. All they need is that little gut feeling and that's it. It's really reaching and I know this but honestly I would rather be like this than not. I'm very alert of my surroundings anyways but not because of paranoia and I've actually thought about what other people buy in front of me. I don't know why but I'll start to form what type of person they are or the purpose as to what they are buying. I'm one who is always thinking about any and everything so it's just one of many pointless things I think about but it wouldn't be so pointless if a cop had the same idea. Oh yea about the public internet thing. The reason I am not as concerned with it as much as what I have mentioned, is due to the fact that LEO couldn't just happen to figure out who I am from the board. If the board was in the U.S, they would have to purposely get a warrant to obtain that information and quite honestly, there are plenty of much larger fish in this sea compared to me. Yet with even such an amateur OP as mine, I would rather err on the side of caution.
Right on bro. I didn't want to insult anyone. I am hyper observant as well, but try to find balance with humor and try to avoid psyching myself out I post here because the server is in Amsterdam and not likely to be a target of a DEA investigation. Caution is good... just don't let it consume you. Peace P.S. I just smoked three bong hits of Purple kush in your honor