I would have thought I had to go to a phone store. Thx. Interesting.

A totally anonymous phone card would be a bit tougher. My guess is that the proliferation of iot devices like CPAPs using mobile data plan means that one could be stolen or dumpster-found without someone knowing the chip needs to be deactivated.

> A totally anonymous phone card would be a bit tougher Depends on where you buy them. The internet is big and you can have stuff delivered anywhere, including somewhere that doesn't have your name or address.

But hard to pay without your name, right?

I think a common form of theft is for someone to be defrauded by an order sent to a third party, as if it were a gift and for the package to be picked up from the third party similar to porch pirate activities. I saw a short documentary about this performed at an semi-industrial scale where the pickup was done by a car service person as a side-gig.

How is that hard? Cash exists, pre-paid debit and credit cards exist (which you then buy with cash). Gift cards exist.

The US seems ok but your mileage may vary by domicile:

As of early 2021, 157 governments required some form of proof of identity before a person could purchase a SIM card, but what form of ID and what other information may be required varies.

https://www.privacyinternational.org/long-read/3018/timeline...