How can a client pay me for freelance work if I don't want him to know my name and he is uncomfortable using bitcoin?
I've been contacted on a specialized Internet forum and offered a well-paid one-off job to translate a highly specialized text, and I'm happy to accept the offer, but there's a problem: I have always posted on that forum under an anonymous nickname and absolutely don't want my real name to get exposed there. I'm a reputable professional in real life, but sometimes made intentionally controversial posts on that Internet forum and want to exclude any possibility of them getting associated with my real name. The guy who made the offer doesn't know who I am - he contacted me by sending a private message via that forum as he was impressed by my expertise, which is obvious to him from my posts on that forum, and by me being bilingual.
I frankly explained him the issue, and he is okay with me staying anonymous to him and is prepared to pay in small installments upon receiving corresponding parts of my translation, but we can't sort out how he can pay me. I suggested he pay in bitcoins, but he says he's very uncomfortable with that means of payment, the reason being that an acquaintance of his was taken into custody because of using bitcoin and Tor. I carefully explained my prospective client that he doesn't need Tor for bitcoin transactions and that using bitcoin isn't illegal by itself in our location (Russia), and I explained him that his acquaintance must have done, or been suspected of, crimes like money laundering or child porn. Despite my explanations, my prospective client is reluctant and asks me to offer him an alternative means of payment.
So what means of payments can I offer him? I thought about simply giving him my credit card number, as those 16 digits are enough to make a transfer, but one country-specific problem renders this idea unacceptable to me. The problem is that if you initiate such a transfer in online banking, you will see the first name, the patronymic name, and the first letter of the surname of the payee so that you can verify that you are paying the right person. That's just how things work in Russia, at least if the payee and the payer are customers of Sberbank, which is the bank that issued my credit card. I also thought about Russian online payment systems such as Qiwi, WebMoney, and Yandex Money, where you can register an electronic wallet, but it doesn't seem easy to find out for sure whether the payer will see my personal details like in Sberbank. Also, I thought about asking a relative of mine to cooperate by receiving money from my client and giving it to me, but I'm afraid my request will be perceived by the relative as fishy and will damage the relationship. And I thought about PayPal, but, unfortunately, I have two PayPal accounts registered in other countries and linked to now-expired cards issued by banks of those countries, and I was careless enough not to close those PayPal accounts. To register a PayPal account in Russia, I first need to close those accounts, and, as I understand, that process will take a lot of time.
So I'm typing my question here in the hope that someone will suggest a good solution. And I want to emphasize that I don't need to hide anything from authorities; I merely want to ensure that my client won't see my name or any personal details.
Update: Thanks a lot for the 12 answers I received so far. Isn't there a convenient online payment option that can be used in my case? I found many alternatives to PayPal (e.g., payeer.com, webmoney.ru, and the payment systems listed in this article), but it doesn't seem easy to find out whether the payer won't see my name. I'd be especially grateful for an answer in which someone who had a personal experience with any convenient online payment system in which the payer doesn't see the payee's name tells about that experience. The suggested system must be available in Russia and shouldn't be very difficult to use. I'd then verify the information and offer my client that means of payment. Otherwise I'll have to resort to a less comfortable solution such as trying to involve a relative as an intermediary or simply telling the client to agree to pay in bitcoins or find another translator.
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If you both are in the same city, you can meet him in a public place and be paid in cash there. This helps him trust that some of what you are saying is true, and you never need to reveal your name. You could even "sign a contract" with your forum name, if that means anything.
He'll need to agree to "no pictures" and follow through on that, other wise you could be image-searched.
Depending on the amount, he could use money orders (for example Western Union), Amazon gift cards (or similar) and DM/email you the codes, or mail you prepaid Visa/Amex credit cards.
If refillable payment cards are commonly used in your region, you could purchase a card and send him whatever information he would need to refill it, usually a QR code or a number. In some countries these can be refilled at convenience stores. You would then use it like a credit card, or transfer the balance to another account. Before doing this, be sure you will be able to get all the money out and that it is still worthwhile after fees.
Use an escrow service
An escrow service is a third party that holds the payment from the buyer while the transaction is in progress. Once the buyer and seller agree that the obligations have been fulfilled, the escrow service releases the funds to the seller.
There are online escrow services that specialize in handling online transactions. I have not used these services, but I would imagine that they could be used in a relatively anonymous way.
Route the money through a trusted third party.
Just ask the client to transfer the money to an account owned by a close friend or relative of yours (anyone you can trust not to run away with the money). That should be untraceable enough for the general public, unless you're such a VIP that all your friends and family members are also publicly known. It won't help hide your identity from the authorities, but if that's your goal, there's many more options how they can track you down.
Use an intermediary.
Rather than your client meeting with that forum person, he could meet with an intermediary that will then provide that payment to the forum persona he is contracting. This intermediary could be a friend of yours, yourself posing as a friend, a lawyer, etc.
Can you add an "authorized user" to your credit card? This may vary by country and card issuer, but in my experience you can direct your credit card company to issue a card to any name you want. By default with my bank I am still responsible for all charges that user makes, and they don't really care who the person I add is and since I'm still responsible they don't ask for any deals on that person. You could conceivably add a pseudonym, as long as it is a reason named (e.g. not an obvious screen name). In that case, they should be asked to confirm the pseudonym, not your real name. Of course I would check with the terms and conditions of the bank issuing the card just to make sure it's not against their policy to do something like this and after the name was added run a test to verify that only the pseudoname showed up.
I think one of the easiest things that you could do (and I've done this myself in Latin America very successfully with much fewer headaches than Western Union, Paypal (that normally freezes $ for 21 days with int'l transactions), etc) is to simply arrange the purchase of BTC on localbitcoins.com for the amount needed and using the payment method that is most comfortable for your client but going directly to you -- this way the client doesn't even need to know that the transaction has any relation to BTC.
There is the ability to pay with literally every payment method under the sun, from Paypal to cash in person to a bank deposit etc.
So basically, you go on the site, find a local seller that accepts the type of payment you want, and start a transaction for the amount needed. The seller gives you the info on how/where to deposit the hard currency, and you forward that info to your client -- and you're good to go! The client only knows the BTC seller's name (if that), deposits the money into their account, and you get the BTC. So everything is completely untraceable, and your client doesn't even need to know that it has anything to do with BTC.
PS: But really I don't know why you can't just ask a friend for their debit card info and tell your client to send it there directly. Another option is to have him drop off cash at a previously agreed upon point. And another option is to have him physically deposit the cash into your bank account with your bank account number (I don't think they need your name for that right? I know that in some countries they do and in others they don't).
PPS: Do you have friends or relatives who are bartenders, store clerks, or waiters? Because that's another commonly done option -- since the places they work at are public, he can just physically leave them an envelope and you can later get it from them (although I'm guessing with Covid everything is closed?).
PPPS: Why can't you open up a PayPal account in Russia because of your other two accounts? As far as I know, the Paypal branches don't talk to each other (I've had 3 accounts in different countries) and so long as you use different emails, you should be good. How would they even be able to link your Russian identity to the identity docs that you used in the other countries? Many people can have the same name, which would be the only match. However, I think with Paypal he would be able to see the name anyway so its a moot point (unless you open a business Paypal account I believe).
Last note: I think you are overthinking this because you are focusing too much on the "anonimity" factor. Think of it from the perspective "if I did not have a bank account, lost all my other documents, and the client was in a different city I could not travel to, how would I handle receiving this payment?" and it becomes much easier.
Good luck!
You could use shopify. But since this isn't free it only really makes sense, if you often want to receive money anonymously and would like to add a payment option to your personal website.
Perhaps the client can go to a branch of your bank and deposit cash using your account number without needing your name. I don't know about Russia, but in general banks are happy to take a deposit from anyone to any account. You'd want to check and make sure this doesn't result in the client getting, e.g., a receipt showing your name.
I am not familiar with Russia's postal service, but might you go low-tech and simply have the client physically mail you currency? Again, ignorance of Russian services available, but in the US you can rent a postal box for a relatively low sum and have mail delivered to that address without giving up any of your person details to the client, other than the address you established.
Other answers involving intermediaries are implying that the OP should trust the intermediary.
This, however, is not strictly necessary.
The intermediary could receive hard currency from the buyer (how, is up to them), and then pay you in BTC.
This way, you would stay fully pseudonymous.
An intermediary PayPal account might work. To withdraw money from PayPal you need to link the PayPal account to your bank account, but it should be possible in theory to create an additional PayPal account, give that account to your customer, then you transfer between PayPal accounts and withdraw from "your" PayPal account.
Important disclaimer: PayPal was known to freeze people's money/accounts for arbitrary reasons, I can see this double account scheme running afoul of their fraud detection and they might freeze/close one or both of your accounts. Use this at your own risk.
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