I used this VPN to create a new, secure identity as a pensioner – now it’s 88% off for Black Friday

VPNs now do far more than just encrypt your online traffic. Surfshark’s Alternative ID tool, however, takes added security functionalities to a level unseen among all the best VPNs out there.

It gives you everything: a new name, address, email address, and, for an added fee, phone number – though the latter only works properly in the US right now. Your new persona can then be used to sign up for online newsletters or shopping accounts that you might want to help you save a bit more over Black Friday – all without risking any of your genuine personal data.

Given the possibilities this feature offers, I spent a week using an alternative identity, becoming 64-year-old Brendan Lloyd Lewis, to see if it’d help me stay secure day-to-day, and frankly, I was impressed.

Creating my pension-collecting alter ego took only a few clicks, and, once complete, I could copy and paste any details I needed straight from the app. It’s also been built into Surfshark’s web extension too, so it can auto-fill sign-up forms for you without needing to manually copy and paste.

I took it for a spin with a few of my favorite online clothes stores, which are often known for their excessive promotional emails, and, to my shock, it worked faultlessly.

Any emails were securely forwarded to an email address of my choosing, leaving me only having to set up an automation moving anything received by my Alternative ID to a folder away from my inbox. Once done, voila, a clean inbox, all the discounts a shopaholic could dream of, and no risks of a data breach, in one fell swoop!

Annoyingly, since I’m based in the UK, I couldn’t test Alternative Number during my time as Brendan. In short, any phone call to your alternative number is handled within the Surfshark app, from which you can do anything you’d normally expect you could on a standard phone call.

Alternative ID is something you’ll find on no other VPN; it’s that simple. While NordVPN might offer better performance overall, and Proton VPN might be a more privacy-focused alternative (which also has a killer Black Friday VPN deal), Surfshark offers Alternative ID on even its most basic plan. That means, right now, you can create an entirely new, secure, alternative identity for yourself for only $1.99 per month.

Surfshark Basic is 87% off for Black Friday, giving you 27 months of coverage for under $54 – since the $1.99 per month is paid upfront. It’s the lowest price Surfshark has reached in 2025, and the perfect deal if you’re after your own Alternative ID.