OPSEC. Operattional Security

[JoneYanda]

Can someone inbox me about the BEG bust? I keep seeing them referenced regularly. How did they get busted?

[Gourmand56]

As I'm considering moving from MPs to providers, I want to get a burner phone.

Where are good places to buy one without the paperwork tying phone to me?

Are flip-phones better than smartphones?

Other tips or suggestions welcomed.

You can get a prepaid phone using cash from any retailer like Walmart or Best Buy. I think even CVS sells them. Paperwork is only required if you're not doing prepaid.

Theoretically a flip phone could be more private because you don't have several different vendors trying to keep track of your internet usage. But the service provider would still have location texts and calls so I don't know that it's really much better. Any phone can be tracked since it has to connect to a cell tower. At least with a smart phone you can use encrypted messaging apps like Telegram or imessage when you have to text.

[MechanicJack]

RickNva-.

Here is what I do: I paid cash for a burner that is a flip phone and then I just buy prepaid minutes from "tracfone" which is the prepaid provider. I pay cash for everything. You can get minutes lots of places.

If you want to be extra secure, you may consider buying phone / minutes from a corner store or place that has les rigorous protocols on maintaining security camera / CCTV footage. Most big stores retain as a matter of policy for 90 days. The rationale for buying from a place w limited CCTV storage is even if the phone number is traced back to a purchase, you want that footage of you to eventually disappear (and sooner the better). If you are extremely cautious you can wear a hat / COVID mask when you purchase, and / or purchase from a place you can access on foot (and aren't getting into a car w license plates tied to you for and the parking lot). I will admit that just buying in cash from a smaller store is probably secure enough, as I can't find marine a universe where LEO would be trying to find the identity of an unknown suspect buying a burner phone, but the always think better safe than sorry.

Once you have the phone, I would turn it off and not ever turn it on at your home. You don't want it pinging to towers near your home on any regular frequency (LEO can get tower data easily).

As for smartphone vs flip phone, I would get a smart phone if you want to use apps or websites. Just make sure you have a secure encrypted email (proton mail, etc) that you associate w all such logins and don't use that email for anything else.

Just my thoughts and. 02. I am sure others have ideas too.

Best of luck, BSOT, and Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays.

-Jack.

As I'm considering moving from MPs to providers, I want to get a burner phone.

Where are good places to buy one without the paperwork tying phone to me?

Are flip-phones better than smartphones?

Other tips or suggestions welcomed.

[Member #6802]

As I'm considering moving from MPs to providers, I want to get a burner phone.

Where are good places to buy one without the paperwork tying phone to me?

Are flip-phones better than smartphones?

Other tips or suggestions welcomed.

[JmSuttr]

I haven't played around with it yet but, from an OPSEC perspective, it certainly looks interesting. I'm medium tech-savvy so just wondering if any of the resident tech gurus have any thoughts on the matter.

https://developer.android.com/about/...#private-space

[FarFarAway]

Any of you who know how, could you write up a how-to concerning using AI to massage my real photo so that I can use it on my profiles or send it to a POT without risk? That is, it looks enough like me to skate by, but can't really be used to track me down IRL.

[FarFarAway]

What methods do you use to search and to make sure that phone numbers haven't been compromised?

Not sure about 'compromised'. What happened was, I got a notice my credit report was available. I have great credit, I never look at these, but I decided to. There on my credit report was my old burner hardline #. I have zero idea how this could have happened. I *never* use anything that can be tied to me to pay for anything even remotely related to play. I use cash and prepaid debit cards. Hence, it was good I could change the number of the hard line of my burner. Easy peasy.

Here's another problem. I have a number I got from Google Voice, used it for years. I have seen a couple of times, when it comes up on someone else's google SMS, the Contact is listed as Sugar Dadddy (yes, 3 ds). I would prefer this not be the case, I'd rather it just be the number. I use my GV # for many things besides arrangements. I could obviously just get a new GV # - but then I would lose contact w / all those who have the old one, unless I specifically emailed them to give them the new #. I recently got a text from someone I hadn't' heard from in 6 months, we're trying to connect again, I would hate to lose out on this sort of thing.

I of course periodically do searches on myself and all my different numbers to make sure IK how I appear to people I contact.

[Member #6951]

I just got a new burner smartphone through Tracfone. It is a Galaxy A14 I got for $100 cash at Walmart. I already had an account w / Tracfone, I was able to transfer service pretty easily from my old phone, it was getting glitchy. The new one has tons more storage, like 64 GB. I can put more apps on it, the ones I use are a lot are dayuse, hoteslbyday, snapchat, google voice. I want to add instagram, I use that to communicate w / a nuru place in town that flies very under the radar.

I like my tracfone service, using a synthetic number on Google Voice, I can pay like $20 to get 90 days of service and 2 GB of data, that covers all the texting I'll do.

I also recently went through an automated process to change the number on the phone itself. I found the old burner number associated with myself IRL, I wanted to nip that in the bud for sure. I have no idea how that could have happened, but it doesn't apply anymore.

What methods do you use to search and to make sure that phone numbers haven't been compromised?

[FarFarAway]

I just got a new burner smartphone through Tracfone. It is a Galaxy A14 I got for $100 cash at Walmart. I already had an account w / Tracfone, I was able to transfer service pretty easily from my old phone, it was getting glitchy. The new one has tons more storage, like 64 GB. I can put more apps on it, the ones I use are a lot are dayuse, hoteslbyday, snapchat, google voice. I want to add instagram, I use that to communicate w / a nuru place in town that flies very under the radar.

I like my tracfone service, using a synthetic number on Google Voice, I can pay like $20 to get 90 days of service and 2 GB of data, that covers all the texting I'll do.

I also recently went through an automated process to change the number on the phone itself. I found the old burner number associated with myself IRL, I wanted to nip that in the bud for sure. I have no idea how that could have happened, but it doesn't apply anymore.

[Download X]

I guess I am not as paranoid as most people here. I use this app in a burner phone actually, but I do this mainly to keep this hobby hidden from my SO. I really don't care about being super secretive from tech savvy people. Seems to me like lots of people think the LE will confiscate their phone and start hacking it to build a case again them.

Local LE are super duper lazy, more than people realize. If you hand them everything they need, they'll do their job. Very few are going to spend more than a few minutes figuring it out unless their boss tells them. Several times I have had police knock on my door due to a neighbor's report. I ignored them. They left. They never returned.

This is why they do organized stings. It takes a crew of each person doing a simple job, getting the evidence they know they need, keeping it simple and repetitive. Half of those cases never even make it to court because the prosecutor's job is to pick strong cases and ignore the weaker ones.

A sting makes a strong case because the police are the witness. Not so when two consenting adults are in a room, then they need to do a lot more work to capture each element of proof. It's simply way more work.

This is taking local LE. Feds are the opposite, very thorough and meticulous. But they only handle trafficking cases since prostitution is not a federal crime. In the Boston 10 case the Feds handed over their evidence to local LE in Massachusetts and Virginia, holding a press conference saying they cannot pursue those cases themselves. Massachusetts took the evidence, Virginia however refused. It was too much work for them, that's how lazy they are. We are talking video surveillance the Feds did, plus text messages. Not "client lists". Client lists are not proof of a crime. They are worthless in a local prostitution case because you need more evidence, which means a lot more work to get that. They are not like the Feds.

So it goes both ways. We have a case where Feds have detailed evidence and security footage of clients entering the brothel and their name and ID, even text messages, but Virginia was like "that's still too much work" and didn't pursue. Whereas Massachusets did. Once again LE does not want client lists, that is not enough. If they were going by that, it would be thousands of clients over multiple locations. Not 28 people for years of business.

[AnonDemon69]

Think TextNow isn't retaining a history of All your messages? Think again. Try this: export a conversation where someone sent you some photos. Open the export and you'll find a web link to each photo in that conversation.

Lou.

I guess I am not as paranoid as most people here. I use this app in a burner phone actually, but I do this mainly to keep this hobby hidden from my SO. I really don't care about being super secretive from tech savvy people. Seems to me like lots of people think the LE will confiscate their phone and start hacking it to build a case again them. LE is only concerned with the traffickers, not the clients. They don't have the budget and resources to go after every single person. Also, I delete all my texts from this app throughout the day. Yes, I am sure TextNow has a history, but that would require LE to get a warrant, serve it to the App, that the App actually complies, and that you wrote some damming messages. I would be more worried about what you type in those messages, I make sure that I don't type anything that could be used against me with agencies and providers. As far a SB's go, just don't discuss PPM there and you are good to go, they are basically just a friend that you are sexting with.

[Proflou2019]

Included all the hotels where I conducted SB business, if you know what I mean.

Every modern phone has an "Airplane Mode".

ME, I put both phones in Airplane Mode a couples blocks before arriving at destinations, and never take either phone into a place. If you're even MORE paranoid, disable Location Services too before getting close.

Lou.

[FarFarAway]

Two devices eliminates virtually any possibility of slipping up, which is easy to do. I have a second number for business contacts on my phone. It's super convenient, but at least once a quarter, I'll accidentally text or call a business contact from my personal number or vice versa. It doesn't cause any problems if do, that's why I keep that set up. But if it did, I would keep it completely isolated.

Yes, IK, I've got 100 x your posts. For me, having a burner is the safest for that reason. It is never at home. There are ways that things could cross over on a single device that I would not have the technical expertise to understand. And I want to be in a position at any moment to hand my devices (phone and laptop) to my SO to let her look through them, to allay any suspicions she might have. This was such a common event in the past now it likely would not occur to her to look at my devices. However, I never have to sweat it, because IK there is nothing there to be found.

[CuriousVaMan]

When I installed IOS 18 on my iPhone, it has a new Apple IOS App called "Passwords. " This App has a folder called "Wi-Fi" which conveniently recorded every wi-fi I had connected to in the last 3 years. Included all the hotels where I conducted SB business, if you know what I mean. You can manually erase these networks, but let's be honest. Everything is recorded. Fortunately, my SO is very low-tech. . . .

True. Staying off wifi is good opsec but if an entity has the resources to look for relationships between when and where you power your device on, you're screwed. With enough historical data and analysis of that data, anybody can be sniffed out.

[Gourmand56]

I understand that two devices in proximity can give away the connection between them. This is how Petraeus was caught having an affair w / his biographer. They never actually sent any emails to one another, but they had an account they could both access and leave 'drafts' for the other. Smart.

However, IDK that having two phones, IRL and burner, poses much of a risk. Yeah, Google likely knows there is a connection between the two, but IDK what risk that poses to me. My main worry is my SO. If LE wanted to track down my activities for some reason, well, they have a lot more power and that would be a bigger worry. But that isn't my situation.

Two devices eliminates virtually any possibility of slipping up, which is easy to do. I have a second number for business contacts on my phone. It's super convenient, but at least once a quarter, I'll accidentally text or call a business contact from my personal number or vice versa. It doesn't cause any problems if do, that's why I keep that set up. But if it did, I would keep it completely isolated.