Law Enforcement Archives

OSINT Research & False Positives

A great deal of time must be spend on OSINT in order to weed out false positives – good intelligence vs bad intelligence. The degree of reliability and authenticity. The importance of an accurate starting point is critical when taking your research on a person of interest to the world wide web.

We will dive into this in more detail in the weeks to come. For now, let’s begin with how to identify a fake photo. Hiding your real identity has never been easier on the web and social media is the scammer’s friend when it comes to this. A photo may be a false positive because while it appears to be the person, in actuality, it is a fake.

Can You Tell the Difference?

Take a close look at the photos above. One is a real person and one is a computer generated photo. Which is which? Not so easy, right? This is something that all of us in the open source research, law enforcement and private investigations industries will need to be proficient at. A great site to test your skills is Which Face is Real?

You may wonder how this is even done. You are not alone! Machine learning has been used to customize and generate realistic photos. It is called StyleGAN.

StyleGAN was originally an open-source project by NVIDIA to create a generative model that could output high-resolution human faces. The basis of the model was established by a research paper published by Tero Karras, Samuli Laine, and Timo Aila, all researchers at NVIDIA.

(source: https://heartbeat.fritz.ai/)

What To Look For

According to Which Face is Real, look for the following things:

Teeth and Hair: Hair and teeth are very difficult to render realistically. Often teeth are odd or asymmetric. Look for a type of hallo over the hair or other odd imperfections.

Eye Glasses: Right now, it’s very hard for algorithms to generate realistic-looking eyeglasses. Take a close look at the style of the glasses. Many times one side will look different than the other side.

Background of the Image: Many times the background of an image is a give-away. Because the concentration is on the face alone, the background may show smudge marks or render unclear.

When in Doubt….

If you suspect your target is using a false identity, you can do your very own “fact checking”. Google image will allow you to upload an image to search the web for other images that look just like it.

One of our recent blog posts discussed this in further detail. Online Research: 3 Tips for Better Results. It is more important than ever to be sure you have the right tools in your tool box.

PS: If you guess the photo of the woman, you are correct! She is a real person.

Don’t forget Hashtags!

Have you used hashtags in your online investigations? What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word hashtag or see the symbol (#)? Do you think of Twitter? Or maybe Instagram, LinkedIn, or even Facebook? Social media users notice hashtags within posts. Some users follow hashtags. Some create them for political purposes. Others use them to track an event or even to make a point. Millions of hashtags are used in Twitter alone each day.

What Makes Up a Hashtag?

A hashtag is simply a keyword phrase, spelled out without spaces, with a pound sign (#) in front of it. Wikipedia calls it a type of metadata tag used on social networks. Looking for the sale of a certain drug in social media? Search the hashtag. Be sure to gather the street names the drug uses, so you get a full picture.

How else can this be used in your investigations? If you are working a high profile criminal case you will want to include this in your research. I would recommend starting in Twitter. If you find a fair amount of information there, I recommend using Tweet Deck and build yourself a dashboard. This will allow you to keep track of any developments using relative hashtags in real time.

Once you have located some good hashtags related to your case, cross reference them in other platforms. Not only will it potentially produce some good information (who, what, where and why), it may also allow you to search photos attached to the post for other possible clues.

Case Study: Hashtag Led to Username

A recent scan we conducted on a person of interest came up empty. Using multiple software platforms as well as good old-fashioned hunting, led to nothing. While searching, we found an important hashtag. By researching the hashtag in each social media platform, we located our person of interest. The username was such, that is just didn’t get picked up by any software platform. It was a very unique variance of this individual’s real name. From there we found a very public profile of the subject.

It is just another example of using hashtags in online research.

Hashtags to Try for Investigations

Take a look at some interesting hashtags next time you are in Twitter. One of the best is #breakingnews. This hashtag can quickly bring you up to speed on news breaking in the moment.

There are so many more, as the photo below showcases.

Selling Drugs in Social Media

With all of the troubling events in our world today, social media seems to be more focused on the Election, COVID-19, Protests and Riots. Not much attention is given these days to selling drugs in social media. However, it is still happening and many police departments are having a hard time keeping up.

Salt Lake City news outlet, (KUTV) actually reported that if your child is on Snapchat, there’s a good chance they are seeing ads from drug dealers. Several 8th grader’s say they see the ads almost daily.

“Like yesterday, this person added me and they were selling Xanax,” said the eighth-grader.
Drug dealers are called “plugs” on social media, sometimes using a plug emoji to describe them.
Some plugs “quick add” people on Snapchat, which categorizes users by zip code.
(reported by KUTV Salt Lake City)

The Dealers Don’t Hide

Just a week ago, we performed a search on a suspect for a client. While combing through the suspect’s social media posts, it became quite obvious she was dealing. She made no secret of it and actually announced she was ready to make a run, and asked if anyone needed anything. Of course, her Facebook page didn’t reveal her real name. She used an alias but we were able to tie it to her name due to many public photos she included of herself. It is not always as secretive as one might think.

Instagram’s Selling of Drugs

A quick search for “#Zannies (a Xanax slang) provided over 4,000 results. They don’t hide it either. The photo below is just one example of what is out there.

Drugs and social media just seem to go hand in hand. In a post we wrote over a year ago, titled, “Buying Drugs on Instagram: It’s easier than you think”, we outlined why this is so easy to get away with.

The problem is Instagram’s algorithms can’t distinguish the context the hashtags are used in. And if a user then follows a dealer using the hashtags, Instagram’s algorithms then suggest that user follow more drug dealers. In the course of one day over 50 Instagram dealer accounts were found simply be searching for different hashtags like #weed4sale.

Most dealer profiles have a bunch or “product” photos displaying their inventory and their contact information is in the bio or comments section. While some bravely post their mobile number, most use a messaging app called Kik and others. No phone numbers or personal info is exchanged here, only user to user messaging.

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Riots & Reddit Have Something In Common

Riots and Reddit are probably not something you would think have anything in common. However, because of the way Reddit is organized, it has been a resource for investigative journalism. It is heavily used for the monitoring of riots across the US.

Let’s start with the basis. What is Reddit, you may ask? Reddit is a large group of forums that discuss all kinds of topics of interest. The site explains itself as the “front page of the internet,” and that’s not an empty boast. Reddit is the sixth most popular site in the United States, according to Alexa, and the 18th worldwide.

Within Reddit are Subreddits. Subreddits are pretty much what they sound like, subgroups that are more specific in nature topic wise. Some of the subreddits are public, while others are private. They’re denoted by /r/, followed by the subreddit’s name, e.g., /r/gaming. The site has many “web sleuths” who use the power or crowdsourcing to reveal video footage of events all across the world.

Portland Subreddit Group

Portland, Oregon has a subreddit page that has 170,000 members and offers live streaming of events. r/Portland is the name of the subreddit. It contains lively conversation, Twitter resources that journalists are using to post about what is happening each night in their city and much more. It is one example of how a subreddit can be used within Reddit for riot monitoring.

Local Resident Uses Subreddit to Assist Police in Hit and Run

Here is a great example on the worth of understanding how Reddit works. One user posted an image of a piece of broken taillight, asking if anyone could identify the type of vehicle it came from. After 400 comments and some back and forth, it was identified correctly by make and model. The user was able to go to his local police station, place a report of a hit and run and provide the officer with the information. This helped aid the officer in finding the owner of the vehicle based on the proof.

Reddit has grown its user base by 30% year-over-year, according to new data released by the company Wednesday. The self-proclaimed front page of the internet now reaches 430 million monthly active users, who collectively have created 199 million posts and 1.7 billion comments.Dec 4, 2019
source: Varitey.com

Interestingly enough, Reddit is an excellent resource for the Private Investigator or OSINT (open source intelligence) professional. In fact, I believe it is just as important as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. So, the next time you are ready to do your own online investigation, don’t forget to check Reddit!

COVID-19 Fraud: South Miami

Emerging scams due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The scams have begun around COVID-19 and it appears to be just starting. When people are hit with diversity, sadly we begin to see the good, the bad, and the ugly. In fact, Americans have lost over 12 million dollars to Coronavirus scams already. The concentration in South Miami has been because of numerous complaints. This alerted the US Attorney’s Office to launch a task force in connection with local authorities to combat this growing problem.

Education is the best defense and law enforcement is doing just that with a series of community alerts, media reports and social media posts. Alerting the public to the risks early in an attempt to counteract the schemes.

In one of our latest blog posts, Crime Never Sleeps COVID-19 Online Schemes & Insurance Fraud, we alerted our Private Investigators to what we were seeing as emerging trends in the insurance industry. Below, is a set of scams targeting individuals.

Here are some examples of COVID-19 scams, reported by Sabrina Lolo, of West Palm Beach News:

Unlawful Hoarding and Price-Gouging: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has designated certain health and medical resources necessary to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as “scarce,” including respirator masks, ventilators, and other medical protective equipment. These designated materials are subject to the hoarding prevention measures that trigger both criminal and civil remedies.
Testing Scams: Scammers are selling fake at-home test kits or going door-to-door performing fake tests for money.
Treatment Scams: Scammers are offering to sell fake cures, vaccines, and advice on unproven treatments for COVID-19.
Supply Scams: Scammers are creating fake shops, websites, social media accounts, and email addresses claiming to sell medical supplies currently in high demand, such as surgical masks. When consumers attempt to purchase supplies through these channels, fraudsters pocket the money and never provide the promised supplies.
Provider Scams: Scammers are also contacting people by phone and email, pretending to be doctors and hospitals that have treated a friend or relative for COVID-19, and demanding payment for that treatment.
Charity Scams: Scammers are soliciting donations for individuals, groups, and areas affected by COVID-19.
Phishing Scams and Cyber Intrusions: Scammers posing as national and global health authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are sending phishing emails designed to trick recipients into clicking on a link or opening an attachment that downloads malware that steals the user’s credentials, such as usernames, credit card numbers, passwords, and other sensitive information usually stored in internet browsers.
App Scams: Scammers are also creating and manipulating mobile apps designed to track the spread of COVID-19 to insert malware that will compromise users’ devices and personal information.
Investment Scams: Scammers are offering online promotions on various platforms, including social media, claiming that the products or services of publicly traded companies can prevent, detect, or cure COVID-19, and that the stock of these companies will dramatically increase in value as a result.
Stimulus Check Scams: Scammers are contacting people over email and are telling them that their check, as part of the stimulus package responding to COVID-19, is already waiting for them and that all they need to do is to provide personal information, such as bank account numbers and Social Security Numbers, which are the key pieces of information needed to perpetrate identity theft.
Other scams include fraudsters claiming to work for the government or banks/credit cards and offering assistance for student loan relief, foreclosure or eviction relief, unemployment assistance, debt relief, and direct financial assistance, like government checks.

Anyone who believes they were a target or victim of fraud, or knows about any hoarding or price-gouging of critical medical supplies, is asked to report it to the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or [email protected].