Law Enforcement Archives

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 disaster@leo.gov.

OSINT Research: The Devil’s in the Details

For those unfamiliar with the term OSINT Research, it is explained this way by Wikipedia

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of information that is gathered from public, or open, sources.^[2] OSINT is primarily used in national security, law enforcement, and business intelligence functions and is of value to analysts who use non-sensitive intelligence in answering classified, unclassified, or proprietary intelligence requirements across the previous intelligence disciplines.

OSINT sources can be divided up into six different categories of information flow

Media, print newspapers, magazines, radio, and television from across and between countries.
Internet, online publications, blogs, discussion groups, citizen media (i.e. – cell phone videos, and user created content), YouTube, and other social media websites (i.e. – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). This source also outpaces a variety of other sources due to its timeliness and ease of access.
Public Government Data, public government reports, budgets, hearings, telephone directories, press conferences, websites, and speeches. Although this source comes from an official source they are publicly accessible and may be used openly and freely.
Professional and Academic Publications, information acquired from journals, conferences, symposia, academic papers, dissertations, and theses.
Commercial Data, commercial imagery, financial and industrial assessments, and databases.
Grey literature, technical reports, preprints, patents, working papers, business documents, unpublished works, and newsletters.

OSINT Resources Reveal the Details From the Deep Web

Many times our clients want to better understand the difference between a social media scan and a deep web scan. Taking a close look at the image above explains a lot and kind of surprises most people in terms of the data on the web that is openly available.

eChatter Case Study Examples of Deep Web Details

Recently, we were trying to find out whether a POI (person of interest) was married. He had no Facebook clues other than he was in a relationship. After conducting a deep web scan we found a local newspaper article in which he was named along with “his wife”. The wife chose to keep her maiden name.
A deep scan was ordered by a client to determine what happened to a deceased person’s body. We found an association letter that was published online indicating the person was cremated and buried at sea.
A client needed to know if their POI had any business affiliations that wasn’t disclosed in a divorce settlement. After a deep scan was conducted, we located quite a few businesses tied to the POI.

Does it always work out this way? Not at all. Mainly because some people are much better at hiding this than others or because they were advised to delete everything online by advice of counsel. However, these are the kind of details OSINT research is all about. You will not find this in a Google search.

Wait…Where Did That Social Media Post Go?

What happened to that social media post you saw yesterday during your recent online investigation? Are you kicking yourself that you did not capture that post when you saw it? It can happen and very often does. The old adage, what is here today, is gone tomorrow, is something that happens all of the time, especially in social media. It may suddenly be changed from “public” to “private” at any point. The user’s entire profile can be deleted at any time. Where will that leave you and your investigation?

Largent V. Reed

Back in 2011 this was not an issue as social media was just starting to grow. In a personal injury lawsuit, Largent v. Reed, the plaintiff claimed that a recent accident had left her with severe physical and mental pain. During the trial, defendants presented her post-accident photos posted to her Facebook profile. These photos revealed the plaintiff was clearly feeling well enough to engage in her daily activities and exercising at her gym on a regular basis.

Fast forward to 2020 and things have changed. People are more aware of what they post and use user names that are different than their real name. Let me give you a recent example. One of our clients requested a deep scan from us for a case that involved fraud. We conducted the scan and produced the report capturing the subject’s Facebook account. Scans include live URL’s as well as screen shots showcasing all publicly available data. Once given to the attorney, he had a question about one of the posts specifically. When attempting to click on the link within the profile post, he came to a dead end. We did capture a screenshot, which in most cases is sufficient for investigative purposes. However, time is critical when conducting this type of research. Looking a little more closely at one of the posts was no longer possible.

Web Preservation

Preserving digital data is something many attorneys are starting to take a serious look at and in some cases are requesting from their private investigators. Judges are getting stricter when it comes to allowing social media as evidence in court. Not all cases make it to court of course, but preserving social media may be that extra step that your clients may want you to take.

Social media posts can be altered quickly, often at the advice of opposing counsel. Be sure not to wait too long to capture the data you need and in some cases, be sure to preserve that data.

Secrets About Social Media Monitoring That Nobody Will Tell You.

By now most people have heard of social media monitoring in one form or another. Social media monitoring is something that companies do in order to maintain a good online presence and to monitor their online reputation. Restaurants, retail stores, doctors, lawyers and more are smart to hire a company to conduct this ongoing research on their behalf. It can reveal a lot about the company and its competitors.

In the investigation world, social media monitoring can take on an entirely new dimension. If you advertise that you conduct social media investigations, this added service could be a great new source of revenue for your company. A recent case study provides a good example of what we are talking about.

An investigator’s client (who is an attorney) was interested in locating an individual involved in a case she was working on. She wanted the individual’s social media watched for updates, as he was not able to be found using traditional surveillance methods. The investigator needed social media monitoring in order to watch for location clues in as close to real time as possible.

In the social media/ online world, things can change in a second. What is sometimes here today, will be gone tomorrow. That is where monitoring comes in. When an investigator uses social media monitoring, they are getting updates in real time. This type of online surveillance can be handy as it allows the investigator to get a clear picture and an update day to day on the whereabouts of his poi. This allows an investigator to act “in the moment” to better target resources to serve the person as needed, or to even find a missing person.

While conducting social media monitoring for this investigator we were able to locate the person. Within their instagram stories, we could see that he was on vacation and wanted to share his experiences. Looking at the background of an image can reveal a lot. We could see that he was visiting a very popular tourist destination. With this added information, it allowed the investigator to target more effectively. This may not be true in every case as some people don’t use social media at all. However, they are in the minority.

So next time you think about social media investigation ask yourself this question:

Would it be of value to my client to conduct social media monitoring for this case?
Some examples include:

Jury monitoring before, during and after a high profile case
Locating a missing person
Threat monitoring

The bottom line to all of this is to begin with the purpose & be certain it is well justified and that you are monitoring open source data only. When needed, this is an additional step in your investigation that may save time and money in the long run. People love to share their experiences online and this will never change. Learn ways to use it to your advantage.