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Adults Contacting Minors Online

Adults contacting minors online for the purpose of sextortion or meeting up for sex continues to be a big problem. Federal investigators believe there are more than 500,000 online predators active each day and they all have multiple online profiles. The ACM’s (Adults Contacting Minors) attempt to groom their minor victims, one step at a time. They start by making a connection. Next, they spark conversation, and then try to lure them in by sending a provocative photo of themselves. For most, the end goal is to meet for sex. In some cases, they are satisfied by either video chats or even exchanging of photos. More than 50% of victims are ages 12 to 15 and 89% of victims are contacted by a predator through a chatroom and instant messaging.

Most ACM’s have a level of confidence in this because currently it Is underreported. There is a sense that the ACM is “anonymous” online with no way to find out who he really is. This makes it almost impossible to catch them. With the help of great organizations like SOSA (Safe From Online Sex Abuse), whose goal it is to raise awareness and combat abuse, they are making some headway.

Recently the organization created a documentary on this subject that every parent should watch. It is called Undercover/Underage. Roo Powell is on a mission to expose the dangers of and prevent online child sex abuse. She works together with her nonprofit group, SOSA to set up aliases to engage with child predators. She works with law enforcement and professionals in the field. Over the course of the documentary, Roo transforms herself into several 15–16-year-old personas. It is no easy undertaking to make 30-year old’s look (Roo) and act like a 15-year-old minor. However, she pulls it off. She has done her research and understands the behavior, likes/dislikes of an average teen.

Alias Creation (aka Sock Puppets)

Setting up and creating a fake profile requires a lot of upfront work. Because this may lead to a video meeting or even an in-person meeting, everything must jive. Using the same username is critical across all platforms.
Creating a community of “friends” to make the profile look believable.
Photos – hiring a professional photographer who specializes in photo editing. The photographer in the documentary works in the fashion industry and is great at identifying and removing any age regressing features. The goal is to make her look like a teenager.
The use of hashtags is very important. Teens will use hashtags – #freshman, #15yearsold, #mixedgirl, #daddyissue, etc. The more the better to get the right kind of attention online.

OSINT Work

One thing that I found to be interesting as I watched the documentary, is how the team used OSINT techniques every step of the way. They used the “Leave no stone unturned” strategy to try to ID the guy. In one episode, the ACM loved to talk about himself. He talked about his work history, his hobbies, the fact that he has 4 kids, etc. The team is shown searching all of it to connect the dots and find out information about this guy online. He’s a pro however- he knows what he is doing and is careful. Just one small little crumb could be enough to point them in the right direction. The average person has no idea how much information is housed on the web. It could be an old press release that has been forgotten about that names him. Or it could be an obituary of a deceased relative that includes the name of the ACM. Anything is possible and that is why it is important to take the time needed to search.

The group also uses Honey Pot computing to lure in the ACM. A honeypot is a decoy computer system for trapping hackers or tracking unconventional or new hacking methods. In this case it is being use as a lure to try to identify the ACM’s IP address. For this case, it is being populated with the teen girl persona’s photos, poetry, etc. On the backend of the site there is an activity log. This lists out the visitors of the site. From that IP address, one may be able to identify the location of the ACM, if they do not use a VPN of course.

Keeping Up With the Apps

It makes sense that teens are more inclined to use apps. Apps allow users to share photos and videos with their friends through their mobile device. The documentary mentions a few sites/apps you may not have heard of before.

boardgamegeek.com :This site’s database has more than fifty thousand board games along with their developers and players. The games themselves are linked to users through lists called GeekLists, along with owned/played/wanted etc. connections, ratings, reviews, session reports, and so on. It has a forum which has some search capabilities. Good to keep in mind if your subject is a gamer. Search by location and then by name.

Online chat groups, Message apps, Gaming apps, make it easy for a predator to make a connection with a minor online. Interactions can easily escalate to “sextortion”, in which minors are coerced into sending explicit imagery of themselves. According to a New York Times recent article titled, “How to Protect Your Children From Online Predators”, the following are the ones to watch closely

In summary, the team uses outstanding critical thinking skills along with online research to try to identify the ACM’s. Some fall through the cracks, but in some cases, she does provide enough evidence to law enforcement to “take it from there”. It is not an easy task, and it really takes a thick skin and a strong stomach. Some scenes show Roo emotionally drained from the experience of playing out conversations with child predators. But in the end, it is her deep desire to help the kids. If she can get one or two arrested, she has done what she set out to do.

Six Research Tips to Use in Instagram

In order to take a quick dive into researching Instagram, it can be helpful to understand how it originated and which demographics are using it.

Instagram was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. In April 2012. Facebook Inc. acquired the service for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock.

Instagram quick stats:

Instagram has over a billion monthly active users.
About 995 photos are uploaded to Instagram every second.
The number-one most-shared food on Instagram is pizza.
There are currently over 140 million Instagram users in the United States.
80% of Instagram accounts are for personal use.
More women use Instagram than men.
The majority of Instagram users are aged between 25–34 (33.1%).
60% of Instagram users go on the platform to find new products.
61% of brands are planning to increase their advertising budget for Instagram in 2021.
The Stories feature receives more than 500 million users daily.

Understanding some of the stats and researching how the app runs and operates can be critical knowledge to have when you have an active user as your subject. Keep in mind the main demographic (aged between 25-34). That doesn’t mean others don’t enjoy using the platform, it just means that most users fall into that category.

As with any social platform, understanding research techniques are vital to any investigation.

Instagram Research Tools for Investigations

If you have ever taken an OSINT course of any kind, you will find that tips for investigation on many social platforms are scarce. Mainly that is because of how the platforms are designed to work and how frequently they change. It is hard to keep up with. There are some tried and true ways to attempt to find the information you are looking for.

Six Instagram Research Tips

Most Instagram accounts use both a user name and a vanity name. Users can change this at any time and they can put anything they want to.
It is best to log on to the site for searching. You may want to create a burner profile for this purpose.
You can choose to search inside the platform or take advantage of searching techniques in a search engine.
Instagram users may choose to hide photos from time to time. Users can “archive” a photo right within their profile.
An Instagram user can see who viewed their “Stories”. A “Story” is different than a post. Instagram stories are a type of slide show of different photos that are 15 seconds in length in total. Instagram Stories is similar to Snapchat allowing you to post a story to your account for 24 hours before it disappears. If your Instagram account is set to private, then only the approved followers can see your story. If your Instagram account is set to public, then your followers can see your story from Feed and anyone can see it from your profile
Don’t forget to search for #- This is often overlooked but can be very helpful in filtering relevant posts.

Once You Find It- Preserve It!

You can see by reading some of the basic tips above that it is very important to preserve a post once you find it. If you think it will be critical to your case, capture it and even download the original post. This basic step may be all you need. However, if you think this case may go to court be sure to authenticate the post using preservation that includes identifying information (meta data, capture date, etc.)

Last year at this time we posted a blog titled, “Leave No Stone Unturned in OSINT”. Keeping up to date on key elements of a social platform allows you to be sure you are searching using every possible tool known at the time. This way, you can search anonymously and gather good intel on your subject at the same time.

Poparazzi- A Hot New App Among Young Users

Instagram is one of the most popular photo sharing apps to date. Allowing users to take selfies, discover new filters, talk about themselves, and so much more. Poparazzi flips the script of Instagram and allows users to ONLY share photos of their friends. No selfies allowed! Poparrazzi intentionally takes away the front-facing camera feature so users can only capture photos of their friends and tag them. Poparazzi simply put, mimics a Paparazzi shot.

“We built Poparazzi to take away the pressure to be perfect,” the company wrote in a Medium post announcing it’s launch. “We did this by not allowing you to post photos of yourself, putting the emphasis where it should’ve been all along: on the people you’re with. On Popparazzi, you are your friend’s paparazzi, and they are yours.”

Why So Popular?

In a selfie crazed culture, why is taking pictures of friends all the hype? Believe it or not, there’s been a significant demand for a less performative social platform- mainly among young users. Gen Z is becoming known for their actions, taking the focus off of oneself, statements, or promises made online. They are a leading the way as one of the most impact driven generations to date. Focusing on others over oneself.

According to a recent USA Today article, Youth interest in civic engagement is soaring among the generation that the global volunteering nonprofit Points of Light says was already the most active in history. More than half (53%) of Generation Z individuals said they wanted to get more involved in their communities post-COVID, which was higher than any other generation, according to a 2020 Points of Light survey. (Gen Z includes those born beginning in 1997, so they’re 24 and younger.)

There are several other startups that listened to the voice of young users, like Gen Z, and created similar apps like Poparazzi. These include Minutiae, Vero, Dayflash, Oggl, Dispo, and Herd.

How To Use Poparazzi

One you download and launch the app, a video advertisement is shown, “Your friends are your paparazzi, and you are theirs.” Several photos are shown of teens together with their friends, at parties, football games, in college, and hanging out in groups. After you press “Get Started” permissions are asked since Poparazzi is a photo sharing app. You must allow Poparazzi to access your camera, contacts, and notifications to begin. It then asks you for your age, phone number, name, the username you want to use. Anyone from your contacts that has the app is then shown, inviting you to start following people. Once you have created your account the app takes you to the home screen, motioning you to take your first “pop” which references taking your first picture. Other buttons include search, activity, and your profile.

Mobicip explains, “The most important feature of Poparazzi is that is does not allow users to crop, add captions, filters or any edits to the photos taken. People may be tagged on photos, but they must be on your follow list for the tagged photos to appear in your account. The app automatically follows everyone in the phone book of the phone into which it is downloaded. A “pop” score is given to each profile depending on the number of photos taken. Users also have the option of deleting and untagging pictures they do not want on their profile. Other users may be blocked to prevent “popping” pictures of them and prevent them from tagging your name.”

Other current features are the ability to share a public pop to Snapchat, Instagram Photos, and Instagram Stories.

Searching Poparazzi

Using the small magnifying glass icon on the bottom of the app allows anyone to search through the platform. “Featured Pops” (public pictures taken) flood the screen of young user photos. Some in high school, others in college. These are all public profiles of people, just like you would potentially see on Instagram or TikTok when searching. You can publicly search usernames through the app or follow anyone who has a public account. For investigative purposes, this is another app that is worth downloading, learning, and understanding. Especially if you have any cases with individuals 24 years old or younger. You can easily search for anyone in your contacts, but also usernames, and names of individuals. Remember although others are taking photos of someone, those photos are then tagged and shown on that individual’s profile.

The Dangers

There are several dangers to the platform, like there are with any social media app available. Immediately as I searched the profile, I came across photos of a student pretending to cut another students head off with a real axe in a classroom setting. The next set of photos shown was of a car crash involving two teenage girls. Another of a girl using the restroom in a bathroom stall. Her friend popped over the top of the stall and took her picture. My initial thought when scrolling through? There is a huge lack of privacy within this app but for others who could maliciously post photos of other people.

There are several articles sounding the alarm to the dangers of this app. One interviewing Dr. Pamela Wisniewski, a professor at the University of Florida, who studies the impacts social media has on people.

“Somebody’s going around taking pictures and sharing it of them without their consent,” said Wisniewski. “While there could be some fun and beneficial ways to use an app like this, as you can imagine, there’s also some ways to use it in malicious ways that can actually harm people’s reputation, share embarrassing or potentially harmful material about somebody that then is on the internet to stay.”

Wisniewski adds that it could be tough for parents to take down photos that they do not want posted of their kids. “Being able to wrangle in that content especially once it’s been shared is almost impossible to do,” she said.

Illegal Drug Sales & Social Media

Social Media companies are still being challenged for not doing enough when it comes to selling drugs on their platforms. Snap Chat, Instagram, Tik Tok and others have been sited for not doing enough to curb illegal drug sales on their sites. Parents, in particular, are passionate about this issue. With the rise of Fentanyl, the online sales of fake pills that include the synthetic opioid is staggering. The dealers use social media to advertise to young people. So even if a young person isn’t interested in mining social media for a drug of choice, the dealers come to them.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a warning back in September 2021, warning about the increase. Anne Milgram, the DEA Administrator, called out two apps that were very popular with teens and young adults: Snapchat and TikTok. She was quoted in the Washington Post that they were not doing enough to combat sales. But will the request go unnoticed?

This has been occurring for years on several social platforms. Many of the platform executives have said they are doing all they can on their end. Companies have hired extra moderators, using artificial – intelligence algorithms to flag unwanted posts. To date it continues to be an issue as many young people are dying from this type of drug.

To date, more than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the US in 2020. This is an increase of 30% from 2019.
CDC

The Advertising of Illegal Drugs to teens and young adults.

The Organization for Social Media Safety, ran an informal test and found they were able to connect with drug dealers on multiple social media sites in under three minutes.

Volteface commissioned Survation in January 2019 to conduct a nationally representative poll of 2,006, 16 to 24 year olds. The research was conducted on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Fake profiles were set up and researchers did not communicate with any social media users. Key findings were as followed:

One in four young people (24%) reported they see illicit drugs advertised for sale on social media.
Of those who reported seeing illicit drugs for sale on social media:

56% saw drugs being advertised on Snapchat, 55% on Instagram and 47% on Facebook.

63% saw Cannabis being advertised – making it the most seen drug advertised for sale. Cocaine was the second drug most seen advertised (26%), followed by MDMA/Ecstasy (24%), Xanax (20%), Nitrous Oxide (17%) and Codeine/Lean (16%).

Encryption and VPN technology makes it difficult to trace dealers. There is also a lack of information sharing between police and social media platforms. All of this makes it very hard to get this off social media.

Searching for Drugs Online: (American Addiction Centers: Drug Abuse.com )

Think it is hard to find illegal drugs in social media? You might be very surprised to discover that people are selling drugs in the most blatant fashion. In fact, even their user names make it obvious! With user names like “ihavedrugs4sale”, and drug-riddled posts/pictures, the dealers make it quite obvious. The study revealed that the most popular items included marijuana, prescription drugs, painkillers, xanax, molly (mdma) and lean (codeine syrup mixture). Example below of items found in social media:

This year a Santa Monica teen, named Sammy Berman Chapman asked his dad for a cheeseburger and went to his bedroom. An hour later his mother found him dead on the floor.

Sammy was killed by a Xanax pill laced with fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid 50 times as powerful as heroin. The culprit: a drug dealer on Snapchat and, from the parents’ perspective, the company Snap itself, which they said was not doing enough to protect young users like Sammy. They went to the company for answers on how this could happen. Snapchat’s rep stated:

“Continuing to significantly improve our operational work to eradicate drug dealers from Snapchat, along with raising awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, will be a long term effort for us — we will keep working to do better and help keep our community safe,” said a Snapchat spokesperson.

It is an uphill battle, but one that is worth fighting for.

Fraud Update: Online Sales and Marketplaces

Many criminals continue to turn to the internet to unload stolen goods. Some sites require more information than a thief is willing to part with, which then leads them to other sites that have less security. Because of the anonymity some sites offer, it is important to search for the type of goods being offered on the site. User name searches are not always fruitful. Searching for items may back you in, if you will, to the criminal’s information.

Equally important is the rise of employee fraud. We wrote about this earlier this year. In Employee Fraud in the Digital Age, we discussed a case study. We once worked on a scan for an Investigator whose subject was suspected of selling a very unique set of stolen auto parts. The employee had created an eBay account and made the mistake of using a familiar user name. After the user name was revealed in our Deep Web Scan, we turned our attention to the online websites that sell goods to consumers. We were able to piece this information to that of our client’s subject. A huge catalog of stolen auto parts were on display.

Online Sales

According to Web Retailer, “47% of ecommerce sales were made through online marketplaces in 2020, amounting to nearly two trillion dollars. They also list 155 marketplaces that have more than one million visits per month, internationally.

How did this explosion in online selling happen? Over time it evolved, of course, but within the last couple of years, more and more people rely on it due to the Pandemic. Each online platform works differently, making it very difficult to find the scammers. Let’s take a look at a few of the top marketplaces to start.

Facebook Marketplace

Facebook noticed that its users were buying and selling things in groups across the platform. In 2016, it created a dedicated hub where people could post items for sale in order to reach interested buyers. They created what is now known as Facebook Marketplace, and they grew it to 1 Billion users.

The volume alone dictates that it will be a breading ground for fraud and scammers. Facebook is well aware of the issues they have and have publicly stated that they use software as well as outsourced people to review listings flagged by the software and to answer user complaints.

Most recently, you can find fake COVID vaccine cards for sale. However, for the most part you can find just about anything here.

Amazon Online Sales

It is a little more difficult to sell on Amazon. You can either sell your products to Amazon or on Amazon.

As a consumer, it is important to pay attention to who is selling an item. For example I recently purchased a specific style of shoes. I didn’t think much about it and when it was delivered it was an obvious counterfeit. It even had a very strong chemical smell. It was obvious I was a victim of a seller of counterfeit goods.

The Washington Post recently had a great article titled, “How to tell real products from scams when shopping online.” They actually listed out some good OSINT research tips, such as doing a reverse image search on the item you are looking at. It is also smart to research the company name.

eBay Online Sales

When it comes to online sales fraud, you most likely think eBay. eBay has been around since 1995 and it is no stranger to these issues. While there are many other marketplaces, It is still a gigantic places to sell all kinds of used and new products. When conducting research on a person or company allegedly selling stolen goods online, it is still the best place to start.

A couple of OSINT tips when searching eBay:

Search the site for every known user name. You may even want to mix it up a bit by mixing user name letters and numbers. For example, consider the following fictitious user names; @windycity146, @tom.day, @daytom – I would search each of these but then combine to create new ones that the user may be using on eBay. Such as @tom146, @day146, etc..
Search the site by utilizing the “Advanced” button, which will display new options for searches. Toggle to “show results” and then “items near me”. From here you can plug in a zip code up to 10 miles or more. This is an excellent way to search if you do not know the user name of your suspect.