Burner Phones

I generally keep my phone off. I only turn it on for a few minutes every few days just to keep it up to date, and of course when I'm actively seeking to monger.
I keep my phone off until I need to monger. I don't have to "turn it on for a few minutes every few days just to keep it up to date" as I monger every few days"

I gave my SO one of my old flip phones to keep in her car for emergency use (911 works even on phones not connected to a service ) in case she gets robbed or whatever and not be able to use/have access to her phone.

I told her this is why I keep that "old" flip phone I have should she ever come across it.
 
I keep my phone off until I need to monger. I don't have to "turn it on for a few minutes every few days just to keep it up to date" as I monger every few days"

I gave my SO one of my old flip phones to keep in her car for emergency use (911 works even on phones not connected to a service ) in case she gets robbed or whatever and not be able to use/have access to her phone.

I told her this is why I keep that "old" flip phone I have should she ever come across it.
You had me at every few days!!!! You are the man.
 
I use an app to make calls and texts for the hobby. Just log in and out when needed. No fee at all.
I don't care about the 20 bucks every 3 months that I pay in cash for minutes I put on my burner that I bought in cash.
The app can be traced back to you should LE be so motivated, e.g., an escort that you visited ends up dead and LE wants to check out the #'s that they found on her phone.

I may be paranoid but that doesn't mean that they're not out to get me.
 
I don't care about the 20 bucks every 3 months that I pay in cash for minutes I put on my burner that I bought in cash.
The app can be traced back to you should LE be so motivated, e.g., an escort that you visited ends up dead and LE wants to check out the #'s that they found on her phone.

I may be paranoid but that doesn't mean that they're not out to get me.
Not paranoid at all. Just safe. Ty for your advice.
 
I keep my phone off until I need to monger. I don't have to "turn it on for a few minutes every few days just to keep it up to date" as I monger every few days"

I gave my SO one of my old flip phones to keep in her car for emergency use (911 works even on phones not connected to a service ) in case she gets robbed or whatever and not be able to use/have access to her phone.

I told her this is why I keep that "old" flip phone I have should she ever come across it.
Wait. What? Youre lying to your SO? I guess thats part of the consensual transaction with the provider?
 
I don't care about the 20 bucks every 3 months that I pay in cash for minutes I put on my burner that I bought in cash.
The app can be traced back to you should LE be so motivated, e.g., an escort that you visited ends up dead and LE wants to check out the #'s that they found on her phone.

I may be paranoid but that doesn't mean that they're not out to get me.
Actually they can also figure out who you are via the burner phone even paid for all in cash... they also use proximity to other phones, and unless you entirely powerdown/faraday bag your real cell phone it'll ping in proximity to the burner phone and they'll connect the dots. Monger had a burner phone what "real phone" is nearby and trace back the pattern to identify if the proximity of the burner and real phone are always nearby.

a physical burner phone used at home and work exposes your identity. Even making a voice call can lend a clear enough sample for voice matching software to recognize you. It’s also possible to establish your identity by tracing other phones that move between cellular towers simultaneously.

For example, do you commute with a friend or carry two personal phones with you?

If you have your burner phone and regular phone simultaneously and they are powered on, anybody looking at cell tower records can get an idea that the same person owns the phones.

law enforcement may compel a service provider to report on subscribers and their activities.

The process by which policing officials obtain customer records from telecommunication providers varies based on the company policy and its operating jurisdiction.

https://www.quora.com/How-does-Goog...2NjE3Njc0NjcxOTY5NXwyMTExMDYyMzY4OTUyOTd8MA**

Both free and paid texting options let you send texts to others with fake numbers or just with no number. Some include Free Tone, Hushed, Text Me, and Phoner.

The Phoner app, for example, completely anonymizes your phone calls and texts. When you communicate, it hides your identity by routing your message via another phone number. So you can give it out without worrying about identity being revealed. And when you no longer need it, delete it, and it goes out of service. It is available for iOS and Android devices.

Similarly, VoIP calls using applications like Signal, Briar, Session, Telegram, and other secure messaging apps are secure and untraceable…provided you and the recipient deletes the conversation.

Other critical security features include open-source code, default encryption, and minimal data collection.

Additional Notes:
Just like burner phones, burner or fake number apps only work if you use them correctly. If you forward calls or send messages from the app to your actual number, you’re still leaving a trail that can be linked to you.

Also, note that anonymous texting and calling apps are legally obliged to share the user information they may have if authorities require them to do so. It does not matter the app you’re on or the features you use to hide your communications.

operational hygiene of buying a physical burner phone
  1. Go to a mobile phone or convenience store instead of a “big box” electronics or grocery store.
  2. Buy a new device with as many voice minutes, texts, and data as you’ll need in one purchase.
  3. Choose a dumb phone over Android or iPhone smartphones.
  4. Prepaid phone plans only. You do not want a phone bill.
  5. Choose an area code nearby, hopefully in a large city.
  6. Act casually, wear average clothing, look like every other customer.
  7. Activate the phone and SIM card after 1-2 days in a residential area away from your own, preferably near an apartment or crowded neighborhood.
  8. Leave the default, generic, outbound voicemail greeting. Don’t change or customize it.
operational hygiene of using a physical burner phone
  1. Answer phone calls away from your residence and workplace and only if necessary. It’s better to…
  2. Return calls from random locations and varying callback times and lengths.
  3. Avoid carrying your backup and personal phones at the same time.
  4. Make additional, random, unrelated calls of varying lengths to businesses and persons in and outside your area code.
  5. Send a few text messages to numbers in and out of your area, whether you know the recipient or not.
  6. Severely limit providing this secondary phone number online, if at all.
  7. Use this temporary phone and SIM for as short a period as feasible.
  8. Never send standard texts with real or private information.
operational hygiene of dumping the physical burner phone
  1. Remove and dispose of the SIM chip separately when an eSIM is not in use.
  2. Rough up the phone’s edges and casing or break the screen. Water damage is a good option.
  3. Remove the battery if possible or wrap the phone in aluminum foil.
  4. Place it in a fast-food bag and crumple it.
  5. Throw the bag into a public trash can that many people use and is changed often.
  6. Or disposing of it by leaving it active on public transportation

If you're following the recent political film by Dinesh D'Souza "2,000 Mules" documentary, it's how they pieced together cell phones with the mules. Or even the CDC's purchasing of cell phone tracking to see how poorly Americans were living to the lockdown edicts

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-using-mobile-ad-data-to-track-people-2020-3

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/opinion/dhs-cell-phone-tracking.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/opinion/location-tracking-privacy.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/21/opinion/location-data-privacy-rights.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html
 
@Monty_monty
Outstanding treatment of the subject.

I completely forgot about the possibility of matching up the burner with the personal phone being in proximity. This probably would not be done with minor crimes but would be done with the very crimes that I bought the burner for, e.g., something very serious happens to the provider and LE needs to track down every lead


Looks like I will need to replace my current burner with a new one that I will use only when my personal phone is in as you put it, a Faraday bag (one comes with your E-Z pass or you can use a metal box or aluminum foil in a pinch)
 
Actually they can also figure out who you are via the burner phone even paid for all in cash... they also use proximity to other phones, and unless you entirely powerdown/faraday bag your real cell phone it'll ping in proximity to the burner phone and they'll connect the dots. Monger had a burner phone what "real phone" is nearby and trace back the pattern to identify if the proximity of the burner and real phone are always nearby.

a physical burner phone used at home and work exposes your identity. Even making a voice call can lend a clear enough sample for voice matching software to recognize you. It’s also possible to establish your identity by tracing other phones that move between cellular towers simultaneously.

For example, do you commute with a friend or carry two personal phones with you?

If you have your burner phone and regular phone simultaneously and they are powered on, anybody looking at cell tower records can get an idea that the same person owns the phones.

law enforcement may compel a service provider to report on subscribers and their activities.

The process by which policing officials obtain customer records from telecommunication providers varies based on the company policy and its operating jurisdiction.

https://www.quora.com/How-does-Goog...2NjE3Njc0NjcxOTY5NXwyMTExMDYyMzY4OTUyOTd8MA**

Both free and paid texting options let you send texts to others with fake numbers or just with no number. Some include Free Tone, Hushed, Text Me, and Phoner.

The Phoner app, for example, completely anonymizes your phone calls and texts. When you communicate, it hides your identity by routing your message via another phone number. So you can give it out without worrying about identity being revealed. And when you no longer need it, delete it, and it goes out of service. It is available for iOS and Android devices.

Similarly, VoIP calls using applications like Signal, Briar, Session, Telegram, and other secure messaging apps are secure and untraceable…provided you and the recipient deletes the conversation.

Other critical security features include open-source code, default encryption, and minimal data collection.

Additional Notes:
Just like burner phones, burner or fake number apps only work if you use them correctly. If you forward calls or send messages from the app to your actual number, you’re still leaving a trail that can be linked to you.

Also, note that anonymous texting and calling apps are legally obliged to share the user information they may have if authorities require them to do so. It does not matter the app you’re on or the features you use to hide your communications.

operational hygiene of buying a physical burner phone
  1. Go to a mobile phone or convenience store instead of a “big box” electronics or grocery store.
  2. Buy a new device with as many voice minutes, texts, and data as you’ll need in one purchase.
  3. Choose a dumb phone over Android or iPhone smartphones.
  4. Prepaid phone plans only. You do not want a phone bill.
  5. Choose an area code nearby, hopefully in a large city.
  6. Act casually, wear average clothing, look like every other customer.
  7. Activate the phone and SIM card after 1-2 days in a residential area away from your own, preferably near an apartment or crowded neighborhood.
  8. Leave the default, generic, outbound voicemail greeting. Don’t change or customize it.
operational hygiene of using a physical burner phone
  1. Answer phone calls away from your residence and workplace and only if necessary. It’s better to…
  2. Return calls from random locations and varying callback times and lengths.
  3. Avoid carrying your backup and personal phones at the same time.
  4. Make additional, random, unrelated calls of varying lengths to businesses and persons in and outside your area code.
  5. Send a few text messages to numbers in and out of your area, whether you know the recipient or not.
  6. Severely limit providing this secondary phone number online, if at all.
  7. Use this temporary phone and SIM for as short a period as feasible.
  8. Never send standard texts with real or private information.
operational hygiene of dumping the physical burner phone
  1. Remove and dispose of the SIM chip separately when an eSIM is not in use.
  2. Rough up the phone’s edges and casing or break the screen. Water damage is a good option.
  3. Remove the battery if possible or wrap the phone in aluminum foil.
  4. Place it in a fast-food bag and crumple it.
  5. Throw the bag into a public trash can that many people use and is changed often.
  6. Or disposing of it by leaving it active on public transportation

If you're following the recent political film by Dinesh D'Souza "2,000 Mules" documentary, it's how they pieced together cell phones with the mules. Or even the CDC's purchasing of cell phone tracking to see how poorly Americans were living to the lockdown edicts

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-using-mobile-ad-data-to-track-people-2020-3

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/opinion/dhs-cell-phone-tracking.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/opinion/location-tracking-privacy.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/21/opinion/location-data-privacy-rights.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html
Monty were you on the wire?
 
@Monty_monty
Outstanding treatment of the subject.

I completely forgot about the possibility of matching up the burner with the personal phone being in proximity. This probably would not be done with minor crimes but would be done with the very crimes that I bought the burner for, e.g., something very serious happens to the provider and LE needs to track down every lead


Looks like I will need to replace my current burner with a new one that I will use only when my personal phone is in as you put it, a Faraday bag (one comes with your E-Z pass or you can use a metal box or aluminum foil in a pinch)
I like the old ones you removed the battery
 
Monty were you on the wire?
No, just work in technology and politically very active in libertarian/voluntaryist groups, so I get all the "unconstitutional" things that government is doing daily.

Which has worked out for me to know operationally where/when/what is being tracked through intersectionality MTA Subway, PATH, ezPass, ALPR, RLC, cell phones, NYPD's Z Backscatter Vans that can minimize the LEO's investigation to come find me, And agreed that the chances for the minor crimes, they may try to call/text to see if I am willing to come on down to be interviewed, if I don't answer or call/text back they'll probably not pursue it; so far as I know I haven't had my number linked to any crimes committed nearby.

In the major crimes areas, everyone would be of interest Burner Phone or not, and the interest level would be more heightened, my work has me traveling to multiple client/customer sites daily in Manhattan, Queens and parts of NJ, and that I use- so I could probably keep up the façade with the wife my cell phone pinged near a crime and they wanted to talk with me - This has happened with my non-burner phone, and again even with that they call first and ask if they can arrange a time and date to meet.

While nothing is foolproof, the extra steps to protect my privacy and lessen the chances of the wife finding out is worth the paranoia. :)
 
Choose a dumb phone over Android or iPhone smartphones.
For hobbying that needs Wechat for Asians or managing a Finsta (fake hobby name Instagram) account for sugar babies, a smartphone is necessary. I loved my Nokia brick mobile phone but hated the days of texting on a 10-digit keyboard (T9 or plain typing).

Typing anything more than 'u up 9 pm ok' was painful.
 
If you have a dumbed down burner phone (iRock), you usually need your smartphone to do the homework about where to go. You have both powered up and they got you identified. I guess the burner phone is like the usual lock on your front door: it keeps your friends out, but the professionals not so much. Of course if you are fastidious as Monty_monty describes you have a chance.
 
If you have a dumbed down burner phone (iRock), you usually need your smartphone to do the homework about where to go. You have both powered up and they got you identified. I guess the burner phone is like the usual lock on your front door: it keeps your friends out, but the professionals not so much. Of course if you are fastidious as Monty_monty describes you have a chance.
Enjoy that brick while you can. End of this year 3g will be no more.
 
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