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