How Criminals Outsmart Investigators. And How You Can Stop Them
Many of today’s criminals are tech-savvy, organized, and innovative. From using encrypted messaging platforms to burner phones, anonymized cryptocurrencies, and carefully sanitized digital footprints, they’re actively working to evade law enforcement detection.
As criminals get smarter, investigators must adapt to counter these methods. Here are common tactics that criminals are using to stay a step ahead, and strategies law enforcement can use to effectively counteract them:
1. Encrypted Messaging and Self-Deleting Apps
Platforms like Signal, Telegram, and Snapchat offer end-to-end encryption or ephemeral messaging, which frustrate investigative efforts by automatically deleting incriminating communications. Criminals leverage these platforms to coordinate crimes and avoid evidence trails.
Counter Tactic:
Rapid preservation orders and targeted digital forensic tools help capture critical information before it’s permanently lost. Real-time collaboration with telecom providers and app companies can also increase chances of recovering evidence, despite platform encryption.
2. Burner Devices & SIM Swapping
Burner phones and regularly changing SIM cards allow suspects to maintain anonymity and prevent detection through standard telecom tracking. These disposable devices help criminals obscure their identities, locations, and contacts.
Counter Tactic:
By quickly securing cell-site location data, call records, and leveraging mobile forensic tools, law enforcement can piece together location history, call patterns, and previously hidden associations, even from burner phones.
3. Cryptocurrency and Dark Web Transactions
Organized crime increasingly uses cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Monero, and dark web marketplaces to facilitate drug trafficking, human trafficking, and weapon sales. These transactions are difficult to trace and investigate using traditional financial forensic methods.
Counter Tactic:
Law enforcement can utilize blockchain analysis platforms like Chainalysis to uncover cryptocurrency transaction trails, identifying wallets, user activity, and even real-world identities linked to illicit transactions.
4. Metadata Stripping and Image Manipulation
Criminals actively remove or alter metadata from digital images, videos, and files to obscure their origins. Without location, timestamp, or device data, investigations stall.
Counter Tactic:
Employ advanced OSINT tools to analyze visual content for hidden geolocation details, even after metadata removal. Image-reverse search engines and facial recognition software, further provide crucial investigative breakthroughs.
5. Use of Multiple Digital Identities
Offenders frequently create multiple social media accounts, digital aliases, and fake identities to compartmentalize their criminal activities, making it challenging to identify them conclusively.
Counter Tactic:
Comprehensive OSINT analysis leveraging platforms like Maltego, Skopenow, and SpiderFoot can map and correlate online activity, effectively linking multiple profiles to a single offender.
Outsmarting the Outsmarted
Today’s criminals might be digitally skilled, but law enforcement can stay ahead. By rapidly adopting specialized training, dedicated analyst support, and modern digital forensic techniques, law enforcement agencies can regain the advantage.
At Trace Intel, we equip your investigators with advanced OSINT training and immediate analyst support, helping you quickly uncover hidden leads, dismantle criminal networks, and prosecute offenders successfully.
Ready to strengthen your investigative capabilities? Connect with our team today.
Faster Investigations. Smarter Policing. Safer Streets.