Many of us have heard of the very cool smartphone apps that the investigating sector has found a use for and, I for one, have found the ‘Burner App’ to be a really nice tool to assist in our undercover investigations.
This app allows the user to purchase several temporary numbers, therefore, when setting up stings or portraying yourself to be someone else, the Burner App number is what the suspect will see as opposed to your actual cellphone number. This also does away with the investigator having to hide his/her number which, in my experience, arouses suspicion from the person being investigated.
The latest of these apps is the ‘Hushed App’, which works very much in the same way as its predecessor, the Burner App. What I like about it is that my investigators can purchase a number of temporary cellphone numbers for a period of 7 days, 30 days or, if need be, 90 days. This is very handy whenever it comes to those investigations that run for longer periods. Once downloaded, the app allows for both incoming and outgoing calls as well as a voicemail facility.
The downside, however, is that, unlike the Burner App, Hushed is currently only available for Android users. But the iPhone version is not far off.
Turning the tables
The benefits of apps such as these are numerous, but we cannot lose sight of how these same apps can be used in far less honourable situations. Infidelity, identity theft and employee moonlighters immediately spring to mind.
The interest in apps such as these is significant to say the least. According to the co-founder and owner, Justin Shimoon, the Hushed App already has over 2000 downloads and that was just in the first 24 hours of being launched.
For more information contact D&K Investigations & Consultants, +27 (0)82 820 5363, www.investigators.co.za
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