Social media is a powerful tool for private invistigators, and it’s easy to understand why. It provides an unprecedented level of insight into people’s lives, including their interests, connections, and activities.
This information can be invaluable when conducting a background check on someone or gathering evidence for legar proceedings. But how does social media work as evidence? How do private investigators use this information?
In this blog post, we’ll explore some common uses of social media in investigations and explain how they can be used to help solve cases faster and more effectively than ever before.
What is a Social Media (OSINT) Investigation?
Social media investigations are a powerful tool for private investigators. With the right tools, it’s possible to find out more about people than they would tell you in a face-to-face meeting. If you’re trying to find someone, social media is the best place to start.
Social media can be just as useful if you’re looking for information about businesses. You might want to know whether or not someone has been hired by a company-or if maybe they’re looking for work and have posted their resume on LinkedIn or Glassdoor. Social media can also help with identifying key players within an organization, which can lead to further investigation into individuals’ backgrounds and activities outside of work hours (and potentially into their personal lives).
At Privin Network, we use Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) tools to quickly scan through massive piles of data on social media sites. This allows us to uncover critical information related to a number of cases and evidence that can be used in a court of law.
Social Media Investigation Benefits
Social media is a great way to find people. Whether you’re looking for an old friend, a new employee or just want to learn more about someone you met at a party last weekend, social media can help you bring people together.
It’s also a great way to find information about businesses. You can check out their Facebook page and Instagram feed for clues about upcoming projects and news updates before deciding whether or not you want to hire them.
Other Benefits include:
- Access to information that would not have been available years ago.
- Geo-tagging and critical metadata that can verify critical information or compliment other evidence.
- Anonymous browsing of social media information without risking disclosure of a case or client.
What Platforms to Use?
Social media platforms are changing the way private investigators do their jobs. This is anexcellent thing for the industry because it opens up new ways togather information, find leads, and communicate with clients. Here are some of the social media platforms that private investigators use:
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Sina Weibo
- Telegram
- Snapchat
- Quora
- Tumblr
- Discord
- Medium
- And more!
The Importance of Metadata
Metadata is data that describes other data. In the world of social media, metadata can be used to find out more about the person behind the post, as well as their device and location. Metadata can also help determine when a photo or message was posted, which can provide useful information for private investigators looking into insurance fraud claims or family law cases. This type of evidence is known as geotagging, and it provides valuable context for what takes place in each image or post on social media platforms.
A single twee can hold as much as 144 different fields of metadata information that can confirm so many parts of a case. If your spouse has tweeted how delicious their ice cream is, but the metadata is from a location, time, and device that confirms infidelity, you have a strong piece of evidence for a settlement, divorce, or child custody.
What Info is Uncovered?
Let’s say you may have a client who is suspected of lying about their alibi. A social media investigator can use the information posted on their client’s Facebook or Twitter account to prove that they were in another location during the time of the crime.
This type of evidence is also helpful when dealing with civil cases and other types of disputes where parties are attempting to establish what happened or what was said at an event. For example, if there has been an accusation made against your client that she was involved in some kind of public altercation with another person, then it would be important for you as an investigator to consider whether any photos or videos exist showing this interaction between them before making any conclusions about whether such an incident actually took place.
Other critical details include everything from testimonials of witnesses from a crime to photos taken while your partner is on a secret vacation with a lover.
How is this Evidence Used?
Social media evidence can be used in court. It’s no secret that social media is an increasingly common way for people to communicate with each other, including criminals planning crimes and victims sharing their experiences afterward. The problem is that it’s difficult for law enforcement officers to get access to this information without a warrant or subpoena. Private investigators are different because of specialized digital forensics and social engineering tactics that uncover more information.
Social media evidence can prove a person’s location at the time of an alleged crime. An example would be if someone were accused of robbing a bank and posting pictures on Instagram of them sitting at home watching TV later that day. This would make it clear who was involved in said crime-and even provide links between posts showing when they left home (and thus were not present during the robbery) or arrived back after being out all day long.
What about Those Without Social Media?
Social media sites are not the only places where people can leave digital footprints. Many people may not even realize that their web browsers, for example, leave tracks of their online activity. These include websites visited, search terms entered, and IP addresses used.
There are also things known as “shadow profiles.” Maybe someone being searched for to locate their current address doesn’t have social media, but there is a good chance their friends, family, coworkers, previous bosses, and even current workplace does. Tracking this information creaes a profile without an account that an experienced private investigator can use for positive results.
Hire Expert Social Media Investigators
The reality is we as consumers are putting more and more information freely online about who we are, our habits, our likes, who we interact with the most, and where we tend to frequent. This has made the world of private investigations so much easier because the information is, quite literately, in our fingerprints.
Working with the expert team at Privin Network is a great first step to uncovering everything from insurance fraud to locating a lost pet through social meida investigations. We use these bespoke technological tools as critical assets in almost every part of our investigations. Reach out today to learn how we can aid your case with powerful social media investigation services.
