For law enforcement agencies investigating fraud, social media represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The sprawling, chaotic nature of the medium has made it a happy hunting ground for criminals of all kinds (especially con artists), with the perpetrators being located almost anywhere. That’s the challenge.
Yet social media also represents a data-rich environment where the perpetrators with a shaky grasp of operational security can potentially be tracked, identified, and ultimately arrested and prosecuted. Social media investigations hold great promise for LEAs, if the difficulties inherent in the medium can be overcome.
Let’s explore what such investigations might look like and which tools are necessary for success.
Defining Social Media
Major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are well-known and recognized, but before we proceed, it’s still worth taking a moment to define what constitutes a social platform. They can be thought of as sites or apps where people can connect with each other, exchange messages and interact privately or publicly, meet new people, and form communities or “virtual networks.”
While major platforms such as those listed above are obvious examples, others are less so. Although it’s thought of primarily as a video-streaming site, YouTube’s chat functions and ability to follow or “subscribe” to individual users or channels give it a great deal of capacity for social interaction, and Pew Research counts it as America’s most-used social platform. Game-streaming service Twitch, some dating apps, and even online special-interest forums all meet the fundamental criteria to be considered social platforms.
This range and diversity of platforms represent one of the greatest challenges LEAs face in social media investigations. The sheer scope of a single platform like Facebook is already daunting; attempting to locate a suspect or person of interest across multiple platforms – perhaps dozens – is beyond the unaided abilities of most investigators.
The Promise of Social Media Investigations
Despite the scale of the task, social media’s potential as a data source is equally vast. While some frauds, such as high-profile “pig butchering” schemes, are carried out by professional and well-organized crime rings, this is not always the case.
Many frauds originating on, or facilitated through, social media platforms are carried out by perpetrators with at best a shaky grasp of operational security. They may, for example, take some pains to construct a plausible online persona, but fail to adequately obfuscate connections to their real identity.
In some cases, the perpetrators of fraud and other crimes may even brag openly about the success of their scams on social media, opening the door to arrest and prosecution. Less egregious examples may include tell-tale vacation photos from an individual receiving worker’s compensation or disability payments, or potential embezzlers visibly living beyond their ostensible means.
That level of hubris (or simple ignorance) is not always present, but investigations can be successfully carried out on social media even in its absence. Social platforms are a fruitful hunting ground for scammers, and by extension, this makes them a promising field for investigators as well.
Figures from the FTC’s 2023 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book make the case for social media’s importance as an investigative ground:
- Over 2.5 million fraud reports for the year, or just under half of all complaints.
- Of those, 1.5 million reports included a point of origin.
- Twelve percent of scammers initially made contact on social media (as defined by the FTC; some platforms meeting our working definition may also have been included under “Other” or “Website or Apps”).
- Of scams originating on social media, 68 percent resulted in a loss of money (the highest percentage in the report).
In the final analysis, social media can be thought of as just another crime scene rife with evidence useful in prosecution. Like more conventional crime scenes, it can be worked methodically through the use of appropriate tools and methodology. It may also prove useful in the investigation of fraud that originates through other points of contact, such as phone calls and emails, for reasons we’ll return to shortly.
The Need for Social Media Investigation Tools
Pursuing fraud investigations through social media is not a simple task. Many platforms permit anonymous or pseudonymous accounts, and those that mandate the use of real names typically use systems of vetting identity that are easily circumvented by criminals. Additionally, large platforms frequently have multiple users with identical or very similar names, and differentiating between them can be problematic.
Each individual platform offers its own unique mixture of privacy settings and search capabilities, making cross-platform investigations cumbersome. Mainstream search engines such as Google or Bing are limited in their ability to bridge that gap. Conducting successful fraud investigations on social media requires tools that empower investigators to sift through the torrent of posts for specific keywords and phrases, or specific users.
Where such a need exists, third-party vendors inevitably arise to offer solutions. A number of products, for example, can comb the major social media platforms for keywords or phrases (investment opportunities, cryptocurrency, and many others) that are commonly used in the execution of fraud. Vendors with the necessary data-gathering and analytics tools to trace a social media account back to a specific person of interest are rarer, given the greater difficulty of the task.
How Spokeo for Law Enforcement Can Empower Social Media Investigations
One such tool is Spokeo for Law Enforcement. Spokeo was launched initially in 2006 as a social media aggregator, and although the business has evolved significantly in the ensuing decades, it still retains an edge over competitive products in the strength of its social media search.
A Spokeo search can find accounts on 129 individual platforms. Drawing on the billions of data points available through both open and regulated sources, as well as select private data partners, those accounts can then be traced back to the telephone number or email address used to establish the account, and then, often, to a name associated with that number or email. Once Spokeo has furnished an identity that can be connected with the account, investigators can begin unraveling the scam and uncovering evidence that eventually leads to an arrest. These further investigations can be pursued through traditional channels as well as online.
Let’s take a look at a few potential scenarios and how Spokeo can help open avenues for investigation.
When Fraud Originates on Social Media
We’ll begin with fraud cases that originate with a contact on social media. In such instances, the victim can furnish the perpetrator’s name or username, as used on the platform in question. They may also have saved their interactions with the scammer, either as screenshots or in their original form, depending on the platform’s capabilities.
A potential investigative workflow might follow an outline like this:
1. Search the Scammer’s Name or Username
Spokeo for Law Enforcement can use a social media username or “handle” as the basis for a search. This search will lead to the phone number or email address used to establish the account.
2. Search Again Using the Number or Email
Spokeo’s results from the number or email search may supply the name of a user, and in the case of a phone number, can also supply a rough geographic location and the name of the carrier (useful, should the carrier ultimately need to be subpoenaed for phone data). The search results will also return any additional phone numbers or email addresses associated with the same person, or the original number or address searched. It will also return any additional social media profiles associated with that number or email.
3. Search the User’s Name
Searching the name associated with that phone or email may return little or no information, indicating a pseudonym or a fully synthetic identity. In that instance, using a keyword/phrase tool to find other accounts using the same language in their scams is a useful alternative avenue to follow; or using Google’s Reverse Image Search to identify other accounts (presumably run by the same or other scammers) using the same image.
If the name on the account can be traced to a specific person, Spokeo’s search results will provide a wealth of information, including current and former addresses, employer and employment status, property ownership information, age, and (where applicable) criminal record, as well as any additional social media accounts associated with that person through alternative phone numbers or emails.
4. Explore the Social Media Accounts of the Potential Perpetrator
Once a potential perpetrator has been identified and social media accounts uncovered through Spokeo searches, investigators can begin digging through those accounts for information that may be relevant to the investigation.
Although the person of interest may not be foolish enough to brag openly about their criminal activity, other signs, such as displays of otherwise unaccountable income or the use of coded language related to scams, cryptocurrency, or other telltale terms, can still contribute to the investigation. A review of those accounts may also reveal that the legitimate owner of the account has been the victim of an account takeover, and that scammers are utilizing their account to target the victim’s friends and family with scams.
In either case, applying a keyword/keyphrase analysis tool to accounts uncovered by Spokeo can help locate posts using language known to be associated with fraudulent activities.
When Fraud Originates Outside of Social Media
The usefulness of social media intelligence (SOCMINT) tools is not confined to fraud originating on social media. Scams originating through email, telephone calls, or even face-to-face encounters can all be susceptible to investigation through social media.
In each case, the search can begin with the name, phone number, email, or physical address given to the victim by the suspected scammer. As in the case of scams originating on social media, those initial searches will collate other information associated with that original data point. If the criminal’s operational security has been less than ideal, following those traces through additional Spokeo searches may often lead to a specific person of interest. Once that person has been identified, conventional investigative techniques and SOCMINT tools can be deployed to further the case and ideally lead to an arrest.
Social media accounts linked to those pieces of data may yield telling details. Maintaining a fictitious persona on social media requires a high degree of effort, if that persona is to be convincing. A scammer maintaining one or more such accounts, to further a given campaign of fraud, may often draw on their personal life for details to flesh out posts. Here again, partnering Spokeo with a phrase/keyword analysis tool can locate other accounts using identical language, linking them to the scammer. Scammers may also post photos taken in their real lives, which may be linked to their genuine social media profiles through image searches.
Social Media Complements Other Investigative Tools and Techniques
These new SOCMINT tools represent a potent complement to existing investigative techniques and law-enforcement data sources.
Spokeo for Law Enforcement, for example, has a powerful Application Programming Interface (API) that enables data-sharing with these other tools in order to streamline and speed investigations. Its simple, intuitive interface requires minimal training, even in the case of tech-averse investigators, and its administrative Dashboard tracks searches and their results for audit purposes. Further, its flexible pricing plans allow LEAs of all sizes and budgets to take advantage of its power and ease of use.
Ultimately, the true test of any investigative tool is how well it works in a hands-on setting. To arrange a hands-on demonstration of the Spokeo for Business product, or a no-cost trial, reach out to our team using the contact information on our Law Enforcement page.
Sources
Webopedia: Social Media Platform
Pew Research: Social Media Fact Sheet
The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century’s Online Pioneers; Tom Standage; Bloomsbury 1998
Department of Financial Protection & Innovation: Pig Butchering Scam Playbook
US Attorney’s Office, Central District of California: Rapper Who Bragged about Unemployment Benefits Scam in Music Video Arrested for Allegedly Bilking COVID-19 Jobless Relief Program
US Federal Trade Commission: Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2023
Google Search Help: Search With an Image on Google