OSINT Tips
For facial recognition for photo tracing use:
Primeyes- while very basic in its free form (you only get 10 searches and are not able to access the full links that the pictures come from), it’s a good starting place. You can take the results that pop up and plug those pictures into reverse image searches to find other results or try to dig through whatever part of the link you can see (you can usually see what website it is on but not access the full link to direct you to the page, you may need to do some snooping). If you pay whatever the monthly price is you won’t be restricted.
Yandex Images- basically Russia’s Google, but it has the most sophisticated facial tracking AI for pictures that allow you to find other photos of people. While it doesn’t work 100% of the time and you will find people that look strikingly similar, it’s one of my go to tools.
For photo tracing/ reverse image searching:
Tineye
Labnol
Yandex
These all work okay. The problem is that you may need to run a photo through all of them to find a result, which doesn’t work 100% of the time. Not the best for social media pictures, more so ones taken from the internet.
Let’s look at an example on how to use them together:
Let’s say you find yourself trying to verify the identity of someone in a picture (can be for any reason). You take a photo you have of that person and put it into primeyes. The software identifies the face and spits out websites that have pictures of that person. If you are using the free version of the software, you screen shot the picture in an attempt to plug it into one of the reverse image searchers to get a result or you try to do digging on the partial link provided. You get a website name, but no information on where on the website the photo is, which may provide a name of the person. So you have to do some digging to get there. If you use Yandex and you are lucky, you may have the face and website in front of you. With yandex, it works best when trying to search for Russians since it primarily pulls its images from VK and other Russian social media websites. Throughout the whole process you need to play around with searching. I rarely get hits on my first attempt.
For facial recognition for photo tracing use:
Primeyes- while very basic in its free form (you only get 10 searches and are not able to access the full links that the pictures come from), it’s a good starting place. You can take the results that pop up and plug those pictures into reverse image searches to find other results or try to dig through whatever part of the link you can see (you can usually see what website it is on but not access the full link to direct you to the page, you may need to do some snooping). If you pay whatever the monthly price is you won’t be restricted.
Yandex Images- basically Russia’s Google, but it has the most sophisticated facial tracking AI for pictures that allow you to find other photos of people. While it doesn’t work 100% of the time and you will find people that look strikingly similar, it’s one of my go to tools.
For photo tracing/ reverse image searching:
Tineye
Labnol
Yandex
These all work okay. The problem is that you may need to run a photo through all of them to find a result, which doesn’t work 100% of the time. Not the best for social media pictures, more so ones taken from the internet.
Let’s look at an example on how to use them together:
Let’s say you find yourself trying to verify the identity of someone in a picture (can be for any reason). You take a photo you have of that person and put it into primeyes. The software identifies the face and spits out websites that have pictures of that person. If you are using the free version of the software, you screen shot the picture in an attempt to plug it into one of the reverse image searchers to get a result or you try to do digging on the partial link provided. You get a website name, but no information on where on the website the photo is, which may provide a name of the person. So you have to do some digging to get there. If you use Yandex and you are lucky, you may have the face and website in front of you. With yandex, it works best when trying to search for Russians since it primarily pulls its images from VK and other Russian social media websites. Throughout the whole process you need to play around with searching. I rarely get hits on my first attempt.
Any deleted photos or content can be retrieved using the way back machine. The internet is permanent, even if you delete things.
It is crazy how scary it is to go from a picture to someone to accessing information on where they live, work, who they know. Once you connect a face to a name, a name can get you a lot of things.
All of the methods I mentioned can be done using a cellphone, which I do 99% of my work on. There are more sophisticated softwares that can be paid for or downloaded onto a computer for better results, but I have had no issues doing it the free and easy way.
Unconfirmed reports of US airstrike at Iraq-Syria border. My best guess is some Iran-backed group if it’s true.
Per several requests, here is the RPG office pops
I don’t know if any of you had been following the Gabby Petito case, but authorities believe they found her remains in Teton, Wyoming. Some context is that she went on a cross country road trip with her fiancé and he came back alone. When Gaby’s parents filed a missing person report, the fiancé, Brian Laundrie, lawyered up and refused to talk to authorities. During the trip police were called to a domestic dispute between the two. Brian is currently missing.
Brian is missing is that he fled his home once authorities named him as a person of Interest
Brian Laundrie is believed to be hiding out in wooded areas of North Port, Florida, which is his home town.
Anyone saying that Gabby Petito, a 22 year old former cafe barista turned blogger, had anything to do with the clintons is a smooth brain.
Hello everyone, if you haven’t noticed by now that every other weekend I don’t post much and it’s because that’s when I work my overnight shifts 0000-0800. So I end up sleeping most of the day on the weekends because I’m tired af. It’s Monday now so I have a few posts that I’m working on.
Just accidentally blasted Taliban propaganda music in a cafe when I was looking over a video because my headphones weren’t connected 🤦🏻♂️🥴
What obscure and niche conflicts/ terror groups/ criminal organizations you want to see more of
In recent years, the Middle East has become a hot spot for transplant tourism, which is where people cross borders to receive organ transplants in different countries. The industry is extensive, lucrative, and often dangerous to those who take the chance to receive organs or to give them in exchange for money. The root of the transplant tourism industry can be mainly seen due to one long running issue: The shortage of vital organs used for medical transplants, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The organization notes that while tens of thousands of organ transplants are done professionally across the world each year, the accessibility of such operations vary globally between countries due to “their national situations, and is partly determined by the cost of health care, the level of technical capacity and, most importantly, the availability of organs,” in addition to hampered organ donation programs due to “sociocultural, legal and other factors.” WHO has identified a number of “organ exporting countries” which include Pakistan, China, Bolivia, Brazil, Iraq, Israel, the Republic of Moldova, Peru and Turkey. Similarly, WHO has identified the main “organ importing countries” as Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Organs for trafficking are obtained by two ways: voluntarily or involuntarily. In countries such as Iraq, Syria, India, and Pakistan, those who give up their organs do it out of financial necessity due to poor economic factors. Due to years of war and conflict, the Middle East has become an increasing hotbed for trafficking due to economic destitution. Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, over 5.6 million people have fled the country to primarily neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Many of these refugees have “no legal right to work, and families are forced to find other ways to pay for food, shelter and healthcare,” according to Reuters. Abu Jaafar, an organ trafficker, told BBC journalist Alex Forsyth that refugees with no legal or financial means to support themselves are “desperate and they have no other means to survive but to sell their organs.”
For Iraq, the World Bank put its poverty rate at just over 22 percent in 2014, but it is believed to be much higher in recent years. Ahmad Hadi of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Trafficking Victims reported that “Lawlessness and lack of awareness are main causes but in more than 80% of the [organ trafficking] cases it is caused by poverty and unemployment.” For example, a man named Mohammad told Arab Weekly that he “had lost hope of finding any job and [he] wanted capital to start a business to help [his] family,” so he sold his kidney. Mohammed, unfortunately, was promised a payment of $6,000, but he said “I only got $1,250, part of which I spent on postoperative treatment and the rest to pay back my family’s debts. I’ve got nothing left.”
The European Union (EU) Parliament noted that people are trafficked into the human organ trade across the world “by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” In addition, the EU stated there is often the assumption that organs obtained for transplant tourism are consensual and by financial means, but “on the basis of the knowledge gained from numerous cases of transplant tourism, it appears there is considerable overlap between transplant tourism and Trafficking in Human Beings for Organ Removal (THBOR),” adding that “consent for organ removal cannot be seen as based on autonomy and a voluntary decision; deception and fraud in the payment are frequent, and brokers and recruiters target specific vulnerable populations.
Organs for trafficking are obtained by two ways: voluntarily or involuntarily. In countries such as Iraq, Syria, India, and Pakistan, those who give up their organs do it out of financial necessity due to poor economic factors. Due to years of war and conflict, the Middle East has become an increasing hotbed for trafficking due to economic destitution. Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, over 5.6 million people have fled the country to primarily neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Many of these refugees have “no legal right to work, and families are forced to find other ways to pay for food, shelter and healthcare,” according to Reuters. Abu Jaafar, an organ trafficker, told BBC journalist Alex Forsyth that refugees with no legal or financial means to support themselves are “desperate and they have no other means to survive but to sell their organs.”
For Iraq, the World Bank put its poverty rate at just over 22 percent in 2014, but it is believed to be much higher in recent years. Ahmad Hadi of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Trafficking Victims reported that “Lawlessness and lack of awareness are main causes but in more than 80% of the [organ trafficking] cases it is caused by poverty and unemployment.” For example, a man named Mohammad told Arab Weekly that he “had lost hope of finding any job and [he] wanted capital to start a business to help [his] family,” so he sold his kidney. Mohammed, unfortunately, was promised a payment of $6,000, but he said “I only got $1,250, part of which I spent on postoperative treatment and the rest to pay back my family’s debts. I’ve got nothing left.”
The European Union (EU) Parliament noted that people are trafficked into the human organ trade across the world “by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” In addition, the EU stated there is often the assumption that organs obtained for transplant tourism are consensual and by financial means, but “on the basis of the knowledge gained from numerous cases of transplant tourism, it appears there is considerable overlap between transplant tourism and Trafficking in Human Beings for Organ Removal (THBOR),” adding that “consent for organ removal cannot be seen as based on autonomy and a voluntary decision; deception and fraud in the payment are frequent, and brokers and recruiters target specific vulnerable populations.