That's scary. I mean I knew all information is stored on a phone that's not wiped and factory reset but what about, for instance, an android device that is erased and factory reset? I switch phones every couple months to the latest and greatest and do a factory reset before selling the phone on swappa or a like website. I guess as it relates to the hobby, what if one had a cheap phone that they might factory reset after each use? Is the history still attainable from the phone in this case or only carrier records from the wireless provider?
Originally Posted by Aggie98
All I can talk about is the case that I had, an investigation of a traffic fatality in a car wreck. We're trying to find out if the driver was on the phone at time of the accident and or when the last time she was on the phone.
In this case, we physically had the phone so everything was downloaded.
I was able to read every text message that was sent back and forth since the phone was activated, websites visited, emails, etc.
Now I'd venture to say that you had a dumb phone, they will only be able to see what phone numbers were placed and received.
I would assume that if the phone was wiped, the average person could not retrieve any information off of it, but the police, or an expert could. I saw a news story where someone bought a used phone and everything for the prior owner was still on it. It did not get wiped.
Whether you have a hobby phone or not, if you get busted and the phone is in your possession, the police can very easily take it. So throwing it away then is not an option.
Also, if police really want to get you, they can look at all the phone numbers that were received by the provider, then find out what phone company owns the numbers and trace things back from there.
If you sent her an email, they can get the IP address, then they can track down where that IP address originated from, then find out who provides the IP address and narrow down the location.
If they think that you sent an email or anything, then they verify with your Internet provider what your IP address is then match that address to the email sent.
The days are being anonymous are really over, whether you have a hobby phone or not.
At the end of the day, the cops are not going to have a task force to track you down, you're not some big drug kingpin or have a RICO case against you. You're just a guy out getting a hooker. A lot of guys here think that big brothers going to track them down.
Also unless you turn it off, the iPhone is set to track and record where you go and how long you're in that area.
Go to privacy, location services and if it is on, go down to System services, then scroll down to frequent locations, if it is on, It will have a history of your frequent locations, dates and estimated time you were there.
So if this is on and you lied to the cops where you were or have been, you're screwed. You can easily turn it off, though.