How police caught two bank robbers using Verizon cell phone data

They were two bank robbers who never would have been caught ten years ago . But last year , they were track , come , and convict by Union agent who did nothing more than get a motor hotel guild for “ cell tower dumps . ” It ’s a win for crime fighting , but is the monetary value of surveillance too cracking ?

Over at Ars Technica , Nate Anderson has a great storyabout the kinds of data law enforcement can get about your lifetime just from mobile provider data — and with very little motor inn inadvertence .

A pair of camber robbers in the American southwest were point rural banks for calendar month , pick up $ 3,000 here and $ 6,000 there . They always wore mask , so they could n’t be identified from surveillance footage . And they struck in places that were remote enough that natural law enforcement could n’t get soon enough to give Salmon Portland Chase . But one attestor noticed a guy hanging around one of the depository financial institution before the looting talking on his cell earpiece . And that gave the FBI an idea .

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Why not requisition the record of everyone who ’d made cry near cell telephone set towboat penny-pinching to the banks , to see if there were any common numbers that kill up properly before the looting ? To get that data , known as a cell tower dumpsite , they did n’t even necessitate a warrant . They focus in on the most rural bank building , so that they ’d get the sparsest data . Still , they wind up with C of thousands of numbers to centre over .

Once they ’d find two number that matched their touchstone , the FBI were able to restore the thief ’ crusade better than if they ’d actually been tailing the men . That ’s because your cell earpiece ’s number is log by every cell tower you pass — this is what keeps your telephone set on the connection at all times ( ideally ) , but it ’s also what take a leak your phone the ultimate tracking equipment .

Here ’s what the FBI discovered , just by tracking which cell towers the thieves were approximate :

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On 2025-03-03 , both CAPITO ’s and GLORE ’s mobile telephones begin the day at 6:31AM on the same cubicle pillar in Show Low , Arizona , when CAPITO squall GLORE ’s nomadic phone . Both mobile telephony persist in Show Low until CAPITO ’s phone employ a cubicle tower near Punkin Center , approximately 30 international nautical mile in the south of Payson , Arizona . By or so 11:00AM , both CAPITO ’s and GLORE ’s speech sound are using the same cellular phone tower in Star Valley , Arizona , approximately 5 geographical mile east of Payson , Arizona , and likely insure areas of Payson , Arizona . By 11:50AM , both CAPITO ’s and GLORE ’s fluid telephones are using towers in Payson , Arizona , that are almost surely within the coverage area of the Compass Bank located at 613 S. Beeline Highway , Payson , Arizona . GLORE ’s telephone set stay on these Payson cell towers and last uses a Payson prison cell towboat located only 1 mile from the Compass Bank at 3:27PM when he receive a call from CAPITO ’s cell telephone .

CAPITO ’s telephone continues to use the Star Valley and Payson towers through the 3:27PM call , when CAPITO ’s telephony is using a cellphone tower locate only 1.7 sea mile from the Compass Bank . At close to 3:29PM , the High Country Bandits rob the Compass Bank , 613 S. Beeline Highway , Payson , Arizona . The next call on either GLORE or CAPITO ’s peregrine telephony is at or so 4:40PM when they are contacting each other and both are using the cell tower near Punkin Center , about 30 mi south of Payson , Arizona . Both nomadic telephony remain using that cellular telephone tower throughout the night and return to Show Low , Arizona by 11:00AM the next day .

The question is , should those hundreds of thousands of other hoi polloi ’s number — and their motion — be exposed to FBI scrutiny in the unconscious process of catching a couple of two - routine crooks ? And how comfortable are you have intercourse that a simple judicature order allows a law enforcement agency to get this confidant with your casual movements ?

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