Who among us hasn't purchased burner phones?

[gab13by13]

Who among us hasn't purchased burner phones and paid for them with cash?

I mean sometimes people, like Congressmen and presidential staff, don't have a good, available, secretive, means to communicate with persons of interest.

Who among us hasn't purchased a burner phone to call an enemy of ours to threaten him and his family and then throw the phone away?

If a tree falls in the forest, IMO, if no one records it, it doesn't make a sound.

[LakeArenal]

1. Can't have what ya never heard of.

But then, my phone doesn’t need to hide from anyone.

[CatWoman]

7. i didn't know anything about them until i watched "the wire"...........

[IcyPeas]

22. Me too

That's exactly what I thought of... The Wire

[whathehell]

2. Lol..

I can hear it.

[gab13by13]

5. You are an idealist, not many of them around nowadays.

[Hortensis]

24. Read your responses. Malicious mischief and criminal behaviors

just aren't that popular here. This is a Democratic forum, after all. We're far from perfect, of course, but also of course mean people are more prone to those behaviors.

Btw, idealism is different from integrity and decency, but lots of those are still around too, just feeling battered.

[milestogo]

3. Nope.

I used to have an inexpensive phone on a month to month plan... but it would have been traceable to me.

[gab13by13]

4. Not very smart (just kidding)

You also probably made the mistake of not paying cash for it, or maybe even looked directly into the store's security camera?

[milestogo]

6. The dumb part was that the carrier did not have good coverage in some locations

that I drove to regularly.

This was a long time ago.

[ForgedCrank]

8. I've never seen a burner phone even used

except on breaking bad with one exception.
At a previous job, everyone had their own company cell phone, but due to on-call rotation of the department, it became an issue of confusing execs and everyone with the weekly changing on-call phone number. We wound up buying what would be considered a burner phone with limited minutes on it (since it was a very low volume emergency only after hours number), and just passed the phone around when the rotation changed. It sucked because when it was my week to be on call, i had three damned phones I had to carry around, the burner, my individual company cell, and my personal cell. I tried just using the forwarding to send it all to one phone, but got in trouble for "personal use" by getting personal calls forwarded to the company cell. It was a real pain in the ass.

[gab13by13]

10. Your intentions are too admirable,

don't try to get hired in a GQP administration.

[ForgedCrank]

11. Smack your mouth.

J/K hehe.
I'd rather starve that go to work for any of those back stabbing imbeciles.

[Tribetime]

9. Never have

[Midnight Writer]

12. I guess I have a burner phone.

Bought a Trac-phone years ago (yes, it is a flip-phone) and paid with cash.

I renew service buying cards at store with cash.

I don't use any of the services (like texts or messages or answering service), only make an occasional phone call, maybe three or four a year.

As far as I know, no one knows I have it and there is no money trail tying me to it. I reckon if some sleuth who knows about these things put some effort into it, they could figure it out.

Nothing nefarious. I don't like telephones in general and I went for the cheapest thing I could find.

[llmart]

29. That's exactly what I own.

I carry it with me in case there's ever an emergency. So far, after about 20 years, I've never had an emergency

And yes, my kids make fun of it.

[electric_blue68]

13. 😄 Off hand I wouldn't even know how to obtain one!

[Bucky]

40. Here's how you do it

tl;dr = go to Target

How to Buy a Burner Phone

[electric_blue68]

42. 😄 ty. Good to know just in case...

... when it's safe for me to do some marching again (who knows when that'll be).

🤔 Considering how edgy the police can be I wouldn't take my smart phone to protest and I mean a peaceful protest/march anyway.

[dalton99a]

14. Insurrectionists, drug dealers, cheating spouses

[LeftInTX]

15. Campaigns will often purchase a few for volunteers who do not want to use their personal phone

Some volunteers are afraid to use their person phone to phone bank..
For whatever reason...Many times they are afraid that voters will call them back...Others might have a government job and don't want to be identified as volunteering for a campaign etc.

[greatauntoftriplets]

16. Not me.

[GoodRaisin]

17. I wouldn't even know where to get one

if I did need it, which I don’t.

[Hortensis]

26. You'd just buy a cheap prepaid at...Walmart, but you probably

wouldn't call it a "burner" unless you were planning on using it for illicit purposes before destroying.

[LeftInTX]

27. Yep as Hortensis said

They are often purchased by campaigns in small numbers for volunteers who do not want to use their personal cell phones.

Campaigns rely on volunteers and hires to use their personal phones. (It saves money)

But every once in awhile, you get a volunteer who is "paranoid" about using their personal phone. (They might be afraid that voters will contact them or that something negative will happen)


Many of these types are first time volunteers. So if a prospective volunteer says, "I would like to volunteer, but I'm afraid using my personal phone will make me a target"

For these types of hesitant volunteers, a campaign can provide them with a prepaid cell phone.

There is nothing nefarious about this.

[GoodRaisin]

33. I have used a phone given to me by a campaign. I didn't request it, it was just

given to me when I volunteered to make calls for the campaign. I didn't know it was considered a burner phone.

[LeftInTX]

37. I'm surprised that they did not request that you use your own phone!

I used my phone when I volunteered for the Obama campaign.

I believe they may have had phones available, but I just used my phone.

Campaigns cannot afford to have numerous accounts for phones, so they just get cheap prepaid phones. When the campaign is over, so is the phone and/or charges.

I'm really surprised they didn't ask you to use your phone!

[GoodRaisin]

39. Didn't even come up about who's phone to use.

I was just told to come pick up my phone and call list.

[LeftInTX]

41. Unless they used this as a way to verify that actual calls were made...LOL

Yes, it happens!

Nowadays phone banks are all going to virtual.

[DFW]

19. Can't say that I have

Never had any use for one (no relation to Quigley)

[Chuuku Davis]

20. Yes

I have one for CraigsList and Marketplace deals

[Liberal In Texas]

21. I have. TracPhone from one of those dollar stores. (Used a credit card.)

I've used it a couple of times when I've sold a couple of cars. I didn't want to put any of my real phone numbers in the ads. I get enough spam calls as it is. When the TracPhone rang I knew it would probably be an ad response and then would check the VM for the callers number and call them back.

[Lucid Dreamer]

31. Thanx LIT

I've had mobile phones since 1990 when they were expensive and BIG [came in a huge/heavy purse-sized bag].

I've used online marketing before w/ no problems. But now I want to sell a vehicle and your advice sounds just what I'll do.
Thanx.

Been in high tech all my life and now that I'm retired I hate almost all of it.

[samnsara]

23. what are they?

[LeftInTX]

28. Prepaid, no-plan phones

Their use is often temporary and the number is not assigned to an individual account.

You can buy them at Dollar Stores, gas stations and WalMart and online.

Many times, they are "no frills"...

They are sometimes used by limited income people, who can't afford plans. They are often flip phones..

Sometimes old phones can be converted to burner phones. I should have done that with my old flip phone, but oh well.....

[orleans]

35. how much are these burner phones?

you said prepaid -- is there a charge per minute to talk on them?

[LeftInTX]

38. See post #25

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216093493#post25

[KentuckyWoman]

25. I currently use a Tracfone flip phone.

I had one before and loved it. They stopped supporting it so I spent $39 on a new one that works on 4G. Still only does calls and text. I still have the old minute plan and have nearly 10,000 minutes. Every year I add an annual card. The last time it was $129 for the year.

One of my nephews teases me about being an opiod kingpin since I use a "burner" phone.

It is cheap. It fits my needs. It fits easily in my pocket. I never butt dial anyone.

[LeftInTX]

30. Yep!

People are bashing these as if they are only for nefarious purposes, but they have a niche.

I have never owned one, but for those who use a phone as a "phone" and not an "internet device", they are an affordable option.

[Kaleva]

32. I use a "burner" in conjunction with my alias

"I created an alias awhile back & I use that alias to shop on line.

The alias has it's own e-mail address, cell phone and number, and on-line accounts at Amazon, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, and Target. When paying, I just use non-reloadable or gift cards which I get at nearby Dollar General and Family stores. Merchandise is sent to another place and not my home.

Using an alias is perfectly legal as long as you aren't using it to commit fraud or other crimes."

" I use the DuckDuckGo search, Brave browser and Tor

https://www.torproject.org/download/

Tor hides your ISP address but you'll have to jump some extra hoops in order to log on to some sites. Amazon requires a one time password to be entered that they send to your email address that you are using. Walmart makes you go through several of this pictures where you prove you are not a robot. Another thing is that pages take longer to laod when using Tor."

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212808479

[NightWatcher]

34. About a half dozen times, but I'm a private eye and worked personal security

If the right people went looking for me I'm sure I'd been caught 80% of the time.

God I miss the truly sneaky shit.

[FakeNoose]

36. For a long time I used prepaid phones because I didn't want to have a monthly bill

... for something that I only used occasionally or not at all. This was probably 20 or maybe even 25 years ago. All of my serious phone calls were done on a landline (of course) and my emails were sent by desktop computer-connected-to-modem. Didn't we all do that at one point? I was really a holdout in getting a regular cellphone though, because I didn't think I needed one.

Finally my son got me a smartphone and put me on his T-Mobile family plan because he was tired of me changing the phone numbers on the prepaid phones all the time. I still don't use it very often but at least I have something from THIS century.