Tracing Prepaid Cell Phones

[L.J.]

This is my first post, beyond my introduction.

I'm at a stuck place in my novel. It's crime/suspense/romance.

She lives with a law enforcement officer. They are in love. She is receiving obscene/threatening phone calls on her cell phone from someone she doesn't know (or thinks she doesn't). The perp has upped the ante by announcing that he has something very personal that belongs to her. The calls are being made by a prepaid cell phone. I have no idea how the law enforcement officer would go about investigating.

I've done searches online about tracing prepaid cell phones, but haven't found anything particularly helpful.

 

[jeseymour]

Does she have caller ID? That would at least let her know when he's calling. You can track a cell phone by triangulating on the towers, but I think it takes time. I know absolutely nothing about prepaid cell phones except that they're hard to trace. My main character prefers them for that reason. I guess that's not very helpful.

Oh and welcome to the forum!

 

[PeterL]

Prepaid phones would be traced the same way as regular cell phones are traced. They have numbers, and the numbers usually show on caller ID from there it's a matter of finding out what company bought the number, then who was assigned to that number. Thye problem would be whether the person used a real name.

 

[BigWords]

In the UK a person can walk into any supermarket and hand over £20 or whatever and they don't need to give ANY information about themselves for the phone's service provider. Complete anonymity. I've heard pre-paid 'phones being called 'burn phones' - as in "use them once and burn them" - for their disposability.

 

[suki]

The HBO show The Wire had an extensive storyline about tracing people's usage of pre-paid cell phones. Season one or two, I think. But it involved an elaborate team of investigators, wire taps, surveilance, etc. One officer, without a wire tap or surveilance team would have to get damn lucky to figure out the caller by the phone...maybe too lucky to be plausible.

~suki

 

[Parametric]

If you want the perpetrator to be caught, you could think laterally about ways other than tracing the phone. For example, she could overhear a train station announcer saying that the (time) train is pulling into the (time) station. Or other distinctive sounds - an occupation, an activity, a place, etc. And track the perpetrator down that way.

 

[gothicangel]

If you want to trace the phone there is a traceable signal.

If not, they could tap into the phone exchange box located on the street.

 

[BigWords]

Do companies keep a list of the 'phone numbers they have sold? If they do, then that narrows the search down to a specific area, maybe even to the specific store in which the 'phone was sold. The CCTV images for a specific timeframe could then be viewed to narrow the search to the people who bought 'phones there. Time consuming, but not unbelievable.

 

[PeterL]

If the buyer of a prepaid phone wants to have voicemail, then there is a procedure for setting that up. I don't recall the details, but I think that I had to register on line, where I also set a password for changing the message.

 

[MarkEsq]

Whether or not you can pinpoint a location by cell phone can depend on the service provider, too. We find a lot of the bad guys in Austin use Cricket for that reason. Normally you can indeed "triangulate" and locate someone very accurately from their cell phone use. But with Cricket, the best you can do is say which cell tower they were nearest. Can't say where exactly, which can make a big difference in an urban area.

 

[BigWords]

Would using Skype on cell 'phones make their location harder to find than an ordinary call? I've got a feeling that the type of call would depend on a caller being located. If a person wanted to remain hidden they wouldn't need voicemail, nor the e-mail capabilities of their 'phone.

 

[RJK]

Tracking a pre-paid cell phone is extremely difficult. There are other ways to catch the guy. I'd set up an ambush, let him come to me, rather than try to find a needle in a haystack.

 

[L.J.]

Thank you all for the information and suggestions.

I actually was considering having the law enforcement officer find the perp another way, but I didn't want to overlook the obvious, and have my readers slap their heads wondering why he didn't just trace the call.

 

[ChristineR]

By contacting the cell phone company, they'd be able to identify the not only the phone number, but also the towers he had called from. However by the time they did this, he'd probably be long gone. If he's smart, he'd throw the phone out after each call. Otherwise the cops would simply find the phone. Keep in mind that cell phones are always "phoning" whenever they're turned on to let the nearest towers know that they're there and ready to take calls, so if he keeps the phone they can set up a triangulation based on nearby towers.

 

[Jamesaritchie]

Unless a phone has GPS built in, exact tracking is nearly impossible. The best that can usually be done is location the nearest cell tower the phone is using. But prepaid isn't the way to go. A disposable phone is what you use, if you don't want to be tracked. And analog is the way to go, if you don't want your signal blocked.

 

[L.J.]

Unless a phone has GPS built in, exact tracking is nearly impossible. The best that can usually be done is location the nearest cell tower the phone is using. But prepaid isn't the way to go. A disposable phone is what you use, if you don't want to be tracked. And analog is the way to go, if you don't want your signal blocked.

Disposable is actually what I had in mind.