May 17, 2019
The peak of the migration crisis in Europe might be over, but it has provided lasting excuses for paramilitary proto-militias to continue to mobilize support in Bulgaria. Via their “defense of the European fortress” from a new “Islamic conquest,” they provide a platform for both overt and covert international cooperation between leading figures of the…
May 15, 2019
Online videos may be today’s most efficient information vector. They are the closest thing to a real-life event happening in front of your eyes, as opposed to pictures, texts, or even a combination of both. Nevertheless, the emergence of maliciously altered videos and deepfakes puts us at risk of being dangerously misinformed. To counter this,…
May 10, 2019
New satellite imagery acquired by Digitalglobe shows that China has increased the deployment of Guizhou Aviation Industry Group (GAIG) EA-03 Xianglong high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to Yishuntun airbase in Jilin province. The platform, identified by its unique box wing design and V shaped vertical stabilizers, is often considered China’s answer…
May 2, 2019
All times appear as local time UTC-4. Venezuelans awoke to a tumultuous morning on April 30, 2019. Leopoldo López, the leader of the Voluntad Popular [Popular Will, VP] party — under arrest since 2014 — had been freed. In a pair of messages shared on his Twitter account, López appeared beside National Assembly president Juan…
April 30, 2019
By Dan Kaszeta
In the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, there have been sporadic reports involving the use of different kinds of industrial chemicals. In Syria in particular, but also in Iraq, a variety of commentators invariably try to link reports of practically every such instance to use as a chemical weapon, or else use as a…
April 28, 2019
By Robert Evans
On April 27, 2019, at around 11:30 a.m. local time, a young man with a semi-automatic rifle walked into the Chabad of Poway Synagogue in Poway, California. He opened fire, killing one worshipper and wounding three others. In the hours since the shooting, a manifesto, believed to be written by the shooter, began circulating online….
April 25, 2019
Open sources, including satellite imagery, indicate that on 2015/05/12 sometime after 1515 AST two buildings in Abs were destroyed, and other buildings damaged, in an airstrike by the Saudi-led Coalition (SLC). Although there were multiple reports of different locations being attacked, it was consistently stated that a prison was one of the targets of this attack. We identified what we believe to be this prison in the report.
April 24, 2019
On the evening of 2015-07-04, an explosion occurred near a restaurant in Muthalith Ahim injuring and killing multiple civilians. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that at least 65 people were killed and 105 wounded. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported on 2015-07-07 that there had been 20 deaths in a market in Harad district, where Muthalith Ahim is located, and that their team treated over 67 injured people.
April 23, 2019
We identified the location of the alleged strike as the house and courtyard located at coordinates 14.426831, 44.664921. Using open sources, including images, videos, and satellite imagery, we believe that the strike took place in an area primarily inhabited by civilians, while a wedding party was taking place.
April 22, 2019
We identified the location of the alleged strike as the al-Fayush market. Using open sources, including images, videos and satellite imagery, we confirmed the strike took place in a livestock market near to a petrol station and multiple other services, such as a Qat market and restaurant.
May 6, 2019
By Bellingcat Investigation Team
Update: Our future workshops are all full, but with a wait-list available. Please message us if you are interested in being added to any of these events’ wait-lists. Bellingcat will hold workshops in Europe and the United States in the coming months, where participants can learn the tools and methodologies used by Bellingcat in their…
April 8, 2019
By Aric Toler
Popular apps such as TrueCaller or GetContact advertise the ability to see who is really calling you, even if you do not know the number, and alert the app user of spam or scam calls. However, the way that these apps gather information to determine the name of an unknown caller is not as broadly…
March 26, 2019
By Brenna Smith
After posting a tutorial on tracking GRU agents’ bitcoin (BTC) transactions, I’ve received numerous responses asking how to find out even more. I aim to please, so I’ve put together another tutorial using Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ bitcoin funding campaign as a case study. What You’ll Need To effectively analyze any bitcoin address, I rely…
March 21, 2019
By Nathan Patin
Whether you’re investigating a company purporting to have damning information on Robert Mueller or conducting research on anti-Islamic State foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria, LinkedIn can serve as a useful resource for online researchers across a wide variety of subjects. This guide aims to provide helpful tools and techniques for identifying LinkedIn profiles and…
March 8, 2019
By Bellingcat Investigation Team
Bellingcat will hold workshops in Australia for the first two weeks of April, where participants can learn the tools and methodologies used by Bellingcat in their investigations. We will hold a workshop in Sydney on April 1-5 and in Melbourne on April 8-12. Participants are required to bring their own laptops, and Google Earth Pro…
March 5, 2019
It has become abundantly clear that geolocation and remote sensing is fundamental to knowing what happens in conflict areas where it is often too dangerous for journalists, observers and analysts to be present on the ground. This is a satellite-based case study on vetting a three-dimensional view of an area via Google Earth, featuring examples…
March 4, 2019
By Timmi Allen
On February 27 of this year, a MiG-21 Bison aircraft of the Indian Air Force was shot down over the contested Kashmir region of Pakistan. Soon afterward, pictures and videos showing the wreck of an Indian MiG-21 Bison at various locations were published across both traditional and social media. Bellingcat initially reported on this incident…
February 19, 2019
By Aric Toler
Update: SearchFace is dead, long live FindClone! This guide is now mostly for historical interest, as SearchFace has been taken offline and replaced with FindClone, a far easier tool to use than SearchFace was. You need to use a mobile telephone number to create an account for FindClone, which then gives you 30 searches over a…
February 19, 2019
By Dan Kaszeta
There has been a recent investigation here on Bellingcat, of a poisoning incident in Bulgaria in April 2015, where an individual named Emilian Gebrev was posioned. An angle of this investigation has been to see if it is at all connected to the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal. One particular aspect of recent publicity has…
February 14, 2019
A Case Study, Featuring the Electoral Roll of the Kyrgyz Republic When conducting digital investigations, using the tools already made available by the government can be a real help. Let’s use Kyrgyzstan as an example here. You may be looking for a witness or even a suspect in a crime, but you only know the…
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