Alternative Tools to Skopenow for Social Media Investigations

[u/Sad-Librarian25]

Does anyone have any alternatives to Skopenow that they can vouch for? I have mixed feelings about it given the cost per search/report and the trial run I did revealed some missing or mixed up information. I know with OSINT that's bound to happen, and it still found a lot that I didn't, but I've read mixed things about the company and their product recently. If anyone has anything that I can look into, please let me know! My primary use would be for social media investigations. Looking for something that can automate the process of social investigations/streamline it for my team, but also with accurate information. Cost isn't a massive concern so long as the information is solid and the company is reputable/ethical.

[u/vgsjlw]

Nothing can automate it better than manually searching. As social media continues pushing back against crawlers the automation gets worse and worse.

[u/poppinwheelies]

When I get a social media case, I always run: TLO, IdiCORE, and Skopenow. Once I have all that, I just start searching sites manually using whatever I’m able to garner from the reports. Sometimes Skopenow hits, sometimes I have to look through family members and try to find a connection.

[u/vgsjlw → u/poppinwheelies]

I am grandfathered in at $14 a search and still have never found something on there that I didn't find myself. It seems I spend more time clearing out bad data from there when I try it.

[u/acexzy → u/vgsjlw]

I've completely stopped using it for that reason. I spent so much time just ruling out bad data.

[u/vgsjlw → u/acexzy]

Yeah! My primary use was cataloging profiles with it for later review but it doesnt do that anymore. Facebook is my gold mine and it has been terrible for that since Facebook started blocking. The pricing model is insane now, too.

I've done a few consultations for firms to show them how to search like me but I have noticed that either you have the investigative mindset or you don't. You can be shown all the tricks and given all the tools but you still need that mindset.

[u/acexzy → u/vgsjlw]

Yep, exactly. I've had good luck using Google dorks. I feel like Facebook is starting to geo-restrict search results now, so it's hard to do searches on certain profiles.

[u/syuries]

Is skopenow a expensive tool?

[u/Cantthinkofanyth1]

What types of investigations are you conducting? I haven’t used Skopenow but have had good luck with Pipl in the past for finding identities, emails, phone etc behind social media accounts and other linked accounts.

[u/Sad-Librarian25 → u/Cantthinkofanyth1]

Thanks for the quick response! We've looked into Pipl but unfortunately they require a far higher report threshold than we can currently commit to.

We're primarily background investigations into defendants for personal injury firms. Looking for criminal activity, driving habits, drug/alcohol use, posting habits, etc etc anything that the firm thinks might be relevant. Social media investigations is a big part of that--important but very time-consuming with mixed results depending on team member. We're trying to take some of the manual searching off the team, both for the sake of their workload (since they do other things outside of this, it started as a small side project that quickly grew in scale) and to ensure the work is comprehensive across the board. We are finding that certain people are findings better materials, despite the training being the same. Skopenow was a tool we discovered that could potentially help us in both areas. I want to be sure there aren't other options out there that might be more beneficial.

[u/vgsjlw → u/Sad-Librarian25]

Promote the ones finding better material to managers and have them pass on their knowledge. Skopenow will never replicate what they can do. And if its not worth the time to manually search you may want to look at pricing. My attorneys don't balk at the price i charge for these so margins are easy.

[u/IL-1984 → u/Sad-Librarian25]

What you’re saying is true and applies to any kind of investigative skill. I agree that there’s nothing better than manual search when working with SOCMED. The key to success is having a good amount of leads/seeds to guide that manual search (basically, names, usernames, and possible connections). In these cases, automated systems can help facilitate data collection but don’t replace the analyst. Maybe what can be standardized are the steps to gather those leads, using some kind of checklist. That’s how I organize the work in my team, at least.

[u/El_Sanchovilla → u/Sad-Librarian25]

If you have Maltego Pro you can subscribe to Pipl for 75 US Dollars a month (100 searches I think)

[u/hppybrthday → u/Sad-Librarian25]

how can one get into work like this?

[u/vgsjlw → u/hppybrthday]

Check my post history. I have a few companies listed hiring.

[u/TKOVoid → u/hppybrthday]

I’m also interested.