Snapchat Investigations | GBG Consulting, LLC.

Why Snapchat?

Snapchat has become a platform frequently used by criminals to commit and coordinate a range of offenses, including drug sales, human trafficking, sexual exploitation of minors, and organized theft. Many juvenile and young adult suspects are active on Snapchat.

For law enforcement, understanding data retained by Snapchat (what to ask for with legal process) and how to review and analyze data productions is crucial for finding and presenting valuable evidence, placing a suspect at a crime scene or locating them, and proactively investigating criminal activity.

COURSE OVERVIEW

This course is offered as an 8-hour, 1-day course. This course is tailored to be applicable to investigators assigned to work any type of investigation involving Snapchat, including: Drug / Gun Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Child Exploitation, Robbery / Homicide and gang crimes.

Students will learn about all the various features offered to Snapchat users, such as Snaps, Conversations, Memories, “My Eyes Only” memories, Stories, Private Stories, and more. Understanding these various features is important for investigators to know what to ask for with legal process, and how to analyze and make sense of the data productions.

This class is heavily focused on legal process, including authoring effective preservation requests, emergency disclosure requests, subpoenas and search warrants. Students will then “deep dive” and get hands on with Snapchat data productions and learn what the data means and how to effectively analyze it, report write it and present it in court.

Students will explore geolocation data, IP address records, and metadata.

Finally, more advanced topics will be discussed including Pen Register Trap Trace (PRTT) orders and Title III Wire Taps to Snapchat. Although more seldom used, these types of court orders can be extremely useful for larger and more involved investigations.