Burner phones, which are often “dumb” flip phones, can be loaded with prepaid minutes and offer anonymity when rotated frequently, purchased with cash, and siloed from any connections to you or your digital life. The idea is that cops, or other actors, are unlikely to be tracking a fresh burner phone in real time. But the crucial additional layer of protection that properly used burner phones offer is that even if they are—or they later tie communications from a burner phone to activity they are investigating—they can’t use digital ties to establish who was using it. (Full article in Wired Magazine.)
