Notices by Bellingcat (bellingcat@mstdn.social)

Patrizia Schlosser discovered more than 30 images of herself online, pictured naked and in chains, in sexually explicit scenarios. But the imagery was all faked.
It was found on the most notorious marketplace MrDeepFakes, a website that hosts tens of thousands of videos and images, has more than 640,000 members, and receives millions of visits a month.
In our latest Bellingcat, with STRG_F, investigate the AI porn website MrDeepfakes.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2025/01/28/deepfake-porn-sites-link-to-tech-companies/?utm_source=mastodon

Adverts selling Nitazenes, an opioid up to 500 times stronger than heroin, are all over the internet, from social media platforms to trade sites. Even trace quantities of this drug can cause an overdose with the opioid already causing hundreds of deaths in Europe, the UK and North America. We investigate more than 1,000 online adverts selling six of the most common types of nitazenes to the public and explore how this deadly drug is infiltrating Europe and beyond…
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/01/20/chinese-link-to-nitazenes-targeting-europe/?utm_source=mastodon

Satellite Imagery is used extensively in open-source investigative research. In this guide, tech-fellow Agnes Cameron explains how satellite images can reveal more than the eye can see. Multispectral satellite images add additional bands of light, highlighting contrasts that we normally wouldn’t be able to see. This can help to reveal useful information about the world such as water quality, types of vegetation and mining activities. https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2025/01/10/satellite-imagery-bands-guide/?utm_source=mastodon

Have you noticed that the amazing people behind our Bellingcat toolkit have taken the time to categorise tools by research topics? This includes a must read most used by Bellingcat staff list, have a look here: https://bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/most-used

Welcome to 2025! If your new years resolution is to learn a new skill why don't you have a look at some of our guides on open source research? https://www.bellingcat.com/category/resources/ Want help? We have a community of people eager to learn alongside you and collaborate. https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

February: Solving a mystery. An unnamed vessel had caused an oil spill disaster off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago but there was no crew to be found... The search included looking at satellite imagery, 3D models, ship spotting sites and financial records: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/02/20/how-a-leaking-barge-became-an-oil-spill-disaster-off-the-tobago-coast/

April: We worked with Scripps News to follow the movements of one IDF unit as they moved through Gaza carrying out demolitions. The work has been cited in multiple reports and won an award for visual storytelling at the Online Journalism Awards https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/04/29/weve-become-addicted-to-explosions-the-idf-unit-responsible-for-demolishing-homes-across-gaza/

June: We monitored the advance on Al Fashir in Sudan, as citizens became trapped amongst the fighting. We located attacks seen in social media imagery and in satellite data. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/africa/2024/06/12/sudan-darfur-war-conflict-civilians-trapped-in-al-fashir-el-fasher-rsf-saf-genocide/

As 2024 comes to a close, here’s some examples of what Bellingcat investigated per month in our 10th year!🧵

January: Using camouflage pattern analysis, geolocations and social posts we found an infamous Russian neo-Nazi with ties to the paramilitary Wagner Group may be involved in the staging of a photograph showing a man holding a severed head in Syria. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/01/23/the-man-in-the-matching-uniform-investigating-a-rusich-atrocity-in-syria/

March: Bellingcat with The Sunday Times discovered one notorious narco boss had not been careful enough with his digital security, revealing his and associated others movements via Google Reviews for restaurants and hotels https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/03/30/kinahan-cartel-wanted-narco-boss-exposes-whereabouts-by-posting-google-reviews/

May: Pooja Chaudhuri revealed that four Indian far-right media outlets were receiving untransparent foreign donations; two had a connection to the RSS, a Hindu nationalist organisation with close ties to the ruling party of prime-minister Modi. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/05/28/how-hindu-nationalist-far-right-india-websites-money/

July: A missile struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv and disinformation about what the weapon was and who was likely responsible spread like wildfire. Our team got to work to identify the missile using 3D models, video analysis and missile remnants https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/07/09/russian-missile-identified-in-kyiv-childrens-hospital-attack/

August: We looked to Kenya, where footage and images captured at the scene of a protest revealed that a police officer shot towards a group of eight unarmed people including several journalists from a moving police vehicle. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/08/28/kenya-police-shoot-journalist-protests-finance-bill-demonstration-nakuru/

It's Saturday which means this week's Bellingcat open source research challenges are now fully unlocked 🔓
How have you been getting on? If you've not had a chance to have a go at the puzzles yet amongst holiday gatherings you can find them here on https://challenge.bellingcat.com/

Want to impress family or friends? Ask them for a photo featuring a shadow and follow the steps GeoGuessr pro @georainbolt does here. Using Bellingcat's Shadow Finder tool, you can narrow down the likely location the photo was taken in. https://youtu.be/pQIjDPFgdJA?si=Ml5dTEtFTpr5ftDR

We've added brand new exercises to our Open Source Challenge site! It's been great seeing people work together to solve these over the last few weeks. Let us know how you get on and what puzzles keep you guessing... https://challenge.bellingcat.com/

We spoke to Eliot Higgins on the past and future of open source research in our final Stage Talk of the year. Find it on all podcast platforms under 'Stage Talks with Bellingcat' now, like on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Vwba00BFuHpuwe4i3itZA?si=PefkdDIATx-LF92sdpqKSw

Last month a visit from Israeli football club Maccabi in Amsterdam resulted in violence erupting throughout the city. To gain a better understanding of the events, we worked with Dutch newspaper @Trouw to analyse videos that circulated online. https://www.trouw.nl/binnenland/wat-gebeurde-er-vorige-maand-in-amsterdam~b0bc9472/

Have you tried our new Online Investigations Toolkit yet? In our latest Tech Series video, we invited some of the volunteers that worked on the toolkit to present their favourite features and share how the toolkit can elevate your own investigations.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y3GQ6mSGqM