The Dutch police recently announced a “record number” of 2,300 weapon seizures from minors in 2025, claiming a surge from 1,800 in 2022. However, a closer look at their own data and imagery reveals a process of statistical laundering that criminalizes utility tools and targets marginalized youth through demographic profiling. The Example: A Tool Framed as a Threat The police often use professional photography to illustrate these “dangerous weapons”. In one prominent image, an officer holds a black folding knife. An OSINT analysis identifies this object as the Walther Emergency Rescue Knife (ERK). Legal Status: This is a commercially available tool sold legally in stores. Function: It is specifically designed as a life-saving tool, featuring a glass breaker and a belt cutter for emergency situations. Technical Compliance: According to the official Customs (Douane) flowchart, this knife is legally NOT a weapon because it has only one cutting edge and is under 28 cm in length. By using a rescue tool to represent “prohibited weapons,” the police perform “Linguistic Capture”—redefining a neutral utility object as a criminal instrument before any legal investigation into its use has occurred. Statistical Laundering and Enforcement Intensity The police admit they do not know the “true scope” of weapon possession among youth; their numbers only reflect how often they choose to seize items. Furthermore, they acknowledge that the “increase” is partly due to changes in counting methods and “increased attention” from officers. The Trap: This creates an unfalsifiable loop. Any seizure—even of a legal rescue tool—is used as evidence that a “weapon problem” exists, which in turn justifies more seizures. This isn’t a measure of crime; it is a measure of enforcement intensity. Legal Discrimination: The Double Standard The sources highlight a deep systemic bias in how the law is applied. Under Category IV sub 7 of the Weapons Act, a legal tool only becomes a “weapon” based on the “nature and circumstances” of its discovery. This grants police total discretion to decide who is a criminal:

Back in 2016, someone in Minnesota really said: what if a gun looked like a smartphone. Developed by Kirk Kjellberg, this folding pistol was sold under AutoLaunce, formerly available via Ideal Conceal. When closed, it looks like a regular phone. Flip it open, and it becomes a two-barrel .380 ACP handgun. It dropped in the middle of peak smartphone culture and instantly caused chaos, some people called it genius concealment, others called it reckless as hell. Production eventually stopped, but the 2016 “phone gun” is still one of the wildest concealment designs ever put on the market.

For FREE FaceSeek lets you upload a face and find out on what websites that same person (or a very similar looking person) appears across the internet. Why it’s powerful: • Finds reused profile pics on fake accounts 👤 • Connects aliases and usernames across platforms 🔗 • Helps verify if someone is who they claim to be 🕵️ • Goes beyond reverse image search, it matches faces, not pixels 🗿 Facial Recognition is perhaps one of the most controversial tools for digital investigations. Used responsibly. FaceSeek: facial recognition Pimeyes: facial recognition for OSINT professionals Follow the Images 101 course in the classroom if you haven’t yet and visit https://www.cultrodistro.com/tools/images for more tools to use when you’re investigating an image

Scams are rising fast. Not just more scams. Smarter, AI-powered, and massively scaled scams. Add to that how accessible hardware has become: - Tools like Flipper Zero, Kode Dot, and Raspberry Pi - Cheap, portable, and increasingly powerful - Capable of probing Wi-Fi networks, IoT devices, and weak security setups If your password is easy to guess, reused, or already leaked, you’re an easy target. 👉 2026 is not a good year to have a bad password. What you should do starting NOW, if you haven’t already: - Use long, unique passwords (minimum 14–16 characters) - Never reuse passwords across services - Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) everywhere it’s available - Prefer app-based MFA or hardware keys over SMS Useful tools - 🔎 Password strength checker:https://2ip.io/passcheck/(Test strength — never reuse real passwords you still rely on) - 🔐 Password generator:https://us.norton.com/feature/password-generator(Generate strong, random passwords instantly) Strong OPSEC starts with strong credentials. Good luck with the OPSEC 101 course! and stay safe. 🛡️

What’s your favorite OSINT tool that not many people think about? I’ll go first. 📱 Snapchat Here’s a recent simple but effective example: In my first case of 2026 as an OSINT detective, I investigated a suspected infidelity case. I was provided with the phone number of the alleged cheater. I saved the number in my phone contacts. Not long after, I received a notification: “Someone from your contacts is on Snapchat.” That account turned out to be a hidden Snapchat profile, unknown to the spouse who hired me. The profile was linked to the phone number and became a key data point in my investigation. From there, I used other OSINT tools to anonymously view and archive the profile and its content, so it could be properly documented and included as evidence in my report. Last week, they broke up 🥀. Why this works, even for adults: - Many people created Snapchat accounts years ago - Phone numbers often remain linked long after active use stops - “I don’t use Snapchat” ≠ “I don’t have Snapchat” No messages sent. No interaction. No alert to the other party. 📌 OSINT lesson: Platforms remember longer than people do. Understanding how everyday apps sync contacts and combining that with proper archiving and documentation—is often what turns a signal into evidence. Now your turn 👇 What’s an OSINT tool or platform you use that doesn’t get talked about enough?