Send us Fan Mail

Every profession has them. Ours just happens to come with database access, pretext skills, and a license that makes people trust us on sight.
On this episode of Hidden Threads, Macky and Jus get into the ugly side of the private investigation industry — the investigators who cross the line and the damage they do to everyone still working it straight. We talk about PIs who buy hacked email credentials instead of doing the work, the ones who run pretext calls on phone carriers and banks, the "we can get you anything" operators selling data they have no legal right to touch, and the billing fraud that quietly bleeds clients on surveillance hours nobody ever sat.
We also get into why it keeps happening: clients who want a result more than they want a clean one, licensing boards with no teeth, and the marketing that promises what no honest investigator can deliver.
If you're hiring an investigator, this is the episode that tells you what questions to ask before you write the check. If you're in the business, you already know at least one of the guys we're describing.
Hidden Threads. Pull one, see what unravels.

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

 In this episode, Macky and Jus cut through the hype around overpriced TSCM equipment. You don't need lights, beeps, and a $50K price tag to detect surveillance threats. We break down what actually works: RF detection, thermal imaging, and solid physical inspection. Find out why expensive gear doesn't detect signals better than proven methods, and how to avoid wasting money on unnecessary surveillance countermeasures equipment. 

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

A case goes viral. Within hours, a name is trending. By the next morning that person has lost a job, a family, and a reputation — and by the end of the week the internet has moved on to the next one. No correction, no apology, no one held to account.
In this episode, Macky and Jus talk about what happens when true crime content becomes a numbers game. Creators who float a theory as fact because certainty performs better than "I don't know." Comment sections that convict on a grainy still frame. Tip lines flooded with garbage that pulls real investigators away from real leads. And the people on the receiving end — neighbors, exes, coworkers, sometimes victims' own families — who get named on a livestream and spend years trying to unring the bell.
We get into why the incentive structure rewards being loud instead of being right, what actual investigative work looks like by comparison, and the line between legitimate public interest in a case and running a mob. We also talk about what you can do if it happens to you or someone you know, and how to tell the difference between a creator who's doing the work and one who's just harvesting outrage.
Being wrong online is free. Being named is not.

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Twenty years ago, an alibi was a story you told and somebody either backed up or didn't. Today it's a data set — and it doesn't care what you say.

In this episode, Macky and Jus break down how the phone in a suspect's pocket has quietly become the most reliable witness in the room. Location history and geofence warrants that put a device within meters of a scene. Health app step counts and accelerometer data that show someone was walking, not sleeping. Cell site records, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth pings, car infotainment logs, and the smart doorbell down the street that nobody thought about. We talk about how these threads get pulled in real cases, why suspects so often destroy their own defense by lying about something the data already answered, and where investigators and juries get it wrong — because a phone's location is not the same as a person's location, and confidence in the number is not the same as accuracy.

We also get into the other side of it: the innocent people this data has cleared, the limits of what these records actually prove, and what all of it means for the rest of us walking around carrying a witness we never swore in.
Want me to write the 60-second hook for the clips, or a YouTube-length version with timestamps once you have the runtime?

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Alex Murdaugh told investigators he was never at the kennels the night his wife and son were murdered. Then a forensic examiner pulled a 50-second video off Paul's phone, recorded at 8:44 PM, and Alex's voice was on it.
In this Best Of compilation, we walk through the digital evidence that dismantled the story: the kennel video and the three voices on it, Paul's phone locking at 8:49 PM and never being used again, the dead zone in Alex's own phone activity followed by a sudden burst of step data, the OnStar and GPS records showing the drive to Almeda, and Maggie's phone found in the brush down the road — with motion data consistent with being thrown from a moving vehicle.
Nobody testified that they saw Alex Murdaugh pull a trigger. The devices in that house testified for them. Phones, vehicle telematics, and health data don't get nervous on the stand and don't change their story.
I'm Macky Outlaw. I run a digital forensics and OSINT firm, and this is the kind of work my examiner and I do every week — just usually without the cameras. If you want to understand how a case actually gets built out of data, start here.
Subscribe for more true crime told from the forensic side of the table.

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

TLOxp is one of the most powerful tools in a licensed investigator's kit — and most people barely scratch what it does. In this best-of we break down how to actually work a search: building out a subject profile from a single data point, reading the relatives and associates trees, working address history backward, and knowing when a hit is solid versus when you're looking at stale or merged data.

Then we get into where TLO stops and OSINT starts — social footprint, public records, business filings, image and username pivots — and how to layer both into a report that actually holds up. We also talk about permissible purpose, because the fastest way to lose database access is treating a gated product like a search engine.

Whether you're new to skip tracing or you've been running searches for years, there's something in here.

#privateinvestigator #OSINT #skiptracing #TLOxp #investigations

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Hidden cameras, listening devices, phone spyware — the gear is cheap, easy to buy, and legal to own. Using it is where people end up in federal court. In this best-of we break down where the line actually sits: one-party vs. two-party consent recording, why "it's my house" doesn't cover what you think it covers, the difference between a nanny cam and a felony, and why installing tracking software on someone else's phone is one of the fastest ways to catch a Wiretap Act or CFAA charge.

We also get into the gap between what's technically legal and what will still get you sued, and the situations where people genuinely don't realize they've crossed a line until there's a warrant involved.

Not legal advice — laws vary hard by state. But if you're curious where the line is, this is the conversation.

#surveillance #privacylaw #hiddencamera #wiretapping #truecrime

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Alabama executed Anthony Boyd by nitrogen hypoxia — the newest execution method in the United States, and one only a handful of states authorize. In this best-of we break down what nitrogen hypoxia actually is, what witnesses reported from inside the chamber, why the state insists it's painless, and why medical groups and UN human rights experts call it closer to torture.

We get into the Boyd case itself, the legal fight that got him there, and the question neither side answers cleanly: if there's no humane way to do this, what does that say about doing it at all?

#deathpenalty #alabama #nitrogenhypoxia #truecrime #criminaljustice

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

When is a suspicion actually reasonable — and when have you gone all the way down the rabbit hole? In this "best of," I pull together the moments where we wrestle with that line: the cases, the callers, and the questions where a real red flag and pure paranoia look almost identical.

As a digital forensics and OSINT investigator — and a Force Recon Marine and Army veteran — my job is separating evidence from imagination. Sometimes the gut feeling is dead-on and there's a real threat. Sometimes it's a rabbit hole that swallows people whole. Here's how I tell the difference, what actually counts as reasonable suspicion, and why chasing every "what if" will cost you more than the truth ever could.

If you want to think sharper, stay grounded, and know when your instincts are worth trusting, hit subscribe and stay sharp.

🔎 Shadownet Digital — digital forensics & OSINT investigations
 🌐 shadownetdigital.com

#OSINT #ReasonableSuspicion #Paranoia #DigitalForensics #PrivateInvestigator #CriticalThinking #RabbitHole #Investigation #Privacy #Security

Thumbnail word: RABBIT HOLE? — or SUSPICION? if you want the serious-investigator angle.

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Everybody thinks the government is watching them… but how much of that is real, and how much is paranoia? In this "best of" compilation, I pull together the moments where we dug into surveillance, tracking, data collection, and the question everybody asks me: am I being watched?

As a digital forensics and OSINT investigator — and a Force Recon Marine and Army veteran — I've spent years seeing what's actually possible, what's Hollywood, and what should genuinely concern you. From your phone and your metadata to license plate readers, open-source intelligence, and the digital trail you leave every single day, here's a straight-talking look at where the real threats are and where the tinfoil hat takes over.

If you care about privacy, personal security, and knowing who really has eyes on you, hit subscribe and stay sharp.

🔎 Shadownet Digital — digital forensics & OSINT investigations
 🌐 shadownetdigital.com

#OSINT #Surveillance #Privacy #DigitalForensics #PrivateInvestigator #AmIBeingWatched #GovernmentSurveillance #DataPrivacy #Paranoia #Security

Support the show

866.910.7499 [email protected]