Crafting Effective OSINT Prompts for Law Enforcement and Online Investigations

Coming soon we will host a webinar updating our use cases for AI and OSINT. In thinking about this, it may be useful to give some example prompts. In the digital age, having a repository of refined prompts for AI tools like ChatGPT 4 (paid), Bing Copilot, Google Gemini, and You.com (free) can streamline your efforts and enhance your investigations. Collecting a few examples that have produced great results can get you started even on unrelated cases. Here are some expertly crafted prompts and tips to boost your OSINT activities.

1. Corporate or People Research

When researching companies, AI excels. It can be a little trickier to research people, but it can be done. The following prompts worked well.

PROMPT: Act as an Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Specialist. I want you to gather information from publicly available sources for me. Your answers should be concise and specific to the information requested. Do not include personal opinions or speculation. Find information about the current CEO of Plessas Experts Network, including locations of events, colleagues, and any future events.

I got the idea for the above from an interesting Reddit thread on the topic, and it worked best in ChatGPT and Copilot

PROMPT: Who are the primary customers for Plessas Experts Network?

This query analyzed the company descriptions and provided the types of customers that were likely. Each AI gave a slightly different output, but all generalizties. This might be given further details to try to identify specific customers or entities.

PROMPT: Please find connections between Kirby Plessas and Kyle Elliott based on their online presence and interactions, and list them.

I got the idea for this query from DorkSearch. ChatGPT 4 and You.com (ChatGPT 3.5) did best.

PROMPT: Who owns Pastebin.com

This prompt could be used for companies, mobile apps, etc. Addresses can be queried, and although specific owners were not identified, other pertinent information was, and in most cases, included suggestions on where the owner information can be found.

PROMPT: Create a smart research strategy for investigating a company in Ukraine

While this query was useful in all AIs, Gemini excelled at this task and gave direct links to suggested resources.

PROMPT: Identify 5 experts in the field of cellphone analysis that have worked with law enforcement in the past

Interestingly, each of the AI tools did well with this but gave different experts, so try them all with queries like this one.

2. Craft Advanced Queries for Search Engines

If you're looking to find specific online mentions, consider being very specific about what you want and ask AI to create a Google or Bing “dork” or advanced query. These queries use search language that limit the searches to specific parameters, such as keywords included in titles or results from a specific domain.

PROMPT: Create a Google dork that will help me find posts mentioning Bill Smith but only in conjunction with Las Vegas, NV, Miami, FL, or Phoenix, AZ. They must also have to do with cryptocurrency or the dark web, have the name in the title, and come from government websites.

The above query works wonderfully, but be aware that not every search engine can handle multiple advanced operators like Google can. If the return is too complicated, use it in Google, but then simplify for other search engines.

3. Demographics and Trends

Consider looking for insights into particular demographics and trends.

PROMPT: Generate a detailed profile of the average meth user in Salt Lake City, Utah, including demographic, psychographic, and behavioral traits

The above query was inspired by an article on SocialPilot.

PROMPT: Generate a list of trending topics on Reddit for likely drug users

While queries involving drugs may be a very important topic for some investigators, the AI tools were somewhat cagey with the answers, and ChatGPT 4 refused to provide any answers. The AI tools are building in protections against misuse and are likely trying not to help a user obtain illegal drugs, but you may have to ask follow on questions or reword in some cases.

PROMPT: What are 20 slang words that homeless people in Arizona use?

All of the AI tools returned slang results, but Copilot was the only one that really understood the regional aspect of the question.

PROMPT: Examine the rates of homelessness and the crime rates in Lexington, Kentucky. Are there any patterns over time? Are any regions of the city more susceptible to either homelessness or crime? Provide deep analysis and citations.

PROMPT: Generate a thorough set of addresses and locations within Tucson, AZ where homeless people gather. Include descriptions of activity, such as tents or panhandling locations. Give intersections of street addresses when possible. Explain why each location is included. Estimate the number of homeless people in each location at any given time.

These two examples show more detailed instructions. If your instructions are long and very specific, you will get more specific answers, so don’t be afraid to outline your parameters. Another suggestion would be to ask follow-up questions to get down to the answers you need - but be sure to include the follow-ons when saving to your examples list so you have some guidance next time you run across a similar need. By the way, Gemini absolutely excelled at the second question.

4. Investigative Research

PROMPT: What are some gang names used in Tucson, AZ. Exclude large national gangs.

PROMPT: What street gangs are operating in Tucson, AZ. Exclude large national gangs.

These questions returned some great answers, specifically in Copilot, but be aware of AI hallucinations (incorrect data made up by the AI). Also, be aware that the data may not be complete. Consider this a jumping-off point for further queries or search engine keywords.

5. Technical Tutorials

Prompt: Write a simple step-by-step tutorial on how to install and use ExifTool

Replace ExifTool with whatever tool or website you want to learn. Gemini was very helpful in identifying prerequisite software in this case.

PROMPT: Write a chrome extension that will highlight all email addresses in a webpage

Have the AI create custom software, browser extensions, or Python scripts for your own use. Depending on how technical you want to get, you can create tools for yourself, your team, or the OSINT community.

6. Uploaded Images

Images can be uploaded into the AI tools. Copilot and Gemini allow this for free while Chat GPT 4 and You.com offer this as a premium service. Here are some sample prompts for images.

PROMPT: Analyze this image, identify all text available, translate into English, and provide the locations that are possible according to the street signs

PROMPT: Analyze this image for possible location indicators

PROMPT: Analyze this image and tell me if it is AI generated or not

In the case of the last result, I was able to feed the tool an AI generated image that it could not identify. As before, be wary of the results and double check anything that could be seen as factual.

7. Data Manipulation and Analysis

Excel and other files can be uploaded into ChatGPT4 or pasted into the other AI tools for manipulation and analysis. This can be a huge time saver.

PROMPT: Extract all email addresses from this data. Exclude duplicates.

PROMPT: Extract all phone numbers from this data. Put into a common format.

PROMPT: Clean up this data and return only names and web addresses. No bullets or numbered lists.

Great for getting data ready to input into other tools (Like Custom Search Engines! See my blog post.)

PROMPT: Analyze this data and tell me what this is about and any locations if possible

PROMPT: Analyze and explain this data

Great for mysterious messages, lists of seemingly unrelated content, or computer code.

PROMPT: Identify and analyze patterns in this data

PROMPT: Identify the names that show up on this list more than once

Useful for comparing friends lists, and specifically to find hidden friends lists or the infamous Finstas.

For more insights and prompt ideas, explore these resources:

- OSINT Combine

- ChatGPT for OSINT Investigations on Medium

- DorkSearch's Blog on OSINT

- 103 OSINT ChatGPT Prompt Ideas

- AI Prompt Examples by Formidable Forms

These prompts and resources are just a starting point. As you progress in your OSINT endeavors, adapt and refine these prompts to fit your specific needs and circumstances. Stay informed, stay agile, and leverage AI to enhance your investigative capabilities.