Madeleine McCann: German prisoner identified as suspect - #9

[Betty_Boop88]

But even then, it won't tell you how long they've had that phone number listed on their account. It just tells you when the account was created. I've got a Kik account but rarely use it and don't have it set up to access my phone contacts as I don't want it to, but I just had a little play with it and it just lets you change the phone number field to whatever you want as often as you want.

Kik doesn't send messages using the phone number, it's deliberately set up to avoid that. The only purpose of inputting your phone number onto Kik is that it allows other people who know you to find your user profile by cross checking against their phone contacts (if that's what you want).

I honestly believe someone has done it on purpose as a joke or to fake a story. Putting a number in this field does not prove you own the number, I could put the Portugal number on my account right now. And there's no proof of when that number was added to the account based on those screen grabs, someone's likely done it when the number came out in the news and MWT has then done a search on Kik by storing the portugal number in his contacts and had this account come up. (The blanked out names by the way are whatever you have the contact saved as on your phone).

That's my theory anyway, feel free to debunk it. Oh, and that picture could be put on by anyone, whoever it is it's not NM.

Apologies, DLK, you had edited after I replied - otherwise, all I’d have had to say is that I’m 100% in agreement with everything you’ve mentioned here.
I’d bet my years salary that someone has added the number to their Kik account for sh*ts and giggles after LE released it to the media because they knew everyone with an interest in the story would be cross checking it on every messenger platform they have downloaded.

 

[Betty_Boop88]

Hmmmm.. Why would they do this? Let's say they have no Kik contacts ( because I understand if they change numbers all their contact with numbers would know this) and this is a fake account. What would be the reason someone plays with this?
Kik is used mostly by young users. Maybe a child was playing with this but why would they put in that photo?

I’m sure that’s how Kik started off, but that’s no longer the main demographic of its users. Unfortunately, most Kik users these days fit CB’s profile.
... It’s very easy to create a throwaway email account specifically for Kik use. There has also been modern updates to the app... Chatrooms now exist. And most of them operate much like the Dark Web paedo chats we’ve read about here - you have to send a live pic of yourself following certain rules/in certain poses to gain access to the rooms.

Sinister.

 

[tedtink]

So could NM could just be in the contacts list of the KIK account holder?

 

[haden]

There is a new development about that phone number from Germany
Maddie cops probe new 'phone link' to prime suspect Christian B after TV tip-off

 

[Dlk79]

Apologies, DLK, you had edited after I replied - otherwise, all I’d have had to say is that I’m 100% in agreement with everything you’ve mentioned here.
I’d bet my years salary that someone has added the number to their Kik account for sh*ts and giggles after LE released it to the media because they knew everyone with an interest in the story would be cross checking it on every messenger platform they have downloaded.

Agreed. All you need to set up a Kik account is an email address. Someone could literally set up an account right now with CB's profile pic, use his name as their profile name and input the portugal number he used as their phone number. Wouldn't prove a thing but for anyone with that phone number stored in their contacts, that's what would come up when they opened up Kik.

 

[Jenesaisquoi]

There is a new development about that phone number from Germany
Maddie cops probe new 'phone link' to prime suspect Christian B after TV tip-off

from the article: Police now hope to trace the Portuguese number’s owner. They are also checking banks in Portugal to see if it was topped up at an ATM.

 

[NCanning]

There is a new development about that phone number from Germany
Maddie cops probe new 'phone link' to prime suspect Christian B after TV tip-off

"They are also checking banks in Portugal to see if it was topped up at an ATM." WHYYYYYY have they not already done this?!?!??!

 

[Toothcomb]

Me too! Could the mystery number have been CB' s originally, he then gave it to NM in 2012 (when he met her?) On 2007 May 3rd, he had it as a decoy phone, placed it elsewhere as an alibi ..ah, but then he'd need someone to answer it, bang goes that theory!

That's what I was wondering originally when NM was first mentioned.

 

[photographer4]

You need to click on the users profile to see how long they’ve had an account for. It shows under their profile pic, and it doesn’t give you an actual date, it’ll just say “123 days”.

Ok, for those who don't know this - its not as easy to do on an iPhone that I recall, but on an android device, I can make ya think I've been on kik for as long as my wee little heart desires. I can do all sorts of things you shouldn't be able to do, just by using different versions of the app. EG: in addition to changing how long I"ve been on Kik, I can change the themes, background colours... I can pretend I never saw your messages (leave you on "sent" or "delivered" for as long as I want and unless or until I reply, you'll never know the difference).

I think you can do that on Apple now too, but its not as easy. These features have been around since at least a few years ago... and easy as apple pie to initiate and use... so again... I caution... its easy to spoof these accts.

 

[haden]

That's what I was wondering originally when NM was first mentioned.

There is another thing. I remember reading this recently: At the time when Madeleine went missing there was another burglary in a nearby town. The police were called automatically by a phone alarm from Lisbon. All police went there and it seems it was a fake call. This is why they were late to attend the call about missing Madeleine.

 

[Betty_Boop88]

from the article: Police now hope to trace the Portuguese number’s owner. They are also checking banks in Portugal to see if it was topped up at an ATM.

Portuguese number, but out of the 16 calls they had about it, the most promising lead comes from a caller from Bavaria...

 

[Dlk79]

So could NM could just be in the contacts list of the KIK account holder?

No, think you've misunderstood. Whoever did the screen grab has saved the Portuguese number in their phone under some made-up contact name. Then they've logged into Kik which searches against their saved contacts (including the portugal number) for any Kik accounts where the user has opted to list their number. As I've said, any user can list their phone number as being whatever they want it to be on Kik.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with NM other than a vague likeness in the picture.

 

[haden]

No, think you've misunderstood. Whoever did the screen grab has saved the Portuguese number in their phone under some made-up contact name. Then they've logged into Kik which searches against their saved contacts (including the portugal number) for any Kik accounts where the user has opted to list their number. As I've said, any user can list their phone number as being whatever they want it to be on Kik.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with NM other than a vague likeness in the picture.

Could it be that for example, NM was curious? She obviously knows the suspect and when the news was announced she searched for the number by adding it to her contacts?

 

[Betty_Boop88]

No, think you've misunderstood. Whoever did the screen grab has saved the Portuguese number in their phone under some made-up contact name. Then they've logged into Kik which searches against their saved contacts (including the portugal number) for any Kik accounts where the user has opted to list their number. As I've said, any user can list their phone number as being whatever they want it to be on Kik.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with NM other than a vague likeness in the picture.

To follow on from your point, DLK - I’m sure if it was legit, there would have been a Kik hit for it way back when LE first released the phone numbers. There were people on this thread checking it on WhatsApp etc. I’m sure if it was already listed on Kik way back then, we’d have heard about it here first.

 

[photographer4]

I’m sure that’s how Kik started off, but that’s no longer the main demographic of its users. Unfortunately, most Kik users these days fit CB’s profile.
... It’s very easy to create a throwaway email account specifically for Kik use. There has also been modern updates to the app... Chatrooms now exist. And most of them operate much like the Dark Web paedo chats we’ve read about here - you have to send a live pic of yourself following certain rules/in certain poses to gain access to the rooms.

Sinister.

A note about "live" photos so many of the groups want you to send... these are also EASY AS F* to fake!! Its very simple to do. You download an app to your device (this is easy on Android) that mods the Kik software and connects you to their servers. It allows access to features you don't normally have on Kik. One such feature you can then mod to your liking is "Live Photo".

So in the usual Kik app, if you take a Live Photo / selfie, the software marks it as such (I think it says Live Photo, or Camera). When you use a photo on your photo roll (saved to your device) it says "Gallery" (or something similar). Just giving examples so you know why they ask for Live Photos.

Ok sounds like a good way to "verify" a user right? Nope. When you use modded apps to access servers, you can fake it so any photo you have saved to the device looks like a "Live Photo". Ok... so then people simply use whatever photo they saved to their phone. Wanna be ultra sneaky? Download a random person who does not even exist:ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com uses AI to generate endless fake faces

So another way they ask you to "verify with Live Photo" to circumvent these... is to ask for a photo of you touching your nose or elbow. These are harder but not impossible to fake. A quick trip to photoshop with a random arm extended in a pointing motion makes this easy to fake too.

Learning all this information wasn't even that hard. It came down a google search on how to set up a fake kik account and how to circumvent the Live Photo requests.

 

[tedtink]

I'm still keeping an open mind about NM.
She may have been a victim of CB, but was deported back to Germany on an alleged crime. He went back to Germany and lived with her and I read they still kept in contact after the relationship was over.
Someone so young who gets involved with a man like him is scarred for life, can identify with the aggressor and suffer stockholm syndrome. It's extremely hard to disentangle from a relationship like that.
Just because we see her as a victim and that she is a female, doesn't mean she is the victim of a KIK phone scam. imo
Just keeping an open mind until this all unfolds.

 

[Betty_Boop88]

A note about "live" photos so many of the groups want you to send... these are also EASY AS F* to fake!! Its very simple to do. You download an app to your device (this is easy on Android) that mods the Kik software and connects you to their servers. It allows access to features you don't normally have on Kik. One such feature you can then mod to your liking is "Live Photo".

So in the usual Kik app, if you take a Live Photo / selfie, the software marks it as such (I think it says Live Photo, or Camera). When you use a photo on your photo roll (saved to your device) it says "Gallery" (or something similar). Just giving examples so you know why they ask for Live Photos.

Ok sounds like a good way to "verify" a user right? Nope. When you use modded apps to access servers, you can fake it so any photo you have saved to the device looks like a "Live Photo". Ok... so then people simply use whatever photo they saved to their phone. Wanna be ultra sneaky? Download a random person who does not even exist:ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com uses AI to generate endless fake faces

So another way they ask you to "verify with Live Photo" to circumvent these... is to ask for a photo of you touching your nose or elbow. These are harder but not impossible to fake. A quick trip to photoshop with a random arm extended in a pointing motion makes this easy to fake too.

Learning all this information wasn't even that hard. It came down a google search on how to set up a fake kik account and how to circumvent the Live Photo requests.

Unfortunately, Photographer, I doubt actual children would be savvy to all of that. And children are who a lot of these “chatrooms” on Kik are aimed at.

 

[photographer4]

Unfortunately, Photographer, I doubt actual children would be savvy to all of that. And children are who a lot of these “chatrooms” on Kik are aimed at.

Well, then this will scare the living crap out of you - I called someone I know who has a kid aged 12 and that kid explained the entire thing to me that I just explained to you. He knew b/c he had a pal with a teenaged sibling who knew and explained how easy it is. He explained it to help keep the Younger kids from ending up talking to someone they don't know online. Its incredibly easy, and sadly, many kids are well aware, if not more versed in how to spoof adulthood online than most adults are!

 

[Dlk79]

Just because we see her as a victim and that she is a female, doesn't mean she is the victim of a KIK phone scam. imo
Just keeping an open mind.

Nobody's saying she's the victim of a scam. The photo doesn't even look like her IMO. Look at the tops of her ears, NM versus the girl in the pic. It's not the same person. The nose and chin are different proportions too. If someone wanted to scam her, they could have just as easily put a real photo of NM as the profile pic that left no ambiguity.

Someone (possibly a young girl who looks a little like NM) has just saved the Portugal number on their Kik account, most likely as a joke. They probably didn't even know anything about NM, it's only MWT who has made this connection to NM and decided they look similar, personally I don't think that they do all that much.

 

[NCanning]

I think the photo is very very like her. So for posters to say it is clearly not her is derailing things a little