Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why people who commit crime keep texting each other their Plans?

143 replies

girlfriend44 · 15/12/2023 21:53

Keep seeing this. A crimes committed and police seize phones and retrieve messages.
The people involved, layout all their plans and fantasy by text or whattsapp to each other.

How do they think they will get away with it, when it's all typed out.

Why are people so thick as well as horrible? 🙄

OP posts:
Catza · 15/12/2023 21:55

This is the question I ask myself every time I watch a crime documentary. I guess people genuinely believe they are so smart they would never be caught.

SgtJuneAckland · 15/12/2023 21:55

I was listening to the lady killers podcast which looks at murders in Victorian times, more than one case included letters with incriminating information, so it's clearly not new!

Teenagequeenwithaloadedgun · 15/12/2023 21:56

I once saw an episode of Murder on CCTV where before the criminal killed the victim, they were filmed on CCTV buying duct tape, bin bags, bleach and 2 knives with their credit card.

Speechless.

Aria2023 · 15/12/2023 21:56

I have thought this exact same thing! You only have to watch a bit of Police Detective TV (factual or fictional) to know how easy phones are to trace and incriminate. I can only think that for those that get a ‘kick’ out of their crimes, they just can't resist talking about them or perhaps it's like you say, they just aren't very bright!

Nothingbuttheglory · 15/12/2023 21:57

Stringer Bell understood the importance of information security and that was back in 2003.

StartupRepair · 15/12/2023 21:57

I met a senior detective who said to me 'every crime has a digital footprint'. Often think about that.

TwoMoreBoxesJayne · 15/12/2023 21:58

I've noticed this too. I watch a lot of police tv shows and it's true that a lot of criminals are thick. I guess if they weren't they would have a better chance of living a normal life.

It's amazing how much technology the police can use to help arrest people. CCTV must have made such a difference to policing.

AintNothinButARoundFrog · 15/12/2023 21:58

Because people can't keep things in their heads, they literally go mad with paranoia and anxiety - unless they're a sociopath.

SirCharlesRainier · 15/12/2023 22:01

Well...this applies to the ones who get caught. The cleverer ones who don't do this and don't get caught - we don't even know about them. There could be loads, or hardly any, we'd never know.

Similarly PP's detective friend who says all crimes leave a digital footprint: no mate, only the ones you've solved do

lljkk · 15/12/2023 22:02

it's almost like criminals just aren't very clever people

Hellocatshome · 15/12/2023 22:02

In the main only stupid criminals get caught and convicted. Plenty of smart criminals out there not texting each other about their crimes and getting away with them.

Standbyyourself · 15/12/2023 22:07

Criminals are often idiots. I read an Ann rule book years ago about a man who killed his wife, then he put her in a suitcase and then just hung around their apartment with her body in a suitcase. He didn’t try and run away, he didn’t try and get rid of her body. Two days later she was supposed to be meeting up with her mum and when she didn’t turn up the mum rang the police, they found the wife’s body and the man went to prison. If I murdered my husband on a Friday night and he wasn’t due to see his family until Sunday and wasn’t due back at work until Monday I’d spend my Friday nighy/saturday/Sunday morning running to another country or trying to hide his body not just hanging out watching Netflix and eating crisps!

LizzieSiddal · 15/12/2023 22:09

AintNothinButARoundFrog · 15/12/2023 21:58

Because people can't keep things in their heads, they literally go mad with paranoia and anxiety - unless they're a sociopath.

Thid plus they may well be rather stupid, so they think they’ll get away with things which anyone else would know they wouldn’t.

SisterMichaelsHabit · 15/12/2023 22:09

YABU because sometimes this is the only thing that can nail them for what they did, and I think we shouldn't be educating them on not incriminating themselves. The more people who get justice for losing their loved ones, the better.

Pickingmyselfup · 15/12/2023 22:10

I always think it must be so hard to commit a crime these days because of all the surveillance. I saw something about a tinder murder the other day who was so sure he wouldn't be caught but the girl is seen on CCTV entering a building with him and never leaving. Doesn't take a genius to use CCTV to catch him buying cleaning supplies etc.

The perfect crime has to have no ties to anything, no CCTV showing who you are...it's possible but it surely needs meticulous planning and someone very clever, not your average Joe.

LakeTiticaca · 15/12/2023 22:10

They obviously don't think they will get caught. Mobile data, DNA, ANPR cameras and
CCTV are great tools for crime detection

SuspiciousSue · 15/12/2023 22:13

I’ve thought this so many times too. Surely to god if you were planning something grisly like a murder, you’d want no paper/electronic trail. However, people are stupid and just don’t learn 🤷‍♀️

ConnectFortyFour · 15/12/2023 22:14

In the recent case with Brianna Ghey isn’t it that they did delete messages but the police were able to recover them?

AintNothinButARoundFrog · 15/12/2023 22:15

If someone's done something that goes against their personal morals and values it will eat them up in its entirety and that's when they start talking or making careless mistakes in clearing up after themselves etc. They won't be able to think rationally from that moment on.

Sharontheodopolodous · 15/12/2023 22:26

Teenagequeenwithaloadedgun · 15/12/2023 21:56

I once saw an episode of Murder on CCTV where before the criminal killed the victim, they were filmed on CCTV buying duct tape, bin bags, bleach and 2 knives with their credit card.

Speechless.

I watched one (I'm sure it was 2 women who murdered another lady,but could be wrong)

They stabbed her with a knife

That they'd bought from tesco and used their club card!

I mean,how dim can you get?

ActDottie · 15/12/2023 22:27

I think maybe because they think their plan is so amazing they won’t get caught maybe.

Jijithecat · 15/12/2023 22:28

Dealers need to let their customers know when they've reloaded. Some crimes can't be committed without advertising.

Echobelly · 15/12/2023 22:28

I guess it's because it's how people communicate now, they just don't think about it being incriminating, it's just how you get things done.

HoHoHoliday · 15/12/2023 22:28

Some people are really arrogant and believe they can commit a crime without anyone suspecting them so they don't care about evidence.
Some people are just simply stupid.
Some are both!

Standbyyourself · 15/12/2023 22:39

Jijithecat · 15/12/2023 22:28

Dealers need to let their customers know when they've reloaded. Some crimes can't be committed without advertising.

They could come up with a code though like text ‘want to go to the pub at 7?’ rather than ‘your meth will be available at 7’ 😂