--- title: 3 Secret Tools Used by OSINT Experts | daily.dev description: An OSINT investigator shares three unconventional reconnaissance techniques used to track people: using PayPal's payment field to resolve usernames, phone... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/3-secret-tools-used-by-osint-experts-0xcubadim twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 3 Secret Tools Used by OSINT Experts | daily.dev og:description: An OSINT investigator shares three unconventional reconnaissance techniques used to track people: using PayPal's payment field to resolve usernames, phone... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/3-secret-tools-used-by-osint-experts-0xcubadim og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/0XCUbadiM.png og:image:alt: 3 Secret Tools Used by OSINT Experts og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 3 Secret Tools Used by OSINT Experts **[David Bombal](https://daily.dev/sources/davidbombal)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An OSINT investigator shares three unconventional reconnaissance techniques used to track people: using PayPal's payment field to resolve usernames, phone numbers, or emails to real names; brute-forcing hotel Wi-Fi captive portal logins (using tools like Burp Suite) with a known last name to find someone's physical location; and using license plate lookup sites like carvana.com or O'Reillyautos.com combined with Carfax to trace a vehicle's VIN and service history, revealing patterns of life such as where an owner lives. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How can PayPal be used as an OSINT tool to find someone's real name? PayPal's send-money field can resolve a username, phone number, or email address to the actual registered name tied to that account. Entering the contact detail in the payment field surfaces the recipient's real name without needing to send any money, making it a quick identity-resolution trick for investigators. _Developers exploring OSINT or privacy-focused security research can find similar deep dives on daily.dev._ ### How do investigators use hotel Wi-Fi captive portals to locate someone? Hotel captive portal login screens typically ask for a room number and last name, so if an investigator already knows the target's last name, they can brute-force every possible room number combination until one succeeds, revealing which hotel and room the person is staying in. This process can be automated with tools like Burp Suite. _Security-minded developers researching authentication weaknesses like this can follow related coverage on daily.dev._ ### How can a license plate number be used to find a vehicle's VIN and service history? Sites such as carvana.com or O'Reillyautos.com can resolve a license plate number and state into a vehicle's make, model, and VIN. From there, tools like Carfax reveal maintenance history, such as where oil changes or tire rotations occurred, which can expose a person's approximate home location through a pattern-of-life analysis. _Anyone tracking privacy and data-exposure risks like this can stay informed through daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Phone Numbers and Emails to Hidden Subdomains: The OSINT Acquisition Pipeline That Uncovered a Critical Bug](https://daily.dev/posts/phone-numbers-and-emails-to-hidden-subdomains-the-osint-acquisition-pipeline-that-uncovered-a-criti-6eq4y2bm4) · InfoSec Write-ups · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [OSINT Framework: The Map Every Investigator Needs \(Part 1\)](https://daily.dev/posts/osint-framework-the-map-every-investigator-needs-part-1--0z3mpxtx4) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy), [#osint](https://daily.dev/tags/osint), [#burp-suite](https://daily.dev/tags/burp-suite) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/3-secret-tools-used-by-osint-experts-0xcubadim) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"3 Secret Tools Used by OSINT Experts","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/3-secret-tools-used-by-osint-experts-0xcubadim","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/3-secret-tools-used-by-osint-experts-0xcubadim"},"datePublished":"2026-09-01T20:05:07.290Z","dateModified":"2026-09-01T20:05:27.178Z","description":"An OSINT investigator shares three unconventional reconnaissance techniques used to track people: using PayPal's payment field to resolve usernames, phone...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/grbSnCqBWws/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/grbSnCqBWws/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"David Bombal","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"David Bombal","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--Dz6oUxSb--/f_auto/v1710503980/logos/davidbombal","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/davidbombal"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/3-secret-tools-used-by-osint-experts-0xcubadim","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,privacy,osint,burp-suite","timeRequired":"PT2M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"3 Secret Tools Used by OSINT Experts","description":"An OSINT investigator shares three unconventional reconnaissance techniques used to track people: using PayPal's payment field to resolve usernames, phone...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/grbSnCqBWws/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-01T20:05:07.290Z","duration":"PT2M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/0XCUbadiM","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/grbSnCqBWws"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"David Bombal","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/davidbombal"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"3 Secret Tools Used by OSINT Experts"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/3-secret-tools-used-by-osint-experts-0xcubadim#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How can PayPal be used as an OSINT tool to find someone's real name?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"PayPal's send-money field can resolve a username, phone number, or email address to the actual registered name tied to that account. 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