“This is perfect!” say drug dealers, prior to reading the fine print.
Burner is a new app for iPhone that gives you a supply of temporary phone numbers to use for different periods of time. Calls to those numbers are then routed through to your phone. The app itself costs two bucks and then the temporary numbers are available for purchase at various rates for various amounts of time. I suppose it comes in handy if you need to be in touch with someone for just a little while but you’d rather they not have your number indefinitely. Here’s another option: don’t get involved with people like that in the first place.
From Slashgear:
After users have installed the app and acquired credits, they can create a temporary number that they can use for a wide variety of uses. After that, a simple tap of the “Burn” button will permanently erase the number. Anyone trying to call it at that point will get an “out of service” message, and text messages won’t make it through either.
The company behind the app says that it’s not for illegal purposes. They also keep temporary logs of who called whom and where various numbers were assigned so if the feds come knocking, they’ll blow the whistle.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
