Hola all,

Have always wondered this and a quick search of different threads didn't yield the answer I was looking for. Sure, we all know the importance of having a dedicated hobby #/email that has no ties to your personal life, but when do you make the call to actually *burn* it?

Obvious situations that come to mind as to when to *burn* include (a) knowing/strong rumors that a provider you saw got caught by LE (b) concerns a spouse/SO is catching on to your hobby (maybe *burn* in this case, not sure).

Not-so-clear situations for me include (a) if a provider is going BSC and continually emailing/texting/calling you -> you can just block her, doesn't seem like you need to *burn* at this point (b) even if a provider threatened to "out you" but all she had was your hobby #/email addy, would you need to *burn* in this situation? Seems to me no.

A penny for your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

I would think it would be best to burn your phone after every appointment

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It's probably a personal preference thing more than anything else. Also, depending on just how you accomplished your "burner" whatever it might not really provide any of the protections you think from LE. You might have a gmail or hotmail/outlook.com email with fake name but connect regularly from home/work. LE can then find you very easily. You might have a burner app on your phone -- same deal, if LE is looking for the person using that burner number they can find you.

The question then is just how much work do they want to do to find you.

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LE will find you.  They can track the locations of burner phones.  
   
LE probably won't bother for misdeameanor violations which are ony prosecuteable if a LEO witnesses the violation.  (Check your jurisdicion for offenses & penalties.)  No direct connection is useful for family issues & general security.  To do anything else is just sloppy & sloppy gets you caught.  

I had some bill collector blow up my hobby phone...  I only turned it on when going to a date but it sure was a PITA to get unwanted calls for somebody else at those times.  I tried to talk sense to them but when that didn't work, I lost the phone...   That's the first time I ditched the phone in 6 years.  
Recently, TF insisted on upgrading my phone...  for free...  to a newer technology.  Give them my address & they'd ship it to me.  Yeah, right! I bought a new one, put it on the account, trashed the old one.

I only turn on my hobby phone on days when I actually hobby.  The rest of the time it sits like a paper weight in my desk drawer.

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You would use a burner once, and then dispose of it.

Thank you all for your input.